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PC - PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration of General Plan Amendment, known as General Plan 2045, Zoning Code Map and Text Amendments, together known as Zoning Code Update, and Environmental Impact Report
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Meeting Date: August 14, 2024
Contact Person/Dept: Troy Evangelho, Advance Planning Manager
Lauren Wrenn, Associate Planner
Phone Number: (310) 253-5744 / (310) 253-5766
Fiscal Impact: Yes [x] No [] General Fund: Yes [x] No []
Public Hearing: [x] Action Item: [] Attachments: [x]
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - Planning Commission (8/8/2024); (Posted) City Website (8/8/2024); (Mailed) Property owners and occupants citywide plus 300 ft radius outside City boundaries (7/24/2024); (Posted) City Hall Bulletin Board (7/24/2024); (Published) Culver City News (7/25/2024); Social Media (7/17/2024); (E-Mail) GovDelivery Bulletin (7/24/2024)
Department Approval: Mark Muenzer, Planning and Development Director (8/8/2024)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt resolutions recommending that the City Council:
1. Certify the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR), Adopt CEQA Required Findings, Adopt the Mitigation Monitoring Program (MMP), and Adopt a Statement of Overriding Considerations as stated in Resolution No. 2024-P009 (Attachment No. 1); and
2. Approve the General Plan Amendment P2022-0053-GP, referred to as the General Plan 2045, as stated in Resolution No. 2024-P010 (Attachment No. 2); and
3. Approve the Zoning Code Text and Map Amendments P2024-0186-ZCA, -ZCMA, together referred to as the Zoning Code Update, as stated in Resolution No. 2024-P011 (Attachment No. 3).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The General Plan (‘The Plan’) Update project was initiated in 2019 with the updating of each element, or chapter, of the City’s General Plan. The project began with an extensive outreach and community visioning process to form the Vision, Values, and Guiding Principles which were used to develop the General Plan between 2020 and 2024.
The Draft General Plan 2045 includes 12 elements, plus the previously adopted 2021-2029 Housing Element, which together guide the development of the City. The Zoning Code Update was initiated in 2023 to implement the Draft General Plan Land Use Element and set standards for new land uses and zones proposed by the Land Use Map. Together, the General Plan 2045 and Zoning Code Update will guide the City to reach its goals to provide more housing Citywide, increase walkability and transit access, and build a more sustainable community. Environmental impacts for both projects have been analyzed, resulting in the Draft and Final Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs).
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The General Plan Update was initiated in 2019 to comprehensively update the City’s General Plan, some elements of which were adopted in the 1970s with only minor updates since that time. The process began with a study of existing conditions to identify issues and opportunities to be addressed by the Plan. An extensive community outreach and visioning program resulted in the project’s Vision, Values, and Guiding Principles document that was used to direct development of the Plan.
Policy frameworks for each plan topic were developed based on the vision and values and were made available for public review and presented to the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC), Planning Commission, and City Council for feedback. Further information on the history of the GPAC is discussed later in this report. Between 2021 and 2023, the policy frameworks were further refined and developed into the final 12 draft Plan elements.
The project’s timeline was significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as numerous managerial staff vacancies, which resulted in a longer overall project timeline.
The Public Draft General Plan 2045 was released to the community in September 2023 for a 60-day public review period. The Plan was available online and physically in locations throughout the City, and an online comment form was open to receive feedback. During the review period, the General Plan team conducted three hybrid in-person and virtual open houses, and an additional all-virtual open house to hear community feedback and answer questions about the Plan.
A total of 446 comments were received from the open houses, the online comment form, emails and letters received during and since the Public Draft review period, and presentations to the Bike and Pedestrian Action Committee, Planning Commission, and City Council. There were also consultations with the California Board of Forestry on the Safety Element.
