[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 190 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-24371]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: October 3, 1994]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[MA-29-01-6537; A-1-FRL-5083-5]

 

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Massachusetts; Amendment to Massachusetts' SIP (for Ozone and for 
Carbon Monoxide) for Establishment of a South Boston Parking Freeze

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
amendment submitted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The intent of 
the SIP amendment is to effect a decrease in vehicle miles travelled 
(VMT) and motor vehicle emissions by controlling the growth of parking 
spaces in the South Boston neighborhood of Boston and holding 
automobile usage to levels within the practical capacity of the local 
street network. Vehicular emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons 
and nitrogen oxides will be reduced compared with their expected levels 
if parking is not constrained. These pollutants contribute to the 
carbon monoxide and ozone air pollution problems in the Boston 
urbanized area. This SIP revision adds the South Boston Parking Freeze 
Area to ongoing parking management plans in the Metropolitan Boston 
Area. The intended effect of this action is to propose approval of the 
changes to Massachusetts' SIP. This action is being taken under section 
110 of the Clean Air Act.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 2, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Linda M. Murphy, Director, Air, 
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region I, JFK Federal Bldg., Boston, MA 02203. 
Copies of the State submittal and EPA's technical support document are 
available for public inspection during normal business hours, by 
appointment at the Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region I, One Congress Street, 10th 
floor, Boston, MA and Division of Air Quality Control, Department of 
Environmental Protection, One Winter Street, 8th floor, Boston, MA 
02108.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald O. Cooke, (617) 565-3227.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 30, 1993, the Massachusetts 
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) submitted a revision to 
its State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the South Boston Parking 
Freeze. The amendment adds or revises four definitions to 310 CMR 7.00 
and adds a new section, 310 CMR 7.33 ``MB City of Boston/South Boston 
Parking Freeze'' to manage the overall parking demand in South Boston. 
Specifically, the measure will constrain future parking supply at 10 
percent above 1990 levels, allowing for an increase in the supply to 
accommodate an expected increase in demand accompanying intensive 
development in South Boston. A second ten percent increase in parking 
supply will be permitted in the South Boston Piers area when the 
Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel Project is completed and open to the 
public.

Background

    Parking freezes for part of the City of Boston, the City of 
Cambridge, and Logan Airport were included as one strategy in the 
Transportation Control Plan promulgated by the EPA in its plan for the 
Boston Region in 1975. (See CFR part 52, subpart W; 38 FR 17689 (July 
2, 1973); 38 FR 30960 (November 8, 1973); 40 FR 25162 (June 12, 1975); 
40 FR 39863 (August 29, 1975).) On September 16, 1979, EPA approved 
Massachusetts' 1979 SIP, which included these parking freezes. 
Massachusetts reaffirmed these freezes in its 1982 SIP.
    On December 19, 1990, the Massachusetts Executive Office of 
Transportation and Construction (EOTC), the Massachusetts Department of 
Public Works ((MDPW), now the Massachusetts Highway Department (MA 
HWY)) and the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) committing the parties to pursue implementation, 
monitoring and enforcement of traffic, and air quality mitigation 
measures for the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project. Parking 
freezes, including the development and implementation of the South 
Boston Parking Freeze, were among the specific measures committed to in 
the MOU. The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted on 
December 27, 1990, to adopt the items of the MOU as a State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) provision, and forwarded the items to the 
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MA DEP) as a 
proposed amendment to the SIP.
    The Metropolitan Planning Organization is the current ``State 
Certified Organization'' for transportation control measures in the 
SIP. In response to the MPO submission, MA DEP developed regulations 
which were proposed in October of 1992. MA DEP held a public hearing on 
these amendments on November 30, 1992. The comment period ended 
December 10, 1992, with oral testimony and written comments received 
from EPA as well as various other parties. The amendments (as formal 
state regulations) were filed with Massachusetts Secretary of State on 
March 15, 1993, and became effective on April 9, 1993, upon publication 
in the Massachusetts Register.

