Carlsbad commission backs staff on growth management monitoring report, seeks MMLOS policy review

The Traffic Safety Mobility Commission voted to recommend that City Council receive and file the city’s FY24–25 Growth Management Plan monitoring report and to seek policy direction on a revised multimodal level-of-service methodology.

The commission’s action followed a staff presentation from Transportation Director and City Engineer Tom Frank and Associate Engineer Nick Gorham, who explained monitoring methods and recent results and highlighted how the city is balancing vehicle capacity with multimodal needs. Commissioner (S7) moved to support staff’s recommendation and Commissioner Cole (S3) seconded; the motion passed.

Why it matters: staff told the commission that state law changes—most notably SB 743’s shift from LOS to vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for CEQA—have changed how local jurisdictions evaluate transportation impacts. The monitoring report used automated counts at 79 locations across the city and…