Pacifica Municipal Code Ch. 15 Traffic Impact Mitigation Improvement Fund for Highway One Improvements

This chapter is enacted for the purpose of establishing traffic impact mitigation fees to defray the actual or estimated costs of constructing improvements to Highway One in the City from Westport Drive south to the southern City limits, which improvements will be required to accommodate the increased traffic flow in the area resulting from future building activity in the City.

(§ 1, Ord. 318-C.S., eff. February 10, 1982)

(a) The Circulation Element of the General Plan of the City recognizes that the southern half of Highway One is now a substandard four (4) lane arterial with unregulated access.

(b) The Council established a "Highway One Ad Hoc Committee" in 1980. The Highway One Ad Hoc Committee "Policy Statement", dated December 3, 1980, identified needs and recommended that the "City Council adopt an ordinance which requires the payment of fees as a condition of a final map or issuance of a building permit for purposes of defraying actual cost or estimated cost of construction of frontage roads and other improvements".

(c) The Department of Transportation of the State in a report entitled "Noise, Air Quality, and Energy Report, Operational and Safety Improvements on Highway One in the City of Pacifica", dated August 31, 1978, states "There are no adequate east-west routes across the Peninsula from Pacifica. Although new or improved routes have been proposed, these projects are still being studied and the future of any new or improved east-west route is uncertain; therefore, for at least the next five to ten years, Highway One is likely to continue in its status as the major link between Pacifica and the rest of the Bay Area". This condition still exists, and there are no adopted plans or proposed improvements for improved routes.

(d) The Department of Transportation of the State in a report entitled "Relocation Study Pacifica State Route 1 Widening", dated August 1, 1978, states "The major traffic artery (Route 1) to the subject area has not kept pace with the growth of vehicular traffic. The highway that was adequate for traffic volumes of 1960 is now running at near design maximum during commute hours and on hot summer weekends. In terms of safety and operational design, the subject area of Route 1 is considered to be substandard".

(e) The City Engineer has investigated the needs as identified by the Highway One Committee and the Department of Transportation of the State and proposed improvements and finds the following highway needs have no identified source of funds for construction:

(1) Realignment of the entry road to Pedro Point in that access is provided from the light at Linda Mar Boulevard and Highway One with a right-hand turn lane on Highway One at that intersection with the realigned road to Pedro Point;

(2) Construction of a frontage road system between San Pedro Road and Rockaway Beach Boulevard and on the east side of the highway between Fassler Avenue and Reina del Mar;

(3) Construction of a frontage road on the west side of Highway One between Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Westport Drive;

(4) Construction of a bike and pedestrian path from San Pedro Road to Westport Drive on the west side of Highway One; and

(5) Construction of appurtenances to the needed construction, including, but not limited to, lighting, landscaping, signing, and the like, and the administration and design of the project.

(f) Each new land development within the City will generate additional traffic which will cause significant adverse environmental effects if improvements to the highway are not made.

(g) The City Engineer has prepared a preliminary plan and estimated total cost of Four Million Two Hundred Thousand and no/100ths ($4,200,000.00) Dollars needed unfunded improvements, the estimated future build out, and potential traffic resulting therefrom based upon the adopted General Plan Land Use Element.

(h) The Constitutional and statutory authority exists for the imposition of the requirements contained in this chapter, including, but not limited to, the municipal police power and the Subdivision Map Act (Government Code Sections 66410 et seq.).

(i) The payment of a development fee by all those undertaking construction projects which will generate additional traffic and which have been approved by the City is warranted, required, and necessary for the purpose of mitigating the adverse environmental effects mentioned in this section and improving traffic circulation, mobility, and safety. Moneys collected by the City as payment of said fees shall be placed in a restricted special fund (Highway One Improvement Fund) to be used solely to assist in defraying the costs of the construction of Highway One improvements.

(§ 1, Ord. 318-C.S., eff. February 10, 1982)

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

(a) Accessory dwelling unit. "Accessory dwelling unit" or "ADU" shall have the meaning as defined in Section 9-4.452(a) of the Pacifica Municipal Code.