The City is required to complete the rezoning process by October 15, 2024 for the Housing Element to remain in compliance with State law. There are significant implications should the City not adopt the new zoning by the above date, including the potential loss of enforcement of City local land use regulations. The Zoning Code Update was initiated in 2023 to implement the land use designation changes proposed by the Draft General Plan 2045, including the creation of new zoning districts to correspond with new land use designations and the incorporation of new development policies proposed in the Draft Plan and the previously adopted 2021-2029 Housing Element.
The Zoning Code Update process began with a series of stakeholder interviews with frequent users of the code, such as design professionals and developers, to determine issues and barriers to development as well as opportunities for improvement. The staff and consultant team then completed an audit of all policies and programs proposed by the Draft General Plan 2045 and the previously adopted Housing Element. The existing land use and zoning maps and the proposed land use map were analyzed and minor updates to the proposed land use map were made to ensure consistency.
The outreach and audit process informed the production of the Draft Zoning Code Framework, which included new proposed zoning districts and development standards, the list of uses to be permitted in each district, and the zoning map. The Draft Framework was released for public review in February 2024.
The Draft General Plan 2045 and Draft Zoning Code Framework were presented to the Planning Commission and City Council in February 2024. Comments received from Commission, Council, and the public were used to prepare the final Draft General Plan 2045 and Draft Zoning Code.
Changes to the proposed Land Use Map since the adoption of the 2021-2029 Housing Element have been found to be consistent with the goals and programs in the Housing Element. The changes to the map include the removal of the formerly proposed Incremental Infill land use designations, an expanded Mixed Use Industrial area, and the redesignation of some larger shopping centers as Mixed Use High, where they were previously planned Mixed Use Medium. Some sites included on the Housing Element Sites Inventory were changed from Mixed Use Medium to Mixed Use Industrial, which have the same maximum residential density of 65 du/ac. Large shopping centers along Jefferson Boulevard were changed from Mixed Use Medium to Mixed Use High, which reflects an increased density from 65 dwelling units per acre (du/ac) to 100 du/ac.
An analysis of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) permitted since the Housing Element’s adoption shows that the number of units permitted exceeds projections and that units are distributed throughout the City’s low density residential areas. This trajectory shows that the goals of the formerly proposed Incremental Infill designations, including the goals for Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) to increase housing availability in low density and higher resource areas, can still be achieved. A detailed analysis of these changes is provided in Attachment 8, Housing Element Consistency Memo.
The updated RHNA capacity table, which accounts for pipeline projects, permitted ADUs, and sites inventory capacity under the proposed land use map, has significant surplus in each category of affordability. The low-income category has an additional buffer of 1,463 units, or 85%, over the low-income RHNA allocation of 1,712 units. The moderate-income category has an additional buffer of 1,310 units, or 234%, over the RHNA allocation of 560 units. The above moderate-income category has an additional buffer of 3,745 units, or 350%, over the RHNA allocation of 1,069 units. Overall, there is an additional buffer of 6,520 units, or 195%, of the total RHNA allocation of 3,341 units.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) was formed at the start of the project and made up of 27 total members of the community appointed by the City Council. The GPAC met 18 times throughout the process to discuss and provide recommendations to the General Plan team on the various topics of the Plan. The GPAC was consulted for high-level feedback on the vision and guiding principles, land use and transportation alternatives, health, economic development, and other policy topics.
Six topic-specific Technical Advisory Committees, each made up of approximately five members with expertise in each topic, were also formed. The topics included Arts and Culture, Economic Development, Housing, Policing and Public Safety, Sustainability, Health, Parks, and Public Spaces, and Transportation and Mobility. The various TACs met a total of 20 times. All GPAC and TAC meetings were open to the public with opportunity for public comment.
Throughout the process, City staff and consultants held or attended numerous community events to solicit feedback on the planning process. A total of 14 community workshops and festivals were held with interactive portions such as mapping exercises, balloting, and art exercises to gather feedback on the visioning process, alternatives, policy frameworks, and Draft General Plan review. The General Plan team also attended various events throughout the City to reach other community members, including the Art Walk & Roll, Fiesta La Ballona, the Farmers’ Market, Culver City Pride, and the Summer Sunset Concert Series.
