Work Plan
Work Activity #1: Significantly increase the opportunities for housing and employment in Transit Priority Areas in a manner that promotes social equity, inclusion, access to opportunity, public health, and neighborhood revitalization and reduces environmental impacts.
We intend to maximize the performance benefits of higher amounts of housing and employment in Transit Priority Areas (TPAs) in the SCS. The enhancements to the MTP/SCS process will help the region build on the two pillars of our Blueprint growth strategy's success: state-of-the-art information, and stakeholder-driven planning and robust public engagement. To increase transit-oriented sustainable communities, we will focus in five areas:
- Establish Performance Metrics
- Enhance Data and Analytical Tools
- Conduct Screening Analysis to Select Transit Priority Areas (TPAs)
- Prepare environmental analysis and TPA case studies for the Sacramento region of use of SB 375
CEQA streamlining benefits
- Develop Implementation Action Plans for Priority Areas
Work Activity #2: Improve the integration of the housing, land use and transportation components of the existing Regional Sustainable Development Plan and cross-connect the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development (RPSD) to federal, state and local housing programs.
State-mandated regional and local housing plans represent the current regional housing plan. The Blueprint principles have been instrumental in this plan and resulted in coordination between the growth allocation of the adopted MTP, the RHNP, and local housing elements. Many of the local jurisdictions have further developed affordable housing programs including inclusionary zoning, housing trust funds and aggregation of local housing resources to optimize access to housing choice. Although the region has made great strides toward equitable and fair regional housing planning, we see key areas of work to enhance this framework particularly to ensure sufficient housing growth in the TPAs, as well as continued access to fair and equitable housing opportunities without discrimination in the region. To enhance regional housing planning, we will focus in six areas:
- Assessment of existing conditions
- Inventory housing policies and funding
- Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing
- Jobs-Housing Fit Tool
- Housing and Transportation Cost Analysis
- Enhanced Regional Housing Needs Plan (RHNP)
Work Activity #3: Integrate natural resources planning with the Regional Plan for Sustainable Development (RPSD) to protect valuable environmental assets and increase housing opportunities near employment centers
There are a number of important ways that the natural resources analysis will be enhanced for the SCS and the MTP Update. SB 375 requires that SACOG use the best available data to analyze and consider the impacts of its SCS/MTP on a wide variety of resource areas. The definition of natural resource areas, in part, covers habitat conservation plans, natural community conservation plans, habitat for species covered by state and federal endangered species acts, agricultural lands, and lands subject to flooding. SACOG was instrumental in securing funding through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for a regional Aquatic Resources Inventory, which is currently under review by USACE and will be directly useful to this required natural resources analysis. These activities will also enhance SACOG's ability to help integrate existing multi-year habitat conservation planning efforts in Placer and Sacramento counties with regional plans, and to address Clean Water Act impacts critical to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and USACE in addition to the Endangered Species Act impacts, which are the focus of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) through the habitat conservation plans. To achieve this integration, we will focus in five areas:
- Secure federal agency approval for final inventory of natural resources
- Develop tool to measure natural resource impacts of alternative SCS scenarios
- Continue integration with Habitat Conservation Plans
- Prepare Analysis for Preferred Alternative, including appropriate Mitigation Measures
- Report on integrating SCS with draft CEQ Principles and Guidelines
Work Activity #4: Complete Regional Plan for Sustainable Development
