Liang - Vallco impact on Transportation Impact Fee

From: Liang C

Date: Sun, Nov 15, 2015 at 11:10 PM
Subject: Comment on Vallco EIR - No development project without Traffic Mitigation Fee Program
To: "City of Cupertino Planning Dept." planning@cupertino.org

RE: Comment on Vallco EIR

The EIR for GPA specifically requires the City to commit to implement a Traffic Mitigation Fee Program. The General Plan was also amended to include policies to collect Transportation Impact Fee.

Due the massive impact of The Hills at Vallco, the project should not be approved before the Traffic Mitigation Fee program is in place. In fact, no other development project should be approved before the Transportation Impact Fee is adopted.

EIR for GPA, Sec. 4.13 Page 53:

"Mitigation Measure TRAF-1: The City of Cupertino shall commit to preparing and implementing a
Traffic Mitigation Fee Program to guarantee funding for roadway and infrastructure improvements that
are necessary to mitigate impacts from future projects based on the then current City standards. As part
of the preparation of the Traffic Mitigation Fee Program, the City shall also commit to preparing a
"nexus" study that will serve as the basis for requiring development impact fees under AB 1600
legislation, as codified by California Code Government Section 66000 et seq., to support
implementation of the proposed Project. The established procedures under AB 1600 require that a
"reasonable relationship" or nexus exist between the traffic improvements and facilities required to
mitigate the traffic impacts of new development pursuant to the proposed Project."

"The fees shall be assessed when there is new construction, an increase in square footage in an existing
building, or the conversion of existing square footage to a more intensive use. The fees collected shall be
applied toward circulation improvements and right-of-way acquisition. The fees shall be calculated by
multiplying the proposed square footage, dwelling unit, or hotel room by the appropriate rate. Traffic
mitigation fees shall be included with any other applicable fees payable at the time the building permit is
issued. The City shall use the traffic mitigation fees to fund construction (or to recoup fees advanced to
fund construction) of the transportation improvements identified above, among other things that at the
time of potential future development may be warranted to mitigate traffic impacts."

General Plan Policies on Transportation Impact Fee:

Policy M-10.1: Transportation Improvement Plan

Develop and implement an updated citywide transportation
improvement plan necessary to accommodate vehicular,
pedestrian and bicycle transportation improvements to
meet the City’s needs.

Policy M-10.2: Transportation Impact Fee

Ensure sustainable funding levels for the Transportation
Improvement Plan by enacting a transportation impact fee
for new development.

Each project with EIR only mitigate direct impact of the project on the surrounding areas. However, there are cumulative impacts of the projects on other parts of the city that cannot be mitigated or even measured in relation to only one project.

Transportation Impact Fee provides funding to mitigate such cumulative impacts citywide.
 

If The Hills at Vallco is not required to pay for Transportation Impact Fee at the time of project approval, the significant impact of the project on the traffic infrastructure will significantly increase the Transportation Impact Fee needed for future project since a lot more mitigation measures would be needed to attempt to improve the Level of Service to "less than significant" level from "significant and unavoidable" if at all possible.

Please study the list of extra mitigation measures and thus the amount of mitigation fees needed citywide to mitigate the impact of The Hills at Vallco.

Liang Chao