COUNCILMEMBER DONNA FRYE
CITY OF SAN DIEGO
SIXTH DISTRICT

Memorandum

The City of San Diego has struggled with a major backlog of needed infrastructure improvements. According to City staff, we have a $1.9 billion dollar shortfall in infrastructure needs, which includes sewer, water, streets, sidewalks, and the like. The two sources of revenue we currently use to complete these necessary improvements are the Facilities Benefit Assesment (FBA) and Development Impact Fees (DIF). However, these fees fall significantly short of providing enough funds to complete the infrastructure needs of the City, particularly in older neighborhoods.

At the same time, we are faced with many critical decisions about proposed development projects, which will further strain our already over-burdened City services. One of the main documents used to help us make future development decisions is the Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs). However, many times EIRs presented to the Mayor and Council contain significant omissions about the state of essential City indicators, including existing infrastructure needs, overall environmental health, and fiscal realities. In order to help the Mayor and Council make better-informed decisions, I recommend we consider creating a Master Environmental Assessment (MEA).

A Master Environmental Assessment, or MEA, would be a planning document to provide a baseline assessment for EIRs prepared for development projects in our City. The MEA would describe the existing environmental, infrastructure, and fiscal conditions of the City to compare how these conditions would be impacted by the proposed project. All consultants and City staff preparing EIRs would use the data in the MEA as the underpinnings for their EIR analysis, thus ensuring each EIR uses the same assumptions and information as the other. This will not only make certain the consistency of the data, but will also allow the decision-makers and stakeholders to evaluate each project in a "global" citywide setting.

One city already utilizing this planning document is the City of Santa Monica. Originally developed in 1992, the City Council of Santa has updated this document twice. The City of Santa Monica views this document as a critical linchpin in carrying out its goals for sustainable development.

I respectfully request that Land Use and Housing docket this item for consideration as soon as possible, and that the City Manager prepare a report evaluating the potential benefits and downfalls to developing an MEA.

Thank you for your consideration of this issue.

cc: Mayor and Councilmembers