(a) As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Multimodal” means transportation options within a transportation corridor, including, but not limited to, highways, rail lines, pedestrian walkways and bike lanes, and commuter transit services.

(2) “North coast corridor project” means a 27-mile long series of projects within the coastal zone that includes improvements to a segment of State Highway Route 5 and the portion of the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo rail corridor between the City of Oceanside and the City of San Diego in San Diego County.

(3) “8+4 Buffer Alternative” means the addition of a multimodal managed lane facility consisting of two lanes on either side of State Highway Route 5 within the north coast corridor, separated from general purpose lanes by striping or other approved traffic control devices, and which, to the maximum extent feasible, is built within existing rights-of-way owned by the department. The managed lanes would give priority to high-occupancy vehicles, vanpools, and one or more bus rapid transit routes. Value pricing techniques would allow single-occupant vehicles to use the facility by paying a toll, as long as single-occupant vehicle use does not negatively impact the transit uses of the managed lanes.

(4) “Public works plan” means a plan as described in Section 30605 of the Public Resources Code. A public works plan allows for an integrated regulatory review by the California Coastal Commission rather than a project-by-project approval approach, but does not change or abridge any of the California Coastal Commission’s existing authorities, including, but not limited to, federal consistency review authorities under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1451 et seq.). The public works plan allows for an expedited process that describes, evaluates, and provides mitigation measures for coastal access, highway, transit, multimodal and community enhancement, and environmental mitigation projects within the north coast corridor.

(b) A public works plan approved for the north coast corridor project within the coastal zone shall include all of the elements of the north coast corridor project to be carried out by the department or the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), including coastal access, highway, transit, multimodal, community enhancement, and environmental restoration, and mitigation projects. Once the public works plan for the north coast corridor has been approved and certified by the California Coastal Commission, subsequent review by the California Coastal Commission of a notice of intent to develop for a specific project in the public works plan shall be limited to imposing conditions to ensure consistency of the project with the public works plan. The public works plan shall satisfy all of the following:

(1) Identify the California Coastal Commission’s area of original jurisdiction and provide a process for obtaining coastal development permits from the California Coastal Commission directly in those areas.

(2) Contain, but not be limited to, the following elements: the type, size, intensity, and location of all development included in the north coast corridor project; the maximum and minimum size of facilities proposed to be constructed; the standards to which the projects should conform; the thresholds for when amendments to the public works plan may be required; and a proposed timetable and phasing program for all projects.

(3) Establish the mitigation measures that the department and SANDAG will be required to undertake prior to construction of each phase. The mitigation measures shall be described with sufficient detail to allow the department and SANDAG to accurately estimate the cost and effort associated with each particular measure and avoid the need for an amendment to the public works plan unless a project is inconsistent with the project description in the approved public works plan.

(4) Establish the process by which project design and mitigation measures included in the public works plan, and the California Coastal Commission’s findings regarding those measures, may be applied to subsequent coastal development permit approvals and other approvals or determinations for subsequent phases of the project.

(c) For all elements of the north coast corridor project that are located, entirely or in part, in the coastal zone, as defined by Sections 30103 and 66610 of the Public Resources Code, the department and SANDAG shall comply with all of the following requirements:

(1) Collaborate with all stakeholders, including local agencies through which the proposed project traverses, the California Coastal Commission, and other affected local, state, and federal agencies to ensure that multimodal transportation options are evaluated and included in the public works plan and, where appropriate, in the project design.

(2) SANDAG shall establish a safe routes to transit program that integrates the adopted regional bike plan with transit services.

(3) SANDAG shall recommend that the department select an alternative no larger than the 8+4 Buffer Alternative as the preferred alternative for the State Highway Route 5 north coast corridor after it makes a finding that it is consistent with TransNet as approved by voters in 2004. The determination of the preferred alternative shall be made by the department and the Federal Highway Administration in their environmental impact report or environmental impact statement, and SANDAG shall include the preferred alternative in its next update to the regional transportation plan.

(4) In order to reduce environmental impacts to the coastal lagoons, both rail and highway bridges crossing each lagoon shall be planned and constructed concurrently, unless construction in phases will result in an environmentally superior alternative to concurrent construction. SANDAG and the department shall ensure that bridges are constructed to their ultimate width and length so that construction impacts to each lagoon are minimized.

