City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: June 11, 2024
Agenda Item: 10.B
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Anuj Gupta, Director of Transportation, Mobility (DOT) Subject: Introduce for First Reading an Ordinance Amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 9.53 to Align the City’s Transportation Demand Management Ordinance with South Coast Air Quality Management District’s (AQMD) Rule 2202 and Adopt a Resolution Approving Amendments to the Related Memorandum of Understanding with AQMD
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) and a finding of Categorical Exemption pursuant to Section 15301 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines;
2. Introduce for first reading an ordinance amending Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 9.53 (Transportation Demand Management) to align with the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Rule 2202 regulations; and
3. Adopt a resolution approving amendments to the related Memorandum of Understanding with the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Executive Summary
The Santa Monica Department of Transportation’s Mobility Division regulates employers per a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), the regional air pollution control agency with jurisdiction over Santa Monica and the greater Los Angeles area. In 1987, AQMD adopted regulations—now known as Rule 2202—to reduce pollution generated from employee commute trips and comply with federal and state Clean Air Act requirements. Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC) Chapter 9.53, Transportation Demand Management (TDM), was subsequently adopted by the City Council in 1991 to further realize air quality improvements at the local level. Santa Monica shared AQMD’s goal of reducing 2 of 9
emissions; however, a regulation that was limited to employers of 250 or more employees had limited applicability given the size of Santa Monica’s business community at that time. To that end, the City entered into a MOU with AQMD that provided the City the authority to establish an emission reduction program for employers with 10 or more employees, yielding greater emissions reductions and congestion mitigation.
With the implementation of the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) in 2015 and the completion of Metro’s E (Expo) Line extension to Santa Monica in 2016, the City amended its TDM ordinance by expanding the applicability of employers subject to the survey requirements, adding TDM requirements for new residential and non-residential developments, and increasing trip reduction targets for employers and developers citywide. Simultaneously, the City created a Transportation Management Organization (TMO) to serve as a resource for residents, employees, and visitors and help employers and developers reach the City’s updated trip reduction targets.
SMMC Chapter 9.53 differs from Rule 2202 in that it includes both developer and employer-based regulations, and with the lower employee count threshold, the City’s current TDM ordinance has a bifurcated approach to employer trip reduction regulation.
Employers with 10-29 employees are required to submit an annual Worksite Transportation Plan (WTP), while employers with 30 or more employees are required to submit a more robust annual Emission Reduction Plan (ERP). The primary difference between the two is that an ERP includes an annual employee survey which captures information about how employees commute to/from work during peak AM and PM travel windows during a standard 5-day work week, as well as a detailed plan for reducing commute-related emissions.
In 2020, with the significant staffing reductions in the City, Council adopted a moratorium on all WTP submissions, as well as ERPs for employers with 30-49 employees from September 20, 2020 through September 24, 2024. Staff recommends addressing the upcoming expiration of the moratorium by permanently eliminating the WTP requirement for employers with 10-29 employees and reinstating the ERP for 3 of 9
employers with 30-49 employees. Additionally, to ease the burden on regulated employers, staff recommends reducing the minimum ERP survey response rate from the current 75% of employees to 60%. The proposed change is based on feedback staff has received and aims to support employers’ and the business community’s ability to successfully complete and comply with the ERP requirements.
AQMD recently amended Rule 2202 to account for changes associated with employee commuting behaviors, such as the increase in teleworking, and to capture additional data on employee commute activity which will be analyzed to inform a potential future rule amendment. Given the amendments to Rule 2202, the City must update SMMC Chapter 9.53 to reflect those amendments and enter into an updated MOU with AQMD.
Background
Transportation Demand Management is the implementation of strategies that will encourage individuals to change their mode of travel to other than a single occupancy vehicle, reduce trip length, eliminate the trip altogether, or shift trips outside of peak travel windows. Vehicle transportation is the greatest contributor to Santa Monica’s carbon emissions, accounting for 69 percent of emissions in 2022. Between 2019 and 2020, emissions plummeted, largely due to restricted mobility and economic activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall transportation emissions in 2022 were 19 percent lower than in 2019. In order to reduce emissions enough to meet the City of Santa Monica’s goals, broader programmatic efforts focused on mode shifting and transportation behaviors are necessary.
