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Council delays decision on TDM regulation after members flag telework and economic impacts
Summary
The joint committee reviewed Executive Regulation 8-21 (implementing Bill 3-618) and its three-tier TDM plan structure for existing employers and new development, but members cited telework-driven mode-share changes and asked for more analysis; the committee asked staff to prepare a resolution to extend the September 30 approval deadline and revisit the regulation in the fall.
Council staff summarized Executive Regulation 8-21, the implementing regulation for Bill 3-618 (2019), which expands Transportation Demand Management (TDM) requirements countywide and defines three levels of TDM plans for new development. Staff said the current TDM fee is 10¢ per square foot, yielding roughly $1 million in revenue for program administration.
The regulation would expand employer-plan requirements geographically and require tiered responses for new developments: Level 1 (basic coordination and information displays), Level 2 (selected strategies plus a financial commitment amounting to at least 50% of the annual TDM-fee level), and Level 3 (results-oriented plans with escalating financial commitments if site- or district-level mode-share goals are not met over multi-year review periods).
Council members raised concerns about timing and burden. Council member Balcom noted telework has raised non-auto mode share well beyond previous goals, and asked whether it makes sense to impose additional employer requirements now, given uncertain long-term commute patterns: “We know that given our current experience with telework our transportation management districts have far surpassed the current goals for non auto driver mode share,” she said. Members asked for clearer economic-impact analysis and for staff to separate technical (clarifying) fixes from more fundamental policy changes that would require code changes.
DOT staff defended a tiered approach that sets bounded financial commitments for owners and allows owners to select strategies appropriate to their projects. Director Conklin explained the bounds: initial level investments are modest in the scheme of development (examples discussed included about $5,000 for a 100,000-square-foot level-2 plan), with step-up amounts if targets are not met over multiple years.
Outcome: committee members and staff agreed to delay final action. Council staff will prepare a resolution to extend the regulation approval deadline (currently September 30) and the joint committee will reconvene in the fall after Growth and Infrastructure Policy work and additional technical edits. Staff also agreed to triage Balcom’s amendments into technical versus code-level issues and to return with drafts for the committee’s review.
