Friday, May 22, 2009William Fulton

“WILL SB 375 SAVE OUR LIVES OR KILL US?”

D E S I G N , C O M M U I T Y & E N V I R O N M E N T

Third AnnualLeonard Transportation Center Forum

Virtually all environmental and land use policy over the next few years will be driven by climate change concerns

Some will be focused on mitigation –dealing with sea level rise, shifting crop patterns, etc.

MOST will be focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Design, Community & Environment

THE NEW WORLD, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

Planning?

Regulation?

Socialism?

A Pain in the #@$#?

Design, Community & Environment

WHAT IS SB 375?

What’s it supposed to do?

Whatever it’s supposed to do, will it do it?

Design, Community & Environment

TWO QUESTIONS ABOUT SB 375?

AB 32 sets a target – a 20% or so reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020

35-40% of that comes from the burning of fuels for transportation

How do you reduce greenhouse gas emissions reduction?

Design, Community & Environment

HERE’S THE IDEA

Design, Community & Environment

THE THREE LEGGED STOOL

Is this even possible? There’s two ways to look at it

How do we comply with SB 375?

How do we actually drive less?

These may be two different things

Design, Community & Environment

DRIVE LESS? YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING

Annual Household VMT

14,000

31,291

7,437

19,054

15,707

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000

CARB Target

Danville-San Ramon

Walnut Creek

Rockridge

Nob Hill-Fish Wharf

Design, Community & Environment

DRIVE LESS? YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING

Based on RTAC’s advice, CARB creates Regional Targets for MPOs to reduce GHGs

MPOs then create SCSs which become part of the RTP and, if those don’t meet CARB targets, they must create APSs.

In SCAG, subregions can create SCSs and APSs.

Local GPs don’t have to have anything to do with any of this.

So what?

Design, Community & Environment

HOW DO WE COMPLY WITH SB 375?

REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN

- Funding decisions contained in the regional Transportation Plan must be consistent with an adopted Sustainable Communities Plan.

CEQA EXEMPTION

- Any development project that meets certain requirements (density, transit proximity, a bunch of other things) and is consistent with an adopted SCS is exempt from CEQA or may qualify for truncated review.

Even if it’s not consistent with local GP

This is why BIA went for it.

Design, Community & Environment

WHY THIS MATTERS

Design, Community & Environment

HOW DO WE DRIVE LESS?

“Pricing signals” (i.e., higher costs) are the most powerfulway to alter driving habits.

Higher gas costs WILL reduce VMT.

But there is a FLOOR to how far down VMT can go Many people MUST drive most places because of our land use patterns.

Thus, the built environment can only absorb SO MUCH when it comes to lower VMT.

Design, Community & Environment

HOW CAN WE MAKE THIS HAPPEN?

Clearly, the goal is to increase the ability of the built environment to “absorb” less driving.

Many advocates talk about transit & bicycling

But that’s about MOBILITY.

Design, Community & Environment

WHAT’S THE GOAL?

How do you provide the things that people need in closer proximity to where they are?

Still driving, but driving less, is still really good.

Design, Community & Environment

THE GOAL IS NOT MOBILITY. IT’S ACCESS

“Mono-Density” – lots more of ONE thing –doesn’t help.

You must have more of EVERYTHING in close proximity to one another.

Design, Community & Environment

AND YOU NEED CONCENTRATION, NOT JUST DENSITY

The obvious solution is a TOD

The not-so-obvious solution is a POD (Parking Oriented District)

But the strategies are more or less the same

Design, Community & Environment

STRATEGIES

Maintain a diverse mix of land use patterns

Don’t allow any single use –residential, commercial, retail, or anything else –to occupy more than 50% of your land

Design, Community & Environment

CONCENTRATION OF ACTIVITIES

Leverage the presence of civic institutions

Design, Community & Environment

CONCENTRATION OF ACTIVITIES

Intensify employment as well as housing

Design, Community & Environment

CONCENTRATION OF ACTIVITIES

Activities need to be in close proximity to one another

But not necessarily on top of each other

Design, Community & Environment

HORIZONTAL MIXED USE

The mix of businesses and services is just as important as land use

Focus on neighborhood services

Design, Community & Environment

IT’S IN THE BUSINESS MIX

On a regional level, you need transit

But on a local level, parking performs the same role as a transit station

Park Once strategy

Design, Community & Environment

USE PARKING TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Design, Community & Environment

POD TO TOD

Good parking is the foundation of a good mixed use district

Often a precursor to transit

Pasadena: Parking garages to support retail laid foundation for transit that supports housing

D E S I G N , C O M M U N I T Y & E N V I R O N M E N T

Friday, May 22, 2009William Fulton

“WILL SB 375 SAVE OUR LIVES OR KILL US?”

Third AnnualLeonard Transportation Center Forum