Summary of SIP Revision

    (1) Geographic Area. The South Boston Parking Freeze area is 
divided into three zones defined as: (i) The South Boston Piers Zone; 
(ii) the South Boston Industrial/Commercial Zone; and (iii) the South 
Boston Residential Zone. The boundaries of these zones are defined in 
the state regulation as well as in EPA's Technical Support Document 
(TSD) available in the docket for this action.
    (2) Definition of the Parking Freeze. There is a freeze (limit) on 
the availability of motor vehicle parking spaces within the South 
Boston Piers Zone and the Industrial/Commercial Zone, and a freeze on 
the availability of remote parking spaces within the South Boston 
Residential Zone.1 In addition, the South Boston Piers Zone will 
have ten percent of its off-street spaces set aside and allocated for 
off-peak period parking. Off-peak spaces would not be used by everyday 
commuters but reserved for people needing short term parking. 
Therefore, parking spaces designated for off-peak use may not be used 
between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., but could be used at other times. Once 
the South Boston Transitway opens, additional spaces in the South 
Boston Piers Zone will be set aside for off-peak parking, resulting in 
a total of 20 percent off-peak parking spaces. Finally, a second ten 
percent will be created and added to the Freeze Bank for the South 
Boston Piers Zone when the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel opens to 
the public.
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    \1\''Remote parking spaces'' are spaces in which the driver 
parks and then proceeds to his/her destination outside South Boston, 
such as Downtown Boston or Logan Airport. See 310 CMR 7.00.
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    The Massachusetts regulation requires the Boston Air Pollution 
Control Commission (BAPCC) and Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) 
to develop and submit an inventory of all existing motor vehicle 
parking spaces for each of their respective areas. In addition, all 
motor vehicle parking spaces that were part of any project submitted 
for review under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) 
process in 301 CMR 11.00, or the Federal Environmental Review Process 
in 40 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. as of August 1, 1990, as well as remote 
parking spaces, must be identified in their respective inventories. 
This inventory will identify parking spaces for commercial, remote, 
employee, restricted use, off-peak uses and parking spaces eliminated 
during the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project construction 
within the freeze area.
    The Massachusetts Regulation authorizes BAPCC to allow ``restricted 
use parking'' spaces in the South Boston Piers and Industrial/
Commercial zones for up to ten days each year. These spaces are 
designed to allow the cap to be exceeded on a very short-term basis to 
accommodate unusual events. Massport is prohibited from providing 
restricted use parking in South Boston.
    A South Boston Parking Freeze Draft Base Inventory was developed by 
the BAPCC in accordance with the state regulation and was submitted to 
MA DEP for review, public comment and approval. BAPCC's April 1994 
Draft Base Inventory estimated 27,768 motor vehicle parking spaces 
within the South Boston Parking Freeze Area. This is broken down as: 
South Boston Piers Zone 15,916 spaces: South Boston Industrial Zone 
11,841 spaces; and South Boston Residential Zone 11 spaces. On June 13, 
1994, MA DEP found BAPCC's parking inventory inadequate and required 
BAPCC to resolve those inadequacies.
    (3) Establishment of Parking Freeze Banks. The number of Motor 
vehicle parking spaces in the South Boston Parking Freeze Area will be 
limited to the base inventory, plus an initial parking freeze bank 
equal to 10% of the base inventory of motor vehicles parking spaces. 
There will be two parking freeze banks, administered separately by the 
BAPCC and Massport. Motor vehicle parking spaces eliminated from use in 
the South Boston Parking Freeze Area can be credited to the appropriate 
parking freeze bank for reallocation and are not privately 
transferrable.

Goals of the Parking Freeze

    MA DEP expects that the parking freeze will ensure that economic 
growth in South Boston occurs efficiently with respect to land use and 
transportation infrastructure and in the most environmentally 
beneficial way. MA DEP stated that the South Boston Parking Freeze has 
been designed with the following specific objectives: to improve air 
quality over forecast levels, in the metropolitan Boston area and 
locally, by limiting the growth in traffic congestion so Federal 
health-related air quality standards can be attained as rapidly as 
possible; to reduce traffic on South Boston neighborhood streets; to 
manage the parking supply so that transportation and land resources are 
used efficiently; to build in flexibility to respond to the changes in 
traffic capacity resulting from the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel 
project; and to encourage transit as the preferred transportation 
access mode for all new development in the South Boston area.

