VMT Metrics Policy Application & Technical Analysis for SB 743 Compliance

Dates: November 3-4, 2021

Meets: W and Th from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Location: SpringHill Suites, Sacramento Airport

Sorry, we are no longer accepting registrations for this course. Please contact our office to find out if it will be rescheduled, or if alternative classes are available.

This class is offered in partnership with the California Department of Transportation, Division of Local Assistance. Registration fees are subsidized with funding from the Cooperative Training Assistance Program. Reduced rates are available to employees of California's city, county, regional, and other public agencies only.

Credits

This course grants 1.6 CEUs and 16 AICP CM credits. (AICP CMs pending approval)

Description

The course will examine the origins of changing the transportation metric from level of service (LOS) to vehicle-miles-of-travel (VMT). We will discuss VMT and its relationship to climate change impacts; the legislative history of VMT in California, including Senate Bills (SBs) 375 and 743; and an overview of the new CEQA Guidelines update. We will also discuss means by which local agencies can continue to address the issue of traffic congestion outside of the CEQA process.

OPR has selected vehicle-miles-of-travel VMT as the preferred metric to comply with SB 743. The recommended changes to the CEQA Guidelines include a Technical Advisory that provides recommendations about VMT screening, methodology, and thresholds. These recommendations require fundamental changes in current transportation impact analysis practices and have implications for transportation planning as part of general plans and regional transportation plans. This course will explain the technical details of how to address these changes and include detailed step-by-step flow-chart explanations of how to analyze land use projects, transportation projects, land use plans (e.g., general plans), and regional transportation plans under SB 743.

Click here for a detailed outline.

Topics Include

  • What is vehicle miles travelled (VMT)?
  • VMT and its relationship to greenhouse gas emissions
  • The legislative evolution of VMT
    • SB 375 - Sustainable Communities Strategy
    • SB 743 - mandate to update the CEQA Guidelines
  • The CEQA Guidelines
    • Role of the Guidelines
    • OPR's task to update the CEQA Guidelines
    • The underlying philosophy - encourage infill, discourage sprawl
    • What the CEQA Guidelines say
    • OPR's technical advisory
  • Is LOS still a thing?
    • Exception for "roadway capacity projects"
    • Local development standards to limit congestion take the place of CEQA mitigation
    • Local traffic impact ordinances can live on
  • Role of VMT in environmental impact analysis versus transportation planning
  • VMT estimation and forecasting methods
    • Data and models
    • Project versus cumulative analysis
    • Differences in methods for energy, air quality, GHG, and transportation impacts
    • Induced Travel
  • Role of the ARB's Mobile Source Strategy in establishing substantial evidence for significance thresholds
  • Role of RTPs and general plans in setting significance thresholds
  • Mitigation sources, strategies, and limitations

What You Will Learn

This class will provide attendees with a background of CEQA's VMT traffic metric, including an understanding of the origins of the new traffic metric; a discussion of the new CEQA Guidelines provisions on VMT, including an introduction to the OPR technical advisory; and suggestions on how local agencies can adapt so that concerns about congestion and traffic impact fee programs can be addressed outside of CEQA. Students will obtain a rich set of practical information to help them navigate SB 743 compliance.
This will include how to estimate and forecast VMT using a variety of methods and what limitations apply; how to relate VMT reduction goals across technical topic areas including energy, air quality, greenhouse gases, and transportation; how to select the form of VMT that is most useful in measuring transportation impacts; how to select appropriate thresholds; and what constitutes substantial evidence to support these decisions.

Who Should Attend

This course is intended for planners, engineers, policy analysts, and CEQA practitioners, among others, in private or public practice who want to understand the technical details associated with SB 743 implementation and the fundamental changes in current transportation impact analysis practices. It will also provide a foundational understanding of the origins and underlying philosophy behind California's new VMT traffic metric.

For More Information

About our courses and credits, see our FAQ
About cancellations, refunds, and substitutions, see How to Enroll

Cancellation Policy

To cancel your registration and receive a refund less a $75 processing fee, you must notify TechTransfer at least five (5) working days before the course is scheduled to begin. Notifications must be made in writing and sent by email to registrar@techtransfer.berkeley.edu. We reserve the right to charge the full course fee if proper notification is not sent to TechTransfer. We don't offer refunds for classes with registration fees of $75 or less.

In lieu of canceling your registration, you have three additional options: you may (1) transfer your registration to another class, (2) receive a tuition credit for the total amount, useable toward a future class, or (3) send a substitute in your place. Please contact us at least 5 full working days before the class is scheduled to begin so we may process your request.

If you’ve registered for a self-paced class, you cannot receive a refund once you start the class.

We recommend you discuss any possible problems or online security issues with your IT person before you register for any online classes. If you are worried about connectivity issues, please contact the online training coordinator the week before the class to schedule a time to test your system. If you do not test your system and you have technical issues during a live online class, we will not provide a refund.

Or email us with your questions at registrar@techtransfer.berkeley.edu
Or call us at 510-643-4393

Notes:

For all in-person classes, we will meet or exceed recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the California Department of Public Health, and guidance from the University of California, Berkeley regarding events, as well as any local health department directives from the jurisdiction in which the class is located.

At this time, that means that in our classrooms physical distancing among class participants is not required. We will be providing and encouraging use of hand sanitizer and discouraging hand shakes. Regardless of less strict guidance and out of an abundance of caution, we will continue to require all students and instructors to wear masks indoors, with these exceptions: (1) the instructor, while teaching and greater than 6' from others, and (2) anyone, while eating or drinking. We'll ask all students to agree to mask wearing when they register for in-person classes. If you do not agree to wearing a mask indoors for the duration of the class, please do not register for any in-person classes at this time.
Hours:16.00
CEUs:1.60

Fee Breakdown

CategoryDescriptionAmount
FeeCA Public Agency$ 395.00
Fee-AlternateStandard fee$ 790.00

SpringHill Suites, Sacramento Airport

2555 Venture Oaks Way
Sacramento, CA 95833
Click here for hotel information.

Ronald Milam

AICP, PTP, Director of Evolving the Status Quo, Fehr & Peers

Mr. Ronald T. Milam is a certified planner (AICP) and professional transportation planner (PTP) with more than 25 years of experience in all modes of surface transportation. His project assignments routinely involve CEQA legal defensibility while his research time is spent on big data applications, VMT analysis, multi-modal metrics, and land use/transportation interactions. His work on VMT analysis includes contributions to the FHWA Handbook for Estimating Transportation Greenhouse Gases for Integration into the Planning Process and the CAPCOA Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Measures plus direct consulting to OPR, Caltrans, MPOs, and local agencies on SB 743 implementation.


Antero Rivasplata

AICP, Technical Director, ICF International

Mr. Rivasplata, a Technical Director with ICF, specializes in preparing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documents for projects ranging from schools to general plans. He teaches training courses on CEQA and related topics at UC Davis Extension and UC Berkeley Tech Transfer. He was with the Governor's Office of Planning and Research from 1985 to 1998, including a stint as the chief of both the State Clearinghouse and the planning unit. He participated in drafting the 1998, 1997, and 1994 amendments to the CEQA Guidelines. He is the editor of the Environmental Assessor for the Association of Environmental Professionals and is a coauthor of the CEQA Deskbook, 3rd Edition.

Date Day Time Location
11/03/2021Wednesday8 AM to 5 PM SpringHill Suites, Sacramento Airport
11/04/2021Thursday8 AM to 5 PM SpringHill Suites, Sacramento Airport

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