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jmf 5/20/19 <br />RESOLUTION NO. 2019-049 <br />A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA <br />ANA ADOPTING "VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED" THRESHOLDS OF <br />SIGNIFICANCE FOR PURPOSES OF ANALYZING <br />TRANSPORTATION IMPACTS UNDER THE CALIFORNIA <br />ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT <br />WHEREAS, the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines ("CEQA <br />Guidelines") encourage public agencies to develop and publish generally applicable <br />"thresholds of significance" to be used in determining the significance of a project's <br />environmental effects; and <br />WHEREAS, CEQA Guidelines section 15064.7(a) defines a threshold of <br />significance as "an identifiable quantitative, qualitative or performance level of a particular <br />environmental effect, noncompliance with which means the effect will normally be <br />determined to be significant by the agency and compliance with which means the effect <br />normally will be determined to be less than significant'; and <br />WHEREAS, CEQA Guidelines section 15064.7(b) requires that thresholds of <br />significance must be adopted by ordinance, resolution, rule, or regulations, developed <br />through a public review process, and be supported by substantial evidence; and <br />WHEREAS, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15064.7(c), when adopting <br />thresholds of significance, a public agency may consider thresholds of significance <br />adopted or recommended by other public agencies provided that the decision of the <br />agency is supported by substantial evidence; and <br />WHEREAS, Senate Bill 743, enacted in 2013 and codified in Public Resources <br />Code section 21099, required changes to the CEQA Guidelines regarding the criteria for <br />determining the significance of transportation impacts of projects; and <br />WHEREAS, in 2018, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research ("OPR") <br />proposed, and the California Natural Resources Agency certified and adopted, new <br />CEQA Guidelines section 15064.3 that identifies vehicle miles traveled ("VMT") — <br />meaning the amount and distance of automobile travel attributable to a project — as the <br />most appropriate metric to evaluate a project's transportation impacts; and <br />WHEREAS, as a result, automobile delay, as measured by "level of service" and <br />other similar metrics, generally no longer constitutes a significant environmental effect <br />under CEQA; and <br />WHEREAS, CEQA Guidelines section 15064.3 goes into effect on July 1, 2020, <br />though public agencies may elect to be governed by this section immediately; and <br />Resolution No. 2019-049 <br />Page 1 of 5 <br />