Title
Update the Transportation Mobility Element of the Comprehensive Plan for the Evaluation and Appraisal Process (B)
Petition PB-12-132 CPA. City Plan Board. Amend the City of Gainesville Comprehensive Plan Transportation Mobility Element for the Evaluation and Appraisal process.
Explanation
This petition is the update of the Transportation Mobility Element for the Evaluation and Appraisal process. The update focuses primarily on changes needed for compliance with House Bill 7207 (Chapter Law 2011-139), which resulted in many changes to Florida's growth management laws. It will be packaged later in ordinance form for transmittal in April 2013 with other Comprehensive Plan elements.
Some of the major changes in the legislation included: making transportation concurrency optional and striking all references to Transportation Concurrency Exception Areas (TCEAs) from state statutes. The City's Transportation Mobility Element contains numerous references to the TCEA, transportation concurrency, and levels of service used to apply transportation concurrency.
Exhibit A-1 in the backup contains the revised Goals, Objectives and Policies for the Transportation Mobility Element. Exhibits B-1 through B-8 are maps to be adopted with the Element. The primary changes being made to the Transportation Mobility Element include:
1. Addition of new level of service (LOS) standards that reflect use of LOS for planning purposes but not for the purpose of transportation concurrency or concurrency management. Transportation concurrency is being rescinded as part of the Evaluation and Appraisal update.
2. Policy deletions, updates, and re-wording that reflect changed conditions since the last adoption of the Element.
3. Inclusion of a new Transportation Mobility Program that is largely based on the principles established in the former Concurrency Management Element and TCEA that tied land use, development, and transportation planning together to support a multi-modal transportation system. In 2012, staff provided alternatives to the Plan Board and City Commission concerning transportation concurrency and the TCEA. The staff recommendation was to rescind transportation concurrency as part of the update of the Comprehensive Plan and to replace the TCEA with a citywide transportation mobility plan. Both the Plan Board and the City Commission supported this recommendation (see Legistar #120284). Related Petition PB-12-133 CPA shows the entire Concurrency Management Element Goals, Objectives, and Policies as strike-through.
4. Updates/renaming of several maps, and addition of new maps to the Element (see Exhibits B-1 through B-8 in the backup).
5. Deletion of some maps that are no longer necessary under the revised legislation (see Exhibit C-1 in the backup).
6. An updated Transportation Mobility Element Data & Analysis Report (see Exhibit D-1 in the backup) that includes tables showing existing and projected level of service information for roadways and a new map showing the Transportation Mobility Plan Area Zones. The Data & Analysis Report will not be adopted as part of the Element update.
Public notice was published in the Gainesville Sun on November 15, 2012. The Plan Board held a public hearing on December 3, 2012 and continued the item to the December 12, 2012 Plan Board meeting. The Plan Board discussed the Petition on December 12, 2012 and approved it with a vote of 6-0.
Subsequent to the December 12, 2012 Plan Board meeting, the City Public Works Department provided additional review comments. Most of the comments involved clarifications of policies or corrections of scrivener's errors. Planning and Development Services staff supports these changes for inclusion in the Goals, Objectives and Policies. These changes are all reflected in Exhibit A-1. The original text of the Goals, Objectives and Policies as presented to the Plan Board on December 12, 2012 is shown in Exhibit E-1.
Fiscal Note
The new Transportation Mobility Program will provide a funding source for new transportation facilities similar to the way that the old TCEA provided funding.
Recommendation
City Plan Board to City Commission: The City Commission approve Petition PB-12-132 CPA. Plan Board vote 6-0.
Staff to City Commission: Approve Petition PB-12-132 CPA with Public Works revisions as incorporated in Exhibit A-1.
Staff to the Plan Board: Approve Petition PB-12-132 CPA.