Santa Monica established its TDM ordinance in 1991, with the goals of proactively reducing congestion, reducing automobile dependence, improving air quality, and enhancing transportation choices. The TDM ordinance is modeled closely after AQMD’s Rule 2202, albeit stricter because the City currently regulates employers with 10 or more employees. In 2016, with the completion of the Metro E line extension into the City, Santa Monica amended its TDM Ordinance by expanding the requirements of the Emission Reduction Plan to worksites of 30 employees or more and increasing Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR) targets citywide.
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AVR is the ratio of the number of employees and the number of motor vehicles that report to the worksite. AVR targets currently apply to non-residential projects and the non-residential components of mixed-use projects. Areas of the City that are closer to high quality public transit have higher AVR targets (e.g. 2.0 or 2.2, representing the average number of people per vehicle arriving at the worksite), with the goal of reducing trips by single occupancy vehicles and increasing the use of active, shared, and public transportation modes to commute.
SMMC Chapter 9.53 requires employers with 30 or more employees to submit an annual ERP. The ERP requires an employer to survey employees about how they arrived to and departed from work over a 5-day period, calculate the AVR and reach a designated target AVR based on worksite location. Employers completing an ERP that do not reach their AVR target either create a plan describing how over the course of the next year they will reduce the number of drive alone trips to the worksite or purchase mobile source emission reduction credits (MSERCs) from a verified vendor to offset the emissions created by employee commutes.
Table 2: Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
August 13, 1991
(Attachment D)
Recommendation to Approve the Proposed Transportation
Management Plan (TMP)
June 5, 2013
(Attachment E)
Zoning Ordinance Update: Transportation Demand
Management
April 14, 2015
(Attachment F)
Study Session on the Draft Zoning Ordinance, Proposed Land Use and Circulation Element Amendments, Draft Official
Districting Map, and Draft LUCE Land Use Designation Map Amendments
July 28, 2020
(Attachment G)
Introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending Transportation Demand Management, Preferential Parking, Pedicabs and Bikeshare
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Discussion
South Coast Air Quality Management District Alignment
Per the MOU with AQMD, the City is required to align with AQMD’s rules and regulations. In August 2023, AQMD updated Rule 2202 to require employers to collect and report on additional data on employee commute activity which will be analyzed to inform potential future rule amendments. Effective September 1, 2024, AQMD-regulated employers will be required to provide details on telecommute activity, Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), and business type/classifications. VMT provides accurate information about the distance a motorist of a personal vehicle travels to/from the worksite, and highlights barriers and challenges for behavioral change and mode shift. AVR provides general guidelines of target people per vehicle through land use and public transportation access. Both metrics strengthen the ERP submissions and the City’s TDM program more broadly because by focusing on both physical infrastructure and behavioral changes, staff can take actionable steps to ensure effectiveness of ERP strategies. The City’s current minimum ERP survey response rate (75%) is more stringent than AQMD’s (60%). To align with AQMD and address concerns from employers, staff is proposing to reduce the City’s minimum ERP survey response rate from 75% to 60%. The City wants to ensure that it remains business-friendly while advancing the City’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), which details an ambitious but essential goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. SMMC Chapter 9.53 primarily focuses on reducing emissions by vehicle transportation and promoting multimodal transportation options.
Adjustment of Employer Thresholds
To benefit small businesses and gather the most comprehensive data via ERP surveys, staff recommends eliminating Worksite Transportation Plans, which have been on moratorium since September 2020. City staff and the GoSaMo Transportation Management Organization (TMO) will continue to make available technical assistance, stakeholder engagement and transportation resources to all Santa Monica businesses, employers, employees, residents, and visitors.
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Staff recommends returning to the pre-moratorium threshold regulating employers with 30 or more employees via the ERP requirement. At this level, staff will have a greater impact on mode shifting and more opportunities to engage on cleaner transportation options for commuting, with the goals of reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs) and mitigating congestion. Based on City records, there would be an estimated total of 300-385 businesses, representing up to 43,000 estimated employees, subject to the TDM ordinance at the 30 employees or more threshold. These estimates include businesses currently in compliance with the TDM ordinance, businesses that have recently exceeded the threshold of 50 or more employees, and businesses with 30 or more employees that would once again be subject to regulation.
Below is a table that summarizes the proposed changes to SMMC Chapter 9.53:
Table 3: Existing & Proposed Regulations
Pre-2020 Regulation Purpose Status Proposed Regulation
SMMC Section 9.53.040
– AVR Targets, Average
Vehicle Ridership (AVR)
is the metric in which
ERP survey results are
measured.
Provides
information
about the
number and
type of
employee
commute trips
to/from a
worksite.
Currently using
AVR as the
evaluating
metric. AQMD
has added
VMT to the
commute
survey.
Add the collection of
Vehicle Miles Traveled
(VMT), the number of
miles traveled one-way
by a motor vehicle for a
worksite commute trip,
to the ERP survey.
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SMMC Section
9.53.060.B.2.b.viii –
Contents of Emission
Reduction Plans
ERP minimum survey
response rate is 75%
Gather data
about employee
commuting
patterns and
associated
emissions.
Currently, 75%
of employees
for covered
employers
need to
complete the
survey.
Lower the ERP
minimum response rate
to 60% to align with
AQMD’s Rule 2202 and
provide greater flexibility
for Santa Monica
employers.
SMMC Section 9.53.070
– Contents of the
Worksite Transportation
Plans (WTPs) for
Employers with 10-29
employees
Provide
information to
employees
about various
commute
options ranging
from active and
public
transportation to
the impacts of
pollution from
single
occupancy
vehicles.
On Moratorium
through
September 24,
2024.
Eliminate WTP from
ordinance. The data
collected is not as
comprehensive as the
ERP. Staff recommends
focusing on medium
and large-scale
employers for a greater
impact on mode-shift
goals.
SMMC Section 9.53.060
– Contents of Emission
Reduction Plans
(ERPs) for Employers
with 30-49 employees
Employers
implement
plans intended
to reduce
emissions
related to
employee
commutes and
to meet a
worksite
specific
emission
reduction target
for the
subsequent
year.
On Moratorium
through
September 24,
2024.
Currently,
ERPs are
required for
employers with
50 or more
employees.
Reinstate the ERP
requirement for all
employers with 30 or
more employees.
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SMMC Section 9.53.060
– Contents of Emission
Reduction Plans C.
Employer Clean Fleet
Vehicle Purchase/Lease
Program & D. Mobile
Source Diesel
In 2015,
SCAQMD
eliminated the
Employer Clean
Vehicle
Purchase/Lease
Program &
Mobile Source
Diesel PM/NOx
Emission
Minimization
regulatory
sections
Currently in
9.53.060 and
needs to be
removed to
align with
current AQMD
Rule 2202
language.
Eliminate the Employer
Clean Vehicle/
Purchase/Lease
Program & Mobile
Source Diesel PM/NOx
Emission Minimization
regulatory sections to
align AQMD’s Rule
2202.
Next Steps
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution approving amendments to the related Memorandum of Understanding with the South Coast Air Quality Management District to incorporate changes made by AQMD and City staff. The adjustment to the ERP threshold would go into effect with the FY 25-26 plan year to allow businesses time to comply with the ordinance modifications, for staff to conduct outreach to businesses with 30 or more employees who will once again be subject to the ordinance, and for the TMO to offer free trainings to new Employee Transportation Coordinators (ETCs). An ETC is the designated person within companies subject to the TDM ordinance with appropriate training as required by the City, who is responsible for the development, administration, implementation, and monitoring of the ERP.
Environmental Impact Statement
The ordinance is exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3). The ordinance is covered by the common-sense exemption which states that CEQA does not apply, “where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The ordinance’s proposed changes consist of programmatic changes and would not result in a physical environmental effect on the environment and as such, is exempt from CEQA.
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Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the recommended action. Staff will return to Council if specific budget actions are required in the future. Revenues are projected to increase by $121,000 beginning in FY 2025-26.
The TDM revenue (10600001.408730) will be adjusted during the FY 2025-27 Biennial Budget process to reflect the projected increase.
Prepared By: Barbara Jacobson, Transportation Management Coordinator Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. AQMD Rule 2202, Amended August 4, 2023
B. Resolution and MOU between City of Santa Monica and AQMD C. AQMD Rule 2202 Proposed Amendment Staff Report
D. August 13, 1991 Recommendation to Approve the Proposed Transportation Management Plan (TMP) Staff Report
E. June 5, 2013 Zoning Ordinance Update: Transportation Demand Management F. April 14, 2015 Study Session on the Draft Zoning Ordinance, Proposed Land Use and Circulation Element Amendments, Draft Official Districting Map, and Draft LUCE Land Use Designation Map Amendments
G. July 28, 2020 Introduction and first reading of an ordinance amending Transportation Demand Management, Preferential Parking, Pedicabs and Bikeshare
H. SMMC Ch. 9.53 Ordinance Updates 2024
I. PowerPoint Presentation