Attachment 18
Master Plan Office Trip Cap
Background
The 2017 North Bayshore Precise Plan established a gateway trip cap and a goal of 45% Single- Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) for all North Bayshore office employees to maintain compliance with the gateway trip cap. Subsequently, the City Council in 2021 approved the North Bayshore Circulation Study which further evaluated the SOV requirement needed for gateway compliance.
The Circulation Study recommended a 35 -40% SOV requirement for all future office development.
Some Google office developments (e.g. Charleston East, Landings) have been approved with a requirement to achieve a 45% SOV rate. Other pre -existing offices occupied by Google in the North Bayshore area (which comprise a substantial majority of current space) do not have an SOV requirement. Google has proposed that, with approval of the Master Plan, they would meet a 35% SOV requirement for all their North Bayshore offices, including existing offices, previously approved office space, and new Master Plan offices.
The City prepared a Master Plan -level Multimodal Transportation Analysis (MTA) to evaluate transportation impacts, pedestrian and bicycle impacts, and analyze parking scenarios of the project. The transportation analysis was based on the Precise Plan and the Circulation Study.
The traffic modeling was based on full build out of the Master Plan with a 35% SOV rate at all the applicant’s current and future offices and completion of Priority Transportation Improvements.
The MTA analysis determined that, with the M aster Plan proposed Transportation Demand Management (TDM) plan, vehicle demand at the gateways would not ex ceed the gateway trip cap as defined in the Circulation Study.
Proposed Master Plan Office Trip Cap
The Master Plan Conditions of Approval are limited to new development in the Master Plan boundaries. Conditions Nos. 264 and 265 require each new office building (rebuilt and net new) to implement a TDM program that will achieve a 35% AM and PM peak period SOV mode share at the development driveways (and/or district parking structures). Under these conditions, each new office building will establish a tri p cap based on the 35% SOV rate and provide annual monitoring reports on compliance.
The recommended Development Agreement, if approved, provides an alternative TDM Agreement for office development in lieu of Condition Nos. 264 and 265. Under t he TDM Agreement, Google will establish a district-wide office vehicle trip cap (“Office Trip Cap”) that requires a 35% SOV rate and shall apply to all the applicant’s existing, rebuilt, and net new office square footage in the North Bayshore area by full buildout of the Master Plan . The Office Trip Cap would be integrated into the applicant’s existing TDM programs and provide a comprehensive district-wide approach to TDM and parking management that supports the North
Bayshore Precise Plan’s goal of reducing vehicle traffic and supporting sustainable transportation modes.
The proposed Office Trip Cap Implementation Plan can be submitted prior to the first Master Plan office project, or at an earlier date if desired. The plan must be approved by the Community Development Director and Public Works Director prior to issuance of the building permits for the first North Bayshore Master Plan office building.
Annual monitoring reports will be required once the Office Trip Cap is implemented , and penalties will be assessed if the Office Trip Cap is exceeded. Because the district trip cap is greater than trip caps for individual buildings, the penalties are substantially higher.
Development of the Proposed Office Trip Cap
The Development Agreement calls for the Office Trip Cap to be established based on Google’s planned North Bayshore office space at build -out, including existing, rebuilt, and new Master Plan office space. This approach requires the cap to be based on the 35% SOV rate, but allows the rate to phase down to 35% as net new office development occurs. The official trip cap will be determined when an Office Trip Cap Implementation Plan is submitted and will be calculated based on the actual Google office space at that time. The initial trip cap will be reviewed, and potentially adjusted annually, to reflect any changes in actual or planned Google office space.
To illustrate the potential magnitude of a district wide Office Trip Cap , the following example shows the process for establishing the trip cap and the resulting SOV rates as net new office is built.
• The number of employees is calculated at 4 employees per 1,000 square feet of office space. This measure has been used consistently in the Precise Plan and related transportation studies. This measure results in 4 person trips per 1,000 square feet during the morning and afternoon three -hour peak periods. This is a fixed number used to calculate the trip cap allowance and does not change even if more than 4 employees are placed in 1,000 square feet of office.
• After calculating t he number of person trips, the number of allowed vehicle trips is calculated by using the 35% SOV rate as well as an estimate of carpool trips (typically a 10% mode share).
• The cumulative calculation for all included office space yields the total Office Trip Cap.
The following table provides a sample calculation for a potential trip cap using an assumption that the Office Trip Cap applies in 2023 for all currently existing Google offices in North Bayshore, including Charleston East which is being completed in 2023. For simplicity in illustrating the district wide trip cap, the table below focuses only on the SOV portion of the trip cap. As noted above, some vehicle trips would also be added to the trip cap for carpooling vehicles.
Table 1: Sample Office Trip Cap Based on 2023 Existing Office Square Footage (SOV Trips Only; Does Not Include Carpool Trip Allowance)
Office Sq Ft
Total Person
Trips
(4 per 1,000 sq ft)
3-Hour Peak Period
Office Trip Cap
(AM/PM) -
(35% SOV)
Existing outside Master Plan area* 4,800,000
Existing in Master Plan area 1,800,000
Total Existing 6,600,000 26,400 9,240
Master Plan Net New Office
(Bonus FAR) 1,300,000 5,200 1,820
TOTAL TRIP CAP FOR SOV 11,060
*This is an approximate estimate of existing office occupied by Google. It d oes not include Landing’s 800,000 square feet, which is not yet constructed. Landings would be added to the trip cap calculation at occupancy, at which time the required SOV rate for Landings would be lowered from 45% to 35%.
Benefits of the Proposed Office Trip Cap
The proposed approach to creating the Office Trip Cap as illustrated in Table 1 allows future Master Plan development to be included in the calculation. However, by requiring all existing and future space to meet the 35% SOV requirement, North Bayshore benefits by having existing development reduce their vehicle trips significantly before any new office space is constructed.
Table 2 illustrates the impact on required SOV rates using the trip cap in Table 1 , including the phase down to 35% that would occur as net new office is constructed that would need to use a share of the trip cap.
Table 2: Sample Phase Down of District Wide SOV Rate as Net New Office is Constructed (SOV Trips Only; Does Not Include Carpool Trip Allowance)
Scenario
Total Occupied
Office Space (Sq Ft)
Office Trip Cap for SOV
(see Table 1)
Resultant
SOV Rate
2023 Existing Only 6,600,000 11,060 42%
Existing + 325,000 Net New 6,925,000 11,060 40%
Existing + 650,000 Net New 7,250,000 11,060 38%
Existing + 1.3 million Net New
(Full Buildout) 7,900,000 11,060 35%
As shown in the above analysis, under a 2023 scenario, existing Google office would be required to achieve an approximate 42% SOV rate in an early phase with reductions to an eventual 35% SOV rate as the Master Plan development proceeds.