Pleasant Hill Traffic
Impact Fee Update
WC23-3963.01
Prepared for: Submitted on:
City of Pleasant Hill April 16, 2026
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Background and Purpose.................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Organization of the Report ...............................................................................................................................2
2. Project List................................................................................................................................. 3
3. Growth Projections ................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Projections by Land Use Category.................................................................................................................8
3.2 Trip Generation by Land Use ..........................................................................................................................9
4. Nexus Allocation and Fee Calculations...................................................................................11
4.1 Allocation to Users..............................................................................................................................................11
4.2 Fee Calculations................................................................................................................................................12
5. Summary of Required Program Elements..............................................................................14 Fundamental Nexus Requirements .....................................................................................................................14 Additional Elements.................................................................................................................................................15 List of Figures
Figure 1: Pleasant Hill TIF Projects ..............................................................................................................................5 List of Tables
Table 1: Current Pleasant Hill TIF Fee Amounts........................................................................................................2 Table 2: Proposed Pleasant Hill TIF Projects ............................................................................................................6 Table 3: Citywide Growth Projection ..........................................................................................................................8 Table 4: Trip Demand Factors ......................................................................................................................................9 Table 5: Growth Converted to Dwelling Unit Equivalents................................................................................... 10 Table 6: Project Costs Eligible for TIF .......................................................................................................................12 Table 7: Calculation of Fee per Dwelling Unit Equivalent ....................................................................................13 Table 8: Fee per Land Use Category .........................................................................................................................13 Pleasant Hill Traffic Impact Fee Update | 1
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1. Introduction
1.1 Background and Purpose
Impact fees are established under the California Government Code sections 66000 through 66025, also sometimes known as Assembly Bill (AB) 1600 or the Mitigation Fee Act. Fees charged pursuant to this legislation are used to build capital facilities needed to offset the impacts generated by new development. It is common practice throughout California for local jurisdictions to establish impact fee programs to fund the construction of several types of public infrastructure and facilities; one common type of fee program is a traffic impact fee, which generates funds that are used to construct infrastructure and provide facilities that support the transportation needs of new residents and businesses.
Per the Government Code requirements , each impact fee program must be supported by a “nexus” analysis, a rational and documented set of procedures by which the agency establishes that there is a reasonable relationship (or “nexus”) between anticipated future development in the jurisdiction, the need for new infrastructure to support that development, and the fees that will be charged to help fund that infrastructure. Thus, the technical reports (such as this report) that are prepared to support a fee program are commonly called nexus studies.
The City of Pleasant Hill currently maintains a citywide Traffic Impact Fee (referred to in this report as the Pleasant Hill TIF or PHTIF) program, which was established in 2003 and has been continuously maintained as a mechanism for funding a portion of the costs of needed transportation improvements within the City. The current program is based on a “system equity” approach, in which the TIF is based on a cost per trip using the citywide built infrastructure as the cost basis. As required by state law, City staff includes the PHTIF program in the City’s annual financial reports, and, per Municipal Code 5.55.050, the traffic mitigation fee is increased annually based on the construction cost index. The most recent annual Master Fee Schedule became effective on September 1, 2024.
The current fee amounts are shown in Table 1.
The PHTIF program is now being updated to include a new list of capital improvement projects, reflect the most recent projections of population and employment growth in the City, and change the approach used to calculate fees from the existing “system equity” approach to one in which the fee is calculated based on the costs of a specific list of capital improvement projects. The fees will continue to be applied to new development that occurs anywhere in the City of Pleasant Hill. The purpose of this report is to serve as the necessary documentation to allow the City to adjust the PHTIF program.
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Table 1: Current Pleasant Hill TIF Fee Amounts
Fee Category Unit Current Traffic Impact Fee (as of
September 1, 2025)
Residential
Single Family Dwelling Unit $3,879
Multifamily Dwelling Unit $3,110
Nonresidential
Retail Thousand Square Feet (KSF) $10,030
Office KSF $8,527
Industrial KSF $3,145
1.2 Organization of the Report
After this introductory section, the report contains four additional sections:
• Section 2 – Project List, describes the list of capital improvement projects that would be included in the program.
