This information was gathered by students in the City and Regional Planning Department at California Polytechnic State University through an existing plan and policy audit, interviews with public officials and City residents, and community workshops. The report summarizes the planning process, and the status and trends of ten topics that are crucial to understanding the City as it exists today and how it may develop in the future. These topics include: demographics and economic development, land use, circulation, housing, public facilities and services, conservation, open space, safety, noise, and community design and sense of place.

The Community Plan will be completed by April 2009. It will be submitted to the City for its use as a resource to help citizens improve the town’s economy, housing, public facilities and services, and quality of life.

The following summary briefly describes existing conditions in January 2009, key findings, and “emerging directions” for the City.

The 2009 Housing Element Update provides a comprehensive analysis of Guadalupe’s demographic, economic, and housing characteristics as required by State Law. The Element also provides a detailed evaluation of the City progress in implementing the past five year’s policy and action programs related to housing production, preservation, and conservation. Based upon the City’s housing needs, available resources, constraints and opportunities for housing production and preservation, and its past performance, the Housing Element establishes a five‐year strategy of goals, measurable objectives, policies, and programs that directly address the housing needs of present and future Guadalupe residents.

This Plan is both a statement of purpose and a decision‐making tool. As a statement of purpose, the Plan consists of the goals and objectives of its citizens. It identifies guidelines and a course of action that provide direction and the policies and programs to move from today’s urban conditions to the citizens’ desired conditions by the year 2030. In this sense, the overarching purpose of the Plan is to achieve the vision so vividly expressed by Guadalupe’s residents.

In developing the Community Plan, graduate students from the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, City and Regional Planning department worked with City officials and community residents to formulate three different development scenarios. From these, a preferred scenario emerged, illustrating a possible future of Guadalupe in 2030. The preferred scenario accommodates the projected population and housing needs as well as the opportunities and constraints for future growth in Guadalupe.

Using a travel demand forecasting model for Grover Beach, CA, buildout conditions were simulated to make the network have operational deficiencies in critical areas, ultimately operating at a LOS F. Changes to roadway lane configurations were then made to achieve LOS thresholds of LOS E through LOS A. The resulting speed and flow data were analyzed in emission models to determine the relationship between the target LOS thresholds and emissions produced. The network was modeled for both roadway link LOS and intersection LOS conditions.

For roadway links, overall the lowest amounts of emissions were released at the LOS B threshold and the greatest incremental decrease in emissions occurred between LOS D and C. At intersections, the lowest emissions point was LOS A and the largest incremental decrease occurred between LOS D and C. When considering the feasibility of implementation of LOS thresholds, LOS C was determined to be the most effective operating point for emissions.

Benefit-cost analyses were conducted for 5-, 7-, and 10-year service lives of EDAPTS components using discount rates of 5%, 7% and 10%. A conservative analysis excluded consumer surplus as benefits and shows benefit-cost ratios of 3.7 to 6.1. With consumer surplus, the ratios range from 4.5 to 7.5. This indicates that $1 invested in EDAPTS resulted in nearly $4 of benefits to constituent groups. Since the benefit-cost ratios substantially exceed 1.0 in all cases, results confirm that EDAPTS provides an economically sound smart transit solution for small and medium size transit properties seeking low-cost easily deployed ITS solutions.