Committee approves Mobility Investment Trust Fund and updates LADOT development‑review fees

At the Los Angeles City Council Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Los Angeles Department of Transportation staff described two ordinances: one to establish a Mobility Investment Trust Fund consolidating several modal trust funds, and another to update LADOT development review fees. The committee approved both ordinances and sent the measures on for full council consideration.

Rubina Lazarian of LADOT's Planning and Policy Division said the fee update reflects staff time and new services since the last fee update in 2014, including reviews tied to the forthcoming Transportation Demand Management (TDM) ordinance. "Developers choose to pay into the Mobility Investment Trust Fund, so these voluntary contributions would not be subject to the California Mitigation Fee Act requirements," Lazarian said. LADOT estimated that updating fees based on 2022–2024 review activity would have recovered roughly $350,000–$380,000 over that three‑year sample; staff expect higher recovery when the full set of services is included.

LADOT explained the proposed trust fund would consolidate the Bicycle Plan Trust Fund, the Neighborhood Traffic Management Trust Fund and the ATSAC Trust Fund into a single Mobility Investment Trust Fund to allow broader, multimodal investments in complete‑street improvements and programs aligned with the Mobility Plan 2035 goals. The department said the consolidation would allow voluntary developer contributions to be used more holistically for right‑of‑way improvements and programs that reduce drive‑alone trips and greenhouse gas emissions.

Committee members asked how fund‑use decisions will be made and whether council offices will have input. LADOT staff said the ordinance ties fund use to the policy goals in the TDM ordinance and that the general manager or designee would exercise discretion in allocating funds, with some geographic limitations possible depending on where fees originated. Staff also discussed how potential state streamlining legislation affecting CEQA could change the subset of projects subject to discretionary transportation analysis; LADOT noted that many ministerial and localized services (for example driveway approvals or other access changes) would still require LADOT review and associated fees even if CEQA streamlining occurs.

The committee voted to approve the fee and trust fund ordinances and instructed LADOT to publish the required public notice for the fee ordinance before final adoption. The item passed by roll call (Yaroslavsky, Blumenfeld, Hutt and Hernandez voting yes; McCosker absent). LADOT will conduct an annual review of the new fees and the department and CAO will administer the trust fund if approved by full council.

Why it matters: the changes aim to align developer contributions and fee recovery with current LADOT review workloads and the city's mobility and greenhouse‑gas reduction goals; the consolidated trust fund would allow more flexible, multimodal investments in the public right of way. The TDM ordinance, which will define the program and eligible uses more precisely, remains under City Attorney review and will return for committee and council action.