• Section 3 – Growth Projections, documents the amount of growth anticipated over the next ten years in the City of Pleasant Hill.
• Section 4 – Nexus Analysis and Fee Calculations, describes the results of the nexus analysis and calculates the fee amounts using the information presented in the report. • Section 5 – Summary of Required Program Elements, summarizes how the information in this report satisfies the requirements of the Mitigation Fee Act (Government Code 66000– 66025).
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2. Project List
The City regularly updates its Capital Improvement Program (CIP): it is a key component of implementing the City’s General Plan as it pertains to maintaining operational standards for the City’s transportation system. The most recent CIP was adopted in July 2024. For the purposes of this PHTIF update, City staff undertook a thorough review of transportation improvement projects identified in the CIP, as well as those in the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (BPMP) adopted in March 2024 and developed a list of 15 projects for inclusion in the updated PHTIF. The PHTIF area and the set of projects proposed for inclusion in the fee program is shown on Figure 1. Cost estimates for all projects have been drawn from the most recent CIP and BPMP, supplemented with cost information supplied by City staff. The updated project list, including the cost estimates, is shown in Table 2.
As noted in the 2003 Traffic Mitigation Fee Update Report, given that the City of Pleasant Hill is close to being built out, large capacity-increasing projects are no longer a practicable method for accommodating growth in the City. For this reason, the City’s latest General Plan update (2023) specifies certain policies that directly address the City’s role in building infrastructure projects such as roadway improvements, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities in its Circulation Element chapter.1 The General Plan policies that support the need to provide fee funding for the projects in the project list are listed below:
TC-3.2 Arterial and Collector Streets: Minimize opportunities for regionally generated cut-through vehicle travel in the City as part of new roadway projects or projects within public roadways.
TC-3.3 Vehicle Traffic Calming Devices: Consider traffic calming devices such as lane narrowing, widening medians, neighborhood traffic circles, roundabouts, and landscaping to discourage cut-through vehicle traffic.
TC-3.4 Alternative Methods to Prevent Cut-Through Vehicle Traffic: Consider the use of alternative street surfacing materials, traffic diverters, special designs, and stop signs to prevent cut-through traffic on residential streets.
TC-5.3 Mobility Technology Support: Identify and implement technology that supports walking, biking, commuting, and other alternative transportation modes within the City including infrastructure that supports micro-mobility use within the City.
TC-8.5 Reduce Vehicle Speeds: Support the reduction of vehicle speeds using engineering and design techniques, community education, and evaluation and planning strategies rather than relying solely on enforcement.
TC-8.6 Wide Sidewalks for Shared Use: Provide wide sidewalks to allow shared use by pedestrians, bicyclists, and non-motorized modes of transportation as directed by the City Engineer.
1 City of Pleasant Hill 2040 General Plan Transportation and Circulation Element, 2023, https://pleasanthill2040.com/images/docs/PHGPU_05_PRD_Circulation_2022%2010%2026%20BG.pdf Pleasant Hill Traffic Impact Fee Update | 4
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TC-8.8 New Development Neighborhood Traffic Impacts: Require developer participation in the cost of installation of traffic calming measures to reduce neighborhood traffic impacts through fee payments or direct contribution as a condition of approval, if applicable.
TC-8.10 Visually Appealing Medians and Street Edges: Provide enhanced landscape medians and street edges that are visually appealing and provide shade and buffers for pedestrians and cyclists.
TC-9.3 Enhance Pedestrian Crossing: Enhance pedestrian crossings on all arterial and collector roadways.
TC-9.4 Sidewalk Maintenance: Maintain existing sidewalk to meet ADA requirements, including removal or relocation of objects obstructing pedestrian path and installation of wider or detached sidewalks with a buffer separation from vehicular traffic, where feasible.
