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SB 375 report proposes targets to guide improved planning and
promote more transportation choices. Today the California Air
Resources Board released a draft report marking the first major
milestone in implementation of a law designed to improve how
cities and counties plan for growth and development. 

The draft report
(http://arb.ca.gov/cc/sb375/staffreport_sb375080910.pdf),
required under SB 375 (Steinberg, 2008), proposes targets for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 and 2035 associated
with passenger vehicle travel in the state’s eighteen
Metropolitan Planning Organizations, including the four largest:
Southern California, San Diego, the Bay Area, and the Sacramento
region.  The Air Resources Board will consider adopting these
targets at its September board hearing..

The proposed targets are designed to help coordinate land use and
transportation planning to produce sustainable strategies for
growth and development for cities and regions over the next
twenty-five years. The goal is for people to live close to where
they work and play to reduce vehicle miles traveled and the
greenhouse gas emissions that come from cars. 

“These proposed targets are ambitious, achievable and very good
news for Californians.  Improved planning means cleaner air in
our cities, less time stuck in your car, and healthier, more
sustainable communities,” said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols.
“Cities that choose to develop Sustainable Communities Plans that
meet these targets have an advantage when it comes to attracting
the kinds of vibrant, healthy development that people want."

Developing the targets has been a bottom-up process involving
strong and consistent input from cities, municipalities and the
public.

“This has been a public and collaborative process from the
outset, and it will continue to be so,” said ARB Executive
Officer James Goldstene. “Cities are full partners in this
process, and the law provides complete flexibility for the
individual needs and requirements of every community.”
 
Work on the report began immediately after Governor
Schwarzenegger signed the bill in September, 2008. The first step
was the formation of a 21-person advisory committee of experts to
recommend methodologies to be used when setting targets.
Following 13 public meetings, the Regional Targets Advisory
Committee submitted its report to ARB in September, 2009
advising, among other things, that the targets be expressed as a
percent reduction in per capita greenhouse gas emissions from
transportation. 

Developing the proposed targets took place over the past eleven
months and included intensive collaboration between ARB and the
Metropolitan Planning Organizations, the agencies ultimately
responsible for developing the regional plans under SB 375. ARB
staff held public workshops throughout the state in May and July,
and ARB staff provided an update to the Board in June.  ARB staff
also participated in numerous workgroups and meetings with public
stakeholders, along with continuous transfer and sharing of
modeling and data information between regional planners and ARB
staff. 

Over the past several months, a number of the planning
organizations have proposed their own targets for ARB to
consider. Those recommendations and the sound technical work
behind them form the basis of the proposals described in the
current report.  

“This report builds on the pioneering efforts of cities
throughout the state that blazed the trail and set the standard
for developing more livable communities,” said Nichols. “Working
together, ARB and all cities can benefit from those models and
develop coordinated growth, development and transportation
planning that will benefit families and businesses in every
region of the state.“

Modeling to develop the targets also reflect demographic shifts
and a changing housing market in California as baby-boomers (and
many young people) are moving away from single-family suburban
homes to smaller lots and multi-unit housing closer to a city’s
center. 

The resulting targets for the four main regions also recognize
the significant differences among the regions and the need to
address the specific needs and requirements of growth and
development in each. The report outlines proposed targets of per
capita greenhouse gas reductions of 7 to 8 percent by 2020, and
between 13 and 16 percent in 2035 compared to 2005 levels.  

A separate approach was developed for the eight planning
organizations that comprise the San Joaquin Valley, establishing
placeholder targets of a 5 percent reduction in per capita
emissions in 2020, and a 10 percent reduction in 2035.  Targets
for the remaining six Metropolitan Planning Organizations – the
Monterey, Butte, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Shasta, and Lake
Tahoe regions – reflect each region’s current plans for 2020 and
2035.

Once the targets are finalized, cities within each planning
region will work together with their regional planning agency on
developing a Sustainable Community Strategy that outlines where
growth and development will occur, and how the transportation
system can support that growth, so that their region’s targets
can be achieved.  Cities and municipalities retain full local
decision making and zoning authority.

Regions that meet the targets will receive incentives in the form
of easier access to federal funding and streamlined environmental
review for development projects. 

To learn more about SB 375 and view the report go here:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/sb375/sb375.htm .

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The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.