For City Council Meeting [June 12, 2018]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Robb R. Steel, Interim CA/Development Services Director
Title
Request City Council to Adopt Interim Urgency Ordinance No. 1602 entitled “AN INTERIM URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM TO PROHIBIT TRUCK TRAFFIC ON AYALA DRIVE BETWEEN THE I-210 FREEWAY AND BASELINE ROAD WITHIN THE RENAISSANCE SPECIFIC PLAN OF THE CITY OF RIALTO” Reading by Title only and Declaring the Urgency Thereof.
(ACTION)
Body
BACKGROUND:
Commercial trucking is the primary means of moving goods in the United States. Distribution facilities provide jobs and generate tax revenues to the City’s general fund. Although the City analyzes potential impacts from truck traffic in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act, truck operators currently utilize routes not intended for truck traffic to park, pick-up and deliver goods in Rialto. Traffic congestion occurs as use increases. Congestion causes slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queuing. When traffic demand causes vehicular friction, the traffic speeds diminish causing congestion on public streets.
Because of the increase in truck activity on streets not designated as truck routes, the City requires a comprehensive study of truck traffic patterns to support goods movement and ensure that access along retail corridors remains unfettered. To accommodate the large volumes of truck traffic associated with goods movement, ensure appropriate road construction and maintenance, and protect residential neighborhoods, the City designates certain arterials as truck routes. Exhibit 4.5 of the General Plan illustrates those truck routes (Exhibit A).
Increased truck traffic threatens Rialto’s neighborhood livability and access to destinations. The City seeks to analyze truck routes and modify the Circulation Element of the 2010 General Plan. The City will assess traffic patterns, evaluate solutions and determine the most appropriate routes for truck traffic in partnership with residents and business owners. A comprehensive process ensures that traffic problems do not move from one street onto another.
On April 25, 2018, the Economic Development Committee (EDC) discussed the truck routes in the City and in the Renaissance Specific Plan (EDC Report #18-392). An update requires several months of preparatory tasks such as stakeholder and citizen surveys, traffic counts, data analytics and field checks prior to making a recommendation to the Transportation Commission and City Council. Given the timeframe, the EDC directed staff to prepare an Ordinance to prohibit truck traffic on Ayala Drive for consideration by the full Council.
Vehicle Code Section 260 defines a commercial vehicle as a vehicle used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. The moratorium defines trucks as commercial vehicles in excess of 9,000 pounds with more than three axles. The City will enforce the moratorium by placement of electronic notification signs on Ayala Drive at the I-210 Freeway and at Baseline Road, and thereafter issuing citations for intercity trucks traveling off designated truck routes.
Section 35703 of the California Vehicle Code allows deliveries and pickups on roads restricted by weight per Section 35701: "No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35701 shall prohibit any commercial vehicles coming from an unrestricted street having ingress and egress by direct route to and from a restricted street when necessary for the purpose of making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted street or for the purpose of delivering materials to be used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling, or construction of any building or structure upon the restricted street for which a building permit has previously been obtained." The proposed moratorium will not conflict with local deliveries for existing facilities.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
Section 65858(a) of the California Government Code allows the City Council to adopt an urgency interim ordinance prohibiting any use that may be in conflict with a contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal, which is under study or intended for study to protect the public safety, health and welfare. Adoption of an urgency interim ordinance requires a four-fifths vote of the City Council. An urgency ordinance is effective for forty-five (45) days from the date of its adoption. If necessary, the City Council may extend the urgency ordinance for an additional period of 10 months and 15 days after holding a noticed public hearing prior to the expiration of this 45-day period. If necessary, the City may extend the interim ordinance for an additional 12 months after holding another noticed public hearing and a four-fifths vote.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The proposed action is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15378, a Project does not include:
1. The creation of government funding mechanisms or other government fiscal activities, which do not involve any commitment to any specific project, which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment.
2. Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
The proposed moratorium is consistent with the following guiding principles, goals and objectives contained in the General Plan:
Guiding Principals
• Essential community services and amenities must meet the needs and desires of our families.
• Rialto shall attract high-quality new development and improve its physical environment.
• The quality and standards of our streetscapes and public spaces will reflect the high quality new development we require.
• Infrastructure keeps pace with our growth.
Goal 4-10: Provide a circulation system that supports Rialto’s position as a logistics hub.
Policy 4-10.1: Designate and enforce truck routes for use by commercial trucking as part of the project approval process.
Policy 4-10.2: Coordinate truck routes with adjacent jurisdictions.
Policy 4-10.3: Develop appropriate noise mitigation along truck routes to minimize noise impacts on nearby sensitive land uses.
Policy 4-10.4: Encourage the development of adequate on-site loading areas to minimize interference of truck loading activities with efficient traffic circulation on adjacent roadways.
Policy 4-10.5: Work with appropriate law enforcement agencies to regulate speed on Riverside Avenue to minimize conflicts between high-speed private vehicles and lower-speed truck traffic.
Goal 3-6: Require that all developed areas within Rialto are adequately served with essential public services and infrastructure.
Policy 3-6.3: Require an increasing level of public safety infrastructure and service capability tied to population increase and increasing service demand.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney reviewed and approved the staff report and Ordinance.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Operating Budget Impact:
The moratorium will not impact the City’s operating budget. However, the long-term impact of truck traffic on non-designated truck routes may increase calls for service to address safety concerns associated with the interaction of high-speed vehicles and slow speed trucks.
Capital Budget Impact:
There is no immediate capital budget impact caused by the moratorium. Capital expenditures to repair the structural integrity of streets absorbing the weight of heavy truck traffic may occur.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council Adopt an Interim Urgency Ordinance (Exhibit C) entitled “AN INTERIM URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A TEMPORARY MORATORIUM TO PROHIBIT TRUCK TRAFFIC ON AYALA DRIVE BETWEEN THE I210 FREEWAY AND BASELINE ROAD WITHIN THE RENAISSANCE SPECIFIC PLAN OF THE CITY OF RIALTO”.
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