(b) Construction. "Construction" shall mean the original construction of a new commercial unit, new residential unit, or new retail unit.

(c) Dwelling unit. "Dwelling unit" shall mean one or more habitable rooms which are occupied or which are intended to be occupied by one or more persons with facilities for living, sleeping, cooking, and eating, including single-family detached homes, single-family attached homes, accessory dwelling units, junior accessory dwelling units, townhomes, condominiums, apartments, and mobile home spaces.

(d) Gross floor area. "Gross floor area" shall mean the total area obtained by measurements to the outside wall for each floor of a building.

(e) Highway One improvements. "Highway One improvements" shall mean those improvements described in subsection (e) of Section 8-15.02 of this chapter.

(f) Junior accessory dwelling unit. "Junior accessory dwelling unit" or "JADU" shall have the meaning as defined in Section 9-4.452(h) of the Pacifica Municipal Code.

(g) New commercial unit. "New commercial unit" shall mean and include the construction of any gross floor area used for retail sales or commercial purposes which is in addition to any existing floor area within a structure or is a new area, including hotels, motels, and offices. A unit shall be one thousand (1,000) square feet of gross floor area.

(h) New office construction. "New office construction" shall mean the original construction of gross floor area used for administrative, professional, or other nonresidential or retail uses.

(i) New primary residential unit. "New primary residential unit" shall mean the first lawfully constructed dwelling unit that exists on site.

(j) New retail unit. "New retail unit" shall mean the original construction of one or more retail improvements or the addition of gross floor space to existing nonresidential improvements to be used for retail sales.

(k) Primary impacting area. "Primary impacting area" shall mean that area within the City lying southerly of the southerly line of Sharp Park (City and County of San Francisco) and its extension easterly and westerly, as shown on "Exhibit A" following this chapter.

(l) Secondary impacting area. "Secondary impacting area" shall mean that area within the City lying northerly of the southerly line of Sharp Park (City and County of San Francisco) and its extension easterly and westerly shown on "Exhibit A" following this chapter.

(§ 1, Ord. 318-C.S., eff. February 10, 1982; § 3, Ord. 853-C.S., eff. February 26, 2020)

A traffic impact mitigation fee is hereby imposed on new construction within impacting areas set forth in "Exhibit A" following this chapter. Said fees shall be paid prior to the issuance of any building primary and secondary permit in connection with such construction.

The amount of said fees shall be as follows:

(a) Primary Impacting Area.

To provide for construction cost increases due to inflation, on July 1 of each year, beginning September 1, 1984, the fee shall be increased on the basis of the Construction Cost Index (CCI) in the San Francisco Bay Area, published in the issue of the Engineering News Record (ENR) by McGraw-Hill Publication Company.

The amount of said fees are in proportion to the traffic generated by the respective uses. The fees described in this section are based upon the road improvements as described in Section 8-15.02 of this chapter; however such road improvements have not been and are not by virtue of this chapter formally adopted by the City and are subject to revision and change.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to commit the City to any development pattern in the impacting or impacted areas, including, but not limited to, any road configuration or the type or density of development. The Council may allow a developer to construct a portion of the improvements and dedicate such improvements to the City in lieu of the payment of a traffic mitigation fee or a portion of said fee.

(§ 1, Ord. 318-C.S., eff. February 10, 1982, as amended by § 2, Ord. 384-C.S., eff. February 8, 1984; § 3, Ord. 853-C.S., eff. February 26, 2020)

There is hereby created in the City a "Highway One Improvement Fund" into which all traffic impact mitigation fees collected pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited. The money in said fund shall be segregated from other City funds and shall be expended solely for the construction of Highway One improvements within the impacted area.

(§ 1, Ord. 318-C.S., eff, February 10, 1982)

If any section, sentence, subsection, clause, or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. The Council hereby declares that it would have adopted this chapter and any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this chapter, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases may be declared invalid or unconstitutional.

(§ 1, Ord. 318-C.S., eff. February 10, 1982)