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Vehicles Miles Traveled & Local CEQA Guidelines <br />June 18, 2019 <br />Page 2 <br />CEQA guidelines were revised to include thresholds specific to Santa Ana. Staff is proposing to <br />adopt the Vehicle Miles Traveled thresholds and include them as part of the Local CEQA <br />Guidelines. <br />Vehicle Miles Traveled Thresholds <br />VMT is the new metric for transportation analysis which focuses on the overall miles traveled by <br />vehicles within a region, resulting in automobile delay (Level of Service - LOS) that is no longer <br />used as criteria for determining a significant environmental effect under CEQA. This approach <br />has an added inherent emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. All cities in the State <br />of California are required to adopt new VMT thresholds through a public hearing process no later <br />than July 1, 2020. Therefore, Fehrs & Peers, an expert firm in VMT analysis, assisted in review <br />and development of appropriate VMT thresholds for Santa Ana to be fully compliant with 2018 <br />CEQA law (Exhibit 1). <br />Work study sessions on vehicle miles traveled were conducted with the Planning Commission <br />and the Environmental and Transportation Advisory Committee (ETAC) on February 25, 2019 <br />and March 12, 2019, respectively. In addition, community outreach meetings were conducted on <br />March 23 and 30, 2019. Vehicle Miles Traveled thresholds for Santa Ana have been incorporated <br />within the draft Local CEQA Guidelines. <br />As a result, automobile delay, as measured by LOS, generally no longer constitutes a significant <br />environmental effect under CEQA. Adopting VMT thresholds however, does not preclude the City <br />from using LOS analysis to comply with Congestion Management Plan requirements or to <br />conduct project specific transportation analysis. <br />Local CEQA Guidelines <br />CEQA requires public agencies to adopt specific objectives, criteria and procedures for <br />evaluating public and private projects that are undertaken or approved by such agencies. Best, <br />Best and Krieger (BBK) assisted the City of Santa Ana in preparing a set of Local CEQA <br />Guidelines that are in compliance with CEQA's requirements. These Guidelines reflect the <br />recent changes in the State CEQA Guidelines, relevant court opinions and implementation of <br />vehicles miles traveled as the metric for transportation impacts (Exhibit 2). <br />The Local Guidelines provide step-by-step procedures for evaluating projects prior to approval <br />including: <br />75D-2 <br />