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In 2013, SB 743 established a new way to measure the pollution caused by cars’ carbon emissions, Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), whereas in the past, Levels of Service (LOS) was the measurement used.
LOS was used to look at the congestion of cars traveling in a given area; the shift to VMT made it so that carbon emissions were instead measured by how far people were driving.
According to a presentation by City of Fresno staff, SB 743’s new standard would force development projects, transportation projects, general plans and even specific plans to consider VMT.
In the presentation, officials laid out a proposal that would ask developers to bring their proposed project before the Fresno Council of Governments (COG) to receive a VMT score based on vehicle miles per person, per day.
If a developer’s proposed project were to have a VMT score over the city’s threshold of 15 miles per person, per day, the developer would be charged a fee. Developers could potentially reduce their score and the fee using the city’s Urban Design Calculator and adding things like electric vehicle charging stations and bike racks
After the presentation, city council members, staff and developers all still had questions and comments regarding the proposed program.
President and CEO of Granville Homes, Darius Assemi, says the Urban Design Calculator does not always allow developers to bring down VMT scores enough to make affordable homes and neighborhoods.
“We just need the flexibility for larger projects,” Assemi said.
According to Assemi, developments in the “core” of the city have VMT scores that are at or near zero. But the farther away from Highway 99 a project is, the higher the VMT fee would have to be for developers.
Assemi says that could be detrimental to some first-time home buyers.
“Some of the fees are actually upwards of $12,000,” Assemi said. “Which, for a middle-class home buyer, is going to be very, very difficult to absorb.”
According to the Managing Director of Mobility at LSA Associates, Ambarish Mukherjee, it’s actually easier for larger projects, like those that Assemi suggested, to self-mitigate and reduce their VMT score.
“Because for larger projects you can create a mix of land uses,” Mukherjee said. “You can have some single-family, some multi-family, some retail, some office [developments] all mixed into one.”
Mukherjee says the problem is when developers don’t take advantage of mixed land use.
“[When] we are building 500 homes and 1000 homes in the suburban area with nothing around it, then you have a longer trip planned, and longer VMT,” Mukherjee said.
According to City Planner Jennifer Clark, the discrepancy between city councilmembers, staff, and developers lies in what happens once the city decides that a developer has to pay a fee.
“You cannot do your own Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to wipe it out,” Clarke said.
City Manager Georgeann White further clarified that developers like Assemi could potentially not be charged a fee whatsoever, but that everything is still up in the air.
“Let’s say ultimately [city council members] say ‘we don’t want to do a program.’ Well, then that just means that for every project, the builder will have to do a program EIR,” White said. “That takes some time and money.”
City Council President Mike Karbassi said on Thursday after much back and forth from more members of city council that the conversation was “actually a good thing.”
“We’re considering all the implications,” Karbassi said. “I believe there’s a path forward. But we should allow time for city council to have debate and meet with staff.”
Karbassi says the city council’s ultimate goal is to “meet the spirit of the original law while not passing on costs to new homeowners.”
The city council is expected to revisit the proposal later this month after staff reviews councilmembers’ and developers’ concerns.
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