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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAppendix M - VMT Analysis Urban Planning ■ Due Diligence ■ Entitlements ■ CEQA/NEPA ■ Development Services ■ Management ■ Public Outreach 2355 Main Street, Suite 100 ■ Irvine, Calif. 92614 949.794.1180 ■ info@epdsolutions.com Date: September 8, 2022 Prepared by: Meghan Macias, TE To: City of Fontana Engineering Department Site: Poplar South Distribution Center Subject: Trip Generation and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Screening Analysis This technical memorandum evaluates the change in trip generation and need to prepare a level of service (LOS) or vehicle miles traveled (VMT) analysis for the proposed Poplar South Distribution Center. The project would replace 41 single family dwelling units along Rose Avenue between Poplar Avenue and Catawba Avenue within the southern portion of the City of Fontana within the County of San Bernardino. The project location is shown in Figure 1, while the site and surrounding area is pictured in Figure 2. This memo will evaluate the project using the City of Fontana Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) Guidelines (October 21, 2020). The Project site is currently occupied by 41 single family dwelling units and Rose Avenue. The project would remove the existing dwelling units and vacate Rose Avenue between Poplar Avenue and Catawba Avenue. The project would construct a 490,565 SF high-cube warehouse intended for high cube storage use. The site is located in an area zoned as Specific Plan (SP) for the Southwest Industrial Park Specific Plan (SWIP) and is designated as Residential Trucking District (RTD) in the SWIP. The project site is designated as Residential Trucking (R-T), industrial-supporting residential with density of 2 dwelling units per acre, by the City’s General Plan. The surrounding areas are designated within the SWIP as East Industrial District (SED) and General Industrial (I-G) within the City’s General Plan. Surrounding areas are developed with warehousing and distribution uses. The project site plan is shown in Figure 3. VMT Screening Analysis Senate Bill (SB) 743 was signed by Governor Brown in 2013 and required the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to amend the CEQA Guidelines to provide an alternative to LOS for evaluating Transportation impacts. SB743 specified that the new criteria should promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of multimodal transportation networks and a diversity of land uses. The bill also specified that delay-based level of service could no longer be considered an indicator of a significant impact on the environment. In response, Section 15064.3 was added to the CEQA Guidelines beginning January 1, 2019. Section 15064.3 - Determining the Significance of Transportation Impacts states that Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) is the most appropriate measure of transportation impacts and provides lead agencies with the discretion to choose the most appropriate methodology and thresholds for evaluating VMT. City of Fontana VMT Screening Section 12.2 of the City’s Traffic Impact Analysis Guidelines provides VMT screening thresholds to identify projects that would be considered to have a less-than significant impact on VMT and therefore could be screened out from further analysis. If a project meets one of the following criteria, then the VMT impact of the project would be considered less-than significant and no further analysis of VMT would be required: 1. The project is located within a Transit Priority Area (TPA). 2. The project is located in a low VMT generating area. 3. The project is considered a local-serving land use. 4. The project net daily trips are less than 500 ADT. The applicability of each criterion to the project is discussed below. ENVIRONMENT I PLANNING I DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS, INC. Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 2 | Page Screening Criteria 1 - Transit Priority Area Screening: According to the City’s guidelines, projects located in a TPA may be presumed to have a less than significant impact. The project is not located in a TPA, therefore the project would not satisfy the requirements of Screening Criteria 1 – TPA screening. Screening Criteria 2 - Low VMT Area Screening: The City’s guidelines include a screening threshold for projects located in a low VMT generating area. Low VMT generating area is defined as traffic analysis zones (TAZs) with a total daily VMT/Service Population (employment plus population) that is 15% less than the baseline level for the County. The project’s site was evaluated using the SBCTA VMT Screening Tool (SBCTA VMT Screening Tool (arcgis.com)). As shown in Figure 3, the Countywide VMT/Service Population is 33.3 and the VMT/Service Population for the project zone is 49.4. The VMT/Service Population of the project zone is above the County average. Therefore, the project would not meet Screening Criteria 2 – Low-VMT Area Screening. Screening Criteria 3 – Low Project Type: According to the City’s guidelines, projects which propose local serving retail (retail projects less than 50,000 square feet) or other local serving uses would have a less than significant impact on VMT. The types of projects considered local serving include supermarkets, hair/nail salon, walk-in medical clinics/urgent care, K-12 schools, day care centers, and community institutions such as libraries, fire stations, etc. The project does not propose a local serving land use and therefore would not satisfy the requirements of screening criteria 3. Screening Criteria 4 – Net Daily Trips less than 500 ADT: According to the City’s guidelines, projects which would generate fewer than 500 average daily trips (ADT) would not cause a substantial increase in the total citywide or regional VMT. As shown in Table 3, the project would generate an increase of 300 daily trips when compared to the existing residential land use. Because the project would generate an increase of