WHY DID THE CITY INITIATE THE OPPORTUNITIES STUDY? The City Council initiated the Study in 2003, after a countywide election ensured that future aviation uses on the defunct El Toro Marine Corps Air Station were no longer a possibility and that current land use restrictions could be lifted. When individual landowners began approaching the City about land use changes, the City took the initiative to ensure that the residents of Lake Forest would get the most beneficial plan overall rather than using a piecemeal approach.
WHAT IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT(EIR)?
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is a comprehensive analysis of environmental impacts of a proposed development project. Preparation of an EIR is required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) once a lead agency (i.e., city, county, state) determines that a project's impact on the environment (i.e., air quality, noise, traffic, geology, biology, cultural resources, and so on) would be significant unless mitigated. Through the EIR process, measures are determined that would reduce or offset the project's impacts to less than significant levels.
WHAT IS A GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT (GPA) AND ZONE CHANGE (ZC)? The City Council has adopted a General Plan that provides guidance for future land use decisions. The General Plan is comprised of six elements that address topics such as land use, housing, circulation, natural resources and recreation. The Land Use Element includes goals and policies to guide decision makers and a Land Use Plan that depicts the location of generalized land use categories, such as commercial, low density residential, medium density residential and open space. The City's original General Plan depicted non- residential land uses under the flight path of the former MCAS El Toro. As the base closed and an airport no longer is planned, the City now has the opportunity to plan for other land uses in this area. The new plan, approved on July 1, 2008, includes new General Plan land use designations and zoning to allow residential uses, mixed use, and parks and open space in areas which were formerly designated for commercial and business park uses. Zoning establishes development standards, such as building height and setbacks. By law, the General Plan Land Use Designation and Zoning must be consistent. An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was prepared to assess the impacts of the change to the General Plan and Zoning and was certified by the City Council prior to approval of the GPA and ZC. Subsequent environmental studies will be required when the City considers the precise development plan for each of the six properties. This will include project specific traffic and hydrology studies.
HOW CAN THE PUBLIC PROVIDE FEEDBACK? Feedback from Lake Forest residents is important and has been a key component to the development of the Opportunities Study. The public will continue to be able to provide public input and the planning will continue with project-level entitlements review and planning.
WHAT IS A TRAFFIC MODEL? A traffic model considers land use, and determines the anticipated traffic to and from these particular land uses. The traffic model then takes into consideration existing traffic on the roadways and potential future developments. All this traffic data is then distributed on the City's roadway network and analysis are performed to identify areas of congestion.
HOW WILL THIS TRAFFIC MODEL BE USED? The Traffic Model is an important planning tool to help the City analyze future traffic needs. It identifies how various land use choices will impact the City's roadways in the future, and will allow the City to make decisions about needed transportation improvements.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF THE TRAFFIC MODEL WORKS? We test the model against existing traffic. We predict what is happening at intersections now, and then we compare the prediction with actual traffic counts.
WHAT CAN THE CITY DO TO MINIMIZE FUTURE TRAFFIC IMPACTS? The City can do a number of things. The City has approved the Opportunities Study plan - which will generate less traffic than the previously approved land uses. The City can use its traffic model to identify early the streets that will be affected by future development and plan ahead for street improvements. As a part of the Opportunities Study the City Council approved LFTM (see below) to fund transportation improvements that will benefit the entire city.
WHO WILL PAY FOR THESE IMPROVEMENTS? EXPLAIN THE LAKE FOREST TRANSPORTATION MITIGATION PROGRAM, ALSO REFERRED TO AS THE LFTM PROGRAM. As part of the Opportunities Study, the City established the Lake Forest Transportation Mitigation Program, or LFTM, to allocate the costs of transportation improvements needed to serve projects within the Opportunities Study area and Citywide. Some improvements were identified as part of the Environmental Impact Review process.
WHAT ARE TRIP GENERATION RATES? Trip generation rates are average rates used to estimate how much traffic a specific land use will produce. For example, the amount of traffic generated by a group of homes is different from a business park. Trip types include:
• Residential - Trips to and from home.
• Industrial - Trips to and from jobs.
• Office - Trips to and from jobs.
• Retail - Trips to and from shopping.
• Other - Trips to and from school/recreation.
Special consideration is also given to morning and evening peak traffic hours on certain days of the week. These are the times of day when the majority of the roadways are the heaviest traveled. Arterial streets especially experience their heaviest traffic at certain morning and evening periods. These are considered a worst-case situation and are used for intersection analysis.
WILL ALTON PARKWAY AND OTHER ARTERIALS BE EXTENDED? The City's Traffic Model assumes that the completion of Alton Parkway will be expedited as quickly as allowed in coordination with the County of Orange. The traffic model does not assume that either Ridge Route Drive or Portola Parkway will be extended.
WHY DO YOU STUDY INTERSECTIONS? Intersections are the best measure of how drivers experience a roadway. Typically, traffic flows freely along the links between intersections. Because intersections accommodate opposing traffic and cross traffic, there is a possibility of an increase in delay to accommodate the various movements. That delay is what traffic engineers may use to measure how an intersection is operating.
DID YOU CONSIDER APARTMENTS IN THE TRAFFIC MODEL? The traffic model is based on a detailed inventory of existing land uses in the City and looks at every possible land use in the Opportunities Study. The model takes into account the different traffic patterns that apartments will have versus other land uses.
WHAT LAND USES ARE BEING PROPOSED FOR PORTOLA CENTER? The proposed plan includes predominately residential, commercial and open space uses. A maximum of 930 housing units are proposed, which is estimated to include 481 single family homes and 449 multi family units. The multi family units can either be for sale or rent. The plan currently proposes up to 40,000 square feet of commercial development. The proposed Plan also includes more than 90 acres of open space and parks.
HOW MUCH TRAFFIC WOULD THE PROPOSED PORTOLA CENTER PLAN GENERATE? As the 243 acre parcel of land is currently vacant, obviously no traffic is generated at the present time by it. The development of the currently approved lands uses (business park and commercial) would generate an additional 47,588 Average Daily Traffic (ADT) to today’s traffic load. The proposed residential plan would generate 11,902 trips, which represents a 75% reduction in traffic compared to the land uses that were permitted previously. This is a significant reduction in traffic.
WHEN WILL SITE SPECIFIC TRAFFIC STUDIES TAKE PLACE FOR PORTOLA CENTER? Site specific traffic studies will be required for each of the five properties in the Opportunities Study Area to determine where traffic signals, lane augmentation, stop signs and other localized improvements will be required. There types of improvements are “Project Features”, unique to each of the five parcels that comprise the Opportunities Study. This level of study takes place when subdivision maps are submitted for the precise development of each property and a site specific environmental document is prepared. The intersection of Saddleback Ranch Road and Glenn Ranch Road, which is located entirely within the Portola Center property, is a “Project Feature” of the proposed Portola Center development. The City’s General Plan and the Opportunities Study EIR include performance criteria to which all intersections must conform. The exact improvements/geometrics and costs are defined at the project level environmental review. The focus at the current Program level analysis is system-wide cumulative impacts, appropriate for a General Plan Amendment. The City’s goals are (1) to ensure a funding mechanism is in place to pay for the cumulative system-wide improvements that are not Project Features tied to a single development (which would be fully funded by the applicant); (2) to create a benefit for all Lake Forest residents in the form of enhanced mitigation; and (3) to impose standards for future performance and a process to ensure that performance occurs.