TC-11.1 Bicycle and Pedestrian Network: Support a network of safe and comfortable bikeway and pedestrian facilities connecting neighborhoods and destinations in Pleasant Hill and adjacent jurisdictions.
TC-11.2 Street Design: Require street cross-sections to accommodate bicyclists, micromobility users, and pedestrians.
Walnut Creek
Pine Creek
Walnut Creek
Buchanan Field
Airport
Paso Nogal
Park
Willow Pass Rd
Sunvalley Blvd
Diamond Blvd
Concord Ave
Clayton Rd
Market St
Meadow Ln
Monument Blvd
Mohr Ln
Bancroft Rd
Geary Rd Treat Blvd Putnam Blvd
Pleasant Hill Rd
Buskirk Ave
Oak Rd Contra Costa Blvd
Taylor Blvd
Reliez Valley Rd
Patterson Blvd
Oak Park Blvd
Boyd Rd
Withers Ave
Grayson Rd Gregory Ln
Alhambra Ave
Paso Nogal Rd
Paso Nogal Rd
Golf Club Dr
Viking Dr
Taylor Blvd
Morello Ave
Chilpancingo Pkwy
Center Ave Pachecho Blvd
Blue Ridge Dr
Coggins Dr
PLEASANT
HILL
HOOKSTON
BANCROFT
WALDON
242
680
680
3 2
1 6
4 7
5 Traffic Signal Installation at
Pleasant Hill Road & Boyd Road
Pleasant Hill Road (Phases II-V)
City of Pleasant Hill
Project Extent Projects #8–15 are either citywide projects or in multiple locations, and are not displayed on the map.
# *
City of Pleasant Hill TIF Projects
FIGURE 1
Project List
1. Pleasant Hill Road Improvements (Phase II - V)
2. Paso Nogal Road (North) (Alhambra Avenue to Morello Avenue)
3. Re-landscape Medians Along Taylor Boulevard
4. Gregory Lane Complete Streets Improvement Study
5. Coggins Drive Complete Street Improvement Project
6. Boyd Road/Pleasant Hill Road Signal Installation Project
7. Monument Blvd/I-680 Bicycle & Pedestrian Improvement Project
8. Citywide Traffic Signal System Upgrade*
9. Citywide Traffic Signal Communications Network*
10. BPMP Improvements*
11. SR2S Planning*
12. SR2S Infrastructure*
13. Traffic Signal Adaptive*
14. ADA Improvement Program*
15. Sidewalk Gap Closure*
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Table 2: Proposed Pleasant Hill TIF Projects
Number Project Name Description
Total
Estimated
Cost (2025 $)
1 Pleasant Hill Road
Improvements (Phase
II - V)
Street improvements focused on roadway
operations enhancements and complete streets
treatments. New traffic signal at Pleasant Hill
Rd & Boyd Rd planned as part of project.
$8,024,000
2 Paso Nogal Road
(North) Multimodal
Improvements
Roadway safety features including shoulder
improvements, guardrail replacements, and
bike network improvements from Alhambra
Avenue to Morello Avenue
$1,012,000
3 Re-landscape
Medians Along Taylor
Boulevard
Replacement of deteriorated landscape
medians on Taylor Road, median island
improvements, gateway treatments, and traffic
calming.
$675,000
4 Gregory Lane
Complete Streets
Improvement Study
New bicycle-pedestrian streetscape design
between Pleasant Hill Road and Contra Costa
Boulevard. Treatments include new roadway
configuration, landscaped medians, street
lighting, and bike-ped treatments.
$10,094,000
5 Coggins Drive
Complete Street
Improvement Project
Traffic calming treatments to support bike-ped
connections to Iron Horse Trail and BART. $2,500,000
6 Boyd Road/Pleasant
Hill Road Signal
Installation Project
New traffic signal at the intersection of
Pleasant Hill Road & Boyd Road. $689,000
7 Monument Blvd/I-680
Bicycle & Pedestrian
Improvement Project
New Bike-Ped Improvements along Monument
Boulevard to connect Downtown Pleasant Hill
to City of Concord. Project proposes removal
of SB I-680 on-ramp.
