[UPDATE] Drive Time Debate: Humboldt Planning Commission Split on How to Measure Vehicle Impacts
Bald Hills Road, one of the many rural roads in Humboldt County. [Photo from Humboldt County Public Works]
Humboldt County is working on a policy to reduce vehicle miles traveled and the Planning Commission is split on the fundamental question of how existing levels should be defined.
A state law – Senate Bill 743 – has changed the way transportation impacts are analyzed.
Part of achieving the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the impacts are now gauged using vehicle miles traveled as a basis rather than factors like traffic congestion.
The county’s impact analyses are done on a case by case basis now but that will change and the commission reviewed a draft vehicle miles traveled (VMT) policy at its May 1 meeting.
The threshold for defining significant VMT impact is based on current levels.
In Humboldt’s cities, there’s less VMT and the county has a choice between using the entire county, including cities, to define a baseline (existing) level or to focus on the unincorporated (county-controlled) area, as recommended by staff.
County Planner Megan Acevedo told commissioners the 2022 baseline for residential miles traveled in the unincorporated area is 22.1 miles per day while the countywide total is 20.1 miles per day.
The difference is similar for employee miles traveled.
In the draft policy, a development project’s VMT impact is considered significant if its per resident or per employee VMT is 85 percent or more of the county’s average.
The commission debated whether or not to include cities, which would lower the overall baseline.
There was doubt about whether the policy’s VMT baselines are accurate.
“I’ve heard arguments down in Southern Humboldt that this number is, like, horrible, that it should be 30, 35, maybe even 40,” said Commissioner Thomas Mulder.
The lower the baseline, the more likely projects will be required to mitigate VMT impacts and Mulder said the county “may want to think about setting policy that encourages development to come in the door, rather than to a different county.”
But Commissioner Jerome Qiriazi said “significant work” will have to be done on a communitywide scale and permitting of development should match it.
“To the extent that new development doesn’t align with the work the existing community needs to do, it just makes it potentially that much more difficult,” he continued.
Commissioner Noah Levy noted that using the unincorporated area’s VMT level would “screen out” most of McKinleyville from VMT analysis.
“Do we then lose the opportunity to incentivize doing some of the things that they nevertheless could do on a development in McKinleyville, the mitigations that would further reduce the actual need for driving?” he asked.
Commission Chair Iver Skavdal said using the countywide baseline will trigger VMT mitigations in areas where development should be encouraged.
“If you want true change and funding for programs countywide that are going to actually reduce vehicle miles traveled, you’re going to need a better economy, more employment, better housing,” he continued. “So you’re going to actually need the development to provide the revenue stream to get the environmental benefit that the community needs. So if we keep thinking that we’re going to put another straw in the camel’s back of the developer every single time in order to improve the environment in some way, we’re just piling more on the camel that’s already got a broken back.”
With one commissioner absent, the six members of the commission gave up on trying to forge a majority straw vote on the scope of the total VMT area.
The commission voted 5-1 unanimously with Commissioner Mulder against, however, on recommending approval of the draft policy by the Board of Supervisors, with the caveat that there’s division on what the baseline VMT should be.
Also in the draft policy are standards for defining less than significant VMT impacts, including how many vehicle trips a project generates and whether transit stops are nearby.
Affordable housing projects are considered low impact, as are “local-serving” retail projects sized less than 50,000 square feet.
NOTE: We regret the error on the one dissenting vote from Commissioner Mulder and have now fixed the article to reflect the correct information.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
Senate Bill 743 (SB 743), passed in 2013, with an effective date of July 1, 2020, to use Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the primary metric for evaluating transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and the Humboldt County Planning Commission is just now getting around to it?
If the Planning Commission is stuck on a current VMT “baseline” and doesn’t want to have developers pay fees for new housing projects that increase VMT, they would also need to know how many miles County vehicle are driven each day, week, month and year. And since the Sheriffs Department is not exempt from Senate Bill 743 (VMT), how many miles does the Sheriffs Department put on all its vehicles per day, week, month or year? Residents alone should not be restricted in their VMT, and allow the County and Sheriff to drive the same amount of miles without a reduction in VMT.
