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  5. Volume 4: Community Impacts Assessment
  6. Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chapter 1 - Introduction

1.1 Purpose of Volume 4

Volume 4 of the Caltrans Standard Environmental Reference (SER) provides guidance and procedures for assessing the impacts of proposed transportation projects on communities and neighborhoods and for achieving context sensitive solutions in the design of transportation projects. This guidance is intended to assist Caltrans environmental personnel, consultants, and other transportation partners in completing the community impact assessment report or documentation; engaging the public and other stakeholders in the transportation planning process; avoiding, minimizing, and/or mitigating for adverse effects, and increasing project benefits.

To assist in this objective, Volume 4 provides a discussion of the most vital laws, regulations, guidelines, practices, and procedures that must be addressed as part of the project planning and development processes. Additionally, this volume provides links to many valuable internet resources that will assist in conducting the analysis. This volume is intended to be used as a guide and is not a substitute for legal requirements nor does it impose requirements different from, or in addition to, those imposed by law.

1.2 Contents of Volume 4

Volume 4 of the SER focuses on the community impact assessment as a part of the overall project development process. It describes the methodological approaches and the variety of sources available for obtaining the information needed for the assessment process. A quick look at the Table of Contents will familiarize the reader with the arrangement of this volume. Volume 4 is organized into seven main chapters and five appendices.

Chapter 1: Introduction to community impact analysis for transportation projects, how it relates to organizational objectives, and an overview of related laws and requirements.

Chapter 2: Conceptual overview of the community impact assessment process and how that process relates to the various phases of transportation planning and project development.

Chapter 3: How to develop a community profile to effectively describe the affected environment as it relates to communities and neighborhoods, as well as common data sources and techniques to describe the affected environment.

Chapters 4 through 7: Techniques for assessing community impacts associated with land use, farmland, growth, social impacts, economic impacts, relocation and displacement, and minor additional details on public involvement and developing community profiles specific to the associated topic.

Appendices: Supplementary material on related topics including property value considerations and relocation policies.

1.3 What Is a Community Impact Assessment?

A community impact assessment is “an iterative process to evaluate the effects of a transportation action on a community and its quality of life” (FHWA 2018). Community impact assessments are most commonly used as a technical report to support the environmental document, but may also facilitate and inform the public involvement process.

A community impact assessment considers how the proposed project will affect the people, institutions, neighborhoods, communities, organizations, and larger social and economic systems. However, some effects may not be mutually exclusive. A transportation-related “social” effect on the local population caused by displacement may also have an effect on the local economy and vice versa. For example, a project that would result in displacing a large number of residents would have more than just social effects. There may be fiscal impacts due to properties being removed from the local tax roll. There also may be economic effects if consumers and/or employees in the local labor market are displaced.

The human environment section of an environmental document prepared for Caltrans should focus on important topics identified through the preliminary and formal scoping processes, including a thorough public involvement effort. A good community impact assessment should clearly describe the relevant existing conditions, the potential impacts of the project on the community and its neighborhoods, the extent of the identified impacts, and potential solutions to best avoid, minimize, and/or mitigate for any adverse impacts. It is important to keep in mind that for many projects it will not be necessary to analyze each and every issue described in this volume. For example, a project to improve—but not expand—an existing highway facility in a heavily urbanized region may not be expected to result in growth-related impacts. In such a case, the project’s growth-related impact on the capacity of public services and/or facilities in the community probably does not need to be considered in depth, unless other circumstances suggest it. Likewise, consideration of neighborhood effects may not be appropriate for many projects situated in unpopulated rural areas, although farmland and timberland issues may indeed be relevant.

Many of the analytical techniques found in this volume will provide a very high degree of detail. It may not be necessary to analyze every impact as rigorously as outlined in this volume.

No two community impact assessment reports will be identical, due to differences in project characteristics and local setting, however, a standard methodology or use of a checklist is nevertheless useful to ensure that a complete analysis is undertaken for each project. The information presented here is designed to help the analyst focus on the appropriate issues, methodology, and data sources available in preparing the community impact assessment or specific environmental document section. Additionally, the annotated outline found in the SER can provide insight into the types of effects to analyze and how best to organize the community impact assessment to aid in the preparation of the environmental document.

A community impacts assessment, in most cases, will be produced as a separate document (one that is summarized within, but not included in the environmental document), that can be made available to the public upon request. If community impacts are substantial, however, the technical report may be a bound appendix accompanying the environmental document. For direction on CEQA documents, see the CEQA Guidelines, Section 15147. It is important to note that the significance of impacts is not determined in technical reports. The community impacts assessment should simply identify the potential effects of a project, both positive and negative, and present measures for avoidance, minimization, and/or mitigation. The significance of impacts is determined by the Project Development Team and addressed within the environmental document.

While there is no external state agency responsible for the review and approval of community impact assessment reports, it may be of interest to FHWA and other government entities, as well as interested citizen groups and decision makers.

1.4 Laws, Regulations, and Executive Orders

1.4.1 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Oversight of the NEPA environmental process for transportation projects has historically been the responsibility of the FHWA. In August 2005, President George W. Bush signed into law a federal transportation reauthorization bill called the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Two sections of the law allow Caltrans to assume the FHWA’s responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal environmental laws. These programs offer the opportunity to test a streamlined environmental process. Caltrans is, in essence, the federal agency for those projects where it assumes FHWA’s environmental responsibilities. Caltrans assumed responsibility for NEPA implementation on July 1, 2007.

Additional information on the NEPA Assignment Program in California is available on the Caltrans website.

1.4.2 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

Significant effects under CEQA are determined by impacts on the physical environment. As some CIA topics are not considered “physical” in this way, such as social and economic impacts, the nexus between such impacts and CEQA significance is complex and must be demonstrated in the environmental document. 

The CEQA Guidelines define a “significant effect” as “a substantial, or potentially substantial, adverse change in any of the physical conditions within the area affected by the project including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historic and aesthetic significance” (CEQA Guidelines, 15382). Further, “An ironclad definition of significant effect is not possible because the significance of an activity may vary with the setting. For example, an activity which may not be significant in an urban area may be significant in a rural area” (CEQA Guidelines 15064 (b)).

There must be a direct or indirect physical change resulting from the project before CEQA will apply. The following passages from the CEQA Guidelines address the linkage between socioeconomic and physical impacts:

  1. Economic or social effects of a project shall not be treated as significant effects on the environment. An EIR may trace a chain of cause and effect from a proposed decision on a project through anticipated economic or social changes resulting from the project to physical changes caused in turn by the economic or social changes. The intermediate economic or social changes need not be analyzed in any detail greater than necessary to trace the chain of cause and effect. The focus of the analysis shall be on the physical changes. (CEQA Guidelines 15131(a))

  2. Economic or social effects of a project may be used to determine the significance of physical changes caused by the project. For example, if the construction of a new freeway or rail line divides an existing community, the construction would be the physical change, but the social effect on the community would be the basis for determining that the effect would be significant. As an additional example, if the construction of a road and the resulting increase in noise in an area disturbed existing religious practices in the area, the disturbance of the religious practices could be used to determine that the construction and use of the road and the resulting noise would be significant effects on the environment. The religious practices would need to be analyzed only to the extent to show that the increase in traffic and noise would conflict with the religious practices. Where an EIR uses economic or social effects to determine that a physical change is significant, the EIR shall explain the reason for determining that the effect is significant. (CEQA Guidelines 15131 (b)).

Clearly then, CEQA does not focus solely on physical changes in the environment. Thus, if an economic impact will cause physical change, or a physical change will cause an economic impact, then the impact should be considered.

1.4.3 Title VI of the Civil Rights Act

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, and related statues, requires there be no discrimination in federally-assisted programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex, or disability (religion is a protected category under the Fair Housing Act of 1968). While project-level impacts to Title VI are not evaluated in the CIA, Caltrans must comply with the law. 

1.4.4 Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970

The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended in 1987, provides for uniform and equitable treatment of persons displaced from their homes, businesses, non-profit associations, or farms by federal and federally-assisted programs, and establishes uniform and equitable land acquisition policies. Please see Appendix C for more information on these policies.

