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Transportation Department recommending the Board:
(1) Approve El Dorado County's continued participation in the regional transportation collaborative known as the Highway 50 Corridor Mobility Partnership and its efforts to create a funding strategy for regional transportation improvements intended to alleviate traffic congestion on Highway 50;
(2) Endorse the concept, contingent upon further Board action prior to implementation, for El Dorado County to participate in development of a regional funding strategy which may include financial commitment, through a regional fee, or an alternative funding strategy as approved by the Board; and
3) Provide direction to staff on parameters for participation in any regional funding strategy and considerations pertinent to fee collection and disbursement strategies in connection with governance options.
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Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this agenda item. There is no Net County Cost.
Background:
For over three years, County staff has been working with staff from the County of Sacramento, the City of Rancho Cordova and the City of Folsom as well as land owners and other transportation partners (Caltrans, SACOG and Sacramento Regional Transit) to develop strategies to improve mobility along the Highway 50 Corridor. This collaborative transportation planning effort is known as the Highway 50 Corridor Mobility Partnership (the "Partnership"), due to the joint involvement of public and private representatives.
On December 12, 2006, the Board took formal action to recognize this work and adopted Resolution # 431-2006 to support the Partnership's efforts to develop recommendations for transportation improvements that would address traffic generated by new development and would alleviate congestion along the Highway 50 Corridor. The Partnership's study area (and potential fee districts) encompasses new development areas south of Highway 50, spanning from Bradshaw on the western end and Silva Valley Parkway on the eastern end (See map, Exhibit B). Improvements recommended by the Partnership are between Sunrise Blvd. and Silva Valley Parkway.
The Partnership's recommendations, presented to the Board in December of 2006, identified Near-Term Priority road and transit improvements as shown in attached Exhibit A. From this list of improvements, agency staff from El Dorado County, Sacramento County, Rancho Cordova, and Folsom met on a regular basis to select a list of "first phase" improvements that could be included in a collaborative funding effort. A key criterion for including projects in the first phase of funding efforts was the ability to leverage local dollars for state or federal transportation funds, as well as direct and quantifiable benefits to each of the member agencies.
The Partnership's focus on using the regional collaborative effort to leverage state dollars already has proven to be an effective strategy. In 2007, the California Transportation Commission awarded $22 million in Corridor Mobility Improvement Act ("CMIA") funds for improvements within the County to widen and re-align White Rock Road. The Partnership members also supported the successful efforts of El Dorado County to obtain CMIA funding for Highway 50 HOV lanes.
El Dorado County has contributed $75,000 to the ongoing analytical efforts of the Partnership to identify regional improvement needs, benefits, costs and funding strategies. This $75,000 contribution represents the County's portion of the Partnership's costs up through the end of June 2008. Should your Board determine that ongoing participation in the Partnership is appropriate, a further contribution of funds in the order of $25,000 may be necessary. A future Board agenda item will be presented should such a contribution be expected.
Regional funding contribution concept: As previously stated, the Partnership has been working for the past few years to develop a program to improve the mobility along the Highway 50 Corridor by increasing the capacity of Highway 50, enlarging the capacity of parallel roads to Highway 50, improving transit opportunities, and upgrading local circulation, west of the Silva Valley Parkway interchange and generally south of the freeway. The goal of these improvements is to increase mobility within the Highway 50 Corridor transportation system between the future Silva Valley Parkway Interchange and the existing Sunrise Boulevard Interchange. Representatives of the Partnership have been providing briefings to various groups including a presentation to the County's TIM Fee Working Group.
The list of first phase improvements is the result of collaboration between the four public agencies and AKT, Elliott Homes, GenCorp Real Estate, and Carpenter Ranch. These four landowners hold the vast majority of undeveloped property in the fee study area.
The first phase of improvements are identified on Attachment C. Based upon traffic generation data, each of these improvements will provide direct benefits to residents and employees in the south western section of El Dorado County that is included in the fee study area (Attached Exhibit B).
The Partnership, working in cooperation with staff, has estimated the total dollar amount of the first phase of improvements to be $424,136,500. In order to develop an equitable and realistic funding package, and keeping in mind that the purpose of the regional fee is to be more competitive for state and local grant monies, the Partnership then estimated a regional fee contribution of 40%, or $168,964,500. (See Attached Exhibit D for assumptions as to other funding sources.) In other words, the regional fee would be used to leverage approximately $180 million in state/federal transportation dollars.
The technical studies prepared by the Partnership estimate El Dorado County's portion of the Near-Term Priority Improvements, based on traffic generated from and to the County, at approximately $37 million. However, the County's existing TIM fee program includes many of the same projects within the County's boundaries, and this duplication amounts to approximately $26 million. Therefore, there is a net amount of approximately $11 million that would be assigned to our County.
Staff and the Partnership recognize that adding to the fee burden in El Dorado County is likely infeasible, given the current level of transportation impact fees. Partnership members have worked with El Dorado County staff to identify a flexible approach, while still encouraging a contribution to the regional fee effort. Staff has developed one recommendation for consideration, and subject to Board endorsement of the regional fee concept, staff would take further steps to formally implement this recommendation (i.e., returning to the Board with a nexus study and implementing resolutions).
Staff recommends identifying the $11 million regional fee contribution as a project line item in the County's Fee Program - raising the program total cost from $942.9 to $953.9 million dollars. However, the Department would also propose that these additional costs would be covered with the surplus of "external agency funds" in the existing program so that there would be no increase in fees as a result of this addition.
A review of the development of the existing Fee Program assumed that the amount of "external agency funds" to be received in a 20-year horizon were $180.6 million. A portion of these external agency funds have been invested into the Fee program as follows (see attached Exhibit E Summary table):
The Department would recommend that $11 million of this $24.3 million be used to cover the increased program costs as a result of the regional program contribution leaving a remaining reserve balance of approximately $13.3 million (assuming only $180.6 million would be realized over the 20 year horizon).
Since the proposed Near-Term Priority improvements are all intended to reduce congestion on the Highway 50 Corridor, use of these funds for this purpose is appropriate. This proposal also allows this line item to be included in the fee program without having to raise the fees on building in the County. As with any other project included in the TIM fee program, no monies would be appropriated without further Board action.
Lastly, another required step for implementation of the proposed fee program is to determine the governance structure for the administration of the program. One option is for each agency to separately collect the funds and then pool resources for project construction. This will likely result in additional administrative costs and is not the recommended course of action. At the Board presentation, staff and consultants will identify other governance options for the Board. The Board will be asked to provide input and guidance into the governance issues so that the parameters for El Dorado County's participation in any regional governance structure can be clearly understood and implemented.
Action to be taken following Board approval:
(1) Approve the continued participation in the 50 Corridor Mobility Partnership and its efforts to create a funding strategy for Regional Transportation Improvements, and
(2) Approve in concept, contingent upon further Board action prior to implementation, El Dorado County's support of and participation in a regional funding strategy which may include a specified level of contribution, participation in a regional fee, or some other strategy.
Contact:
Richard W. Shepard,
Director of Transportation
Concurrences: