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On July 6, 2020, the San Rafael City Council will hold their bi-monthly meeting. Transportation methodologies will be included in their staff report.
This is a very important topic for RGM, as these methodologies will be used to analyze and determine the impact that a specific development would have on the community. The current standard methodology that the City of San Rafael uses for evaluating significance of transportation impacts is Level of Service (LOS), which evaluates the effect of the amount of traffic generated by a project on the delay at signalized intersections or change in speed on major streets. Starting July 2020, Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) will be the new methodology established by the State as the metric to be used for evaluating transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The CEQA statute codifies a statewide policy of environmental protection. According to CEQA, all state and local agencies must analyze projects’ impacts on the environment and implement all feasible mitigation for any significant impacts found during the environmental review. RGM was influential in the City of San Rafael’s decision to use both (VMT & LOS) methodologies when considering approval of new developments—VMT for environmental review under CEQA, and LOS to control congestion on local streets and intersections and for project approval under the City of San Rafael’s General Plan. The City Council will include in their agenda our recommendations to modify the methodology to include both LOS and VMT. We will keep you updated regarding the meeting and any pertinent developments.
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