$10,000,000
8 Citywide Traffic Signal
System Upgrade1
Improvements, upgrades and replacements of
existing traffic signals, as well as the installation
of new traffic signals.
$6,938,990
9 Citywide Traffic Signal
Communications
Network1
This project will link all the city's traffic signals,
enabling central monitoring, remote control,
and real-time data exchange to optimize traffic
flow and improve safety through technologies
like fiber optics, adaptive signal control, and
transit signal priority. This infrastructure is a
critical component of a city's Intelligent
Transportation System (ITS) and supports
broader "Smart City" goals.
$11,008,000
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Number Project Name Description
Total
Estimated
Cost (2025 $)
10 BPMP Improvements1
Citywide projects focused on the
implementation of recommendations from the
Pleasant Hill - Bicycle Pedestrian
Transportation Plan.
$45,294,000
11 SR2S Planning1
Programmatic based Safe Routes to School
improvements to support collaboration
between the City, School District, and Private
Schools. Program elements include
development of Suggested Route to School
Maps and Route Improvement Maps.
$275,000
12 SR2S Infrastructure1
Safe Routes to School infrastructure that
addresses and enhances pedestrian and bicycle
safety. Prioritize infrastructure improvements
along routes supporting student commutes.
$1,046,000
13 Traffic Signal
Adaptive1
This program helps fund adaptive traffic signal
projects in the City. $138,000
14 ADA Improvement
Program1
This program provides for the construction of
ADA compliant curb ramps throughout the City.
This program may also fund ADA ramp retrofit
and traffic signal upgrades at signalized
intersections to meet current ADA design
standards at signalized intersections.
$5,102,020
15 Sidewalk Gap Closure1 This program helps fund gap closure projects in the City. $239,476
TOTAL $103,035,486
Notes:
1: Citywide or multi-location projects.
Source: City of Pleasant Hill, 2025.
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3. Growth Projections
3.1 Projections by Land Use Category
An important element of every fee calculation is the estimate of future growth in the fee area. As part of this update, the current land use files available from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) travel demand model, the City of Pleasant Hill’s 2023-2031 Housing Element, and Plan Bay Area 2050 were reviewed. The files from the CCTA model contain projections of the amount of residential and employment growth anticipated to occur in Pleasant Hill. CCTA has completed an update of the travel model and has developed a new set of land use files that reflect the totals from the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Projections 2017 publication. The Housing Element establishes a comprehensive plan to address housing needs in Pleasant Hill over an eight-year planning period and provides a breakdown of allocation by single family and multifamily dwelling units. The most recent Housing Element update was in November 2022. The most recent Plan Bay Area 2050 was developed in October 2021 and contains projections for total households and jobs in the Bay Area by county and by “superdistrict.” Pleasant Hill resides in Superdistrict 21, North Contra Costa County.
The first step in the process was to identify which of the model’s traffic analysis zones (TAZs) are within the City of Pleasant Hill’s jurisdiction. The City’s jurisdictional boundary was available as a GIS file and was overlaid with the CCTA TAZ structure to identify TAZs located within the City’s jurisdiction.
The next step was to tabulate the total number of households and employment in Pleasant Hill from each source mentioned above. After discussions with City staff, the CCTA model will be used for the baseline year 2025. However, the Housing Element and Plan Bay Area 2050 were used for the residential and employment growth projections, respectively, for the horizon year 2035. For summary purposes, the total growth projected in the City of Pleasant Hill is shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Citywide Growth Projection
Category 2025 Base Year 2035 Projection 2025-2035 Growth Population 38,402 45,040 17%
Single Family Dwelling
Units 10,782 11,406 6%
Multifamily Dwelling
Units 4,805 6,836 42%
Retail Employment 4,564 5,243 15%
Non-Retail Employment 19,237 22,099 15%
Source: CCTA, Pleasant Hill Housing Element, Plan Bay Area 2050; Fehr & Peers, 2025.
