REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: JENNIFER CLARK, Director
Planning & Development Department
THROUGH: ASHLEY ATKINSON, Assistant Director
Planning & Development Department
BY: SOPHIA PAGOULATOS, Planning Manager
Planning & Development Department
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to the VMT Mitigation Program:
1. Approve the Fourth Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement with LSA Associates, Inc., extending the contract performance date to September 30, 2025, with no additional funding.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends City Council approve the fourth amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement with LSA Associates, Inc. to extend the contract performance period to September 30, 2025, with no additional funding.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Planning and Development Department proposes to amend the existing consultant services agreement between the City of Fresno and LSA Associates, Inc. extending the contract performance period to September 30, 2025, with no additional funding.
BACKGROUND
Pursuant to Senate Bill 743, the City Council adopted Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) thresholds in June of 2020. A VMT Reduction Program has been developed since that time to provide a consistent method of VMT mitigation for development projects. The program consists of the following two components, which can be used in combination or separately:
1. An Urban Design Calculator (UDC), which estimates potential VMT reductions for development projects through incorporation of various design elements; and
2. A mitigation fee (supported by a nexus study) and mitigation bank, which would be used to fund VMT-reducing projects throughout the City of Fresno.
The City Council authorized LSA to conduct an Environmental Impact Report of the Program in July of 2023. The purpose of the EIR is to provide CEQA coverage at the programmatic level, so that individual development projects will not be required to do EIR’s to cover potential VMT impacts. This will streamline development of projects that would have VMT impacts. The absence of a General Plan PEIR to utilize for tiering has required additional time to ensure legal defensibility for this unique program, one of the first in the state. An additional level of legal and technical review is required to ensure adequacy of the impact analysis sections and related significance determinations for each of the 18 resource topic areas discussed in the EIR.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
Approval of this contract amendment is not a project for the purposes of CEQA Guidelines section 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not implemented because this item is an amendment to an existing contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
No additional funding is being requested.
Attachments:
LSA Consultant Service Agreement Fourth Amendment
LSA Original Consultant Service Agreement with Amendments