OLD BUSINESS  8.

COMMITTEE MEMORANDUM

HISTORY:

General Overview of Concurrency and Mobility Fee

The Florida Legislature has enacted a number of changes over the last several years that impact Growth Management and local government’s ability to require that new development mitigate its impact to the transportation system. The State of Florida passed the Growth Management Act of 1985 that required all local governments in Florida to adopt Comprehensive Plans to guide future development. The Act mandated that adequate public facilities must be provided “concurrent” with the impacts of new development. State mandated “concurrency” was adopted to ensure the health, safety and general welfare of the public. The introduction of “transportation concurrency” focused on accommodating the travel demand from new development by adding roadway capacity through construction of new roads and the widening of existing roads. Transportation concurrency, while well intended, had the unintended consequence of driving development away from urban areas, where road capacity was unavailable or cost prohibitive to provide, to suburban and rural areas where road capacity was readily available or cheaper to construct. The State enacted several programs in the following decades to address these unintended consequences.

House Bill 319, otherwise known as the “Community Planning Act,” was adopted by the Florida Legislature in 2013 and is the State's most recent approach to providing transportation facilities for new development. Among many other changes, the Community Planning Act established mobility fees, based on an adopted transportation mobility plan, as an alternative means by which local governments may allow development consistent with an adopted Comprehensive Plan to equitably mitigate its transportation impact. The intent of mobility fees is to eliminate transportation concurrency, proportionate share and impact fees and enact a streamlined, simplified mitigation mechanism whereby a development can mitigate its impact through a one-time payment.

In general, the foundations of a mobility fee are the mobility policies and projects integrated into a municipality's Comprehensive Plan. The mobility policies will need to include the establishment of a horizon year, mobility district(s) and, where applicable, multimodal quality of service standards for a multi-modal transportation system and policies that articulate how those standards will be achieved. The standards are for planning purposes, not for regulating the timing or approval of development. A Mobility Plan or projects identified in a municipality's adopted Transportation Plan or in its Comprehensive Plan serve as the basis for the types of mobility projects to be provided within a municipality.

Miami Beach Transportation Mitigation Overview

In 2000, the City adopted a Concurrency Fee Ordinance to assess and mitigate the transportation impacts of private developments on the City's roadway network. At that time, the Concurrency Fee Ordinance was premised on the City's Adopted 1999 Municipal Mobility Plan (MMP).

The City's Concurrency Fee is in essence an impact fee consisting of a cost per automobile vehicle trip that was based on the cost of all capacity improvements recommended in the 1999 MMP divided by the number of additional vehicular trips that could be accommodated by the recommended capacity improvements in the MMP, if implemented. As a requirement for a City building permit, all proposed developments were required to pay the capacity improvements in the MMP, if implemented. As a requirement for a City building permit, all proposed developments were required to pay the City a concurrency fee calculated as the product of the City's established cost per trip and the number of trips anticipated to be generated by the proposed development. Concurrency Fee revenues would then be used by the City to fund new capacity improvement projects recommended in the 1999 MMP as a means to mitigate the transportation impacts of new developments.

It is important to note that the City's Concurrency Fee was based on a vehicular-trip methodology as opposed to a multimodal or person-trip methodology and that the existing Concurrency Fee Ordinance does not provide for CPI increases to the fee to adjust for inflation over time. Additionally, the vast majority of projects recommended in the 1999 MMP Project Bank (found feasible) have been implemented over the past 18 years.

In April 2016, the City Commission adopted the City's 2016 Transportation Master Plan (TMP). The City's TMP Project Bank is based on the City's Adopted Modal Prioritization Strategy consisting of: pedestrians first; bicycles, transit, and freight second; and private vehicles third. As such, the City's TMP recommends over 150 multimodal projects intended to transition the City from a vehicular-based transportation system to a multimodal transportation system that focuses on pedestrian, bicycle, and transit trips to maximize the capacity of the roadway network and, ultimately, person through-put. The TMP is based on a 20-year horizon.  Since the current TMP focuses on multimodal solutions, a traditional automobile/vehicle based concurrency system is NOT the best solution. A mobility fee is more representative of all forms of transportation.

