11 Staff Report
PREPARED BY: Matt Morley
Parks and Public Works Director
Reviewed by: Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Town Attorney, and Finance Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● (408) 354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 01/21/2020
ITEM NO: 11
DATE: January 13, 2020
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Laurel Prevetti, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Receive a Report on How Vehicle Miles Travelled and Level of Service Analysis
Will Work Together in Shaping Future Development Projects
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive a report on how vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and level of service analysis (LOS) will
work together in shaping future development projects.
BACKGROUND:
On October 10, 2019 the Council held a study session to facilitate the first of several discussions
on Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) as the new transportation metric for California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) review as mandated by Senate Bill 743.
The new law changes CEQA evaluation for transportation, moving away from measuring level of
service (LOS) and moving towards a measure of VMT. VMT is the measure of distance in miles
that a vehicle travels, with one mile equivalent to one VMT.
Since that meeting in October, staff has been working with a consultant to help with
implementing this change. Over the next several months. staff will bring elements of the VMT
process to the Council for review and phased decision making, with the intent of adopting new
CEQA standards prior to the State deadline of Ju ly 1, 2020.
DISCUSSION:
While VMT is the new standard for CEQA analysis, there continues to be a need to manage local
roadways through conditions placed on new projects during the review and permitting phases.
These conditions would come by way of a transportation analysis that identifies local roadway
needs for all users (bicycles, pedestrians, and vehicles).
PAGE 2 OF 3
SUBJECT: Receive a Report on How Vehicle Miles Travelled and Level of Service Analysis
Will Work Together in Shaping Future Development Projects
DATE: January 13, 2020
DISCUSSION (continued):
Historically, the CEQA analysis related to transportation has focused on LOS at intersections.
More specifically, this has been the measure of intersection performance in terms of delay,
with intersections receiving a rating from A to F. Specific t hresholds, based on increases in
delay at intersections, would trigger required mitigations. The practical result has been project
conditions that require changes to the roadway system to mitigate the measured increase in
delay. This often leads to changes in roadway architecture, such as the addition of travel lanes,
to help the intersections perform better for vehicles.
VMT takes a different approach and, from a bigger picture view, looks at changes that can be
made to a project (versus the previous method of making changes to the roadway network) to
reduce impacts to the transportation network. VMT is an origin-based (project) approach
whereas LOS has been a recipient (roadways) based approach. A simple example is the
issuance of transit passes to residents or employees on a developing property. By issuing
transit passes, a measurable reduction in VMT can be made. Many of these elements of VMT,
including which measures to implement and what level of reduction is enough will be topics of
discussion and decision making for the Council in the coming months.
However, the Town will still need a way to manage local roads and their functionality for all
users (including vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, and others). The VMT measure does not
provide a means to do this – VMT measures how far vehicles will travel, but not which
intersections or which roads they will use or where they may create local congestion . For this
reason, a transportation analysis will continue to be necessary in the future.
In the short term, staff recommends maintaining the current transportation analysis as
identified in the Town’s Traffic Impact Policy. This will allow for a continued focus on
implementing VMT by the July deadline. Subsequently, the Council may want to look at policy
changes with respect to traffic analysis to include a stress analysis for pedestrians and bicyclists,
as well as the functionality analysis for vehicles. A stress analysis is a measure of how
comfortable a roadway is for users of varying age, skills, and abilities. By expanding the
transportation analysis, roadways are modified to the benefit of all users.
CONCLUSION:
Staff is introducing this discussion early as some perceptions may exist that VMT will fully
replace the analysis of local streets and roads, staff wanted to avoid any confusion in future
discussions. Staff believes that ongoing transportation analysis on local roadway performance
will need to continue outside of the CEQA VMT analysis, with an expansion of the current LOS
analysis to meet the needs of all users.
PAGE 3 OF 3
SUBJECT: Receive a Report on How Vehicle Miles Travelled and Level of Service Analysis
Will Work Together in Shaping Future Development Projects
DATE: January 13, 2020
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact as a result of this item.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT:
This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required.