To spread additional community awareness of the General Plan, Zoning Code, and EIR public hearings, staff placed flyers at 20 intersections throughout the City with a QR code to direct people to the project website, where they were able to view the draft documents and information on the hearings. Sidewalk decals were placed at six additional pedestrian-heavy intersections, also directing people to the website with a QR code.
A Citywide mailer announcing the public hearings was also sent to property owners, residents, and businesses, with an additional 300-foot buffer beyond the City boundary, totaling over 38,000 recipients.
GENERAL PLAN 2045 - SUMMARY
The Land Use and Community Design Element sets forth the proposed distribution and location of different land uses, as well as community intentions for urban form and design. Much of the discussion and engagement throughout the planning process has involved this element and the Draft Land Use Map, which propose changes to the City’s land use regulations.
Major policies and programs include:
• Introduction of residential and mixed uses in all commercial and industrial areas to create walkable mixed-use centers, particularly in areas with transit access.
• Increased multi-family residential unit densities to meet the City’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation and introduction of commercial and industrial Floor Area Ratios (FARs) to guide building mass.
• Adoption of objective design standards for development and updates to the City’s Mixed-Use Ordinance for local density bonuses (in progress).
• Promote a network of mixed-use corridors to accommodate a diverse range of businesses by requiring active frontages, encouraging parcel assembly, requiring new applications to promote improved pedestrian and bike connections, and concentrating neighborhood-serving commercial uses into mixed-use activity centers.
• Residential neighborhoods will continue to provide a variety of housing types and forms and allow neighborhood supporting uses that sustain the needs of residents by: allowing limited neighborhood-supportive retail and services in residential neighborhoods on collector streets, requiring new development to be compatible and well-integrated with existing residential neighborhoods, encouraging compatible uses such as schools and parks, and linking existing residential neighborhoods by providing pedestrian and bicycle connections.
• Designation of special study areas to identify areas of the City that have unique opportunities or constraints, implemented through specific plans, comprehensive plans, Zoning Code updates, and other land use regulations. The specific study areas include Fox Hills, Hayden Tract, Inglewood Oil Field, Baldwin Hills, and Ballona Creek.
Relatedly, the City will immediately commence the Fox Hills and Hayden Tract Specific Plan processes following the adoption of the General Plan and Zoning Code Updates.
The section below provides a short summary of the other eleven elements of the General Plan 2045, including the introduction and highlighting major policies and discussion from each.
1. The Introduction summarizes the General Plan, guiding principles, equity framework, and history and demographics of the city, as well as the community outreach and visioning process.
2. The Equity, Community Health, and Environmental Justice Element identifies SB 1000 communities in the City and sets goals and policies to address compounded health risks. Major policies and programs include:
• Implementing a Health in All Policies approach for all City departments to consider health equity and environmental justice when making policies.
• Reduction of pollution exposure by monitoring and mitigating air pollution, coordination of truck routes with neighboring jurisdictions, and limitations on certain sensitive land uses near sources of heavy pollutants.
• Increasing housing security by incentivizing landlords to rent to tenants using rental subsidies, creating a grant program to ensure affordable housing is maintained to high standards, and partnerships with neighboring jurisdictions to promote strategies to address housing displacement.
3. The Governance and Leadership Element aims to increase governmental transparency, broaden outreach and engagement, and center equity in local decision-making. Major policies and programs include:
• Increasing transparency of the City government by improving readability and accessibility on the City website and other outreach materials, proactively gathering public feedback, and studying the creation of a public-facing scorecard platform to track performance targets across City departments.
• Increasing community engagement and outreach, consulting and collaborating with underrepresented groups, and increasing equity-centered decision making across City departments.
• Improving technology access with an open data platform, providing multiple ways for community members to participate in public meetings, and expanding digital infrastructure.
