To: Board of Supervisors
From: Warren Lai, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Report Title: INTRODUCE Ordinance No. 2025-13 repealing Ordinance No. 88-27, which established traffic mitigation fees for the Briones and Rodeo, Hercules, and Crocket Areas of Benefit; WAIVE reading; and FIX September 16, 2025, for adoption.
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
INTRODUCE Ordinance No. 2025-13 repealing Ordinance No. 88-27, which established traffic mitigation fees for the Briones and Rodeo, Hercules, and Crocket Areas of Benefit; WAIVE reading; and FIX September 16, 2025, for adoption, as recommended by the Public Works Director, Briones and Rodeo, Hercules, and Crocket areas.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No fiscal impact.
BACKGROUND:
On March 15, 1988, Contra Costa County (County) established the Countywide Area of Benefit (AOB) by adopting Ordinance No. 88-27. The Countywide AOB authorized the collection of traffic mitigation fees from developers to fund the construction of transportation improvements necessary to mitigate the traffic impacts of urban development and growth. On March 9, 1993, the County Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 93/104, which divided the Countywide AOB into seven separate regions and traffic mitigation fee programs, which included Briones and the combined Hercules, Rodeo, and Crockett (HRC) boundary as subareas within the regions. Since 1993, the County established multiple AOBs, each with their own mutually exclusive boundary and separate transportation mitigation fee rates, that excluded them from the Countywide AOB.
The traffic mitigation fee rates applicable under the Countywide AOB are currently only applied in the Briones and HRC subareas, which are commonly referred to as the Briones AOB and the HRC AOB. The Countywide AOB only identified one project within the Briones subarea, which has since been constructed. There were eight projects identified for the HRC subarea, seven of which were constructed. The only remaining project in the HRC subarea was identified as an alignment study. Neither the Briones AOB nor the HRC AOB have any viable or constructable projects remaining to complete.
All Countywide AOB funds for the Briones and HRC subareas have been exhausted to construct the identified projects. Increasing fee revenue at a rate significant enough to fund future projects is unlikely for the following reasons: (1) the Countywide AOB fee rates do not adjust for inflation, and (2) historically, the rate of development and urban growth in the areas has not been significant due to the presence of open land trusts, municipal ownership, refinery right-of-way, and topographic constraints.
Based on the aforementioned information provided, administering the Countywide AOB traffic mitigations fees for the Briones and HRC AOBs is unnecessary and should cease until additional capital road projects are identified in future nexus studies and the County adopts ordinances to establish new AOB boundaries and associated traffic mitigation fees.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
Failure to adopt Ordinance No. 2025-13 to rescind Ordinance No. 88-27 will result in new developments paying traffic mitigation fees without a nexus to planned projects in the Briones and Hercules, Rodeo, and Crockett Areas of Benefit.