BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 468
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 468 (Kehoe)
As Amended August 31, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :24-15
TRANSPORTATION 9-2 NATURAL RESOURCES 5-1
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Chesbro, Brownley, |
| |Jeffries, Blumenfield, | |Dickinson, Huffman, |
| |Bonilla, Buchanan, Eng, | |Monning |
| |Galgiani, Norby, | | |
| |Portantino | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Achadjian, Miller |Nays:|Knight |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | |
| |Bradford, Charles | | |
| |Calderon, Campos, Davis, | | |
| |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, | | |
| |Mitchell, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | |
| |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Sets forth comprehensive requirements and accompanying
authority for development of the North Coast Corridor Project
(NCCP) in and near the Interstate 5 (I-5) corridor in San Diego
County. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes findings and declarations regarding issues related to
development of the NCCP in the coastal zone.
2)Defines key terms, including:
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a) "8+4 Buffer Alternative" to mean the addition of a
multimodal managed lane facility consisting of two lanes on
either side of I-5 within the North Coast Corridor,
separated from general purpose lanes and, to the maximum
extent feasible, built within existing rights-of-way owned
by the Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
High-occupancy vehicles (HOVs), vanpools, and one or more
bus rapid transit routes will have priority in the managed
lanes. Furthermore, value pricing techniques will allow
single-occupant vehicles to use the facility by paying a
toll, as long as single-occupant vehicle use does not
negatively impact the transit uses of the managed lanes;
the 8+4 buffer alternative is one of the five different
alternatives identified in the draft environmental impact
report/draft environmental impact statement for the
expansion of vehicle capacity on I-5; and,
b) "Public works plan" to mean a plan that allows for an
integrated regulatory review by the California Coastal
Commission (Commission) rather than a project-by-project
approval approach.
3)Provides that a public works plan approved for the NCCP within
the coastal zone must include all of the elements of the
project to be carried out by Caltrans or the San Diego
Association of Governments (SANDAG), including projects
related to coastal access, highway, transit, multimodal
transportation, community enhancement, and environmental
restoration and mitigation; sets forth specific conditions
that the public works plan must satisfy.
4)Provides that once the public works plan for the NCCP has been
approved and certified by the Commission, subsequent review by
the Commission for specific projects will be limited to
imposing conditions necessary to ensure consistency with the
public works plan.
5)Sets forth comprehensive requirements that the public works
plan must satisfy, including providing a process for obtaining
coastal development permits, identifying specific project
elements, and establishing mitigation measures to be
undertaken by SANDAG and Caltrans.
6)Requires Caltrans and SANDAG, for all elements of the NCCP
that are in the coastal zone, to comply with specific
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requirements, including:
a) Collaborate with stakeholders;
b) Establish a safe routes to transit program;
c) Recommend an alternative no larger than the 8+4 buffer
alternative as the preferred alternative for I-5
improvements;
d) Plan and construct concurrent lagoon crossings, unless
construction in phases will result in environmentally
superior alternative to concurrent construction;
e) Construct concurrent highway and transit projects; and,
f) Use revenue from the voter-approved transaction and use
tax, commonly referred to as TransNet, to fund improvements
on the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) rail
corridor.
7)Directs the Commission, Caltrans, and SANDAG to work
cooperatively toward completing all design reviews,
determinations, and permitting for the NCCP.
8)Makes legislative findings that the Commission's role in this
project is to apply a regional or statewide perspective and
authorizes a streamlined process related to local coastal
programs.
9)Sets forth other parameters to guide the project through the
environmental process.
10)Requires Caltrans to suspend any notice of determination
issued this calendar year until the project's environmental
documents are deemed consistent with provisions of this bill.
11)Provides that this bill's provisions are not to be construed
to supersede or in any way lessen the effect or application of
the California Coastal Act or to narrow the authority of the
California Coastal Commission to resolve policy conflicts.
