Update: Strategic Growth Council and SB 375 Implementation

Strategic Growth Council Held Second Meeting on April 1, 2009

The Strategic Growth Council held its second meeting on April 1, 2009. The Council members in attendance were Kim Belshe, California Health and Human Services, Dale Bonner, Business Transportation and Housing (BT&H), and Cynthia Bryant, Office of Planning and Research. Cindy Tuck, Undersecretary for Cal EPA sat in for Linda Adams, and Bridget Luther, Director of the Department of Conservation sat in for Mike Chrisman of the Resources Agency.

Opening remarks were provided by Bill Craven on behalf of Senator Steinberg, who was unable to attend. He shared the Senate President Pro Tempore’s pleasure in the progress of the Council to date. He expressed his support for having the Legislature assist in getting some early funding appropriated to the Council for regions to begin the necessary modeling and planning for SB 375 implementation to be successful.

The agenda consisted of a number of reports from state agency staff on existing state programs and projects related to issues under the purview of the Council, including:

· State’s 5-year Infrastructure Plan
· Climate Action Team
· BT&H’s Regional Economic Recovery Work Plans
· Department of Conservation’s Emerald Cities Pilot Program
· Air Resources Board’s Local Government Toolkit
· Caltrans’ Blueprint Program
· Various agency programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The Sonoma County Water Agency presented on the challenges and opportunities of local governments in developing sustainable communities. Sonoma County shared information on a number of its programs aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and integrating land use, water, and energy; as well as its advocacy efforts at the state and national level. The County representative, Randy Poole, encouraged the Council to take on a similar leadership role for the State.

Gregg Albright, Deputy Secretary for Environmental Policy and Integration at BT&H presented a request from Caltrans for the Council to allocate $10 million of the Proposition 84 Land Use Planning Incentive funds to Caltrans for a statewide modeling framework. The Council is supportive of the need for a statewide modeling framework, but is not ready to allocate Proposition 84 money to fund the program until the Council has determined how it wishes to divide up those funds and what their priorities are for its expenditure.

Several organizations provided public comment, including:

· Conservation Strategy Group argued for early funding for SB 375 modeling and regional planning, and encouraged the Council to direct a staff workgroup to identify additional early actions to help inform the competitive grant program’s development
· California Association of Councils of Governments recommended the Council allocate $30 million to regions, among other things
· American Farmland Trust encouraged the Council to look for federal economic stimulus funds for blueprint planning and implementation.
· Greenbelt Alliance supported the Council’s actions to date of prioritizing SB 375 implementation and embracing a broader perspective on all the issues related to the development of sustainable communities. The Alliance offered to share new research from the Bay Area on accommodating growth projected by 2050 in existing developed communities as well as preserving important and valuable open space and farmland.
· CalFire shared with the Council that it currently funds about $7 million in grants for urban forestry and urban greening projects and offered to provide a presentation on these topics to the Council at a later date.

Decisions made by the Council

· Confirmed 2009 Council meeting schedule, adding one additional early meeting
· Approval a letter supporting the Caltrans Statewide Modeling Framework concept without identifying a fund source
· Approval of submittal of a U.S. EPA Smart Growth Grant application

2009 Meeting Schedule

· **New early meeting – date TBD
· June 24, 1-3:30 pm
· September 30, 1-3:30 pm
· December 9, 1-3:30 pm

Materials provided at the meeting are available at http://www.opr.ca.gov/index.php?a=sch/growthcouncil.html


The Regional Targets Advisory Committee met on March 4, 2009

The Committee addressed three main topics during the meeting: 1) Factors Influencing the Magnitude of Change in the Land Use and Transportation sectors, 2) Data and Modeling for SB 375, and 3) RTAC Guiding Principles.

Staff presented the following timeline for the RTAC to complete its recommendations by the September deadline:

February-April Factors influencing travel, modeling, and other tools
April-May Addressing geographic boundaries, goods movement, and benefits from fuel and vehicle efficiency
June-July Framework for TRAC recommendations and Metrics
July-August Supporting MPO implementation and evaluation techniques for recommended factors and methods
September Draft and final recommendations complete

There was a presentation from staff and a lengthy discussion of the modeling needs for the regions to comply with SB 375. In short, there are many consistencies across the different modes being used by the regions and different state agencies as well as by the air districts. The models vary in what factors they consider, how sensitive they are to each factor, and how accurate they are. Regions also vary widely in the availability of resources for modeling, especially in rural areas.

There was discussion around identifying the desired outcomes first and then setting performance standards for the models such as sensitivity, consistency, accuracy, and transparency.

Materials from the meeting are available here: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/sb375/rtac/meetings/meetings.htm

The next meeting is scheduled for April 7, 2009, 9 am to 1 pm at the Sacramento Area Council of Governments Hearing Room (third floor), 1415 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.