EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: July 25, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Melvin E. Gaines, City Manager
BY: Elena Lee, Planning Manager
Amy Chen, Community & Economic Development Director
Hanson Hom, Deputy Manager, Special Projects
SUBJECT: TDM Program and RBD TDM/TMA Study Session
Recommendation
Accept the staff report and provide input on a proposed framework for implementing the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Ordinance, formation of a Transportation Management Association (TMA), and Parking policies for the Ravenswood Business District/Four Corners TOD (RBD) Specific Plan Update.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 6: Create a Healthy and Safe Community
Recommendation
Accept the staff report and provide input on a proposed framework for implementing the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Ordinance, formation of a Transportation Management Association (TMA), and Parking policies for the Ravenswood Business District/Four Corners TOD (RBD) Specific Plan Update.
Background
City Council adopted the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Ordinance on June 1, 20211 (first reading on May 18, 20212). See East Palo Alto Municipal Code, Section 10.32.010 1 June 1, 2021 City Council Meeting, Item 3.9:
http://eastpaloalto.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1400 2 May 18, 2021 City Council Meeting, Item 8.1:
http://eastpaloalto.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1398 et seq.3. The City Council also approved TDM Program Implementation Guidelines for residential and nonresidential developments also on May 18, 2021. The Ordinance requires a 40% reduction in Average Daily Vehicle Trips (ADT) for large projects. The Ordinance also authorized a penalty for non-compliance. The Ordinance applies to new non-residential developments larger than 10,000 square feet, existing non-residential developments with 100 or more employees, and new multi-family residential with ten or more units. While the Ordinance does not discuss the formation of a Transportation Management Association (TMA), the concept of a TMA was discussed during the public hearing presentations as a potential tool to help meet the 40% reduction requirement. City Council, developers, property owners, community members, and other stakeholders expressed the desire to establish a TMA in East Palo Alto.
A TMA may provide information, organize events, assist employers in developing TDM strategies, and improve new and existing infrastructure, all to influence a reduction in employee single occupancy vehicle (SOV) commutes. The work of a TMA may help employers to implement compliance measures in accordance with local TDM requirements.
Some more traditional activities of TMAs include: identifying car and vanpool services; establishing shuttle services; developing flexible work hours to lower peak trip numbers; making buildings more bike-friendly; and offering transit passes to employees, etc. As a stakeholder involved organization, the TMA could work closely with employers and residential property managers and to leverage the cooperative efforts of multiple companies to achieve programs that may be infeasible for individual TDM programs. Ultimately, the City Council did not direct that a TMA be formed; instead, it directed that the concept be studied further, especially for the RBD. Staff will plan to return to Council to discuss the applicability of a TMA citywide or in other areas.
The purpose of this study session is to provide an update on the Citywide TDM Program and on the proposed framework and direction for the RBD TDM/TMA and parking approach.
Certain elements of the Citywide Ordinance/Program are proposed to be adjusted for projects within the RBD Plan Area. Staff is requesting City Council feedback on these elements/topics, which will all return with more detail for future Council consideration.
TDM Program Activities
• The City hired a TDM Program Administrator consultant, Steve Raney, in August of 2022.
• Because Due to of the City’s stronger TDM Ordinance (40% ADT reduction, penalty fees), the City obtained an exemption from C/CAG’s January 1, 2022, countywide TDM policy (35% ADT reduction, no penalty fees)4.
• A TDM Database has been developed with the 26 projects that are impacted by the Ordinance.
Future TDM Program Activities
• Initial outreach to the projects is underway. Compliance status will be completed this Fall.
3 EPA Code of Ordinances, Chapter 10.32 TDM Program, 6/1/21:
https://library.municode.com/ca/east_palo_alto/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT10VETR_CH10.3 2TRDEMAPR
4 January 1, 2022, countywide TDM policy: https://ccagtdm.org/ • The City is refining the Program with different internal groups, anticipating implementation this Fall.
• Public Works’ TDM Program web content production is underway and will be complete this Fall.
• The TDM Program will return to City Council this Fall to:
o update the TDM Program Implementation Guidelines,
o adopt penalty and TDM fees,
o provide a compliance status,
o and present RBD TDM Implementation Guidelines.
