Loading...
Caltrans - 04-SCL-2016-00350-VallcoSTATE OF CALIFORNIA—CALIFORNIA STATE TRANSPORTATION AGENCY EDMUND G. BROWN Jr.. Govemor DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT 4 OFFICE OF TRANSIT AND COMMUNITY PLANNING P.O. BOX 23660, MS -10D OAKLAND, CA 94623-0660 PHONE (510) 286-5528 FAX (510) 286-5559 TTY 711 www.dot.ca.gov February 28, 2018 Piu Ghosh Community Development Department City of Cupertino 10300 Torre Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 Vallco Special Area Specific Plan — Notice of Preparation Dear Piu Ghosh: Making Conservation a California Way of Life SCH # 2018022021 GTS # 04-SCL-2016-00350 GTS I.D. 1174 SCL-280- 8.35 Thank you for including the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in the environmental review process for the above referenced project. In tandem with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's (MTC) Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS), the Caltrans Strategic Management Plan 2015-2020 includes targets to reduce Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT), in part, by tripling bicycle and doubling both pedestrian and transit travel by 2020. Our comments are based on the Notice of Preparation (NOP). Additional comments may be forthcoming pending final review. Project Understanding The proposed project is located immediately south of Interstate (I-) 280 in the southwest and southeast quadrants of the I -280/S. Wolfe Road interchange. It would demolish an approximately 1.2 million square feet (sq. ft.) regional shopping mall and associated parking and construct a mixed-use commercial, residential, and office development with the following uses: • 625,000 sq. ft. of commercial and civic areas, including retail and entertainment uses, such as restaurants, a movie theater, an ice skating rink, bowling alley, health club and civic uses including a 10,000 -sq. ft. High School Innovation Center and a 5,000 -sq. ft. community center; • 800 residential units, including 680 market rate units, 80 below market rate units and 40 senior age -restricted units; • 2,000,000 sq. ft. of office uses; • A 30 -acre integrated green roof with public and private open space and recreational uses; • Two town squares, approximately 2.98 acres total; • Amenity space for residential and office uses; • Loading, facility and security management areas; "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability" Piu Ghosh, City of Cupertino February 28, 2018 Page 2 • Transit center; • Central plants; and • Associated underground, surface and structured parking for 9,175 vehicles. Vehicle Trip Reduction The project is in the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority City Cores, Corridors & Station Areas (Cupertino) Priority Development Area (PDA). PDAs are identified by the Association of Bay Area Governments as areas for investment, new homes and job growth within existing communities. They are the foundation for MTC's Plan Bay Area 2040 and sustainable regional growth. Additionally, the project site is best identified as Place Type 4: Suburban Communities (Corridors) in Caltrans' Smart Mobility 2010: A Call to Action for the New Decade. As such, location efficiency factors, such as community design are weak and regional accessibility varies. Given the project's intensification of use, the low transportation efficiency factors of its place type and its characterization as a PDA, all the measures listed below should be considered in the project's Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program to reduce VMT and greenhouse gas emissions. Such measures will be critical to facilitate efficient transportation access to and from the project location, reduce transportation impacts associated with the project, and promote smart mobility. • Project design to encourage walking, bicycling and transit access; • Incorporate the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's Bus Routes 23, 26, 81, and 323 into the project. These routes connect to the Capitol Corridor, Caltrain, VTA Light Rail, and ACE Forward and, as important connections to regional transit, the service should be evaluated at each phase of the project. • Transit fare incentives such as such as free or discounted transit passes on a continuing basis; • Bundled annual transit passes; • Real-time transit information system; • Bus stop furniture improvements such as shelters, trees and porticos; • Conveniently located bus stops near building entrances; • Transit, bicycle and trip planning resources such as a commute information kiosk; • Secured bicycle storage facilities located conveniently near entrances to minimize determent of bicycle use due to weather conditions; • Fix -it bicycle repair station(s); • Showers, changing rooms and clothing lockers for employees that commute via active transportation; • Ten percent vehicle parking reductions; • Parking cash out programs for the commercial uses; • Unbundled parking for the residential uses; • Charging stations and designated parking spaces for electric vehicles; • Carpool and clean -fuel parking spaces; "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability" Piu Ghosh, City of Cupertino February 28, 2018 Page 3 • Designated parking spaces for a car share program; • Incorporate affordable housing into the project; • Outdoor areas with patios, furniture, pedestrian pathways, picnic and recreational areas; • Emergency Ride Home program; • Transportation Demand Management coordinator; • Participation/Formation in/of a Transportation Management Association (TMA) in partnership with other developments in the area; and • Aggressive trip reduction targets with Lead Agency monitoring and enforcement. Transportation Demand Management programs should be documented with annual monitoring reports by an onsite TDM coordinator to demonstrate effectiveness. If the project does not achieve the VMT reduction goals, the reports should also include next steps to take in order to achieve those targets. Also, reducing parking supply can encourage active forms of transportation, reduce regional VMT, and lessen future transportation impacts on I-280 and other nearby State facilities. These smart growth approaches are consistent with the MTC's Regional Transportation Plan/SCS goals and would meet Caltrans Strategic Management Plan sustainability goals. For additional TDM options, please refer to the Federal Highway Administration's Integrating Demand Management into the Transportation Planning Process: A Desk Reference (Chapter 8). The reference is available online at: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop 12035/fhwahop 12035.pdf. System Operations Please provide trip generation, trip distribution, and trip assignment estimates for this project. To ensure that queue formation does not create traffic conflicts, project -generated trips should be provided with existing and future