06 - Laserfiche WebLink

Proposed requirement Owners of multi-family housing would provide to each dwelling unit a pass for local bus transit for unlimited local travel for a period of six months. For rental apartments the property owner would provide this benefit for a period of 15 years each time a unit is leased or rented. For condominiums the project developer would provide the transit benefit to buyers only at the initial sale of each unit. Analysis Both TR1-6 and TDM2-7 prescribe discounted or free transit passes to decrease auto dependency by incentivizing transit ridership. In many California cities, transit amenities have been applied to residential projects in the form of discounts or passes of limited duration. This is usually done through a special transit agency program such as ECO Passes, as part of a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program, through a condition of project approval, or under the administration of a transportation management association. An excellent example of a transit amenity is Hacienda's ECO Pass program which enables all of the park's employees and affiliated residents to ride the local Wheels buses for free seven days a week, 365 days a year. Specific mandates in municipal codes for transit subsidies are uncommon, although this may change as California cities strive for more sustainable development. The City of Berkeley's zoning regulations require that a transit benefit be provided in the downtown area to residents and employees for all projects over 20,000 square feet. This is combined with very low parking ratios. Also, the City of Santa Monica is currently developing a specific plan around a new transit station that will require residential developers to proved transit subsidies in perpetuity. Although there are language differences between Action TR1-6 and TDM2-7, they share the intent of providing transit incentives for residents near transit, so the objective of this proposed code amendment is to develop one simple regulation to satisfy both actions. To resolve differences in language, staff and the Planning Commission subcommittee for CAP implementation made the following determinations: e Funding source. TR1-6 recommends that discounted transit passes be provided as an HOA amenity. Not all new residential developments will have an HOA; some will be rental apartments. And, for those that do have HOAs the City does not have the authority to mandate that homeowners who do not use transit subsidize those who do. Therefore it is recommended that the funding source for the transit benefit for ownership units (condominiums) be the owner of the project at the time of initial sale of the units. ® Interpretation of 'transit'. TR1-6 targets developments within 1/2 mile of transit, whereas TDM2-7 is targeted to developments within 1/4 mile of transit. In both cases 'transit' is interpreted to mean a BART station because they are at fixed locations where transit oriented development is encouraged, whereas bus stops and routes may change over time and, a large proportion of future higher density housing is likely to be close to the BART station environs as transit oriented development. The larger radius of 1/2 mile is recommended because it has the potential to capture more future projects. (See BART station proximity map, Exhibit B.) Case No. P14-0001, City of Pleasanton Planning Commission Page 3 of 7