New DelDOT Traffic Impact Study Regulations Under The Gun?

Update: Also see: Red Clay’s new school road impact study comes under fire!


I am heading out to the County Executive's August Civic Umbrella meeting tonight. 

[I understand that Tom Gordon has hired a new General Manager for the Department of Land Use and we'll be hearing more about that tonight and at a press conference on Wednesday. I have seen this person's resume and believe she's a perfect fit for NCC.]

The trials and tribulations of unincorporated county neighborhood Maintenance Corporations is a hot topic in NCC. I'm organizing a small working group of NCC staff, civic leadership and, with State Rep. Paul Baumbach's help, we'll hash out solutions and policy recommendations for the county's Community Governing staff. Email me (nancyvwilling@yahoo.com) with concerns/complaints for the group's consideration.

Another sore point for county residents is the finger pointing between NCC and DelDOT when it comes to who is responsible for road congestion vis a vis new land use projects. 

Yesterday, we had the unpleasant news that lobbyist Roger Roy orchestrated a Bond Bill Committee cheat on the scope of the Graves Road school traffic impact study - (News Journal) Adam Taylors' story ~ Traffic at root of NCCo, state fight Red Clay district gets break on impact review
A comment rescue ~

Here is why people hate politics. Underhanded and done for years Delaware State Legislators have a secret weapon. It's Called " Epilogue Language". It's when a huge Bond Bill (all Capital funds Roads Schools etc...) are asked for and voted on in June (mini Bill in Jan.) "Sneaky Legislators (With help from Sneaky Lobbyist / this time Roger Roy) convince the 12 State Legislators to throw in a sentence or two at the end of a long bill that gets them what they want.... They do this because it usually goes against what the People want and helps the Special Interests. It wrong and it needs to STOP! Roger Roy was a legislator for 22 years and chaired this Bond Bill Committee.. and he KNOWS it's wrong... Now we will have continued problems between the State and County and more Irresponsible Development . Shame on You ROGER ROY!

There was plenty from the article to infuriate me but for now
I will focus on this quote from DelDOT's Drew Boyce ~

DelDOT Planning Di­rector Drew Boyce said the new traffic study is more fair to Red Clay. The original one would have forced the district to fix intersections that are mostly clogged because of poor land-use deci­sions in the past.........“The old way, you have one car going through an already failing intersec­tion, all the problems caused in the past are placed on the shoulder of folks who are moving for­ward in the future,” Boyce said. “We’re trying to make the new appli­cant obligated to fix only what they’re accountable for.”

arrrrrgh! DelDOT can't sit back and talk about poor land use decisions "in the past" without owning them too, each and every one of them. 

A DelDOT Letter of No Objection accompanies every single project given an occupancy permit in New Castle County, in case they've forgotten. It wasn't that long ago that Hockessin was nothing but farms.

So here are some items for discussion tonight on the new DelDOT TIS Regs ~ 

DelDOT’s New Traffic Study Regs – An Assessment                                                    

Despite broad community input, DelDOT rejected critical suggestions to protect the public interest in drafting its new traffic study regulations.  The new regs, as issued, are fundamentally flawed in several important respects.

1. Transportation Improvement Districts (TIDs).  Under the new regs, developers can pay an assessment to DelDOT and are then free to proceed with development. This sets up a situation where developers can pay pennies on the dollar for improvements, the improvements never get made, and the public is left with a traffic nightmare that the taxpayer ends up eventually funding out of our own pockets.  We argued for DIRECT LINKAGE – needed improvements are identified up front, and developers make (and pay for) the required upgrades concurrent with the build-out of their project. Unfortunately, DelDOT rejected the community's input.

2. Public Engagement – especially as it relates to TIDs.  The TID process provides little opportunity for public engagement, and DelDOT’s responses to specific questions posed during the comment period indicate their concerns regarding public involvement.  This is particularly significant given TIDs long time horizons and complexity.  As one citizen noted, TIDs may have the effect of further reducing public engagement in an environment where it’s already judged to be insufficient.

3. Default Contribution Formula.  The purpose of the formula is to address situations in which a TID exists and no formula for developer contributions to infrastructure upgrades has been defined.  We argued that the specific transportation impacts associated with new development ARE CREATED 100% BY THE DEVELOPER AND SHOULD BE PAID FOR 100% BY THE DEVELOPER…. THE TAXPAYER SHOULD NOT SUBSIDIZE THESE PROJECT-SPECIFIC UPGRADES.

So what did DelDOT do with this community input?  They rejected it.  In the final regs, they opted for a default formula based on a % of total traffic method.  And here's where the major subsidy to the developers is buried.  To illustrate, lets examine a roadway with, say, 6,000 vehicles of peak hour traffic.  A development is proposed that adds 3,000 vehicles of peak hour traffic.  With no other nearby new developments underway, logic would require that 100% of needed road upgrades be funded by the developer creating the impact (using the % of increased traffic method originally proposed).  DelDOT, however, opted to go with a % of total traffic method in the final regs.  Under this calculation, the developer would only be required to fund 33% (3,000/9,000) of needed road upgrades, with the REMAINING 67% SUBSIDIZED BY THE TAXPAYER.

4. Non-Residential Rezonings. The final regs add a clause that non-residential rezonings without a specific associated development plan should be CONSIDERED WITHOUT A TRAFFIC IMPACT STUDY (TIS)at all, and that the need for a TIS be evaluated when the development proposal is defined.  This is unacceptable to the community.  Rezoning actions are one of the keystones of the land use process in New Castle County and the County’s own standards for rezoning require consideration of traffic impact.

5. Existing Conditions. The final regs REMOVED LANGUAGE that DelDOT will recommend a TIS if development is proposed for a non-rural area where existing conditions are currently below LEVEL OF SERVICE(LOS) D.  Again, this is unacceptable.  With New Castle County’s population density and congested road conditions, this exception would seem to ensure that existing peak hour service problems will only worsen.

6. 3^rd Road Out Rule. The regs fail to address developments with regional impact to the transportation system by limiting analysis to the 3^rdroad out. DelDOTs own examples clearly demonstrate cases where the area of influence extends beyond 3 intersections out.  The community’s input to appropriately address the full area of impact of development was rejected. 

August 2013

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