Lesarra and Traffic Capacity

Position paper paper #07-10 of the El Dorado Hills Citizens Alliance
Initial draft copy, 6/10/2007

Summary

Lesarra Attached Homes is requesting several changes to the Conditions of Approval for its Tentative Subdivision Map, TM04-1390. The effect of these changes would be to permit occupancy of Lesarra housing units prior to completion of offsite traffic mitigation measures required by its Conditions of Approval. The most important of the road system improvements in question are the responsibility of the County.

The Citizens Alliance is concerned that the Lesarra development may add about 500 trips per day to certain road segments before appropriate road system improvements are in place, and that this may violate General Plan Policy TC-Xa (Measure Y) provisions.

We strongly prefer that road system capacity and safety improvements be complete prior to the population growth that requires those improvements.

There may be an additional issue for the County in that it appears Lesarra construction has been permitted to proceed in violation of its Tentative Map Conditions of Approval with regard to timing of off-site road system improvements. The County may need to assess this compliance question, but the Citizens Alliance is concerned only with the need for timely road system improvements.


General Discussion

Lesarra construction currently is in progress. It appears to be sufficiently advanced that units may be ready for first occupancy within a few months. The most significant off-site traffic improvements required by the Tentative Map Conditions of Approval are:
Neither of these projects is in progress at the time these comments are written. It appears likely that they will not be completed prior to Lesarra's readiness for first occupancy.

The original Conditions of Approval would enforce the Citizens Alliance goal of having road system capacity and safety improvements in place prior to the need for them. The proposed changes may be inconsistent with that goal and with the General Plan unless El Dorado County can expedite the required road system work.


Detailed Discussion

Proposed changes to the Conditions of Approval involve significant changes to Condition 23 and Condition 28, and deletion of Condition 24.

Condition 24 relates to dedication of the currently constructed segment of Valley View Parkway to the County as a public road and provision for its maintenance by means of a Zone of Benefit. We understand that this is handled in connection with a different legal entity and should not be the responsibility of Lesarra Attached Homes. Deletion of Condition 24 seems appropriate.
The timing issues for relative pace of road system development and housing development are introduced by the proposed changes to Condition 23 and Condition 28.

The proposed wording for Condition 23 is:
  1. The following public roadway improvements shall be constructed or construction funding programmed and identified prior to the recordation of the final map. must be constructed and must be substantially complete, as determined by the Department of Transportation, prior to occupancy of any portion of the project. In addition, prior to commencement of construction for onsite project improvements, a public contract for the following public roadway improvements must be awarded and executed. (The following roadway improvements would be satisfied by construction of the public improvements required of West Valley Subdivision, TM 99-1359.)
     
    [section continues with descriptions of four specific sets of road system improvements]
We do not yet have confidence in El Dorado County's ability to deliver road system improvements as scheduled when construction funding is only "programmed and identified". Two examples for this concern are these projects, which we have checked as far back as the 1991 EDC DOT Capital Improvement Plan:
Until the County establishes a record of reliability in meeting early schedules we believe the appropriate way to clear population growth as reasonable in terms of traffic impacts is the "bird in the hand" technique. This is exactly what the original Conditions of Approval did.

The proposed amendment to Condition 28 is:
  1. A notice of restriction shall be placed on the property that provides that no occupancy of the residential units can occur prior to the required road improvements road improvements identified in Condition 23 d being substantially complete, as determined by the Department of Transportation. This notice pertains to all of the road improvement related conditions of approval that contain the timing requirement statement: "prior to occupancy of any of the project units".
Condition 23 d is a minor restriping requirement to be completed by the developer. All of the much more significant improvements in Conditions 23 a through 23 c are to be performed by the County. We certainly sympathize with the developer, under the original Conditions his schedule is in the hands of the County of El Dorado. However, the requested change essentially guts Condition 28, removing the County's projects from insuring that road capacity precedes traffic demand and we would prefer that this protection not be dropped. Those County projects supply nearly all of the improvements designated to mitigate Lesarra's traffic and safety impacts.


Relation to Measure Y (General Plan Policy TC-XA)

Measure Y, as embodied in General Plan Policy TC-Xa, has two sections that may be violated by addition of Lesarra traffic to existing traffic without road system capacity improvements. These are:
  1. Traffic from residential development projects of five or more units or parcels of land shall not result in, or worsen, Level of Service F (gridlock, stop-and-go) traffic congestion during weekday, peak-hour periods on any highway, road, interchange or intersection in the unincorporated areas of the county.
The segment of Latrobe Road between White Rock Road and US 50 is currently operating at its maximum capacity for buffering traffic between signals in the afternoon peak period. It is possible, if not likely, that addition of Lesarra traffic in the afternoon peak period could result in or worsen LOS F conditions on this road segment. At least three other road segments on White Rock and Latrobe could also be impacted to a lesser degree.
  1. Developer-paid traffic impact fees shall fully pay for building all necessary road capacity improvements to fully offset and mitigate all direct and cumulative traffic impacts from new development upon any highways, arterial roads and their intersections during weekday, peak-hour periods in unincorporated areas of the county.
This requires by reference that "all direct and cumulative impacts from new development" be mitigated, without regard to the standards relating to a specific Level Of Service (LOS F). It seems clear that addition of about 500 trips per day would add direct impacts to V/C on segments of White Rock Road, Latrobe Road, and US 50.

Have the existing Conditions of Approval already been violated?

The Citizens Alliance is not actually concerned about anything except the relative timing of road capacity growth and population growth, but having noted a circumstance that appears to be a violation it would be appropriate to be sure the Planning Commission is aware of it.

As of Friday, June 8th, the County Department of Transportation was receiving bids for the work on Latrobe Road but had not yet awarded a contract. On the same day a visual check from Valley View Parkway showed that Lesarra construction was in progress, and construction of improvements probably had begun earlier this year. Condition 23 as currently in effect states "...prior to construction of onsite project improvements, a public contract for the following roadway improvements must be awarded and executed", with a key part f that work being the Latrobe Road projects.

As of June 8th construction was in progress and one or more contracts had not been awarded or executed. This is clearly in conflict with Condition 23.