RESOLUTION NO. 2024-12
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING UPDATES TO THE “VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED” THRESHOLDS OF SIGNIFICANCE FOR PURPOSES OF
ANALYZING TRANSPORTATION IMPACTS UNDER THE CALIFORNIA
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT.
A. RECITALS
1. WHEREAS, on April 18, 1989, the City of Diamond Bar was established as a duly organized municipal corporation of the State of California.
2. WHEREAS, on July 25, 1995, the City of Diamond Bar adopted its General Plan incorporating all State mandated elements, and portions of the General Plan have been updated from time to time.
3. WHEREAS, on December 17, 2019, the City of Diamond Bar adopted its comprehensive update of the General Plan (“General Plan 2040”).
4. WHEREAS, the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines (“CEQA Guidelines”) encourage public agencies to develop and publish generally applicable “thresholds of significance” to be used in determining the significance of a project’s environmental effects.
5. WHEREAS, CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.7(a) defines a threshold of significance as “an identifiable quantitative, qualitative or performance level of a particular environmental effect, noncompliance with which means the effect will normally be determined to be significant by the agency and compliance with which means the effect normally will be determined to be less than significant”.
6. WHEREAS, CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.7(b) requires that thresholds of significance must be adopted by ordinance, resolution, rule, or regulations, developed through a public review process, and be supported by substantial evidence.
7. WHEREAS, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.7(c), when adopting thresholds of significance, a public agency may consider thresholds of significance adopted or recommended by other public agencies provided that the decision of the agency is supported by substantial evidence.
8. WHEREAS, Senate Bill 743, enacted in 2013 and codified in Public Resources Code Section 21099, required changes to the CEQA Guidelines regarding the criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts of projects.
9. WHEREAS, in 2018, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (“OPR”) proposed, and the California Natural Resources Agency certified and adopted, new CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.3 that identifies vehicle miles traveled (“VMT”) – meaning the amount and distance of automobile travel attributable to a project – as the most appropriate metric to evaluate Resolution No. 2024-12
2 a project’s transportation impacts.
10. WHEREAS, as a result, automobile delay, as measured by “level of service” and other similar metrics, generally no longer constitutes a significant environmental effect under CEQA.
11. WHEREAS, the City of Diamond Bar is one of 26 San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) member cities that opted into the SGVCOG SB 743 Implementation process.
12. WHEREAS, at the conclusion of the process, the SGVCOG VMT Evaluation Tool was developed for the SGVCOG region, including VMT screening establishing a baseline threshold.
13. WHEREAS, the current SGVCOG VMT Evaluation Tool is based on VMT outputs from the 2016 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategies (RTP/SCS) trip-based model and needs to be updated to be consistent with the 202 RTP/SCS activity-based model.
Additionally, changes in population, employment, and traffic counts have been updated in the 2020 RTP/SCS;
14. WHEREAS, both updates have resulted in changes to the VMT threshold numbers and low VMT areas throughout the SGVCOG region; and
15. WHEREAS, on March 12, 2024, at a regularly scheduled meeting, the Planning Commission reviewed and considered the City of Diamond Bar’s proposed updates to the VMT thresholds of significance for determining the significance of transportation impacts and recommends adoption to the City Council.
16. WHEREAS, on April 16, 2024, at a regularly scheduled meeting, the City Council reviewed and considered the City of Diamond Bar’s proposed updates to the VMT thresholds of significance for determining the significance of transportation impacts.
B. RESOLUTION
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar as follows:
1. This City Council hereby specifically finds that all of the facts set forth in the Recitals, Part A, of this Resolution are true and correct.