4. The Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy Element discusses how the City can reimagine its investments and partnerships with the arts, culture, and the creative economy, and innovate in civic issues. Major policies and programs include:
• Maintaining affordable work and living spaces for the city’s creative sector, including development of a creative facilities inventory, needs assessment, and master plan.
• Recognition of the creative sector’s importance to Culver City’s economy.
• Prioritizing equity in the arts and expanding access to cultural programming.
5. The Parks, Recreation, and Public Facilities Element aims to preserve, expand, and improve parks and open spaces, encourage healthy lifestyles, and maintain and upgrade public facilities. Major policies and programs include:
• New parks, including a study to improve Ballona Creek and create new amenities along the creek, development of new parks and parkettes in areas in need of park space, and increasing green space, landscaping, and passive recreational uses on City-owned property.
• Equitable access, striving for all city residents to have parks, open spaces, or joint use facilities within a 10-minute walk from their home.
• Updating, improving, and maintaining park facilities, amenities, and community programming.
6. The Economic Development Element addresses sustainable economic development, community benefits to be provided by new development, a balanced housing supply, and equitable opportunity for wealth creation. Major policies and programs include:
• Maintaining a balanced “business ecosystem” that fosters diversity in the type and scale of businesses and employers, making sure that large employer campuses contribute to active street life, and attracting small businesses to the city.
• Ensuring that new development provides benefits to the community while reducing barriers to development with clear guidelines for options and requirements with a new community benefit framework.
• Expanding economic opportunity for residents and building up the unique identities of the city’s existing retail clusters.
7. The Infrastructure Element addresses the equitable distribution and resiliency of water and energy infrastructure. Major policies and programs include:
• Conducting an assessment and creating a plan for the risks of increased storm intensity and keeping development standards updated to incentivize and mandate stormwater guidelines and hardscape permeability.
• Creating new development standards for rainwater capture, and studying standards for greywater capture, treatment, and reuse.
8. The Mobility Element sets policies to create and bolster a transportation system that improves all transportation options, including transit, cycling, and walking. Major policies and programs include:
• Creating a regionally cohesive network of active transportation routes and prioritizing multimodal projects to implement the Bike and Pedestrian Action Plan (BPAP).
• Expanding transit and active mobility options and increasing access to transit by removing first/last mile barriers and improving the street experience for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Discouraging non-local auto travel on smaller local streets with the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP), reducing speeds and volumes.
9. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Element addresses environmental, social equity, and economic impacts from climate change. Major policies and programs include:
• Establishing a greenhouse gas reduction strategy and a maximum emissions threshold to meet or exceed state targets.
• Studying ordinances for reducing natural gas usage, including the possibility for new buildings to be built with all-electric energy sources, conversion of existing natural gas systems to electric, and streamlining the permitting process for solar energy generation.
• Increasing accessibility and availability of electric vehicle chargers.
10. The Conservation and Open Space Element addresses the stewardship and conservation of cultural and natural resources. Major policies and programs include:
• Improving and expanding habitats for threatened and endangered species, coordinating with regional partners to manage wildlife and biological resources, and educating residents about minimizing interactions with wild animals.
• Planting and maintaining mature trees for carbon sequestration, reducing the use of non-native plant species, and increasing the prevalence of native species for biodiversity and reduced pesticide use.
• Improving Ballona Creek’s efficacy as a flood control channel and restoring its native ecology.
11. The Safety Element evaluates and mitigates the risk of climate change and associated natural hazards. Major policies and programs include:
• Increasing the City’s hazard resilience with planning and preparation for natural hazards, addressing infrastructure vulnerabilities, and ensuring that City facilities and services can avoid disruptions in emergency situations.
• Identifying heat island priority areas for increasing the tree canopy and use of cool roofs and pavement, and maintaining cooling and warming centers throughout the City to be open when needed.
• Study the establishment of a central resilience office to better integrate City services and coordinate emergency response.