Air Quality Impacts

    The South Boston Parking Freeze is designed to reduce the growth of 
VMT and travel-related air emissions by controlling the growth of 
parking spaces serving South Boston. The freeze will result in air 
quality improvements beyond those which would occur in the future 
without this measure.
    For the three South Boston zones, MA DEP expects the proposed 
freeze to reduce total future trips by 15,220 per day or 19 percent of 
the approximately 80,105 trips forecast with unconstrained parking. 
This is a 5.3 percent reduction in the future year trips without the 
freeze in the Central Artery Study area, and a 0.3 percent reduction 
overall in Eastern Massachusetts.
    Without the South Boston freeze, the amount of VMT increases in the 
South Boston zones are large. On average in the three South Boston 
zones, MA DEP expects trips to rise by about 35 percent between now and 
the year 2010. Based on vehicle trip reductions and the related VMT 
change, a reduction of 8.06 percent in VMT is obtained below the level 
which would otherwise occur with unconstrained parking within the 
Central Artery Study area, and 0.3 percent over the entire region.
    Using EPA's Mobile Emission Factor Model (MOBILE4.1, the current 
version at the time of the MA DEP's analysis) and the Central Artery 
Traffic Model, the South Boston Parking Freeze would reduce emissions 
of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by approximately 74.86 kilograms 
per day by the year 2010 within the Central Artery Study area. Carbon 
Monoxide emissions would be reduced by 558.50 kilograms per day within 
the Central Artery Study area. Using the EPA MOBILE4.1 emission Model 
and the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) regional 
transportation model, the South Boston Parking Freeze will reduce 
emissions of VOCs by 269.79 kilograms per day, and of carbon monoxide 
(CO) by approximately 1,663.91 kilograms per day within Eastern 
Massachusetts. The regional model also accounts for the secondary 
effects of reducing traffic, which will in turn reduce congestion and 
emissions elsewhere in the region.
    EPA supports the South Boston Parking Freeze Plan as a means to 
reduce VMT and ultimately eliminate motor vehicle emissions associated 
with reduced VMT. The VMT reduction anticipated with implementing the 
South Boston Parking Freeze Plan will be accounted for through Highway 
Performance Monitoring System's (HPMS) statistical sampling of VMT 
within the Boston Metropolitan area. VMT reductions resulting from the 
South Boston freeze will be documented by Massachusetts in their 
emission inventories and regional emission analysis (prepared for 
transportation conformity) and result in improved ambient air quality. 
Specific emission credit associated with the South Boston Parking 
Freeze Plan is not being assigned in the SIP. In addition, because 
Massachusetts will account for VMT and emission benefits in their base 
scenario, Massachusetts' Reasonable Further Progress Plan does not 
identify the South Boston Parking Freeze as an emission reduction 
element or as a contingency measure.
    EPA's review of this material indicates that the proposed SIP 
amendment will result in improved air quality. EPA is proposing to 
approve the Massachusetts SIP revision for South Boston Parking Freeze, 
which was submitted on July 30, 1993. EPA is soliciting public comments 
on the issues discussed in this proposal or on other relevant matters. 
These comments will be considered before taking final action. 
Interested parties may participate in the Federal rulemaking procedure 
by submitting written comments to the EPA Regional office listed in the 
Addresses section of this action.

Proposed Action

    EPA is proposing to approve the South Boston Parking Freeze SIP 
Amendment.
    Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et seq., EPA 
must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of 
any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604. 
Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a 
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small 
entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises, 
and government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than 
50,000.
    SIP approvals under section 110 and subchapter I, part D of the CAA 
do not create any new requirements, but simply approve requirements 
that the State is already imposing. Therefore, because the Federal SIP-
approval does not impose any new requirements, I certify that it does 
not have a significant impact on any small entities affected. Moreover, 
due to the nature of the Federal-state relationship under the CAA, 
preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis would constitute 
Federal inquiry into the economic reasonableness of state action. The 
CAA forbids EPA to base its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. 
Union Electric Co. v. U.S. E.P.A., 427 U.S. 246, 256-66 (S.Ct. 1976); 
42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).
    This action has been classified as a Table 2 action by the Regional 
Administrator under the procedures published in the Federal Register on 
January 19, 1989 (54 FR 2214-2225), as revised by an October 4, 1993, 
memorandum from Michael H. Shapiro, Acting Assistant Administrator for 
Air and Radiation. A future document will inform the general public of 
these tables. On January 6, 1989, the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) waived Table 2 and Table 3 revisions (54 FR 2222) from the 
requirements of section 3 of Executive Order 12291 for a period of two 
years. The USEPA has submitted a request for a permanent waiver for 
Table 2 and Table 3 SIP revisions. The OMB has agreed to continue the 
temporary waiver until such time as it rules on EPA's request. This 
request continues in effect under Executive Order 12866 which 
superseded Executive Order 12291 on September 30, 1993.
    Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or 
allowing or establishing a precedent for any future request for 
revision to any State implementation plan. Each request for revision to 
the State implementation plan shall be considered separately in light 
of specific technical, economic, and environmental factors and in 
relation to relevant statutory and regulatory requirements.
    The Administrator's decision to approve or disapprove the SIP 
revision will be based on whether it meets the requirements ofsections 
110(a)(2)(A)-(K) and 110(l) of the Clean Air Act, as amended, and EPA 
regulations in 40 CFR part 51.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Hydrocarbons, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur 
oxides.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

    Dated: September 21, 1994.
Patricia L. Meaney,
Acting Deputy Regional Administrator, Region I.
[FR Doc. 94-24371 Filed 9-30-94; 8:45 am]
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