(5) The public works plan shall evaluate the traffic impacts of the proposed capacity-increasing highway project on city and county streets and roads within the coastal zone, and the department shall consult with the affected local jurisdictions regarding those impacts and include the results of the consultations within the public works plan.

(6) Environmental consequences of the proposed north coast corridor project shall be monitored to ensure that the benefits from mitigation, as described in the permits issued for the individual projects, are being achieved.

(7) Construction of all or a portion of the capacity-increasing project on State Highway Route 5 shall move forward concurrently with multimodal projects and environmental mitigation and enhancement projects within each phase, as specified in the public works plan. The phasing plan shall include criteria specified by the California Coastal Commission within the public works plan that shall be met before the next phase of development can occur, and each phase shall include a balance of transit and highway improvements. Although the department and SANDAG shall endeavor to maintain a balance of transit, rail, highway, and environmental improvements in each phase, nothing in this section is intended to limit the ability of the department or SANDAG to seek a public works plan amendment from the California Coastal Commission in order to accelerate a project from a later phase in the public works plan if additional funding is identified to carry out the project at an earlier stage than originally intended.

(8) Prior to a public works plan being submitted to the California Coastal Commission by the department and SANDAG, the department and SANDAG shall provide at least two public hearings on the public works plan for the north coast corridor project.

(9) SANDAG has agreed that it will be responsible for constructing improvements in the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo rail corridor and funding portions of the improvements to that corridor and State Highway Route 5 within the north coast corridor using funding from a San Diego County voter-approved transaction and use tax ordinance known as TransNet. Pursuant to that agreement, SANDAG shall commit to dedicate a portion of the TransNet Regional Habitat Conservation Fund for regional habitat acquisition, management, and monitoring activities necessary to implement habitat conservation plans based on the estimated economic benefits derived from permitting and approval efficiencies on the north coast corridor project as a result of the procedures of this section, with that funding to be released by SANDAG in phases based upon the proportion of project work that has been issued permits, consistency reviews, or other applicable approvals, and in accordance with any other criteria as deemed appropriate by SANDAG taking into account the purpose and intent of TransNet.

(d) The California Coastal Commission, the department, and SANDAG shall work cooperatively toward completing all design approvals, reviews, determinations, and permitting for the north coast corridor project on an expedited basis. To meet the goals in this section, the following provisions shall apply:

(1) The Legislature finds that it is the California Coastal Commission’s role to apply a regional or statewide perspective to land use debates where the use in question is of greater than local significance. To that end, the California Coastal Commission is authorized to utilize Section 30515 of the Public Resources Code for the north coast corridor project and the process referenced in that section may be streamlined pursuant to agreement between the California Coastal Commission and those jurisdictions with an approved local coastal program.

(2) The department and SANDAG shall perform work and complete development consistent with the phasing program adopted in the public works plan pursuant to subdivision (b) unless changes are reviewed and approved by the California Coastal Commission.

(3) A public works plan prepared for the north coast corridor project by the department and SANDAG shall be treated as a long-range development plan to which the provisions in Sections 21080.5 and 21080.9 of the Public Resources Code shall apply.

(4) A permitting agency’s decision to review and approve a public works plan, a plan amendment, or related notice of impending development, make a consistency determination, or issue a permit for the north coast corridor project shall be reviewed under the substantial evidence standard.

(5) The Legislature finds that the California Coastal Commission, the department, and SANDAG have agreed that, following approval of the public works plan, the California Coastal Commission shall limit its subsequent regulatory review of the rail aspects of the north coast corridor project to federal consistency.

(e) A notice of determination issued pursuant to Section 21108 or 21152 of the Public Resources Code after January 1, 2011, but prior to January 1, 2012, for a project subject to this section shall be suspended by the department until it is determined that the project’s environmental documents are consistent with the provisions of this section.

(f) (1) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede, or in any way alter or lessen the effect or application of, the California Coastal Act of 1976 (Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000) of the Public Resources Code).

(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to narrow the authority of the California Coastal Commission, at any stage of the approval or review process, to resolve policy conflicts pursuant to Section 30200 of the Public Resources Code.

(3) Nothing in this section is intended to apply to any program, project, or other activity that is not related to the north coast corridor project.

(Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 535, Sec. 2. (SB 468) Effective January 1, 2012.)