Special Meeting of the Urban Transportation Commission Friday, July 10, 2020 Meeting to be held with physical distancing modifications Public comment will be allowed via telephone; no in-person input will be allowed. All speakers must register in advance (Thursday, July 9 by noon). All public comment will occur at the beginning of the meeting. To speak remotely at the July 10, 2020 Urban Transportation Commission meeting, residents must call or email the board liaison at (512) 974 2358 or emily.smith@austintexas.gov no later than noon on Thursday, July 9 and provide the following information: speaker name, item number(s) they wish to speak on, whether they are for/against/neutral regarding the item, and a telephone number or email address. Once a request to speak has been called in or emailed to the board liaison, residents will receive either an email or phone call providing the telephone number to call on the day of the scheduled meeting. Speakers must call in at least 15 minutes prior to meeting start in order to speak. Speakers will be placed in a queue until their time to speak. Late callers will not be accepted and will not be able to speak. Handouts or other information may be emailed to emily.smith@austintexas.gov by noon on Thursday, July 9. This information will be provided to Commission members in advance of the meeting. If this meeting is broadcast live, residents may watch the meeting at ATXN.tv URBAN TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION (UTC) FRIDAY JULY 10, 2020 – 10:00 AM VIA VIDEOCONFERENCING MEETING AGENDA CALL TO ORDER 2. NEW BUSINESS 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: JUNE 12, 2020 MEETING A. Street Impact Fee Study results and draft policy recommendation – Discussion and Possible Action Staff: Cole Kitten and Liane Miller, Austin Transportation 3. STAFF AND COMMITTEE REPORTS A. Downtown Commission C. Bicycle Advisory Council B. Joint Sustainability Commission D. Pedestrian Advisory Council E. City Council Mobility Committee F. Project Connect Advisory Network 4. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Note: These topics will NOT be discussed by the commission as part of this agenda A. Austin Community Climate Plan update (Staff; August) ADJOURNMENT The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. Meeting locations are planned with wheelchair access. If requiring Sign Language Interpreters or alternative formats, please give notice at least 2 days (48 hours) before the meeting date. Please …
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Urban Transportation Commission Recommendation 20200612-02C: Street Impact Fee Recommendations WHEREAS, the City of Austin is proposing to develop and implement a Street Impact Fee Program; and, WHEREAS, the City approved an updated city-wide transportation plan in 2019, the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan (ASMP), that expands the vision of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan into actionable mobility-related goals and objectives to guide Austin’s near- and long-term transportation investments; and, WHEREAS, the foremost goals of the ASMP are improving safety on our transportation network and significantly changing the City’s work commute mode split to be less reliant on single-occupancy vehicle trips; and, WHEREAS, the Central Texas region is anticipated to double its population and add two million residents in the next 20 years; and, WHEREAS, a Street Impact Fee Program has been advertised to impart a one-time charge to new developments to contribute to capital improvement projects and roadway expansions as designated in the ASMP; and, WHEREAS, the City hired a consultant to conduct a Street Impact Fee Study in August 2016, assist with technical analyses, and determine maximum impact fees; and, WHEREAS, a separate and unrelated study was conducted using connected vehicle trip data to determine average vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for each Street Impact Fee Zone, and it was determined that the discrepancy between the lowest and highest generating VMT zones was over five miles; and, WHEREAS, VMT is a direct measurement of the impact on a City’s roadway network; and, WHEREAS, the Street Impact Fee Study did not take into account or has not presented information related to more significant transportation and mobility metrics, such as VMT per trip or existing mode split, that would achieve the mode split and equity goals of the ASMP; and, WHEREAS, the City has yet to develop specific methodology for the incorporation of impact fees into the greater development assessment process as it relates to transportation; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Urban Transportation Commission recommends that, in order to meet the goals listed in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, set an example for best practices in transportation, and to provide a fair and accurate assessment of transportation network impacts as they relate to Street Impact Fees and development applications, the City should: 1 1. Conduct an audit and analysis of current development assessment process in tandem with the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan mode split and transportation goals for the …
Street Impact Fee Briefing: Study Results & Policy Recommendation Urban Transportation Commission July 10, 2020 Austin Transportation Department Overview • Recap – Impact Fees in Texas • Street Impact Fee Study Results • Staff Recommendation • Next Steps 2 Texas Local Government Code Chapter 395 • "Impact fee" means a charge or assessment imposed by a political subdivision against new development in order to generate revenue for funding or recouping the costs of capital improvements or facility expansions necessitated by and attributable to the new development. • Water, Wastewater, Stormwater, Roadways 3 Why Street Impact Fees? • Determining a method for growth to pay for necessary infrastructure in a way that is: • Equitable – the same type and intensity development pays equal fee within a Service Area • Predictable – can determine the fee without doing an intensive study • Transparent – a worksheet to calculate the fee would be publicly available • Flexible – fees collected can be spent within a Service Area on any projects identified in the study within 10 years of being collected • Ultimate purpose is to develop a fair and reasonable fee development should pay for vehicle capacity improvements 4 Example Developments Austin Development Round Rock+ Frisco+ Fort Worth+ Prosper+ Austin Mitigation/TIA 298 Apartments $86,288 $424,104 55,000 ft2 Office $317,388 $107,402 $631,164 $177,870 397,000 ft2 Office 46,700 ft2 Restaurant 250 Apartment 100 Room Hotel Single Family: 153 D.U. Office: 7,700 ft2 Retail: 7,700 ft2 $561,325 $1,566,632 $2,274,362 $260,000 $1,051,057 $624,023 $365,348 - $803,408 $216,315 - $475,915 $2,395,819 - $5,270,671 $375,130 - $785,925 $1,059,688 - $1,397,620 $214,005 - $282,260 $2,785,632 - $3,674,050 $761,045- $1,003,832 + Note: Comparison cities are collection rate. 5 LGC Chapter 395 Required Study • Project new growth for the next 10 years • Establish Service Areas within which a maximum impact fee is determined • Develop Land Use Assumptions and corresponding growth projections within each Service Area • Project corresponding roadway capacity needs (Roadway Capacity Plan) to accommodate that growth within each Service Area 6 Texas Law: CIP Definition • Roadway (Street) facilities means arterial or collector streets or roads that have been designated on an officially adopted roadway plan of the political subdivision, together with all necessary appurtenances. The term includes the political subdivision share of cost for roadways and associated improvements designated on the federal or Texas highway system, including local matching funds and costs related to utility …
Going the Extra Mile: Using Connected Vehicle Data to Study Commute Patterns in Relation to Impact Fees Aisling O’Reilly Transportation Planner WGI (512) 669-5560 aisling.oreilly@wginc.com 2021 East 5th Street, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78702 Dan Hennessey, PE, TE, PTOE Director of Transportation Services, Texas WGI 2021 East 5th Street, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78702 (512) 669-5560 dan.hennessey@wginc.com Jackson Archer Transportation Planner WGI 2021 East 5th Street, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78702 (512) 669-5560 dan.hennessey@wginc.com Submitted for 2020 TexITE Technical Paper Award: Abstract Word Count: 249 Word Count (including Abstract): 7,021 words (4,921 words and 10 figures/tables) ABSTRACT The City of Austin is considering the adoption of a street impact fee program, which would change the manner in which developers take responsibility for paying for their portion of growth on the City’s transportation network. In developing this program, the City split Austin into seventeen zones by which to determine the maximum impact fee that can be charged per state law. Using a day’s worth of vehicle trip data from connected vehicle data company Wejo, each zone’s vehicle miles traveled (VMT) data were assessed to determine the average length of trips during the morning commute period, evening commute period, and overall daily trip lengths. The purpose for these analyses was to determine if certain areas of the city showed drastically different VMT patterns than others and what that impact might be on street infrastructure. We found that specific zones characterized by low amounts of employment and housing, typically on the periphery of the city, consistently generated the highest average VMT, whereas central zones had the lowest average VMT. This ability to evaluate real-world data on travel patterns allows the City of Austin and other jurisdictions to consider VMT as a criterion for evaluating development, including the imposition of street impact fees. When developers choose to build in high impact zones (high average VMT), it may be appropriate for them to pay a higher proportion towards growth mitigation than low impact zones (low average VMT), depending on the jurisdiction’s priorities and the type of growth they hope to incentivize. 2 BACKGROUND Growth within a community can place a significant burden on its infrastructure, depending on the planning processes that have preceded the growth. One way that a jurisdiction can make that growth pay for itself is via impact fees. The foundation of impact fees is the idea that developers should share a portion …
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Urban Transportation Commission Recommendation 20200710-02A: Street Impact Fee Recommendations WHEREAS, the City of Austin is proposing to develop and implement a Street Impact Fee Program; and, WHEREAS, the City approved an updated city-wide transportation plan in 2019, the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan (ASMP), that expands the vision of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan into actionable mobility-related goals and objectives to guide Austin’s near- and long-term transportation investments; and, WHEREAS, the foremost goals of the ASMP are improving safety on our transportation network and significantly changing the City’s work commute mode split to be less reliant on single-occupancy vehicle trips; and, WHEREAS, the Central Texas region is anticipated to double its population and add two million residents in the next 20 years; and, WHEREAS, a Street Impact Fee Program has been advertised to impart a one-time charge to new developments to contribute to capital improvement projects and roadway expansions as designated in the ASMP; and, WHEREAS, the City hired a consultant to conduct a Street Impact Fee Study in August 2016, assist with technical analyses, and determine maximum impact fees; and, WHEREAS, a separate and unrelated study was conducted using connected vehicle trip data to determine average vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for each Street Impact Fee Zone, and it was determined that the discrepancy between the lowest and highest generating VMT zones was over five miles; and, WHEREAS, VMT is a direct measurement of the impact on a City’s roadway network; and, WHEREAS, the Street Impact Fee Study did not take into account or has not presented information related to more significant transportation and mobility metrics, such as VMT per trip or existing mode split, that would achieve the mode split and equity goals of the ASMP; and, WHEREAS, the City has yet to develop specific methodology for the incorporation of impact fees into the greater development assessment process as it relates to transportation; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Urban Transportation Commission recommends that, in order to meet the goals listed in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, set an example for best practices in transportation, and to provide a fair and accurate assessment of transportation network impacts as they relate to Street Impact Fees and development applications, the City should: 1. Conduct an audit and analysis of current development assessment process in tandem with the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan mode split and transportation goals for the future …
