(a)  For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meaning:

(1)  “Event center” means a community center, activity center, auditorium, convention center, stadium, coliseum, arena, sports facility, racetrack, pavilion, amphitheater, theme park, amusement park, fairgrounds, or other building, collection of buildings, or facility which is used exclusively or primarily for the holding of sporting events, athletic contests, contests of skill, exhibitions, conventions, meetings, spectacles, concerts, or shows, or for providing public amusement or entertainment.

(2)  “Average vehicle ridership” means the total number of attendees arriving in vehicles parking in areas controlled by the event center, divided by the total number of those vehicles parking in areas controlled by the event center.

(b)  (1)  Notwithstanding Section 40717, or any other provision of this chapter, and to the extent consistent with federal law, no district, or regional or local agency to which a district has delegated the authority to implement transportation control measures pursuant to Section 40717, and which is acting pursuant to that delegated authority, shall do either of the following:

(A)  Require an event center which achieves an average vehicle ridership greater than 2.20 to implement any transportation control requirements that are intended to achieve reductions in vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled by event center attendees.

(B)  Require an event center which, since 1987, has achieved a 12.5 percent reduction in vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled, to implement additional transportation control requirements that are also intended to achieve reductions in vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled by event center attendees.

(2)  A district, or regional or local agency, may require event centers which achieve an average vehicle ridership greater than 2.20, or which, since 1987, has achieved a 12.5 percent reduction in vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled, to implement approved alternative strategies which will achieve emission reductions that are equivalent to those that would be achieved by the imposition of transportation control requirements intended to reduce vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled by event center attendees, including, but not limited to, those strategies specified in subdivision (c).

(c)  A district or regional or local agency may impose requirements on any event center, without permitting that event center to implement alternative strategies to achieve equivalent emissions reductions, for any of the following purposes:

(1)  Traffic management before and after events.

(2)  Parking management and vehicle flow within parking areas controlled by the event center.

(3)  Reducing the amount of vehicle idling before and after events.

(4)  Implementing marketing or education programs designed to educate attendees on mass transit or other alternative transportation methods for transit to and from the event center.

(5)  Achieving a designated average vehicle ridership for vehicles which carry persons who are traveling to or from their employment at an event center.

(6)  Other emission reduction strategies not relating to reductions in vehicle trips or vehicle miles traveled by event center attendees.

(Added by renumbering Section 40928 by Stats. 1998, Ch. 485, Sec. 108. Effective January 1, 1999.)