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Amendments to the Master Plan of Arterial Highways Page 4 <br />Amendment to the MPAH require a review of the potential circulation implications <br />of the change. The City utilized the General Plan Update Program Environmental <br />Impact Report (PEIR)-Traffic Impact Study (TIS) for the MPAH amendment <br />process. The TIS reviews existing and future traffic conditions of the current <br />general plan and of the proposed land use and circulation element updates. <br />Additional analysis was completed that focused on the identification of the <br />impacts and mitigations associated with the changes to the MPAH, as opposed <br />to the overall General Plan Update evaluated by the PEIR. The City plans to <br />adopt the General Plan Update and PEIR in late fall 2020. The proposed MPAH <br />amendments are recommended for conditional approval by the Orange County <br />Transportation Authority (OCTA) Board of Directors (Board) contingent on <br />compliance with the MPAH Guidance, and additional terms identified in the <br />Recommendations. <br />Discussion <br />The 17 segments proposed for reclassification would result in a reduction of <br />approximately 30 existing lane miles. Deletions and downgrades on the MPAH <br />may be allowed if the increased traffic volumes in the affected agencies do not <br />result in the unmitigated peak -hour intersection impacts (Guidance for <br />Administration of the MPAH, Section 4.0 MPAH Amendment Policies). If impacts <br />to the MPAH system are identified as a result of the proposed amendment, <br />approval of an amendment may be subject to the execution of a memorandum <br />of understanding (MOU) between OCTA and affected agencies, which specify <br />roles and responsibilities for implementation of any identified mitigations. The <br />TIS analyzed 105 intersections with 18 identified that could be impacted due to <br />the MPAH amendment request (Attachment C). Of the 18 impacted <br />intersections, four are located outside the City in the following jurisdictions: <br />City of Fountain Valley (1), City of Orange (1), and the City of Tustin (2). <br />The City proposed a draft mitigation program to ensure that mitigations for <br />impacted intersections, if needed in the future, would be implemented. The <br />program would fully mitigate impacts at eight intersections (including the <br />four intersections outside of the City) and partially mitigate impacts at <br />two intersections. Feasible mitigations could not be developed at the remaining <br />eight impacted intersections, all located within the City, due to right-of-way needs <br />for proposed complete streets projects. The TIS also identified potential <br />significant impacts to an additional five intersections due to the City's proposed <br />Land Use Element Update. These impacts are not associated with the change <br />to the MPAH; therefore, they are excluded from the MPAH amendment process. <br />