less than 500 ADT when compared to the existing land use, it is presumed to have a less than significant impact on VMT and further analysis would not be required. City of Fontana LOS Screening Section 3.0 of the City’s Traffic Impact Analysis Guidelines provides criteria to determine when a level of service (LOS) traffic analysis should be prepared. According to the guidelines, if a project exceeds the CMP threshold of 250 two-way peak hour trips generated or adds 50 two-way peak hour trips to a state highway facility, then a LOS analysis would be required. As shown in Table 1, the project would generate 23 new PCE trips during the AM peak hour and 25 new PCE trips during the PM peak hour. Therefore, the project would not meet the criteria for requiring preparation of a LOS traffic analysis. Project Site Access Regional access to the Project site is provided by Interstate 10 (I-10) from either the Cherry Avenue or Citrus Avenue exits, or from State Route 60 (SR-60) from the Country Village Road exit, and Interstate 15 (I-15) off the E Jurupa Avenue exit. Local Access to the project site is provided via 2 truck driveways (1 on Catawba Avenue and 1 on Poplar Avenue) and 2 automobile driveways (1 on Catawba Avenue and 1 on Poplar Avenue). Project trips including truck trips were distributed to the roadway network based on logical traffic routes in accordance with the City’s designated truck routes. Trucks are expected to primarily utilize Santa Ana Avenue and Citrus Avenue, as well as Cherry Avenue and Jurupa Avenue, which are all designated truck routes. Truck trip distributions and trip assignments are shown on Figures 4 and 5 respectively. Automobile trip distributions are shown on Figure 5. Summary The project was evaluated using the City of Fontana VMT screening thresholds to determine if the project would require a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) or level of service (LOS) analysis. The project would generate an increase of less than 500 ADT when compared to the existing land use. Therefore, the project VMT impacts would be considered less than significant and further analysis of VMT would not be required. Additionally, the project would generate fewer than 50 new peak hour trips. Therefore, per the City’s TIA guidelines, the project would not be required to prepare a LOS traffic analysis. Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 3 | Page If you have any questions about this information, please contact me at (949) 794-1186 or meghan@epdsolutions.com. Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 4 | Page Figure 1: Project Location Source: RGA Office of Architectural Design SAINITA AINA AVE. SIT E . ~ (I) u.J ::, . ~ I..L.I ~ ~ (.J a:: ;ii < 3: _, c.. ~ 0 Q. <( u JURIIJ PA AV E. Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 5 | Page Figure 2: Project Site Plan Source: RGA Office of Architectural Design l-------1f------lc=,,,,--rh.,,..---'-----ll.-.,.---l..--l----J...,,...--.L.-.----L.,.-..:==~-.l.--.,.L--.L...--.,...I..--J..-..,...-J.--L....-r=rf--l------1 ,,.. ·,;q;; ' IU• ' ' ' ' ' ; Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 6 | Page Figure 3: Low VMT Area Screening Input Output #1. Zoom in on the map to your project location so parcels appear on map. Next, select 'Parcels' from the drop-down. Then click the black square next to the drop- down so you can select the parcel(s) for your project by drawing a simple rectangle over the parcel(s) you need.* -[i;els -n #2. Select the VMT Metric. Note each jurisdiction may have adopted a different metric by which they measure VMT. Please consult with the jurisdiction to verify which metric to use for your analysis.• OD VMT Per Service Population #3. Select the Baseline Year. The years available for anal sis are from 2016 to 2040.* 100 200ft OSEAVE - Assessor Parcel 02371711 1 Number (APN) Traffic Analysis Zone 53721202 (TAZ) TAZVMT 49.4 Jurisdiction VMT 33.3 % Difference 48.17% VMTMetric OD VMT Per Service Population Threshold 28.3 Z== Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 7 | Page Figure 4: Truck Trip Distribution Project Site Truck Project Orivewoy Truck Trip Distribution Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 8 | Page Figure 5: Truck Trip Assignment D AM#/PM# Project Site Truck Project Drivewoy Truck Trip Assignment Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 9 | Page Figure 6: Automobile Trip Distribution Project Site Automobile Project Driveway Automobile Trip Distribution Poplar South Distribution Center Trip Generation and VMT Screening Analysis 10 | Page Table 1: Project Trip Generation AM Peak Hou r PM Peak Hour Land Use Units Daily In Out Total In Out Total Tri!! Rates High-Cube Transload and Short-Term Storage1 TSF 1-40 0_06 0_02 0_08 0_03 0_07 o_ 10 Single-Family Detached Housing1 DU 9-43 0_18 0_52 0_70 0_59 0_35 0_94 Pa,jr:_c;_t [rip_ Gr:_mu:11.tie2a High-Cube Transload and Short-Term Storage 490_57 TSF 687 30 9 39 14 35 49 Vehicle Mix 2 Percent2 Passenger Vehicles 79.57% 547 24 7 31 11 28 39 2-Axle truck 3.46% 24 1 0 1 0 2 2 3-Axle truck 4_64% 32 2 2 4+-Axle Trucks 12_33% 84 4 1 5 2 4 6 100% 687 30 9 39 14 35 49 PCE Trip Generation 3 PCE Factor Passenger Vehicles 1-0 547 24 7 31 11 28 39 2-Axle truck 1.5 36 2 0 2 0 3 3 3-Axle truck 2_0 64 2 2 4 2 2 4 4+-Axle Trucks 3_0 252 12 3 15 6 12 18 899 40 12 52 19 45 64 Ex.istiag Trip_ Gr:_ae_catie2a Single-Family Detached Housing 41 DU 387 7 22 29 24 15 39 Net Trip Generation 300 23 -13 10 -10 20 10 Net PCE Trip Generation 512 33 -10 23 -5 30 25 TSF = Thousand Square Feet DU = Dwelling Units PCE = Passenger Car Equiva lent 1 Trip rates from the Institute ofTransporation Engineers, Trip Generation, 11th Edition, 2021. Land Use Code 154 -High-Cube Transload and Short-Term Storage and 21 O -Single-Family Detached Housing. 2 Vehicle Mix from the City of Fontana, Truck Tri p Generation Stucly, August 2003 for Heavy Warehouses. '.l Passenger Car Equivalent (POE) factors from the San Bernardino County CMP, Appendix B-Guidelines for OMP Traffic Impact Analysis Reports in San Bernardino County, 2016.