12. The Noise Element identifies and evaluates noise in the community from a range of sources like highways, arterial streets, rail, aviation, and industrial plants. Major policies and programs include:
• Adoption of a citywide noise ordinance and regular evaluation of municipal noise regulations for effectiveness and creating development standards to reduce construction noise.
• Reducing noise from mobile sources including cars, aircraft, and the Metro through various means such as vehicle electrification and improvements to building shell noise reduction standards.
ZONING CODE UPDATE SUMMARY
Throughout the Draft Zoning Code, chapter titles, section titles, and zone names have been updated to refer to Mixed Use zones rather than standalone Commercial or Industrial zones, which have been removed.
Per State law, subjective standards have been removed or modified to become objective. Maps, diagrams, tables, and figure numbers have been updated where necessary for image clarity or consistency with Code text.
Changes specific to each article of the Draft Zoning Code include:
1. Article 1: Zoning Code Applicability
• City governmental facilities will be exempted from the entitlement process.
2. Article 2: Zoning Districts, Allowable Land Uses, and Zone-Specific Standards
• Table 2-1, Zoning Districts, has been updated with the names of each proposed new zone and their corresponding General Plan land use classification. Industrial-only zones have been removed, making residential uses more compatible.
• New allowed use tables have been inserted in chapters for each zone group. Due to the removal of Industrial-only zones and the introduction of residential uses, heavy manufacturing uses will become nonconforming. The new Mixed Use Industrial zone allows lighter industrial uses that have minimal impact on residential uses.
• New development standards tables and associated illustrative diagrams have been inserted.
o Residential densities in Mixed Use Zones range from 35 dwelling units per acre (du/ac) to 100 du/ac.
o For Mixed Use Zones, Floor Area Ratios (FARs) ranging from 2.0 to 4.0 for commercial components have been introduced to regulate building mass.
o Height limits have been raised to 56 feet in some Mixed Use Zones where they were previously lower, including the Mixed Use Industrial zone.
3. Article 3: Site Planning and General Development Standards
• Table 3-1, Allowed Projections into Setbacks, has been replaced with updated standards.
• A clearer method of measuring height has been established.
4. Article 4: Standards for Specific Land Uses
• Mixed Use Development Standards, Section 17.400.065, have been partially relocated to Article 2, Section 17.220.025, Performance Standards for Mixed Use Zones, while provisions for Community Benefit Density Bonus calculations have been relocated to Article 5, Section 17.580.035, Community Benefits. Minimum unit sizes have been removed, as well as the Micro-Unit Density Bonus.
• Standards for uses that are no longer permitted and are not present in the City, such as heavier recycling processing facilities, have been removed.
• Section 17.400.120, Vehicle Fueling Stations, has been renamed Vehicle Fueling and Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations and updated to include standards for EV charging facilities.
5. Article 5: Land Use and Development Permit Procedures
• Application review procedures have been updated to include references to State law for cases where State law may supersede.
• Thresholds and procedures for Administrative Site Plan Review (ASPR) and Site Plan Review (SPR) processes have been updated. Residential projects including between three and 25 dwelling units, non-residential projects between 5,000 and 15,000 gross square feet, and Mixed-Use projects meeting those thresholds will be subject to the ASPR process, with decisions made by the Planning & Development Director. Those decisions may still be appealed to the Planning Commission, and if needed, to the City Council. Projects exceeding those thresholds will be subject to the SPR process, with decisions made by the Planning Commission and appealable to City Council.
• Specific findings for approval of Housing Development Projects have been added.
• Chapter 17.570, Specific Plans, has been updated.
6. Article 6: Zoning Code Administration
• The Council policy on pre-application Community Meetings has been added to the code and clarified.
• Thresholds for ministerial, administrative, and director-level project approvals have been updated.
7. Article 7: Definitions
• Various definitions were added or updated to comply with state legislation, such as Cottage Food Operations. Others have been updated for clarity.
