SB 743, signed into law in 2013, required the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to establish a new metric for identifying and mitigating transportation impacts for projects that are subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). OPR identified Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the new metric. The City of Riverside adopted VMT thresholds in July 2020 following OPR’s guidance which uses average VMT per person/employee as a baseline for determining needed reductions. While many development projects within the City are screened out based on the City’s screening criteria, some development projects cannot meet adopted thresholds for reduced VMT.

The goal of this project is to establish a VMT mitigation program for the City of Riverside so that projects can reduce impacts from VMT to a less-than-significant level by paying into a program. This project will provide the City with a citywide mechanism to mitigate development projects that cannot mitigate on-site, and simultaneously provide additional funding for active transportation and transit projects that help reduce VMT overall via a banking or exchange program. In addition, one of the primary benefits of establishing a VMT Mitigation Program is that it provides the City with the ability to expedite processing projects with identified VMT impacts and minimize or eliminate the need for additional environmental studies.