Urban Transportation Commission (UTC) Meeting Minutes Special Called Meeting 10 July 2020 The Urban Transportation Commission convened in a meeting on July 10, 2020 via videoconference. Commission Members in Attendance: Daniel Alvarado Mario Champion – Chair Kelly Davis Commission Members Absent: Athena Leyton Samuel Franco Daniel Hennessey – Vice Chair Alex Reyna Allie Runas Susan Somers Cynthia Weatherby Michael Wilfley CALL TO ORDER Champion called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: JUNE 12, 2020 REGULAR MEETING The June 12, 2020 minutes were approved as amended on a 7-0 vote with Leyton, Weatherby, and Wilfley absent and Runas not yet present. 2. NEW BUSINESS Action A. Street Impact Fee Study results and draft policy recommendation – Discussion and Possible Liane Miller, Austin Transportation, and Jeff Whitacre, Kimley-Horn, gave a presentation and addressed commissioner questions. Commissioner Hennessey proposed draft recommendation language which, after debate and amendment, read as follows: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Urban Transportation Commission recommends that, in order to meet the goals listed in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, set an example for best practices in transportation, and to provide a fair and accurate assessment of transportation network impacts as they relate to Street Impact Fees and development applications, the City should: 1. Conduct an audit and analysis of current development assessment process in tandem with the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan mode split and transportation goals for the future of Austin. a. Determine if current measures encourage desired outcomes for the City’s transportation network and growth. b. Consider revising development assessment process, including Transportation Impact Analysis process and methodology, to reflect priorities of the City (focus TIA recommendations on Transportation Demand Management and funding alternative modes to single occupancy vehicles, elimination of Level of Service (LOS) as a measurement of roadway capacity failure with a replacement of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)). c. Current discussion has only been about the addition of a Street Impact Fee, not about modification to the greater transportation policy and development assessment process. As presented, the policy provides “more predictability” by raising the floor of costs, not by also providing a clear and predictable ceiling or how this impact fee would change existing development assessment procedures. A complete policy with respect to transportation for development applications should be understood before the item is considered for approval by City Council. 2. Modify maximum street impact fees for all zones …
Urban Transportation Commission (UTC) Meeting Minutes Special Called Meeting 10 July 2020 The Urban Transportation Commission convened in a meeting on July 10, 2020 via videoconference. Commission Members in Attendance: Daniel Alvarado Mario Champion – Chair Kelly Davis Commission Members Absent: Athena Leyton Samuel Franco Daniel Hennessey – Vice Chair Alex Reyna Allie Runas Susan Somers Cynthia Weatherby Michael Wilfley CALL TO ORDER Champion called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: JUNE 12, 2020 REGULAR MEETING The June 12, 2020 minutes were approved as amended on a 7-0 vote with Leyton, Weatherby, and Wilfley absent and Runas not yet present. 2. NEW BUSINESS Action A. Street Impact Fee Study results and draft policy recommendation – Discussion and Possible Liane Miller, Austin Transportation, and Jeff Whitacre, Kimley-Horn, gave a presentation and addressed commissioner questions. Commissioner Hennessey proposed draft recommendation language which, after debate and amendment, read as follows: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Urban Transportation Commission recommends that, in order to meet the goals listed in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, set an example for best practices in transportation, and to provide a fair and accurate assessment of transportation network impacts as they relate to Street Impact Fees and development applications, the City should: 1. Conduct an audit and analysis of current development assessment process in tandem with the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan mode split and transportation goals for the future of Austin. a. Determine if current measures encourage desired outcomes for the City’s transportation network and growth. b. Consider revising development assessment process, including Transportation Impact Analysis process and methodology, to reflect priorities of the City (focus TIA recommendations on Transportation Demand Management and funding alternative modes to single occupancy vehicles, elimination of Level of Service (LOS) as a measurement of roadway capacity failure with a replacement of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)). c. Current discussion has only been about the addition of a Street Impact Fee, not about modification to the greater transportation policy and development assessment process. As presented, the policy provides “more predictability” by raising the floor of costs, not by also providing a clear and predictable ceiling or how this impact fee would change existing development assessment procedures. A complete policy with respect to transportation for development applications should be understood before the item is considered for approval by City Council. 2. Modify maximum street impact fees for all zones …