Reduced R-1 Zone FAR
The proposed Zoning Code Update development standards include a reduced Floor Area Ratio (FAR), from 0.65 FAR to 0.45 FAR, in R-1 zones in order to reduce the allowable building mass of new single-family homes. This reduction of residential FAR is accounted for by the increased residential densities proposed for other areas of the city.
The existing zoning map includes 786 acres, or 34,252,491 square feet, of land zoned R-1. At 0.65 FAR, this allows a maximum of 22,264,119 square feet of single-family residential development across the City. The proposed map rezones approximately 50 acres to Open Space to reflect existing use along Ballona Creek and in the Inglewood Oil Field, leaving a total of 736 acres, or 32,068,654 square feet zoned R-1. At 0.45 FAR, this allows a maximum of 14,430,894 square feet of single-family residential development, removing approximately 7,833,245 square feet of single-family development potential across the City.
This deficit is offset with the rezoning of 685 acres of the City to various Mixed Use (MU) zones, ranging in density from 35 dwelling units per acre (du/ac) to 100 du/ac, reflecting the proposed General Plan map, in areas where only commercial or industrial uses were previously allowed by right. The City anticipates that this change would generate 12,700 new dwelling units by the General Plan horizon year of 2045. Assuming an average unit size of 1,050 square feet, the MU zones represent an additional 13,335,000 square feet of residential development potential.
AREAS OF DISCUSSION
During the outreach process numerous topics were identified as areas of interest for further analysis and discussion. This section provides a summary of these items.
• Density in the Mixed-Use High Designation: Since the certification of the 2021-2029 Housing Element, there has been discussion regarding the potential reduction of the 100 du/ac residential density in the Mixed Use High (MU-H) designation, particularly for the Fox Hills neighborhood. The Mixed-Use High designation was established based on many factors, including likelihood of redevelopment, as well as large underutilized parcel sizes necessary to support the scale of development. In addition to existing business parks in Fox Hills, the MU-H designation is applied to existing large shopping centers at the intersections of Overland Avenue and Venice Boulevard, along Jefferson Boulevard south of Overland Avenue, and near the Culver City Metro station. City staff has consulted with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), which advised changes to the MU-H density would require a Housing Element amendment with HCD approval. Staff continues these conversations with HCD as of the writing of this report.
• Fiscal and Service Impacts: The fiscal impacts of population growth on public services, including Police and Fire, was studied in the Environmental Impact Report, which determined less than significant environmental impacts due to the collection of impact fees from new development, and increases in sales and property taxes. In addition, the City has contracted with an economic analysis consulting firm to conduct a fiscal impact analysis, which is still under development. This analysis will provide estimated fiscal impacts for the General Plan’s horizon year, 2045, accounting for expected new housing units and commercial space.
• Open Space - Inglewood Oil Field: The portion of the Inglewood Oil Field (IOF) within City boundaries has an Open Space designation in the existing General Plan Land Use Map, but is zoned R-1 on the existing Zoning Map. Portions owned by public entities, including the Stoneview Nature Center and the pathway to the Park to Playa Bridge over La Cienega Boulevard, will be Open Space on each map to reflect existing park uses. Portions owned by private landowners would remain Open Space Land Use with an R-1 Zoning, and included as a Special Study Area, to be considered in a future community planning process.
• Nonconforming Uses: Market forces have led to significant conversion of former industrial spaces to less typically impactful uses, such as creative and tech office uses, mainly in the Hayden Tract. To account for more housing development opportunities, a Mixed-Use Industrial land use designation and zone has been proposed, allowing residential uses up to 65 du/ac, as well as allowing for commercial and lighter industrial uses. More impactful uses such as heavy manufacturing, intensive auto uses such as body and paint shops, and dry-cleaning plants would be nonconforming in the Mixed Use Industrial and other Mixed Use zones. City staff identified 40 existing businesses as potentially nonconforming and sent 88 letters to businesses and landowners informing them of the proposed change. Nonconforming uses may continue indefinitely, but may not expand, and may not be reestablished if the business is abandoned or discontinued for more than one year.
