Sean Rabe, planner for the Amador County Transportation Commission, lead the discussion. He explained that traffic impact studies done by different developers are usually inconsistent in their methods of data extraction and analysis. This makes it difficult for county planners to analyze the depth to which new development affects county roads. By requiring developers to follow a set of uniform guidelines, ACTC planners hope to produce a clearer picture of how a single development may affect the county’s overall traffic, and better understand what is needed in terms of traffic mitigation.

At the end of the presentation, the commissioners all expressed their support for the project. Commission Chair Robin Peters stated that his only concern with the guidelines was that they included criteria that was too specific concerning ‘Statements of Overriding Benefits’ for developments with significant and unavoidable traffic impacts. Peters said, “ACTC has done an excellent job putting this together. My only suggestion would be to make the overriding benefit criteria less inclusive so that a larger variety of projects can be considered for approval.”