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3.2 Trip Generation by Land Use
This study establishes a common basis for assessing fees across different land use categories by calculating a Dwelling Unit Equivalent, reflecting characteristics of each land use that affect its contribution of new vehicle trips on the roadway system in Pleasant Hill. The characteristics of each land use category used in this calculation include the trip generation rate, the proportion of new and pass-by trips, and trip lengths.
For the purposes of this study, daily trip generation rates have been drawn from the recently released 11th edition of the ITE Trip Generation Manual. The percentages of new and pass-by trips are drawn from the SANDAG Brief Guide of Vehicular Traffic Generation Rates, dated April 2002. Trip lengths reference the 2012 California Household Travel Survey data, which presents observed trip lengths for each city and county in the state. The variables used in the calculations are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Trip Demand Factors
Fee Category Unit ITE Code Daily Trip
Rate1
New Trip
Percentage 2
Average
Trip
Length3
Dwelling
Unit
Equivalent
Factor4
Residential
Single Family Unit 210 9.4 97% 6.9 1.00
Multifamily Unit 220 6.7 97% 6.9 0.71
Nonresidential
Retail KSF 820 37.0 78% 5.2 2.39
Office KSF 710 10.8 96% 9.9 1.64
Industrial KSF 110 4.9 97% 9.9 0.74
1. Reflects average number of daily trips for the unit type indicated based on data from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual (11th Edition).
2. This factor accounts for the fact that some trips generated by the land uses will be pass-by or otherwise pre-existing trips. The source is a Brief Guide of Vehicular Traffic Generation Rates, SANDAG, April 2002.
3. Average trip length in miles based on the California Household Travel Survey 2012, for the City of Pleasant Hill. Residential land use category uses total average of all trips, Retail uses “Home-Based Other” average, and the Office and Other non-residential categories are based on “Home-Based Work” trip lengths.
4. The calculation of the Dwelling Unit Equivalent Factor is the daily trip rate multiplied by the new trip percentage, then multiplied by the average trip length and divided by the county-wide average trip length of
7.80 miles. These values were normalized for each category such that the single-family residential category is assigned a Dwelling Unit Equivalent Factor of 1.00.
Source: Fehr & Peers, 2025.
The Dwelling Unit Equivalent (DUE) Factors are then used to calculate the total growth in Dwelling Unit Equivalents (DUEs). Table 5 displays how that growth was multiplied by the DUE factors to derive total growth expressed in units of DUEs. Overall, these calculations result in an estimated 15% increase in DUEs citywide between 2025 and 2035.
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Table 5: Growth Converted to Dwelling Unit Equivalents
Land Use Type
# of Dwelling
Units or # of
Employees
KSF (for nonresidential
categories)
Dwelling Unit
Equivalent
Factor
Dwelling Unit
Equivalents
(DUEs)
Existing (2025)
Single Family 10,782 1.0 10,782
Multifamily 4,805 0.7 3,434
Retail Employment 4,564 2,282 2.4 5,455
Non-Retail Employment 19,237 6,978 1.6 11,438
Total 31,109
Future (2035)
Single Family 11,406 1.0 11,406
Multifamily 6,836 0.7 4,886
Retail Employment 5,243 2,621 2.4 6,266
Non-Retail Employment 22,099 8,016 1.6 13,140
Total 35,698
Growth (2025–2035)
Single Family 624 1.0 624
Multifamily 2,031 0.7 1,452
Retail Employment 679 339 2.4 811
Non-Retail Employment 2,862 1,038 1.6 1,702
Total 4,589
Source: Fehr & Peers, 2025.
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4. Nexus Allocation and Fee Calculations
The nexus analysis process involves determining the relationship between new development in the area subject to the fee and cost of the improvements to be constructed. This process determines what proportion of the cost of each project would be funded by the fee program. The final result is a set of calculations for the maximum level of fee that could be applied to new development in the City of Pleasant Hill.
