AgdaPkt 2020-09-14 Amended Joint SA PFA

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6.C. - Page 2 of 8 On August 26, 2019, the City Council approved Amendment No. 2 to the Professional Service Agreement with ESA in the amount of $115,737 to prepare the Response to Comments/Final EIR to address comments raised during review of the Draft EIR for the project and evaluate revisions to the project made by the applicant to reduce the square footage of the project. The project was reduced from 1,144,748 square feet of commercial office and an additional 35,000 square -foot amenities building to 765,150 square feet of commercial office, a 35,000 square -foot amenities building and a 'community commons' building of approximately 20,000 square feet. ANALYSIS Public Resources Code section 21099 (commonly known as SB 743) approved in 2013 directed the Office of Planning and Research to develop guidelines for assessing transportation impacts based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT). SB 743 provides that upon certification of implementing guidelines by the Natural Resources Agency, "automobile delay, as described solely by level of service [LOS] or similar measures of vehicular capacity or traffic congestion shall not be considered a significant impact on the environment". Section 15064.3 of the CEQA Guidelines, adopted in 2018 to implement SB 743, provides that, except for roadway capacity projects, "a project's effect on automobile delay shall not constitute a significant environmental impact under CEQA". Further, the SB 743 guidelines specify that generally, VMT is the most appropriate measure of transportation impacts. The guidelines applied statewide beginning July 1, 2020. In a recent court opinion certified for publication on December 18, 2019, Citizens for Positive Growth & Preservation v. City of Sacramento, 43 Cal.App.Sth 609 (2019), the Third District Court of Appeals ruled that the provision of SB 743 stating that automobile delay is not a significant environmental impact began to apply when Guideline 15064.3 took effect. As a result, the applicable law at the time of the court's decision was that automobile delay cannot be treated as significant environmental impact. Although the Draft EIR was released for public comment on January 16, 2019, and the public comment period ended on March 8, 2019, the aforementioned court case means LOS cannot be considered an environmental impact under CEQA. For this reason, the traffic analysis for the Harbor View EIR must be updated to include a full VMT analysis. The Draft EIR included VMT for informational purposes that will be revised and updated to provide a CEQA level analysis. FISCAL IMPACT Amendment No. 3 is a not to exceed amount of $24,355 for an aggregate total of $550,082. The project is a 'cost recovery' project: the costs associated with the original agreement and the amendments will be paid by the City through a deposit account funded by the project applicant. There is sufficient budget in 204 63210 to cover the contract increase of $24,355. Any expenditures from the General Fund would be replenished from the cost recovery accounts. Page 2 of 3 City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore 222