• Staff will also analyze the TMA possibilities for areas outside of RBD in the future.
City Council Discussions to Date
On June 8, 2021, the consultant team presented a draft concept at a RBD City Council Study Session5 for strategies needed to attain the 40% trip reduction target in the Specific Plan area, including a preliminary discussion of a “trip cap,” which would be based around a limited number of single-occupancy vehicle trips in the Plan Area, calculated by the assumed Institute for Transportation Engineers (ITE)6 trips (before TDM measures are applied) minus a 40% reduction for TDM compliance.
Community/Stakeholder Engagement to Date
City staff held regular monthly meetings with the RBD applicants subject to the Citywide TDM Ordinance to discuss project status, including how the development project could potentially meet TDM requirements. City staff has facilitated outreach meetings with the major developers in the RBD Plan Area. On June 14, 2023, and July 12, 2023, at the monthly RBD Specific Plan Developers Meeting, Steve Raney presented this potential RBD TDM Plan, with over 14 stakeholder attendees.
Analysis
For the RBD Plan Area7, this analysis describes the TDM proposed framework and potential requirements, a potential formation of a TMA, residential monitoring process, and parking requirements.
The RBD TDM Plan Framework
● RBD trip reduction compliance implemented through a RBD TMA. The City is attempting to help facilitate TDM collaboration and efficiency in the RBD in order to develop in an area that is already constrained. Staff acknowledge and understand that the private sector faces complex market forces and there may be many challenges to 5 June 8, 2021 City Council Study Session:
http://eastpaloalto.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1436 6 ITE (Institute for Transportation Engineers) Trip Generation 11th Edition (2021). The ITE Trip Generation Manual presents a summary of the trip generation data that have been voluntarily collected and submitted to ITE trip generation database, which includes both vehicle and person trip generation:
https://www.ite.org/technical-resources/topics/trip-and-parking-generation/ adopt transportation solutions that serve not only individual companies but can help leverage the unique circumstances of the RBD. Similar to what the City of Sunnyvale imposed upon Peery Park Specific Plan development, RBD-wide TDM and TDM Compliance Plans would apply to all projects within the Specific Plan area. The objective is to create an RBD TMA where all impacted RBD projects share the same level of motivation to reduce trips to avoid conflict within the TMA. This would be distinct from TDM requirements that apply outside of the plan area. Rather than individual TDM programs, projects in the RBD would be required to coordinate and collaborate with the RBD TMA on an area-wide TDM program. When individual projects pursue approvals, they will be required to comply with the RBD-wide Plan. ● Combination of required and optional elements to reduce trips. While the Specific Plan requires some TDM elements, including but not limited to,, a TDM coordinator, effective marketing, and site design elements, the TMA has flexibility on which TDM measures to implement. Therefore, RBD TDM can be considered a “performance-based black box” with one crucial output, the weekday RBD-wide annual Driveway Count Number that is subsequently compared against the RBD-wide ITE Trip Cap Number to achieve trip reductions and to calculate potential penalty fees. The black box enables the TMA to achieve 40% trip reduction via the most-efficient strategies the TMA can arrange and set up. The single ITE Trip Cap and Driveway Count numbers make enforcement streamlined and more straightforward for the City to implement. If developments in the RBD are compliant, the City will provide a single invoice to the TMA. The TMA would design the fee and penalty structure among tenants/landowners and may impose higher trip reduction goals and/or higher penalties based on use and/or project size. The TMA would be responsible for collecting from each project.
Potential RBD TDM Elements
● The RBD TMA would be formed prior to the issuance of the first building permit for any of the four proposed major commercial projects (2020 Bay Road, Four Corners, The Landing, or EPA Waterfront).
● The TMA would be funded by and serve participating RBD property owners and tenants. If a development does not participate, then the individual development must meet the requirements of the TDM Ordinance on their own. ● The TMA may propose earning Trip Cap credits for external TDM that reduces trips that neither originate nor end in RBD. The City Council may choose to approve these measures. A maximum of half of the 40% ADT reduction may come from external credits. An example of an external TDM measure would be a TMA sponsored school bus. To align with other City values and goals, the Council can encourage equityincreasing programs and may be willing to grant extra credits for programs like this school bus or a bike repair service.
● Unless the City Council legislates otherwise, the RBD is required to be compliant with 7 Existing RBD Specific Plan for reference:
https://www.cityofepa.org/sites/default/files/fileattachments/community_amp_economic_development/page/2811/fin al_spec_plan_feb_2013.pdf
the Trip Cap in perpetuity.
● If and when commuter (shuttle) bus service commences, the TMA, rather than individual employers, manage the service and make it available to all employers and residents in RBD. In addition, it is proposed that local and long-haul bus service provided by the RBD TMA would be free and open to the public. RBD will be given TDM credit for adding bus stops outside of RBD and for trip reductions for East Palo Alto uses outside of RBD.
● For residential development within the four large projects, unbundled parking may be required, a high-impact residential TDM strategy. Affordable units may be granted an exemption if financing requirements do not allow for unbundling. ● To avoid future uncertainty over the build-out mix of Office versus Research & Development/Life Science, the average trip rate for these two numbers, 10.96, will be used for either use for purposes of calculating the cap. (In the ITE Trip Generation 11th Edition, the number of weekday trips per 1,000 square feet of Office is 10.84, and the number for Research and Development / Life Science is very close at 11.08).
Future RBD TDM Implementation and Compliance Plan
A RBD implementation plan will be developed separately from the RBD Specific Plan, involving the various property owners and projects. Potential TDM elements may include the following. ● The RBD TDM Compliance Plan to provide an annual driveway count work scope with schematic drawings depicting where the sensors/cameras will be placed. Driveway counts will be taken over five consecutive weekdays and ADT will be calculated as an average of those days. The formation of a RBD TMA could fund and coordinate this effort.
● An initial distribution of RBD TMA costs and noncompliance fees between projects to be specified in the RBD TDM Compliance Plan. For the overall RBD 40% ADT reduction, some properties may reduce more than 40%, others less than 40%. The TMA’s Governing Board could modify the distribution in the future. ● The TMA would decide how penalty fees will be distributed among RBD developments and could impose a lower penalty on residential uses. Penalty fee revenue shall be used for projects that reduce vehicle trips.
Different TDM programs may be combined for effective trip reduction. The programs may include, but are not limited to:
• Shuttle/Bus Program
• Information and Marketing
• TDM Coordinator
• Site Design Elements
• Micromobility Systems
• Car Sharing
• Transit Pass Subsidies
• Rideshare Matching
• Compressed Work Schedules/Remote Work
• Guaranteed Ride Home
Where possible, the potential RBD TMA will compliment these TDM programs with those provided by Commute.org.
Achieving 40% ADT Reduction for Office and Research & Development/Life Science The RBD TMA may use Mountain View’s North Bayshore employment center as a TDM template. The center has three major employers, Google, Intuit, and Microsoft, that have a combined 40% ADT reduction. Comparable to RBD, North Bayshore is about three miles from Caltrain. In the Fall of 2019 (pre-COVID), observed commute mode shares were 52.4% SOV,
34.4% private/public transit, 6.6% rideshare, and 4.5% active modes.8 Because of Google’s large, expensive private bus network, Google’s SOV mode share is probably lower than
52.4%. Other Peninsula areas that are comparable to RBD but do not have large private bus networks have not achieved a 40% ADT reduction (Please see Research Memo on RBD TDM Comparables9)
There are several strategies or pathways that can be pursued separately or in concert to help commercial office projectsachieve a 40% ADT reduction.
1. The RBD TMA would reduce and allocate trips among the properties based on the RBD trip cap maximum. The RBD ITE Trip Cap Number will be based on the 11th Edition ITE Trip Generation Manual, published in September 2021. 11th Edition datasets are pre-COVID. One potential tool is having some employees working from home or telecommuting. The post-COVID “new commute normal,” with more Work From Home (WFH), is still evolving. Two days of remote work is common for smaller employers.
Individual RBD employers may have dramatically different ADT rates based on their WFH policy. For example, one employer may have “assigned desks and WFH each Monday and Friday.” This employer will likely achieve a 40% ADT reduction compared to the 11th Edition. Another employer may have “efficient office hoteling,” or reservation based/scheduled unassigned seating, producing smooth demand for office space throughout the workweek. This employer will likely have more employees working per square foot each weekday and higher ADT.
2. The RBD TMA may implement a low-cost, high-impact SOV Feebate.10 Stanford University and the Gates Foundation have found success with the policy/program. (A Research Memo on SOV Feebate may be found in the Public Works section of www.cityofepa.org.) Should RBD be noncompliant for a City Council-specified period, then Council has the option to impose strong TDM measures, including an SOV Feebate.
3. External to the RBD TMA’s efforts, potential high-impact City and regional projects that would reduce RBD ADT include: improved Dumbarton Bridge transit such as Bus Rapid 8 Source: https://north-bayshore-sustainability-dashboard-1-1- mountainview.hub.arcgis.com/pages/modes. Hexagon Transportation Consultants translate these observed mode shares into approximately 40% ADT reduction. 9 Public Works TDM Webpage and Comparable Research Memo: https://www.ci.east-paloalto.ca.us/publicworks/page/research 10 Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) Feebate is a high-impact, comprehensive low- or no-cost employer TDM strategy. The word “feebate” is a combination of “fee” and “rebate.” The Gates Foundation has implemented a daily $12/day SOV fee combined with a $3/day non-SOV rebate, transacted through employee paychecks, reducing SOV mode share to 36%.
Transit, a reversible University Avenue High Occupancy Vehicle lane, and subsidized ebikes combined with bicycle network improvements.
Achieving 40% Residential ADT Reduction
There are at least three potential high-impact residential TDM strategies that can be used to achieve 40% ADT reduction:
• Unbundled parking policy, where residential parking is not included in the base cost of the rent of an apartment unit. Tenants can choose to purchase a parking space as an added cost, based on availability.
• Via Council Resolution 52-2020 on 4/7/20, the City created a housing preference policy for both City-subsidized affordable housing and Inclusionary Housing. First priority is given to those who work and live in the City; second to residents; third to those who work in the City; fourth to the involuntarily displaced. It is key that with whatever TDM resources are offered are offered to all tenants and fair housing laws are followed. • At Stanford West market-rate apartments, which has a trip reducing housing preference, the majority of residents bicycle or take transit to work/activities. (The Stanford West example is detailed in the Traffic Reducing Housing Preference Research Memo, found in the Public Works section of www.cityofepa.org.)
The Trip Cap Table, Credits, Driveway Counts, and Penalties Approach As RBD is being built out, the Trip Cap Number will be recalculated each year, to reflect the percentage of land uses that are occupied. A Trip Cap Table will be created approximately one month before driveway counts are taken. The Table will have a section for each project, with a row for each distinct land use within each project. These rows will list the “percent occupied,” the floor space that will have a City-issued occupancy permit and at least one tenant or resident. The assumed ITE trips, before TDM measures are applied, will be calculated for each row. The Trip Cap Number will be the sum of the assumed trips, less 40%.
For each impacted project, driveway counts will be the average of vehicle counts (bicycles are not considered vehicles) from five consecutive weekdays. The per-project counts will be summed to create an RBD-wide count. The RBD-wide count may be adjusted downwards by trip credits that are proposed by the TMA and accepted by Council. If the RBD-wide count is greater than the Trip Cap Number, a penalty would be calculated. The RBD has the potential for significant internal trip capture via active modes. The Trip Cap rewards internal active trips but not internal automobile trips.
Parking Requirements
Parking is another important component and is something that will impact Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), traffic and land use patterns. Currently, minimum parking requirements are set forth in The City’s Zoning Code and in the adopted 2013 Ravenswood/Four Corners Specific Plan as follows:
In addition, the adopted RBD Specific Plan provides:
• up to 20% reduction in parking requirements for mixed-use developments with shared parking,
• up to 10% reduction in residential parking requirements for unbundled parking, and • credit for on-street parking spaces adjacent to non-residential uses.
Phased Parking Maximums
The key change being proposed is to replace parking minimums with parking maximums.
Parking maximums avoid the problem of building too much parking that increases traffic and VMT and reduces available land, placemaking, and walkability. Reduced parking demand is easier to achieve when phased in over time, as a greater mix of uses develops, multimodal projects are built, and TDM efforts ramp up. Therefore, parking standards are phased to be higher at the start and would be reduced after 50% of the total development capacity is permitted.
Land Use
Parking Maximums
At Plan Adoption Mid-Term
Office (per 1,000 s.f.) 3.0 2.7
R&D (per 1,000 s.f.) 2.5 2.2
Retail (per 1,000 s.f.) 3.0
Industrial (per 1,000 s.f.) 1.0
Residential 1.0 per 1 bedroom, 1.5 per 2 bedrooms, 2.0 per 3 bedrooms All Other uses As determined by the Zoning Administrator For comparison purposes, Menlo Park Willow Village (1.6M s.f. office and 1,730 dwelling units) was recently approved with a smaller-than-RBD 20% ADT reduction target. The Willow Village Conditional Development Permit (CDP) has a slightly lower initial office parking maximum of
2.3 per 1,000 s.f.) when compared to RBD.11
Off-Street Parking Management Strategies
The RBD Specific Plan enables efficiency via shared, tandem, mechanized, and valet parking.
All off-street multifamily residential spaces will be unbundled in perpetuity, except for any affordable housing projects that require waivers.
Potential Residential Permit Parking Program to Address Spillover Parking If the City receives repeated spillover parking complaints from residents of adjacent neighborhoods, the Council may require an RBD TMA-funded neighborhood parking study. If the study warrants and the neighbors concur, Council may establish a TMA-funded residential permit parking program.
Reduced Parking is an Effective TDM Strategy to Reduce ADT and VMT The California Air Pollution Control Officers Association (CAPCOA) states that their TDM Measures T-15 (Limit Residential Parking Supply) and T-16 (Unbundle Residential Parking Costs from Property Cost) are effective trip reduction strategies. Hexagon Transportation Consultants have collected parking occupancy data at 25 apartment developments in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and found that the peak parking demand averaged only 1.23 spaces per dwelling unit and only 0.80 spaces per bedroom, significantly lower than the adopted RBD Specific Plan residential parking minimums. The C/CAG VMT Estimation Tool’s12 VMT Reduction Strategy PK01 (Limit Parking Supply) calculates that VMT reduction is equal to the percent reduction in parking supply from the Municipal Code’s minimum, multiplied by 0.5.13
Questions for City Council
1. Does the Council have concerns with the TDM framework presented?
2. Does the Council agree that an RBD TMA should be required?
3. As driveway counts do not provide a separate count for each land use within a large project, the proposal is to apply monitoring and non-compliance penalty fees to new RBD residential projects. Does Council have concerns about this?
4. Does the Council have concerns with the RBD approach in applying parking maximums instead of minimums?
Fiscal Impact
There is no fiscal impact associated with this staff report. The costs related to the implementation of the TDM ordinance and Steve Raney’s Cities 21 contract are included under the Public Works Department budget.
Public Notice
11 Willow Village 10/19/22 Master Plan - Parking Requirements, Sheet G4.01 Illustrative Parking Plan 12 https://gis.smcgov.org/apps/CCAG_VMT_EstimationTool/ 13 Nelson/Nygaard, 2005. Crediting Low-Traffic Developments, page 16, http://www.montgomeryplanning.org/transportation/documents/TripGenerationAnalysisUsingURBEMIS.pd f
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at City Hall located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto. Additionally, the public was provided electronic advance notice of the study session through a notification sent from the City’s email contact database which contains hundreds of resident and stakeholder emails.
Environmental
The proposed action does not constitute a “project” with the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines sections 15378(b)(4) and (5) in that it is a governmental fiscal, organizational, or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment. No action or decision on the Project will occur at this study session. As discussed above, a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report is under preparation for the proposed Specific Plan update.
When the DSEIR public comment period begins later this year (approximately in October 2023), a Notice of Availability (NOA) will be distributed as required by CEQA law, and the document will be posted on the project website. After the 45-day public comment period ends, the City will consider and respond to substantive comments received on the draft SEIR and compile a response to comments document. Once the responses and revisions are complete, a final SEIR will be released, consisting of the response to comments document and the draft SEIR. The final SEIR will be considered by the City Council for certification in compliance with CEQA.