4.1 Allocation to Users
The purpose of a TIF program is to provide funding for improvements to the extent necessitated by future development. To provide a quantitative estimate of future usage, the proportion of project costs attributable to new local development was evaluated using the CCTA countywide travel model and citywide growth projections.
The travel model currently available to conduct this analysis is the Contra Costa Transportation Authority Model (CCTA). Using the CCTA model, a “baseline” year (2025) scenario was run. For each link associated with a TIF project, the traffic volume was captured. Since the TIF is a local fee program, it is also important to identify the proportion of traffic on each facility that is local in nature.
Local trips are trips that start and/or end in the City (i.e., trips that travel within the City, or that have one end inside the City and one end outside the City). Pass-through or non-local trips are excluded from TIF calculations. A run of a “future” year (2035) was not scoped in this work, given that it would have required a detailed assignment of the projected growth into the Pleasant Hill TAZs in the model.
Thus, the baseline year scenario was used to estimate the percentage of new trips projected to use each facility that are local. Given the limitations of this scope, instead of using percentage of new local traffic on each facility, a weighted average of local trips across facilities for all projects was calculated and used for all projects that have a specific and identifiable location (projects #1-7).
It should be noted that some projects on the TIF list are not specific to an individual location but are citywide in nature. This includes project numbers 8 through 15. These types of projects cannot be reflected in the CCTA model, so the modeling procedure described above is not applicable to them.
Instead, because of the citywide nature of these projects, the proportion of project cost considered eligible for inclusion in the PHTIF program has been set to be the same as the projected growth in residents as displayed in Table 3 above.
The results are shown in Table 6. The table lists each of the TIF projects and shows the “nexus” percentage used as the percentage of that facility’s improvement cost that will be considered eligible for inclusion in the TIF program.
The intent of this analysis is solely for the purposes of the TIF process. The primary result is the percentage of new local trips projected to use each facility. It is not intended for these results to be used to determine the appropriate size or configuration for any particular facility, or to directly support any project-specific planning activities.
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Table 6: Project Costs Eligible for TIF
No. Project Total Cost
Estimate (2025 $)
% of Cost
Eligible for
PHTIF
Cost Eligible for
PHTIF
1 Pleasant Hill Road Improvements
(Phase II - V) $8,024,000
66%
$5,302,600
2 Paso Nogal Road (North)
Multimodal Improvements $1,012,000 $668,800
3 Re-landscape Medians Along
Taylor Boulevard $675,000 $446,100
4 Gregory Lane Complete Streets
Improvement Study $10,094,000 $6,670,500
5 Coggins Drive Complete Street
Improvement Project $2,500,000 $1,652,100
6 Boyd Road/Pleasant Hill Road
Signal Installation Project $689,000 $455,300
7 Monument Blvd/I-680 Bicycle &
Pedestrian Improvement Project $10,000,000 $6,608,400
8 Citywide Traffic Signal System
Upgrade $6,938,990
17%
$1,204,300
9 Citywide Traffic Signal
Communications Network $11,008,000 $1,910,600
10 BPMP Improvements $45,294,000 $7,861,300
11 SR2S Planning $275,000 $47,700
12 SR2S Infrastructure $1,046,000 $181,500
13 Traffic Signal Adaptive $138,000 $24,000
14 ADA Improvement Program $5,102,020 $885,500
15 Sidewalk Gap Closure $239,476 $41,600
Total $103,035,486 33% $33,960,300
Sources: City of Pleasant Hill, 2025; Contra Costa County, Contra Costa Transportation Authority, CCTA Model; Fehr & Peers, 2025.
4.2 Fee Calculations
The fee calculation is based on the total costs eligible for inclusion in the TIF program divided by the projected amount of new DUEs anticipated to occur between 2025 and 2035. Table 7 presents these calculations, resulting in a fee calculation of $7,401 per DUE. Table 8 applies this value across all the land use categories.
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Table 7: Calculation of Fee per Dwelling Unit Equivalent Calculation Value
Cost Eligible for TIF $33,960,300
Growth in DUEs 4,589
Fee per DUE $7,401
Fee per Daily Trip $917
Source: Fehr & Peers, 2025.