• Building Height Limits: A voter initiative was passed in 1990 limiting building heights in certain zones to a maximum of 56 feet or approximately five stories. To accommodate increased housing densities in the proposed zoning code, a 56-foot height limit would be extended to areas with lower existing height limits. The General Plan includes a program to study increasing this height limit to allow greater flexibility for providing additional housing. The timing of that study will be reviewed following the adoption of the General Plan.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION
The environmental analysis process began with an Initial Study, completed in March 2022, which determined that a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) would be necessary. A Notice of Preparation (NOP) was issued on March 3, 2022 to gather feedback from agencies and the community, and an EIR Scoping Meeting was held on March 24, 2022. The project was later updated to include the Zoning Code Update, and a recirculated NOP was issued on February 15, 2024. A second EIR Scoping Meeting was held for the recirculated NOP on March 7, 2024. The sixteen public comments received from both NOP comment periods and EIR Scoping Meetings are included in Appendix A of the Draft EIR, Attachment 4.
The Draft Program EIR was released for review on March 28, 2024 for a 46-day comment period. Sixteen comments on the Draft EIR were received from agencies, organizations, and individuals. Updates were made to the Draft EIR to respond to comments. The Final EIR, including comments gathered during the Draft EIR review period and associated responses, was released on July 17, 2024.
The Draft EIR determined that there are significant unavoidable impacts associated with the project, affecting Air Quality, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Geology and Soils, and Noise, and Transportation. A Mitigation Monitoring Program (MMP) is included in Chapter 4 of the Final EIR and details mitigation measures to reduce impacts for unavoidable impacts. Many impacts can be reduced to less than significant with mitigation measures, including impacts to Biological Resources and Geology and Soils. Some impacts to Air Quality, Cultural Resources, Noise, and Transportation remain significant and unavoidable even with a reduction of severity due to mitigation measures.
A Statement of Overriding Considerations has been prepared to explain why the social, economic, legal, technical, or other beneficial aspects of the project outweigh the unavoidable environmental impacts, and why the Lead Agency may accept those impacts. The Statement of Overriding Considerations is included in Exhibit A of Attachment 1.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
A fiscal impact study, studying the revenue and cost impacts to the City through the 2045 General Plan timeframe, is being conducted and will be presented to the City Council upon completion.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Proposed Resolution No. 2024-P009 to recommend that the City Council certify the Program Environmental Impact Report for the General Plan 2045 and Zoning Code Update P2022-0053-EIR with Exhibit A: Findings of Fact and Exhibit B: Mitigation Monitoring Program
2. Proposed Resolution No. 2024-P010 to recommend that the City Council adopt the General Plan Amendment P2022-0053-GP, including the Draft General Plan Land Use Map
3. Proposed Resolution No. 2024-P011 to recommend that the City Council adopt the Zoning Code Text Amendment and Zoning Code Map Amendment, P2024-0186-ZCA, -ZCMA
4. Program Environmental Impact Report
5. Final General Plan 2045
6. Final Draft Zoning Code
7. Final Draft Zoning Code Map
8. Housing Element Consistency Memo
MOTIONS
That the Planning Commission recommend the City Council:
1) Certify the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) P2022-0053-EIR, Adopt CEQA Required Findings, Adopt the Mitigation Monitoring Program (MMP), and Adopt a Statement of Overriding Considerations as stated in Resolution No. 2024-P009 (Attachment No. 1); and
2) Approve the General Plan Amendment P2022-0053-GP, known as the General Plan 2045, as stated in Resolution No. 2024-P010 (Attachment No. 2); and
3) Approve the Zoning Code Text and Map Amendments, P2024-0186-ZCA, and -ZCMA, together referred to as the Zoning Code Update, as stated in Resolution No. 2024-P011 (Attachment No. 3).