Mobility study could lead to development changes

The process by which the city measures how developments affect traffic could be significantly different next year, as the city begins to look at implementing aspects of a mobility study that began in 2010.

That process picked up last Friday, as the City Commission heard a presentation from city staff and the consulting firm Tindale-Oliver and Associates, which conducted the mobility study.

One of the major changes Tindale-Oliver outlined would be the creation of three different mobility districts in the city, each of which would have different standards for the acceptable maximum level of traffic generated by new developments. Projects below each threshold would no longer have to carry out a full traffic study.

In the downtown district, that standard would be 250 or fewer trips during the peak afternoon hours; a 400-unit condo or a 40,000-square-foot supermarket were listed as examples of developments beneath that threshold. For the three mixed-use corridors that extend north and south along U.S. 301 and east along Fruitville Road, the standard would be 100 peak hour trips. For the remaining residential districts, the limit would be 50 trips.

Projects above that threshold would not be barred from going forward, but developers would have to conduct a technical traffic study and go through a more rigorous administrative review. The city would have to approve any plan to mitigate the traffic beyond the established thresholds.

“We'd be offering developers more predictability than the current system,” said Demian Miller, a planner with Tindale-Oliver. “At the same time, it still enables and requires developers to contribute to the overall mobility needs of the system.”

Allowing developers to contribute to overall mobility needs, rather than just street improvements, is the other significant proposed change. If approved, the impact fees from new projects would be allowed to go toward other transportation improvements, such as bike lanes or a bus shelter, depending on what is most compatible with the area of the development.

The city’s Urban Design Studio was formed after the mobility study was well underway, but director Karin Murphy said the current plans fit with the initiative to write a form-based zoning code for the city. Although she called the level-of-service standard, which is based on vehicular traffic, “outdated,” she said the changes would be a move in the right direction.

City Engineer Alex DavisShaw said public hearings could be held in spring to begin the process of approving proposed changes. Commissioner Suzanne Atwell enthusiastically outlined the impact she believes the mobility plan could have.

“It will guide the market; it will focus on the future; it will be predictable, fair and efficient,” Atwell said. “It'd be exactly what we need for downtown.”

Contact David Conway at [email protected]