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In order to reach the greenhouse gas reduction goals set out in AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Californians need to rethink how we design our communities. Senate Bill 375 does this by providing emissions-reduction goals around which regions can plan, integrating disjointed planning activities and providing incentives for local governments and developers to follow new conscientiously-planned growth patterns. 

SB 375 requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop regional greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to be achieved from the automobile and light truck sectors for 2020 and 2035. The 18 MPOs in California will prepare a "Sustainable Communities Strategy" to reduce the amount of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in their respective regions and demonstrate the ability for the region to attain ARB's targets through linking land use and transportation planning.

The first Sustainable Communities Strategy for the Monterey Bay Area will be drafted and integrated into the 2012 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, to be updated every 4 years thereafter.  

What will the Sustainable Communities Strategy include?

SB 375 provides an outline for what the Sustainable Communities Strategy will contain, as follows:

1. Identify the general location of uses, residential densities, and building intensities within the region.
2. Identify areas within the region sufficient to house all the population of the region, including all economic segments of the population, over the course of the planning period of the regional transportation plan taking into account net migration into the region, population growth, household formation and employment growth.
3. Identify areas within the region sufficient to house an eight-year projection of the regional housing need for the region.
4. Identify a transportation network to service the transportation needs of the region.
5. Gather and consider the best practically available scientific information regarding resource areas and farmland in the region.
6. Consider the state housing goals.
7. Set forth a forecasted development pattern for the region, which, when integrated with the transportation network, and other transportation measures and policies, will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks to achieve, if there is a feasible way to do so, the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets approved by the state board.
8. Allow the regional transportation plan to comply with the federal Clean Air Act.

What will the Sustainable Communities Strategy NOT do?

It will not regulate land use or supersede local land use authority.

Impact on Regional Housing Needs Allocation Process

To align with the regional transportation plans, the regional housing need assessment (RHNA) numbers will be allocated based on the development pattern shown in the SCS. This will require careful integration of the MTP, RTP and RHNA planning processes for the Monterey Bay Area.

Public Meetings

May 5, 2010:  GHG Regional Target Setting: Technical Methodology Presentation

Materials:
SB 375 Acronym Guide

SB375, The Sustainable Communities Strategy and The Monterey Bay Area Info Sheet

SB375 Presentations:

April 2011 AMBAG Board of Directors Meeting SB 375 Presentation

March 2011 AMBAG Board of Directors Meeting SB 375 Presentation 

Sourced and adapted from http://www.gov.ca.gov and http://www.housingca.org.