12)Authorizes SANDAG to conduct, administer, and operate a value
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pricing and transit development program in the I-5 corridor;
directs any excess revenue to be used directly in the I-5
corridor exclusively for the improvement of transit service
and for HOV facilities.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Coastal Act to protect, maintain,
and, where feasible, enhance and restore the overall quality
of the coastal zone environment and ensure an orderly,
balanced utilization and conservation of coastal zone
resources, taking into account the social and economic needs
of the people of the state.
2)Establishes the Commission and vests it with regulatory
authority for development projects in the coastal zone.
3)Identifies California's coastal zone as the area that
generally extends 1,000 yards inland from the mean high tide
line. In significant coastal estuarine habitat and
recreational areas, it extends inland to the first major
ridgeline or five miles from the mean high tide line,
whichever is less. In developed urban areas, the boundary is
generally less than 1,000 yards.
4)Authorizes public works plans to promote greater efficiency
for the planning of any public works as an alternative to
project-by-project review for projects in the coastal zone.
5)Authorizes SANDAG to conduct, administer, and operate
high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on up to two transportation
corridors in San Diego County.
6)Prohibits the Legislature from enacting legislation containing
specific individual transportation projects.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the bill will likely result in the need for
additional upfront resources at Caltrans (likely exceeding
$150,000) for coordination activities related to completion of
the public works plan. Caltrans would also incur costs of
around $100,000 to support development of the mandated safe
routes to transit program. To the extent the framework and
processes established in this bill help to expedite individual
projects over the life of the NCCP, the state should realize
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significant administrative and capital outlay cost savings.
Any costs to the Commission should be absorbable.
COMMENTS : The NCCP is a 27-mile long series of projects located
generally along the LOSSAN rail corridor and the I-5 corridor in
San Diego County.
The LOSSAN rail corridor is the second busiest intercity rail
corridor in the nation supporting commuter, intercity, and
freight rail services. The 351-mile rail corridor stretches
from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, connecting major metropolitan
areas of Southern California and the Central Coast. Train
operations on the line include Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner, the
Southern California Regional Rail Authority's Metrolink, the
North County Transit District's COASTER and SPRINTER passenger
rail services, and Union Pacific and BNSF Railway freight rail
services.
The 60-mile San Diego segment of the LOSSAN rail corridor
extends from the Orange County line to the Santa Fe Depot in
downtown San Diego. The segment passes over six coastal
lagoons, Camp Pendleton, and the cities of Oceanside, Carlsbad,
Encinitas, Solana Beach, and Del Mar before coming to its final
destination in downtown San Diego. Approximately 50 trains
operate each weekday on the segment south of Oceanside.
During the next 20 years, SANDAG plans to construct nearly $820
million in improvements in the San Diego County section of the
corridor, including a primary effort to double track the
corridor from Orange County to downtown San Diego. To date,
approximately half of the San Diego corridor has been double
tracked. Other planned infrastructure improvements include
bridge and track replacements, new platforms, pedestrian
undercrossings, and other safety and operational enhancements.
Along the same corridor, proposed capacity-adding improvements
to I-5 include the proposed 8+4 buffer alternative, providing a
multimodal managed lane facility. Improvements are expected to
be paid for by a combination of federal, state, and local funds,
including revenue from TransNet, a voter-approved one-half cent
sales tax to fund transportation projects throughout San Diego
County. The tax was originally approved in 1987 as a 20-year
program and was extended by the voters in 2008, until 2048.
This extension is expected to generate approximately $14 billion
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to be distributed among highway, transit, and local road
projects to reduce traffic congestion in San Diego County.
According to the author, the NCCP is unprecedented in its scope,
bulk, and scale within San Diego County and has statewide
significance because of its sheer size, the estimated cost (up
to $4.5 billion), the greenhouse gas emissions that would be
generated from a freeway-based approach to improving mobility,
and the number of homes and businesses that could be lost
depending upon which alternative is selected. The author has
introduced this bill to ensure Caltrans and SANDAG provide
alternatives to reduce current and future congestion and to meet
the long-term transportation needs for the I-5 North Coast
Corridor, rather than simply proposing to construct wider
freeways to get through the next 40 years.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0002404