In 2024, Humboldt County had a study compiled and completed by Fehr & Peers (which I’m sure was not cheap). See link below. And even with all that date and information, the Planning Commission is confused?
https://humboldt.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14117574&GUID=F03D12B7-591F-4667-B98C-C4FB9ABD4C95
And this is on top of all the hundreds of hours the Planning Department has put into their own studies, staff reports and recommendations.
Another case in point, in 2023, the County approved large festival events on the river, with no restrictions on VMT for thousands of vehicles coming to Humboldt County for ROTR, NNMF. Plus, the MCC is having Summer Arts & Music Festival this year at the Southern Humboldt Community Park, with no reduction of VMT.
It would seem the Planning Commission just wants to kick this proverbial can down the road and have the Supervisors deal with it, and you can watch it here:
https://humboldt.granicus.com/player/clip/2078
SB 743 was a ploy by State Senator Steinberg of Sacramento to fast track approval of a new sports and entertainment center in Sacramento and eliminate any CEQA challenges based on the impacts on traffic congestion and parking.
As is so often the case legislation passed in Sacramento doesn’t consider existing conditions or future impacts for rural areas — the Planning Commission is struggling to implement SB 743 because it wasn’t written for rural areas — it was written to give Steinberg’s pet project a CEQA pass.
Planners, applicants and consultants will feel the impacts as they adjust to the change from traffic congestion impacts to VMT.
But your worry that residents will be “restricted in their VMT” while county employees and the Sheriff “drive the same amount of miles without a reduction in VMT” show a lack of understanding about how CEQA works.
CEQA applies to projects — it doesn’t apply to existing residential or business travel or routine Sheriff’s patrol or county staff work related travel — it only applies when an applicant proposes a “project” as defined.
The “project” may include mitigations intended to reduce VMT but once the project is approved or built there’s no mechanism to restrict people from choosing to drive if they’re willing to deal with traffic congestion and lack of parking.
The only valid point in your comment deals with the SoHum festivals which clearly have significant environmental impacts which county planners and politicos have papered over or ignored for decades — but even in that case the county can adopt conditions that apply to the festival but they can’t force individuals to carpool or take the bus.
Good clarification and background information!
What you don’t take into account; the Humboldt County General Plan is updated every 8 years and the Housing Element is updated every 5 years. Plus you have all new projects as proposed by Humboldt County Public Works that require CEQA:
https://humboldtgov.org/2212/Projects
And the new Garberville Sheriffs Substation completed in September 2021.
The scary part of VMT; some jurisdictions are exploring VMT taxes, which are user fees based on the distance driven, as a way to generate revenue for road maintenance and infrastructure improvements. VMT taxes can be more efficient and equitable than traditional fuel taxes, as they directly link road usage to costs. VMT taxes can incentivize drivers to choose more sustainable modes of transportation and reduce unnecessary vehicle trips.
VMT is not just for new projects, but for any updated, amended or phased CEQA requirements that were adopted after July 2020.
Thank you for assuming my “lack of understanding about how CEQA works”…
Ed, I don’t expect you to agree, but your original comment displayed a complete lack of understanding about how CEQA works.
Your AI assisted deflection doesn’t change the fact that VMT has no impact on existing business, residential, Sheriff’s Office or other county travel — CEQA (and VMT) only applies to prospective projects.
And my point, VMT was not added to the mix of County CEQA projects after July 2020 when VMT was implemented into CEQA projects. And for example, the following approved 15 year CUP renewal under CEQA dated April 2021 did not include any form of VMT mitigation. And we can agree Randall Sand & Gravel should have included their VMT, correct?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rZYth5pnu-QM16LQV1iTwj9dv7gyaFGL/view?usp=sharing
As I said before:
”Ed, I don’t expect you to agree, but your original comment displayed a complete lack of understanding about how CEQA works.”
Posting incorrect info — such as your allegation that local residents will be restricted in VMT — undermines your credibility and detracts from other, possibly valid, points you wish to make.
Admitting obvious errors will improve your credibility, not diminish it. But taking a moment to check all the facts before bashing local agencies can avoid the problem altogether.
Funny you don’t want to answer my question, but deflect and deflect?
Answer me this, since according to you, I know less about CEQA than you; the Supervisors just approved funding for constructing a new Vets Hall Building, from the ground up, in Garberville. Will VMT need to be required as a part of the CEQA requirements to that new project?
County Planner Megan Acevedo told commissioners the 2022 baseline for residential miles traveled in the unincorporated area is 22.1 miles per day while the countywide total is 20.1 miles per day.
The difference is similar for employee miles traveled.
If as you claim, VMT is not going to restrict “local residents”, then why is the Planning Department using “residential miles traveled in the unincorporated area”?
The next step of the commies: preventing you from driving. They already want to tax us per mile driven. And we have the highest gas tax in the nation already. Who are the nerds that come up with this nonsense!
fascists.
.
Was orangie mentioned? I didn’t see
Look to North Korea. Leading edge of the Newsom movement.
Lights out at 8pm. No other traffic.
Do have lots of buses though ! Lots of planning commissions !
(Photo: North and South Korea at night.)
I think the norks call then committees.
Not possible. For one, NK doesn’t allow transgender people out in public. We have drag shows and parades.
Wholesale gasoline is UNDER 2.00 per gallon and we are already getting screwed badly 🤔
I got gas in Lake county for 3.999 a gallon Saturday 5/3/25 and thought prices must have come down in Humboldt(Week long vacation). Wrong. Get back to $5.799 per. What the hell? That ain’t taxes that is gouging. Even Laytonville was 5.199 per.
Except that it isn’t.
Eh ? US Energy Information (.gov)
— National Prices Today
Gasoline RBOB (Re-Blended Gas) ($/gallon)
NY Harbor $1.80 -1.1
Gulf Coast $1.98 -0.7
Los Angeles $2.29 0.0
Anybody know how to clone a transponder?
IMHO:
—
What Newsom and his cohorts (including the Supervisors, Planning Commission,
City Councils) are planning for your life.
—
Goal: 15 minute cities.
—
Live in a concrete structure… with tiny windows. (It is going up in Arcata right now.)
Morning. Alarm bells go off. Doors unlocked. Lights turned on.
Community ‘organizers’ go from room to room.
Get up.
Head to the community exercise routine.
March through the showers. (Tepid water only).
March to the chow hall. Cabbage soup. Listen to the ever-present political lecture.
Bus to the cabbage fields. (Maybe watch the rulers go overhead in airplanes.)
Bus back to the concrete ‘home structure’.
March to the chow Hall. Cabbage soup and Potatoes.
Mandatory dope provided. Only one hit. (Keeps the ‘citizen workers’ in order.)
Ongoing political lecture.
Bedtime.
—
Do it for a lifetime.
—
Yee Hah !!!
This has been stated for over a decade and was written off as a conspiracy theory. Anybody with a semblance of critical thinking could see this happening. The Arcata Gateway Project name alone should have given the scam away. Too bad only about 10% of the population would understand and see this. Just like the Wuhan flu was supposedly from a wet market when the 10% knew it came from a gain of function research lab in, wait for it, the United States. And the research was shared with the lab in Wuhan. So, conspiracy was reality. It goes to show you that when people say Democrats are Marxists whose roots arose from chasing down black peoples, perhaps they should listen. Commies and fascists are the wrong terms. People should stop using those terms to describe the adversaries of freedom. Look up Marxism and it fits perfectly given their penchant for relying on big momma to tell them what to think, say, do, and how to live under a collective borg of classless fools. Fools I say because the fools are taking orders from their betters (the elite) who are by theory supposed to be equal in class to the fools. See how well that works……don’t let fools and Ring grabbers ruin your individual life. Arcata is the epitome of being captured by the fools who dictate orders from high up on their Humboldt Bay mountain retreats. Wiley fools waiting to get bouldered by the roadrunners they are trying to catch.
The virus was a tool to “get Trump” plain and simple!
And we can all see how that worked out…
The lights will always be on at the French Laundry!
