The City of Costa Mesa employs a Traffic Impact Fee (TIF) program used to fund transportation system improvements necessitated by new land development. The TIF program is based on the Comprehensive Transportation System Improvement Program (CTSIP) which serves as the nexus mandating circulation improvements to mitigate transportation system impacts resulting from new land development. The current CTSIP uses capacity-based level of service (LOS) as the program metric. Improvements to ensure that the LOS standard is achieved and is maintained at eligible intersections within the defined impact area are included within the current TIF nexus study. The City seeks to revise the TIF program for updated eligible projects and costs, to align with Statewide goals to reduce vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gases (GHGs) consistent with Senate Bill 743 (SB 743), and to comply with recently adopted applicable State Laws. The methodology for assigning the TIF will be reviewed through this project, and may be modified to be based on trips, LOS, VMT, or some other criteria. The current state of the TIF program is summarized below: • The City of Costa Mesa Ordinance 93-11 established the TIF in 1993. • The TIF Program and CTSIP are codified in Title 13, Chapter 12, Article 3 -– “Transportation System Management” of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code. • The City’s General Plan, adopted in 2016, requires the City to maintain a TIF for improvements to the Master Plan of Streets and Highways and that the City review and update the fees on an annual basis. • The initial intent of the program was to fund projects that improve roadway LOS, typically intersection enhancements, lane additions, and roadway widenings, some of which require additional rights-of-way which can be extremely costly and infeasible to obtain. In 2018, the City completed its most recent TIF study and added the projects outlined in the City’s Active Transportation Plan (ATP) into the program. These projects serve to provide active travel modes in the City, reduce the use of automobiles and improve roadway LOS through reduced vehicular demand on the roadway. The City provided a five percent (5%) reduction in automobile trips for development projects due to the implementation of the ATP and an additional five percent (5%) reduction in average daily traffic (ADT) if a development proposes to implement active transportation improvements beyond typical code requirements. Currently up to ten percent (10%) of traffic impact fees can also be used towards traffic signal synchronization projects. • The current adopted TIF is set at $228 per net daily trip, with an annual review planned at the December 2025 City Council meeting. • Fees collected can be used to fund any improvement in the City that is included in the fee program at the discretion of the City. The major goals of the TIF Program update include: • Identify best practices and fee program strategies given current transportation conditions and General Plan land development potential. • Develop a new nexus study and a legally defensible TIF to be compatible with and complementary to VMT Guidelines under preparation for consistency with SB 743 VMT project. • Evaluate the list of TIF eligible projects to achieve project objectives (VMT reductions, LOS improvements, etc.) such as congestion hot spot improvements, active transportation, complete streets, and transit enhancements. • Maintain OCTA Measure M2 eligibility. • Maintain consistency with the General Plan. • Engage the TIF Ad Hoc Committee for community and business representative engagement. • Update the program to be compliant with all new applicable state laws. • Update the existing ordinance and municipal code upon City Council approval.