As discussed above, state law allows counties and municipalities to charge and collect a concurrency fee to mitigate the transportation impacts of new developments; however, state law requires that there be a rational nexus between the concurrency fee being charged, the impacts of the new developments on the roadway network, and the implementation of improvements to mitigate the transportation impacts of the additional trips generated by new developments.

In order to continue charging a Concurrency Fee and prove rational nexus as required by State law, the City would need to update its existing concurrency fee to one that is based on the Adopted 2016 TMP.

More progressive cities have implemented or are moving towards a new transportation concurrency approach that assesses transportation impacts of vehicular trips generated by proposed developments based on both the length of the trips (i.e. vehicle miles traveled) and, hence, type of trip (local vs regional) rather than only on the number of vehicular trips anticipated to be generated by a development. This more progressive approach to transportation concurrency is referred to as a Mobility Fee Program, and several cities in Florida have already adopted these types of programs.

On September 14, 2018, the Administration presented the proposed Mobility Fee Program to the Finance and Citywide Projects Committee (FCWPC).  After some discussion, the Committee requested that the Administration complete the following tasks and return to the FCWPC for further discussion and direction:

1. Reach out to the business community regarding the proposed Mobility Fee.

2. Provide a range of scenarios showing how the proposed Mobility Fee would impact various land uses.

3. Consider a discounted fee for North Beach.

ANALYSIS:

An overview of the process and approach to developing the proposed mobility fee for Miami Beach is described below, and also included in the attached presentation (Attachment).

Mobility Fee Development Approach

Transportation in the City of Miami Beach has unique characteristics compared to other cities in Florida. Travel in Miami Beach is characterized by a high percentage of tourists, shorter trips, convenient public transportation, shuttle services, high availability of taxis, carpools, and ride share vehicles, higher propensity for biking and walking, availability of a robust bike sharing program, and limited to no free public parking - all factors that reduce the dependency on the private automobile and promote alternative modes of travel. Furthermore, City policies regarding prioritizing non-vehicular modes, creating pedestrian priority zones, and investing in greenways, shared-use paths, and protected bike lanes will help further reduce the reliance on the private vehicle for short trips.

Given the factors listed above, the proposed Mobility Fee Program was tailored to Miami Beach. First, travel demand growth was estimated using person-trips rather than only private vehicle trips. Second, the Mobility Fee share for each project listed in the TMP Project Bank was estimated based on whether the project is located on a state, county, or local roadway and the potential for other funding sources. Finally, a Mobility Fee Schedule was proposed for each land use category.

It is important to note that through the proposed Mobility Fee Program, neighborhood-supportive land uses generally associated with localized trips are incentivized, while land uses that induce regional trips, generally associated with large scale commercial developments, are disincentivized.

Proposed Mobility Fee Schedule

A table of the proposed Mobility Fee Schedule for each land use category is included in Page 8 of the attached presentation. As shown in the table, the fees would apply citywide. The developed mobility fees were reviewed for reasonableness in the context of the existing concurrency fee schedule.

A table comparing the existing Concurrency Fee charges with the proposed Mobility Fee charges is included in Page 9 of the attached presentation. This table also calculated what the Concurrency Fee would be at the present time, if adjusted by the CPI.  Similar to the existing Concurrency Fee Program, Mobility Fees would be charged for new developments and changes of use. In the case of changes of use, credits would be applied for the existing uses.

An important distinction to make is that under the City’s existing Concurrency Fee Program, single family homes are exempted.  However, under the proposed Mobility Fee Program, some single family homes would be charged a one-time fee for additions/expansions given that the increase in square footage would have an impact on local trips. Since larger homes tent to generate more traffic due to maintenance and housekeeping staff, as well as larger families. A single family home would not be charged a mobility fee unless the overall square footage of the home, including the expansion, exceeds 3,500 SF. Beyond that, a tiered fee structure would apply wherein fees would be charged for homes that are expanded to exceed 3,500 SF up to 7,000 SF;  and a higher fee would be charged for homes expanded above 7,000 SF. In both tiers, the mobility fee would apply only to the square footage increase of the home (i.e. a credit would be applied to the existing square footage of the single family home).

In total, the new Mobility Fee is estimated to generate approximately $126,878,500 in revenues over a 20-year period. The revenues would be used by the City to implement multimodal projects recommended in the Adopted 2016 Transportation Master Plan over a 20-year horizon. The total cost of all projects in the TMP Project Bank is approximately $902 million, thus, the Plan over a 20-year horizon. The total cost of all projects in the TMP Project Bank is approximately $902 million, thus, the revenues generated by the Mobility Fee over a 20-year period are anticipated to cover approximately 14.1% of the total project costs of all Priority I, II, and III projects in the Transportation Master Plan Project Bank. The balance of the project costs would be funded through Federal, State, and/or County sources, grants, and other City sources.

Mobility Fee Uses

The Mobility Fee funds would be used by the City to plan, design, and construct numerous transportation improvement projects, including shared-use paths, bicycle lanes, transit lanes, intermodal facilities, pedestrian safety and connectivity enhancements, neighborhood greenways, pedestrian priority zones, complete streets, traffic signalization improvements, and various intersection/roadway improvements to improve traffic safety and increase capacity.

UPDATE SINCE THE SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 FCWPC MEETING

Pursuant to FCWPC's request, Planning and Transportation Department staff have reached out to the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Miami Beach LGBTQ Advisory Committee, the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce, and the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association.  On September 24 and 25, Planning and Transportation staff met with representatives of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce to review the proposed Mobility Fee.  Backup information was provided to the Chamber members to address their questions.  Subsequently, on November 6, Planning and Transportation staff presented to the Board of Directors of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce to provide them with further information on the proposed Mobility Fee.  At the meeting, the Chamber expressed concerns with the City assessing any type of transportation impact fee.  Although it was explained to the Chamber that since 2000, all new developments and changes of use are assessed a transportation concurrency fee by the City, the Chamber advised that it would not support the proposed Mobility Fee Program.

On October 9, an overview of the proposed Mobility Fee was presented to the Miami Beach LGBTQ Advisory Committee.  Background information regarding the proposed Mobility Fee was also shared with the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association via telephone and e-mail.  Both the Miami Beach Latin Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association were invited to the November 6 presentation to the Board of Directors of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Additionally, pursuant to FCWPC's request, staff has provided a range of scenarios to illustrate how the proposed Mobility Fee would impact a wide range of land uses.  Those scenarios are included in the updated Mobility Fee Program presentation (Attachment A).  Based on the limited scenarios prepared, in North Beach, the median increase from the current fee with CPI adjustment would be approximately 61%.  In Middle Beach, the median increase from the current fee with CPI adjustment would be approximately -6%.  In South Beach, the median increase from the current fee with CPI adjustment would be approximately 66%. 

Lastly, pursuant to FCWPC's request, staff has explored options for providing a discounted mobility fee structure intended to promote future redevelopment in North Beach.  These recommendations are included in the Mobility Fee Program presentation for FCWPC's consideration.  One option would be to consider a 60% reduction in the fee for North Beach, which could sunset after a period of time - perhaps 3 or 5 years.  A decrease of 60% is suggested for North Beach because the median increase from the current fee with CPI adjustment would be a comparable 61%.  Another option would be to phase-in the fee for North Beach over time.  For example, North Beach development projects could pay 50% of the fee for the first two years, 75% of the fee for years 3 and 4, and the full fee at year 5.  The impact of the fee reductions for North Beach is that it would result in a decrease of Mobility Fee funding available to fund the implementation of projects recommended in the City's Adopted 2016 Transportation Master Plan.

Attachment B includes the Mobility Fee Technical Analysis report completed by Keith and Schnars.

CONCLUSION:

In addition to meeting the requirements of state law, implementing a new and more progressive Mobility Fee Program to replace the City’s existing Concurrency Fee Program will better assess the transportation impacts of new developments and provide funding for the implementation of the TMP Multimodal Project Bank over a 20-year horizon. Further, it will help the City achieve its future mode share goals of reducing private automobile trips and increasing pedestrian, bicycle, and transit trips, thereby improving mobility for all modes of transportation citywide.

The Administration is seeking approval from the FCWPC on the proposed Mobility Fee Program.  If approved, the Administration will take a draft ordinance to the January 2019 Commission meeting for first reading.