Don’t you mean ‘Plump Jack Winery’?
https://plumpjackwinery.com/our-story/
The bastardized context of “15-minute cities” was a concoction of the paranoid Maga crowd (No thanks to Joe Rogan or Russel Brand). It’s also a centuries-old thing that already exists in other major cities (like most of those in The Netherlands, India, Rome…) around the world. This is just an update to that. The people that believed this is some New World Order thing are the same types that also believe microchips are in vaccines and other silly things. But that’s your dog whistle I guess.
Even Carlos Moreno, who the idea belongs to, says it took a life of it’s own and out of context.
Nobody is threatening your lifestyle where you weren’t living anyway, rather just implementing things already within cities, like more grocery stores or services within walking distance or so you don’t have to drive around all day in denser urban areas trying to park-bringing things to where people are already at). Also, not everyone wants to sit in a car all day just to get three things done. It’s a waste of gas and my time.
Nobody is going to make you stand in lines for cabbage soup. You know who will? Your corporate overlord that just axed your entire department and now all of you are on unemployment and can’t afford to drive. And just think about all the DUIs that won’t happen when people can just walk to the bars, as is already done near most college campuses.
Don’t worry, you can still have your car and drive it. Your precious little suburb with the oppressive HOA where it takes two hours commute to get to the job you hate isn’t being replaced for brutalist, minimalist urban government boxes. Hope you had a nice sleep.
You should move to one if it’s going to be so great. don’t think we’re ever going to have one here though.
I’ve lived in them too. And not the suburbs either. Having a bus stop in front of your 15-floor apartment building is a benefit as is the grocery store two blocks away. The views are nice too, and always some park or restaurant that doesn’t take an hour to get to. But I think you’re safe here in Humboldt. Our politicos can act like we’re in a big city where neighborhoods have more people than our entire county, but those efforts are mostly wasted lip-service being that we don’t have the populations that the large urban areas do, and never will.
Imagine calling Russell Brand and Joe Rogan MAGA, LOL..
There is 3 high rise apartments going up at the same time in eureka and I found it that eureka specifically is going to be a 15 minute city my 2028
And if we stop eating, think how much money we’ll save on food.
they are split on how to measure it? They should be unanimous on NOT doing it at all.
This is all new green deal bullshit. 15 minute city bullshit. Anti auto bullshit. Climate change bullshit.
The goal is to force builders into a 15 minute city builds. It just is not practical for rural living.
This info will also usher in a mile driven per year TAX on your truck or car. Unless you earn under $40k at your waiter job, then you are exempt.
BS and a waste of taxpayers’ money. Shut it down.
That beautiful picture of Bald Hills Rd has me thinking of odometer overuse tax. Ten extra bucks just to drive that road one way?
More driving = more commerce = more tax revenue.
Impeding the free will and free market is the antithesis of why the USA was formed.
This is COMPLETE LUNACY!!! All these fascists county people need to be fired!!! We are paying them their wages to lock us in cages or charge us to move about. Enough!!! We the people need to go in and fire them all and start over with common sense American Freedom loving Patriots! I have had enough of this and refuse to leave the most beautiful state of the union to these crazy New Green Deal psychos! It’s up to us freedom loving patriots to take it back from them and send them on their way to China, where they do nothing for the environment! FIRE THEM ALL!!!
We’ll soon be taxed for the air that we breathe…
Just more smoke and mirrors from the institutional extortionists. It’s a system where unelected “officials” take money from one person under threat of confiscation, and give it to another as they see fit.
The word “impacts” makes me think ‘collisions’, every time.
So they are getting ready to put us in confinement areas and not allowed to live in the back country. WTF is this BS Fuel rationing coming soon to a hood near you. What is the purpose of this waist of tax funds. Send the whole team home you are fired!
20 miles a day. LOL
“So you’re going to actually need the development (WHAT)to provide the revenue (TAX) stream to get the environmental benefit ( HUH ) that the community needs. ” WTF
The baseline should include cities and account for time spent idling at traffic lights. Improved traffic flow means less pollution.
The engine shuts off on my new Subaru when I stop for long.
It’s extremely depressing and embarrassing how many people are climate change deniers. Our education system is an abysmal failure.
What is seriously depressing and embarrassing is the real climate change deniers like you claiming mastery of science. Can you tell me what the climate and sea level just 10,000 years ago was? It was radically different. Can you tell me the atmospheric carbon levels of the Cambrian era, it was 20x today, there was no treeline, megafauna was beginning to explode, instead you think at 1/20th of that level a fraction of a percent change in a trace gas that is 0.06% of the atmosphere is going to end all life….hahahahaha! Or that is is the only factor influencing the climate, like the 30% collapse of the magnetosphere since 1980 and corresponding increase in solar radiation…heat…has nothing to do with it. You should read some science then you might know that we are actually scraping the bottom of the barrel of having enough carbon to support plant life, which supports all other life, on this planet. March lockstep into this fairy tale the billionaires have set up to own you, they have front run everything and are laughing their asses off at sheep like you.
BTW, do you know where I first heard about Global Warming? It wasn’t from a movie or magazine, or even any science journal. In 1998 Goldman Sachs was about to IPO and I had never heard of them before so I went to their website and the entire home page (Private Wealth Management for billionaires) was a picture of a melting iceberg with the caption “Global Warming: Get in on the Ground Floor” It is the biggest pump and dump play in history. They venture capitalize these bleeding heart stories like Beyond Meat, IPO it, ride call options as they dump their shares to saturation then sell puts as it drops 90% after they have sold it to you and your pension fund…they just transferred your wealth to them and you feel great about it, hahahaha!
I’m still waiting for the pending ice age predicted to begin back in the 1970s.
All this talk about carbon reduction but no one ever does anything to eliminate volcanic eruptions which can undo decades of effort in a single afternoon.
Yup. California has yet to meet it’s ‘goal’ of CO2 production.
—
California wildfires are a significant source of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, contributing to climate change. In 2020, wildfires in California released an estimated 112 million metric tons of CO2
(AI Stuff)
—Aug 28, 2024 — Extreme forest fires in 2023 released about 640 million metric tons of carbon, NASA scientists have found. (NASA)
—
One year of wildfires undid decades of California’s emissions policy…(Economist)
—
Wildfires are destroying California’s forest carbon credit reserves, study says(Reuters)
—
Bummer eh ?
It’s true. We need to pass a law against wildfires. And volcanoes. Enough already!!
Nearly everybody I know has very little grip on science. Or logic. They just mimic ie. repeat what they are told, what the leaders convince the crowd to repeat. “Climate Crisis! Climate Crisis!!” And then belittle anybody who doesn’t repeat along with them…even though they themselves couldn’t explain the scientific basis for their claims. It’s a huge version of Emperor Has No Clothes. That is social engineering at work. Humans are weak and easily manipulated in groups. I’m not saying there isn’t an actual real climate crisis. I’m saying that nearly everybody I know shouting about it has no clue what they’re shouting about…. They are simply repeating the slogan and pressing the fear button. People like that! And that’s what I find embarrassing and depressing. No free thinkers. No independent thought. Mass hysteria. Humans- clever monkeys painting themselves into a corner, wielding terrible weapons all while proudly shouting about their special intelligence and superior logic. Ready to burn at the stake those who dare to question the mob mentality. Humans.
The rampant use of scare tactics.
Sounds to me like people getting paid tax payer dollars to sit around and argue over some seriously stupid topic while we should be focusing on real problems like affordable housing and mental health, just think of all the things that could be changed for the better with all those peoples salary instead of them sitting around talking about V.MT. s
Well…they are being paid good money- OUR money- to talk and talk so I don’t think they are going to stop anytime soon. It’s like a runaway train of overpaid bullshitters burning through our tax money….
…then raising taxes to bullshit some more!!
Good way to save on emissions is to reduce the amount of nonsense these people study and do away with that kind of waste and we accomplish two things we reduce budgeting problems and emissions with no more salary’s or hit air coming out of comissions
Ha! It’s so entertaining, how the same folks, day after day, ignore the gist of an article, and immediately bring out their pet theories and start stroking them.
As Truth wrote, this new measuring tool: was not created by greenies, but by a politician who wanted a new stadium; and has zero application to existing development, individuals, etc.
It only kicks in when new developments are going through the CEQA process, and only applies to conditions/approvals of that develoment. That’s not to say it won’t have big impacts on the direction develpments take. It will certainly favor development near travel destinations, which will likely make for denser, more concentrated cities. If done properly, it could also make for less vehicle traffic and more walking – not a bad thing, in itself. I mostly doubt that we have many developments in this county that are large enough to even register on a county-wide VMT measurement.
I do believe that the main function of government is to inconvenience the public.
To truly effect emissions they should focus on reducing the amount people need to slow down stop and pick up speed again , stopping wastes energy as does slowing down and picking speed back up Idleing also is a waste of energy . However this would reduce governmental control and become counter productive to their policy of creating problems to force their fixes upon the masses , if they were really worried about man made climate change they would insist that all manufacturing mining and the like met current usa standards if the products were to to sold in the usa . On top of coming up with cleaner burning ship engines and demanding that all cargo ships coming into our ports as well as cruise ships met those standards , attempting to put the burden upon consumers and tax payers will allowing multinational corporations to pollute at will so as to not effect stock prices and peoples precious retirement accounts they foolishly agreed to have transferred into 401k is complete crap. As is allowing space flights for non publicly useful purposes . Great job pop stars and nothing named people you on top of all your private jet travel feel entitled to waste more energy so you can say you went to space , but did nothing while there but hold your stomaches , mean while the working drones are forced to pay for cleaner tech while you ass rape them on the prices for such to compensate for your entitled behaviors
Indeed. I was hoping that tariffs might include an element of that.
How the hell do we get rid of all this damn ridiculous government over regulation and taxation bullshit. I can’t even talk anymore without swearing.
I’m SURE that most people don’t want all this nanny-state crap. That, and all of our tax money seems to be spent on ‘studies’ and damn little progress. BRING BACK COMMON SENSE! DAMN…
Lawmakers create a tool for their use in controlling what people do. Sometimes with the best of intentions. In this case where development can happen. But the law of unintended consequences mean that they are by nature unforseen.
One big problem with prospective legislation is there is always some clever fellow- frequently lawyers but sometimes lobbyists- that can see it has more applications than were ever meant.
President Trump is working hard to eliminate the Bureaucracy and BS paperwork.
Look at what’s proposed by Senate Bill 827. State controlled housing with little local consideration to established regulations. Hey the McKay tract offered actual home ownership. But got slowed down by local arguments over parking for bikes etc. SB 827 proposal would enable large buildings with few parking conditions in a lot of places you probably wouldn’t imagine and create more lifetime renters. Look at how bus stops are considered in the zoning regulations and the distance from them is included in the height and parking requirements. Scott Weiner and his ideas like speed regulators on cars, and this bill don’t help real people. Thinking like him is a big part of why Trump won.
So, they seem to have not taken into account the local far left wacko protests now weekly in Eureka. Definitely out of compliance with CEQA as no carbon offsets were purchased to offset the toxic mouth gas damage. Hundreds of people spewing out carbon in a small space is detrimental to the surrounding environment, including the prisoners in the jail as well as innocent passers by. How much carbon is being expended by the unhinged tds sufferers screaming and yelling? Is their toxic mouth gas they are spewing affecting those held against their will in the jail? Why has this not been analyzed to ensure the prisoners don’t sue the old hippeas and raging white grannies for reducing their lifespan? How many trees were wasted to make all those dumbazz signs? Was it worth one oak trees life to have a picture of Trumps penis on it? Absolutely not. Fake environmentalists as well. How many of the participants took the bus? None, lame.
Here’s a solution Planning commissioners, pass an ordinance that buses and walking or biking are the only allowed means of transport to access said far left protests in Eureka. Also, a $2,000,000 Cert. of Liability Insurance bond must be set up by the tds sufferers prior to their weekly protest. You guys make it so easy to hit you where it hurts and make your carbon free life so miserable, you will just move back to Santa Barbara and stop polluting Humboldt with your toxic, venomous, mouth spew gas. Bye, bye. Have good life back in the land of Cement and Krazy Glue and all night dough nutter shops.
Resist the marxist agenda people. It will lead to our demise. I will be offering a new service, Mileage reduction adjustmeents. This along with my black market gas station where there is no tax. I’m gonna get rich!