traffic volume scenarios for the following I-280 intersections and freeway ramps: • North bound (NB) Wolfe Road on-ramp; • NB Wolfe Road on-ramp; • NB Wolfe Road off -ramp intersection; • South bound (SB) Wolfe Road on-ramp; • SB Wolfe Road on-ramp; • SB Wolfe Road off -ramp intersection; • NB off ramp and Lawrence Expressway at Stevens Creek Blvd intersection; • SB off ramp to Stevens Creek Blvd intersection; • SB on ramp from Lawrence Expressway. To avoid traffic conflicts such as inadequate weaving distances, queues spilling back onto the freeway, and uneven lane utilization, the project should evaluate the adequacy of the operations of freeway segments near the project. The project should determine if there is adequate storage capacity available for the turning movements at the intersections and freeway off -ramps listed above and whether queues will spill back onto the freeway mainline. In addition, the project "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability" Piu Ghosh, City of Cupertino February 28, 2018 Page 4 should provide on-ramp storage capacity evaluations to avoid impacts such as on-ramp queues spilling back onto city streets near state highway on -ramps. Please use demand volumes rather than output or constrained flow volumes for storage capacity evaluations. Travel Demand Analysis Please analyze VMT resulting from the proposed project. With the enactment of Senate Bill (SB) 743, Caltrans is focusing on transportation infrastructure that supports smart growth and efficient development to ensure alignment with State policies using efficient development patterns, innovative travel demand reduction strategies, multimodal improvements, and VMT as the primary transportation impact metric. Please ensure that the travel demand analysis includes: • A vicinity map, regional location map, and site plan clearly showing project access in relation to the STN. Ingress and egress for all project components should be clearly identified. Clearly identify the State right-of-way (ROW). Project driveways, local roads and intersections, car/bike parking, and transit facilities should be mapped. • A VMT analysis pursuant to the City's guidelines or, if the City has no guidelines, the Office of Planning and Research's Draft Guidelines. Projects that result in automobile VMT per capita greater than 15% below existing (i.e. baseline) city-wide or regional values for similar land use types may indicate a significant impact. If necessary, mitigation for increasing VMT should be identified. Mitigation should support the use of transit and active transportation modes. Potential mitigation measures that include the requirements of other agencies such as Caltrans are fully enforceable through permit conditions, agreements, or other legally -binding instruments under the control of the City. • A schematic illustration of walking, biking and auto conditions along the proposed roadway segment and nearby study area roadways. Potential issues for all road users should be identified and fully mitigated. • The project's primary and secondary effects on pedestrians, bicycles, disabled travelers and transit performance should be evaluated, including countermeasures and trade-offs resulting from mitigating VMT increases. Access to pedestrians, bicycle, and transit facilities must be maintained. Transportation Impact Fees The Lead Agency should identify project -generated travel demand and estimate the costs of transit and active transportation improvements necessitated by the proposed Specific Plan; viable funding sources such as development and/or transportation impact fees should also be identified. We encourage a sufficient allocation of fair share contributions toward multimodal and regional transit improvements to fully mitigate cumulative impacts to regional transportation. We also strongly support measures to increase sustainable mode shares, thereby reducing VMT. The Lead Agency should also consider fair share fees for shuttles that use the public curb space. The Lead Agency should also ensure that a capital improvement plan identifying the cost of needed improvements, funding sources, and a scheduled plan for implementation is prepared for "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability" Piu Ghosh, City of Cupertino February 28, 2018 Page 5 adoption along with the environmental document. Caltrans welcomes the opportunity to work with the Lead Agency and local partners to secure the funding for needed mitigation. Traffic mitigation- or cooperative agreements are examples of such measures. Lead Agency As the Lead Agency, the City of Cupertino is responsible for all project mitigation, including any needed improvements to the STN. The project's fair share contribution, financing, scheduling, implementation responsibilities and Lead Agency monitoring should be fully discussed for all proposed mitigation measures. Furthermore, this project meets the criteria to be deemed of statewide, regional, or areawide significance per CEQA Guidelines § 15206. The DEIR should be submitted to both MTC, ABAG and the Alameda County Transportation Commission for review and comment. Encroachment Permit Please be advised that any work or traffic control that encroaches onto the State ROW requires an Encroachment Permit that is issued by Caltrans. Traffic -related mitigation measures should be incorporated into the construction plans prior to the encroachment permit process. To apply, a completed Encroachment Permit application, the adopted environmental document, and five (5) sets of plans clearly indicating State ROW must be submitted to the address below. Traffic - related mitigation measures should be incorporated into the construction plans prior to the encroachment permit process. David Salladay, District Office Chief Office of Permits, MS 5E California Department of Transportation, District 4 P.O. Box 23660 Oakland, CA 94623-0660 See the following website for more information: http://www.dot.ca.gov/trafficops/ep/index.html "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability" Piu Ghosh, City of Cupertino February 28, 2018 Page 6 Thank you again for including Caltrans in the environmental review process. Should you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact Jannette Ramirez at (510) 286-5535 or jannefte.ramirez@dot.ca.gov. Sincerely, PATRICIA MAURICE District Branch Chief Local Development - Intergovernmental Review c: State Clearinghouse "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability" Piu Ghosh, City of Cupertino February 28, 2018 Page 7 bc: PMaurice/JRamirez/KSchober/HAhmadi/FZohoury/DEl-Tawansy loc: P:\Plan\TranComm\LD-IGR\Santa Clara County\The Hills at Vallco Mall\04-SCL-2016- 00350-Vallco Special Area Specific Plan-NOP-2017FEB28.docx file: 04-SCL-2016-00350-Vallco Special Area Specific Plan-NOP-2017FEB28.docx "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability"