Nevada County Transportation Commission

 

California Senate Bill 743 (SB 743), adopted in 2013, changes how transportation impacts are measured in the review of land use and transportation plans and projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). SB 743 represents a new paradigm in land use development and transportation planning across the state. The legislation removes automobile delay as the primary measure of transportation impacts of environmental significance, typically measured by traffic level of service (LOS), and replaces it with vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) provides guidance on implementation of the VMT thresholds, and in acknowledgement of the unique characteristics, implementation challenges, and the limited application of VMT mitigation measures, provides additional flexibility in rural non-Metropolitan Planning Organization areas.

 

As part of the regional transportation planning process, NCTC, in coordination with the County of Nevada, City of Grass Valley, City of Nevada City, and Town of Truckee, contracted with the firm Fehr & Peers to develop a planning study to provide recommendations for methodology, thresholds, and procedures for analysis of land use and transportation projects and plans in each of the jurisdictions within Nevada County in relation to implementation and compliance with SB 743.

 

Fehr & Peers also identified mitigation measures most effective in Nevada County for mitigating Vehicle Miles Traveled impacts identified in CEQA transportation analysis.