2. Based upon the facts and evidence presented during the City Council meeting regarding the City’s proposed VMT thresholds of significance for determining the significance of transportation impacts, including documentary evidence provided by City staff, the City Council hereby finds as follows:
Resolution No. 2024-12
3 (a) The VMT Thresholds for each VMT type based on 15 percent below the baseline VMT that sets the most achievable VMT target. The baseline VMT shall be based on the most current and available Southern California Association of Governments Regional Transportation Plan travel demand model. The VMT per employee threshold for employment-generating projects shall be based on 15 percent below either the SGVCOG Southeast Subarea or SGVCOG Region, whichever results in the largest numerical value. The VMT per capita thresholds for residential projects may be based on the City, SGVCOG Southeast Subarea, or SGVCOG Region, whichever results in the largest numerical value. The VMT per service population thresholds for mixed-use projects may be based on the City, SGVCOG Southeast Subarea, or SGVCOG Region, whichever results in the largest numerical value.
(b) CEQA Guidelines. The adoption of local CEQA thresholds of significance for transportation impacts and the adoption of Local Transportation Assessment Guidelines will not have a significant environmental impact and are exempt from the CEQA pursuant to Section 15308 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations because the two actions are undertaken by the City for the protection of the environment. The revised CEQA thresholds will be compliant with a State mandate (SB 743) and will be used in a regulatory process (CEQA process) that involves procedures for the protection of the environment. Accordingly, the City Council will consider the recommendation to find the Resolution exempt from the
environmental review requirements of CEQA pursuant to Section 15308 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.
3. Based on the findings and conclusions set forth above, the City Council adopts the updates to the VMT thresholds of significance as set forth in Exhibit A.
4. The City Clerk shall attest and certify to the passage and adoption of this Resolution and enter it into the book of original resolutions, and it shall become effective immediately upon its approval.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 16th day of April, 2024.
CITY OF DIAMOND BAR
__________________________
Stan Liu, Mayor
Resolution No. 2024-12
4 ATTEST:
I, Kristina Santana, City Clerk of the City of Diamond Bar, do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was passed, approved and adopted, at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar held on the 16th day of April 2024, by the following vote:
AYES: Council Members:
NOES: Council Members:
ABSENT: Council Members:
ABSTAIN: Council Members:
__________________________
Kristina Santana, City Clerk
EXHIBIT:
Exhibit A: Table 1: Updates to the Significance Thresholds for Transportation Resolution No. 2024-12
5 City of Diamond Bar
VMT Baselines and Thresholds of Significance
Consistent with State CEQA guidelines section 15064.3, the City of Diamond Bar has adopted the project baselines and thresholds of significance set forth in Table 1 to guide in determining when a project will have a significant transportation impact.
Table 1
Project Type Thresholds
Land Use Plan 1) Project Impact: A significant impact would occur if the VMT rate for the plan would exceed the applicable baseline VMT rate.
2) Cumulative Project Effect: A significant impact would occur if the project increases total regional VMT compared to cumulative no project conditions.
Land Use Project 1) Project Impact: A significant impact would occur if the VMT rate for the project would exceed the applicable baseline VMT rate.
2) Cumulative Project Effect:
A significant impact would occur if the project increases total regional VMT compared to cumulative no project
conditions.
Retail Project (over 50,000
square feet)
1) Project Impact: A significant impact would occur if the VMT rate for the project would exceed the applicable baseline VMT.
2) Cumulative Project Effect: A significant impact would occur if the project increases total VMT in the study area
compared to baseline conditions.
Transportation Project A significant impact would occur if the project causes a net increase in total regional VMT compared to baseline conditions, opening year no project conditions, or cumulative no project conditions.
All land use and
transportation projects
A significant impact would occur if the project is inconsistent with the RTP/SCS.
VMT thresholds for each VMT type shall be based on the currently available SCAG RTP/SCS model.
The thresholds for each VMT type are 15 percent below the baseline VMT that sets the most achievable VMT target. The VMT per employee threshold for employment-generating projects shall be based on 15 percent below either the SGVCOG Southeast Subarea or SGVCOG Region, whichever results in the largest numerical value. The VMT per capita thresholds for residential projects may be based on the City, SGVCOG Southeast Subarea, or SGVCOG Region, whichever results in the largest numerical value. The VMT per service population thresholds for mixed-use projects may be based on the City, SGVCOG Southeast Subarea, or SGVCOG Region, whichever results in the largest numerical value.
Exhibit A