1.4.5 Other Relevant Laws

There are other laws that involve community impact analysis. The  Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) incorporates Sections 109(h) and 128 of Title 23 (Highways) of the United States Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which require that social and economic impacts of proposed federal-aid projects be determined, evaluated, and eliminated or minimized as part of the environmental documentation for project development. These include “destruction or disruption of man-made and natural resources, aesthetic values, community cohesion and the availability of public facilities and services; adverse employment effects, and tax and property values losses; injurious displacement of people, businesses and farms; and disruption of desirable community and regional growth.” Implementing regulations for the legislation are contained in 23 CFR 771. Many of the provisions originated in ISTEA have been continued or expanded in subsequent surface transportation legislation—the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and SAFETEA-LU.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 extends the protection of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to the disabled, prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations, transportation and other services.

The ADA stipulates involving the disabled community in the development and improvement of services. For example, participation by the disabled community is essential for the development of a station plan for a rail transit project. Likewise, in planning for roadway improvements in a town, it is important to listen to and engage the disabled community in the development of access at sidewalks and ramps, street crossings, and in parking or transit access facilities. See further discussion on public involvement in Chapters 2 and 3.

While project-level impacts related to ADA are not evaluated in the CIA, Caltrans must comply with the law.

1.5 Community Impact Assessment in the Transportation Planning Process

1.5.1 Transportation Planning Process

Volume 1 of the SER describes the regulatory steps and consideration involved in the transportation planning and environmental processes. As described in Chapter 4 of Volume 1, transportation planning begins at the statewide level with regional and system planning. Regional and system planning identifies the need for individual and specific projects. If a major transportation need is identified, studies are performed to compare potential transportation investments before deciding what to build. Project initiation follows planning. It represents the first phase of project development, obtaining approval to fund projects. All proposed transportation project candidates require a Project Initiation Document that provides the information necessary to program funds for project development activities, acquisition of rights of way, and construction. Preliminary scoping, such as the Preliminary Environmental Analysis Report or Preliminary Environmental Study occurs during the project initiation phase and is conducted to develop the list of potential impacts and concerns related to the proposed project.

During the Project Approval and Environmental Document Phase formal scoping takes place as warranted by the level of environmental document. During formal scoping the various stakeholders, interest groups, and involved local governments and state and federal regulatory agencies play a major role. Efforts to involve neighborhoods, businesses, non-profit organizations, and specific groups of people must be considered at every stage of the planning process. Scoping requirements vary depending upon the type of environmental document that is being prepared. If the early Caltrans Project Development Team meetings or scoping meetings indicate that there is high community interest in the project, and a higher level environmental document is expected to be prepared, it may be appropriate to prepare a stand-alone community impact assessment. The preparation of a separate community impact assessment, however, is not always necessary even when the decision to prepare a higher level environmental document is made.

If during scoping or with meetings involving the public and/or local agencies, it appears that a separate technical report is not necessary, the analyst may instead prepare brief text sections on the pertinent social, economic, and land use topics that can be inserted directly into the environmental document. The content of these sections should be appropriate to both the setting and the expected consequences of the transportation project as revealed through the scoping effort, as well as the use of common sense judgment.

1.5.2 Context Sensitive Solutions

Context sensitive solutions (CSS) is a "collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to provide a transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility" (FHWA). The Director's Policy on CSS states that Caltrans uses “Context Sensitive Solutions” as an approach to plan, design, construct, maintain, and operate its transportation system. These solutions use innovative and inclusive approaches that integrate and balance community, aesthetic, historic, and environmental values with transportation safety, maintenance, and performance goals. Context sensitive solutions are reached through a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach involving all stakeholders. The context of all projects and activities is a key factor in reaching decisions. 

While the CSS approach is employed primarily by the Division of Design, the community impact analysis is an iterative process that informs planning, project development, and decision-making. In the CSS model, the community impact assessment guides the design of project alternatives leading to a refined impact analysis. Public participation and engagement are key aspects of CSS.

For additional information on the way CSS is implemented during planning, please see the Complete Streets Planning website. Director’s Policy 22 is located under “Policy.”

1.5.3 Caltrans Policies

The content of community impact assessments must comply with all applicable state and federal laws, regulations and executive orders. The practices described in this volume are to be considered standard Caltrans approaches to preparing a community impact assessment, but are not mandatory or exclusionary.

1.6 Additional Resources

The FHWA has a community impact assessment website that contains a list of resources, including examples of best practices in current techniques and approaches that may be of interest to analysts preparing community impact assessments. The following resources are also recommended for gaining a better understanding of the relationship between community impact assessment, CSS, and highway design: