§ 13-275. Development project review procedures. — Costa Mesa Zoning Code

(a) Traffic study required. A traffic impact study shall be required for all development projects estimated by the public services director to generate 100 or more vehicle trip ends during a peak hour. Traffic studies may also be required for smaller projects at the discretion of the public services director. The cost of the study shall be paid for by the developer. The study area and number of intersections to be analyzed shall be determined by the public services director and the study area shall be reasonably related to the estimated impacts attributed to the development project. The traffic study shall also identify mitigation measures that are reasonably related to the development project's traffic impacts.
(b) Mitigation measures. Mitigation measures for development projects shall consist of either payment of a development impact fee and/or construction of circulation improvements. The necessary circulation improvements may be designed and constructed by the developer as determined by the city. These mitigation measures shall be incorporated as conditions of the development project's approval. Table 13-275 indicates the criteria for either requiring payment of a development impact fee and/or construction of circulation improvements.
(c) Approval criteria. A development project may be approved if as a condition of approval it is required to construct a circulation improvement and/or pay a development impact fee, as shown in Table 13-275, and if a finding is made that the development project's impacts will be mitigated at all affected intersections within three years of issuance of the first building permit for the development project, as described in subsection (b) , unless additional right-of-way or coordination with other government agencies is required to complete the improvement. If right-of-way acquisition or coordination with other governmental agencies delays the improvement construction, appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure that the improvement construction occurs in a timely manner. Circulation improvements may be required sooner if, because of extraordinary traffic generation characteristics of the development project or extraordinary impacts to the surrounding circulation system, the circulation improvements are necessary to prevent significant adverse impacts. For phased development projects, the construction of circulation improvements may be phased as well based upon the findings of the traffic study.

When a development project affects a potentially deficient intersection, the development project's impacts shall be mitigated such that the intersection volume to capacity ratios identified in the general plan shall not be exceeded.

(d) Transportation demand management program. Where a transportation demand management program is used to reduce vehicle trips related to a development project, the program shall comply with the following:
(1) A conditional use permit for the development project and program must be approved by the planning commission consistent with the requirements of subsection (c). An annual report shall be prepared for the city at the expense of the property owner, to show whether the vehicle trip reduction identified in the program has been achieved and maintained.
- (2) If the annual report demonstrates that the vehicle trip reductions identified in the program have not occurred, the conditional use permit shall be reevaluated and additional conditions imposed by the planning commission in order to meet the requirements of this article.
- (3) The traffic impact development fees required under this article shall be based on the trip generation forecast without consideration of estimated reductions associated with a transportation demand management program. An application for a fee reimbursement may be approved by the city council pursuant to section 13-274(e), Development fee program, based upon documentation of average annual trip reduction over a three-year period as reported in the annual monitoring report referenced in section 13-273(c), Comprehensive transportation system improvement program.
(e) Change of use. Each development project approved under this article shall be reevaluated by the public services director when any change in use occurs which may increase the project's traffic generation. The purpose of this reevaluation is to assure that traffic capacity is available in the transportation system. Any increase in traffic generation by the change of use shall be subject to review by the appropriate reviewing authority who may impose additional conditions on the development project for the mitigation of the increased traffic generation.

may increase the project's traffic generation. The purpose of this reevaluation is to assure that traffic capacity is available in the transportation system. Any increase in traffic generation by the change of use shall be subject to review by the appropriate reviewing authority who may impose additional conditions on the development project for the mitigation of the increased traffic generation.

	TABLE 13-275 DEVELOPMENT IMPACT CRITERIA
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT SIZE	INTERSECTION CONDITION	ICU INCREASE 1	MITIGATION MEASURE(S)	INTENT OF MITIGATION MEASURE(S)
Projects generating less than 100 peak hour trip ends	Adequate (Standard Level of Service or better) OR Defcient (exceeds	Less than 1%	Payment of impact fee	Contribute to implementation of the Comrehensive
	Standard Level of Service)	1% or greater		p Transportation System Improvement Program
Projects generating 100 or more peak hour trip ends	Adequate (Standard Level of Service or better) OR Defcient (exceeds Standard Level of Service)	Less than 1%	Payment of impact fee	Contribute to implementation of the Comprehensive Transportation System Improvement Program
		1% or greater	Payment of impact fee and improvement construction by developer under	Contribute to implementation of the Comprehensive Transportation System

	TABLE 13-275 DEVELOPMENT IMPACT CRITERIA
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT SIZE	INTERSECTION CONDITION	ICU INCREASE 1	MITIGATION MEASURE(S)	INTENT OF MITIGATION MEASURE(S)
			conditions listed in footnote #2	Improvement Program and mitigate development project's impacts

1 ICU = Intersection Capacity Utilization

2 When the project contributes 50% or more of the incremental impact at the intersection and all of the improvements identified in the general plan at the subject location are required as mitigation. If all of the improvements identified in the general plan are not required as mitigation, then only the improvements determined necessary by the public services director shall be constructed by the developer.

(Ord. No. 97-11, § 2, 5-5-97)