Table 8: Fee per Land Use Category
Land Use
Category Unit Fee per DUE DUE Factor Raw Fee per Unit
Administrative
Charge (2%)
Total Fee
per Unit
Residential
Single Family DU $7,401 1.00 $7,401 $148 $7,549
Multifamily DU $7,401 0.71 $5,290 $106 $5,396
Non-Residential
Retail KSF $7,401 2.39 $17,693 $354 $18,047
Office KSF $7,401 1.64 $12,132 $243 $12,374
Industrial KSF $7,401 0.74 $5,507 $110 $5,617
Other Daily
Trip - - $917 $18 $936
Source: Fehr & Peers, 2025.
It should be emphasized that the values presented in this nexus report are the maximum fee levels that could be set based on the data and assumptions presented here. The City Council may elect to set fee amounts that are lower than the maximum levels.
The City has prepared fee calculation guidelines to accompany this nexus report and provide additional specificity on how the PHTIF program will be applied to individual development applications. The guidelines support consistent implementation by identifying the applicable land use categories and setting procedures for calculating the fee for new construction, intensification of use, and land uses that do not fit within the City’s standard fee categories.
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5. Summary of Required
Program Elements
This report has provided a detailed discussion of the elements of the Pleasant Hill Transportation Impact Fee program and explained the analytical techniques used to develop this nexus study. The report addresses all fee program elements required by Government Code 66000–66025, as summarized below.
Fundamental Nexus Requirements
1. Identifying the purpose of the fee
The Pleasant Hill TIF program was established for the purpose of supporting public infrastructure improvements and facilities needed to mitigate the traffic-related impacts of new development in Pleasant Hill.
2. Identifying how the fee will be used and the facilities to be funded through the fee The fee is used to help fund capital improvement projects that will accommodate future transportation needs throughout the City. Table 2 identifies the projects to be funded through the fee.
3. Determining a reasonable relationship between the fee’s use and the type of development on which the fee is imposed
As described in this report, different types of development generate traffic with different characteristics. The calculations presented in Table 4 and Table 5 account for these characteristics by calculating the travel-related characteristics of different land use types. These considerations account for the differential impacts on the local transportation system generated by different development types.
4. Determining a reasonable relationship between the need for the public facility and the type of development on which the fee is imposed
The need for the facilities listed in Table 2 has been established through local planning processes prepared by the City of Pleasant Hill.
5. Determining a reasonable relationship between the amount of the fee and the cost of the public facility (or portion of facility) attributable to new development Section 4 of this report describes the calculations applied to determine the cost of the public facilities that is attributable to new development in the TIF area. A reasonable effort has been made to quantitatively establish the relationship between the fees charged in the Pleasant Hill TIF program and the costs of public improvements attributable to new development within Pleasant Hill.
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Additional Elements
Due to recent changes in state legislation, Section 66016.5 now defines several additional elements beyond the fundamental nexus requirements that have historically been part of the Mitigation Fee Act. These additional elements include the following:
• If a nexus study supports the increase of an existing fee, review the assumptions of the nexus study supporting the original fee and evaluate the amount of fees collected under the original fee.
The Pleasant Hill TIF program was established in 2003 using a “system equity” approach, in which fees were calculated as a cost per trip based on the value of the City’s existing transportation system and adjusted annually to reflect changes in construction costs. Since its adoption, the City has prepared annual reports documenting fee activity, and the Traffic Mitigation Fund has been included in the City’s audited financial statements. These reports show that revenues have been collected and used to support transportation improvements, with amounts varying in line with development activity.
This update shifts the program from the system equity method to a project-based calculation using the costs of a defined list of transportation projects in the City’s 2024–2029 Capital Improvement Plan. Because this methodology directly reflects identified project costs needed to accommodate growth, the updated fee levels are higher than under the prior approach and align the program with the cost of planned improvements. • Calculate a fee imposed on a housing development project proportionately to the square footage of proposed units of the development, or explain why that would not be an appropriate metric for calculating fees.
The Pleasant Hill TIF fees on housing developments have always been calculated based on the type of unit, with one fee level for single-family units and a different (lower) fee level for multi-family units. This has been a common practice for most fee programs around the state for many years.
In the case of the Pleasant Hill TIF Program, this practice aligns with the data that is readily available about the transportation impacts of housing developments; industry-standard reference documents about the trip generation rates, trip lengths, and pass-by/diverted trip characteristics of new development projects present that data either for all types of housing units combined or for a few different types of housing units, and do not typically present that data based on the unit size. Examples of data sources routinely used to support fee calculations include the ITE Trip Generation Manual, the ITE Trip Generation Handbook, the SANDAG Brief Guide of Vehicular Traffic Generation Rates, and the California Household Travel Survey.
The Mitigation Fee Act requires that there be a demonstrated relationship between the fee being charged to a new development and the level of demand that development places on public facilities and services. As described previously, the calculations presented in Table 4 and Table 5 account for these characteristics by calculating the travel-related characteristics of different land use types. These considerations account for the differential impacts on the transportation system generated by different development types. There is no available reference document that directly links trip generation rates to the square footage of a Pleasant Hill Traffic Impact Fee Update | 16
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housing unit. Given the lack of readily available reference data about how the size of a housing unit might be related to the demand that unit would place on the transportation system, some agencies in California have undertaken statistical analyses to attempt to better understand that relationship.
Several of these recent statistical analyses have found limited information available from which to derive conclusions. The analyses cite some sources of information that link trip generation rates to the number of people living in a housing unit, although those sources often present values that are averaged over large geographic areas and the results can differ substantially; for example, some analyses cite the 2017 National Household Travel Survey which indicates that a 4-person household in California generates 12.6 daily trips, while others cite a 2012 national report on Travel Demand Forecasting: Parameters and Techniques that indicates a 4-person household generates 16.1 daily trips. These analyses then estimate the relationship between the number of people living in a house and the square footage of the house using US Census data, and then combine those factors to estimate trip generation rates by house size.
An alternative approach has been taken in Western Riverside County, where an analysis was done based on actual trip generation rates and house size data collected from residential neighborhoods throughout that region. This locally-specific analysis found that single-family house size explained approximately one-half of the variation in trip generation rates, while the other half of the variation was related to other economic and demographic factors such as household income, number of residents with jobs, number of school-age children in the household, number of vehicles owned by the residents, and other factors. In addition, the relationship between single-family house size and trip generation rates was found to hold only for houses up to 2,500 square feet; for larger houses, the statistical relationship was much less strong. No statistically significant relationship was found for multi-family developments.
In considering how the above factors might apply in Pleasant Hill, City staff have pointed out that single-family home sizes in Pleasant Hill tend to fall within a relatively narrow range (i.e., there is not wide variation in house sizes). In addition, the City is largely built out, with most new residential development consisting of lot splits and small-scale modifications in existing neighborhoods; new subdivisions containing many new homes are uncommon.
In light of the lack of consistent and available sources of data to support conclusions about how housing units of varying sizes affect the transportation system, and in light of the characteristics of new housing development in Pleasant Hill, the City has concluded that square footage is not currently an appropriate metric to use in calculating fees on residential developments, nor is there substantial evidence that the current method of calculating fees is disproportionate to a residential development’s effects on the transportation system. • In large jurisdictions, adopt a capital improvement plan as a part of the nexus study.
For this purpose, a large jurisdiction is defined as a county with a population of at least 250,000 and all the cities within that county, so the City of Pleasant Hill would meet the definition of a large jurisdiction. The City of Pleasant Hill maintains a Capital Improvement Plan, which was most recently updated for the 2024-2029 period, and this plan was used to identify projects for updating the City’s TIF program. The CIP provides the foundation for identifying eligible projects, ensuring that the fee program aligns with both local priorities and the requirements of the Mitigation Fee Act.