September 20, 2005

 

SUBJECT: Consider Adoption of a Citywide Deficiency Plan for Transportation

REPORT IN BRIEF

City staff has prepared a draft Sunnyvale Citywide Deficiency Plan to address requirements of State congestion management law.  A deficiency plan is a means to address roadway levels of service at designated “Congestion Management Program (CMP) intersections”, which are considered significant for regional traffic flow.  Deficiency plans identify improvement strategies for intersections that are anticipated to realize failing levels of service.  These improvements can be at the actual intersection or, if improvements are not considered feasible, offsetting improvements at other locations or to other travel modes can be identified.  A deficiency plan can be considered a mitigation tool for short and long range development, and it eliminates the potential for gas tax revenue interruption due to level of service failures at CMP intersections.

The draft Citywide Deficiency Plan is based on the improvement strategy contained in the Sunnyvale Transportation Strategic Program, as well as a number of other existing City transportation projects, policies and programs.   No new projects or programs are proposed as part of the plan. 

Council approval is required prior to formal consideration by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), which is the designated Congestion Management Agency (CMA) for Santa Clara County.  Subsequent to Council approval, the VTA will have 60 days to accept or reject the Plan in total.  Should the VTA reject the Plan, staff would draft a revised Plan to address issues.  Preliminary review by VTA staff has not resulted in any significant issues being identified.  Staff also circulated the document to neighboring jurisdictions and Caltrans, and received no significant comments. 

BACKGROUND

In 1991, legislation was passed creating requirements for congestion management in urbanized areas of California.  The legislation spawned the creation of Congestion Management Agencies, and promulgated regulations for monitoring and improving the transportation system and transportation and land use coordination.  Initially the legislation called for maintenance of levels of service to a minimum standard, with the penalty for non-compliance being loss of a portion of gas tax revenues.  The CMA also has the ability to delay land development if a deficiency occurs.  This was subsequently amended to allow the preparation of deficiency plans, which recognize that improvements to all locations may not always be desirable or feasible, and that offsetting improvements to other portions of the transportation network could be substituted. 

The VTA, as the CMA for Santa Clara County, has developed standards and procedures for the preparation of deficiency plans.  Deficiency plans can be prepared at the time a deficiency occurs, or they can be prepared in advance based on long range forecasts.  The advantage of advance preparation of a citywide plan is that a comprehensive, integrated solution is identified, and individual deficiency plans for specific locations are not necessary.  The potential for delays in land development and interruption of gas tax revenue is also eliminated. 

A Deficiency Plan contains the following elements:

1.      Description of Deficiency Plan Area

2. Deficiency Analysis/Cause – analysis of CMP intersections under City jurisdiction for future projected deficiencies over the buildout life of the Sunnyvale General Plan.

3. Improvement List – description of the physical improvements and their cost that will be necessary to maintain the CMP traffic Level of Service (LOS) standard on subject facilities, and those for which improvements will be foregone per City policy.

4. Action Plan – describes how deficiency plan actions will be implemented, responsibility for implementing individual actions, funding source for individual actions, and timing of implementation.  The Action plan follows an “Immediate Implementation Action List” from the Santa Clara County Congestion Management Program Technical Standards. 

5. Deficiency Plan Monitoring Program – describes how the City will evaluate the implementation of deficiency plan actions.

6. Environmental Documentation – describes the reconciliation of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) with actions included in the deficiency plan.

The Sunnyvale Transportation Model that was developed for the Transportation Strategic Program is a primary basis for the deficiency plan content.  However, the breadth of transportation plans, policies and programs were evaluated, and those that were relevant to addressing or offsetting forecast deficiencies were included.  The Community Development Department was consulted in the finalization of the Draft because many of the plans and programs are related to land development, such as Transportation Demand Management (TDM) and other requirements of land development.

The VTA requires that its Member Agencies adopt the Draft Deficiency Plan prior to formal consideration by the VTA.  The VTA Board will then consider to accept or reject the Plan within 60 days.  Should the plan be rejected, staff will make revisions as appropriate and bring a new Plan forward to the City Council and VTA for consideration.  Staff has circulated the draft document to adjoining jurisdictions (Santa Clara, Cupertino, Los Altos, and Mountain View), Caltrans, and the VTA for initial comments.  No significant feedback has been received.

EXISTING POLICY