Sustainable Communities Strategy - Bay Area

What’s at Stake

The passage of SB 375 in 2008 created an unprecedented opportunity to fundamentally change the paradigm of growth away from sprawl and towards walkable communities. The law’s centerpiece is the development of a “Sustainable Communities Strategy” (SCS), a regional blueprint for transportation, housing and land use that is focused on reducing driving and associated greenhouse gas emissions. This “SCS” will incorporate the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) that TransForm has influenced many times in the past. In our region, this will be called "Plan Bay Area."

TransForm is working with a host of partners to make sure the region achieves at least a 15% reduction in per-capita CO2 emissions. When combined with cleaner fuels and vehicles, this would help California meet AB 32 climate targets.

The SCS is also a chance, if done right, to meet other key regional goals: providing housing for people of all incomes, improving health through more physical activity, reducing the cost of transportation, and preserving open space.

While the opportunity is tremendous, there are also daunting challenges such as:

• a $25-plus billion shortfall just to operate and maintain our existing transit system;
• local governments that need funds to protect open space and focus growth around our existing infrastructure; and
• transportation models that are not sensitive to many critical strategies, like making walking or cycling safer.

Progress to date

Since 2010, TransForm has been working with social justice, public health, transportation, and environmental partners to make the SCS/RTP a model of transparency, performance, and equity, and to ensure that it achieves regional goals that will make the Bay Area a better place to live now and for the next 25 years. We have been working together to influence decisions by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and other regional agencies to develop the 2013 SCS.

The agencies' public process attempts to involve a broader range of stakeholders than ever before and balance input and influence from the regional and local levels (see timelines for 2011-12 and 2012-2013).

This has resulted in:

1. January 2011: Agencies adopts a strong set of performance targets
2. March 2011: Agencies release "Initial Vision Scenario" as starting point for conversations with local governments and Bay Area residents about about where new development should occur and how new long-term transportation investments can serve this new growth.
3. April 2011: MTC adopts "committed projects" policy that will reconsider many projects that would have previously been included without any further review. The final decision on this "committed projects policy" was much better than in previous years, even though it was not as good as we had hoped (see our blog posts for some history)
4. July 2011: Agencies release first draft of a One Bay Area Grant program, to use transportation funds to reward cities that do the most to plan and deliver sustainable and equitable development near transit. A program like this was one of the recommendations of TransForm's Strategic Investments for a Better Bay Area platform. See our comments on the draft program.
5. November 2011: MTC releases a first draft of the groundbreaking Project Performance Assessment of 80 of the largest projects being considered for inclusion in the 2013 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). (see February 2012 notes for further action!)
6. December 2011: When agencies analyze five different transportation-land use scenarios, NONE of them meet the greenhouse gas targets! See the agencies' analysis.
7. February 2012: based on a revised Project Performance Assessment (PPA), TransForm recommends projects to include and exclude from the RTP. MTC adopts guidelines for using the PPA that keep a focus on performance instead of politics.

As the process moves forward, the most important step is for the agencies to hear from you! The Bay Area, more than any other region, has the potential to develop a Sustainable Communities Strategy that sets a model for other regions, and eventually other states, to emulate.

What you can do: individuals

• Sign up for a series of calls of a Bay Area Regional Network (soon-to-be-renamed) to bring together health professionals, community members, and transportation experts from across the Bay Area to learn about how to influence transportation decisions.
• Stay up to date: see the embedded calendar below for information about upcoming meetings throughout the region. Keep an eye on MTC's Planning Committee for their actions on the RTP (see MTC's meeting calendar for notices).
• Contact your MTC Commissioner and speak out: ask them to support "Strategic Investments for a Better Bay Area", TransForm's platform for transportation funding in Plan Bay Area.
• Participate in TransForm's campaign for a better Bay Area by contacting Jeff Hobson.

What you can do: organizations

• Endorse the "Strategic Investments for a Better Bay Area" platform developed by a wide range of groups along with TransForm.
• Send a representative to the working groups TransForm and others are convening on transportation issues in the SCS/RTP: the Bay Area Regional Network (soon-to-be-renamed), contact Manolo González-Estay for the regionwide group or the TransForm staff person active in your county.

Resources

• TransForm's blog on regional transportation issues.
• TransForm's explanation of how SB 375 works.
• Detailed information about the regional targets set by the California Air Resources Board.
• December 2009 memo from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission describing how SB 375 will impact planning in the Bay Area.
• Find out how SB 375 is being implemented statewide and in other regions.
• Confused by all the jargon? Check out the agencies' useful Glossary.

For more information, contact Jeff Hobson.