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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Commission 2011-06-14 #1CITY OF SAN RAFAEL FILE NO.: P11-009/GPA11-01 AGENDA ITEM NO.: 1 Community Development Department – Planning Division P.O. BOX 151560, SAN RAFAEL, CA 94915-1560 PHONE: (415) 485-3085/FAX: (415) 485-3184 MEETING DATE: June 14, 2011 REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION SUBJECT: Draft Amendments to San Rafael General Plan 2020 including a new Sustainability Element, an updated Housing Element, a revision to Conservation Element Policy CON-3, and deletion of policies, programs and references eliminating the Project Selection Process (PSP); Applicant: City of San Rafael; File No.: GPA11-01. SUBMITTED BY: Linda M. Jackson APPROVED BY: Robert Brown (Community Development Director) Community Development Director ISSUE • Review the draft proposed amendments to San Rafael General Plan 2020 RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the Planning Commission pose questions and provide feedback to staff regarding the proposed amendments. BACKGROUND/ PROJECT DESCRIPTION There are four components to the general plan amendments: • Update of the Housing Element • Adoption of a new Sustainability Element • Revision of Conservation Element Policy CON-3 (Unavoidable Filling of Wetlands) • Deletion of Plan policies, programs and references eliminating the Project Selection Process Concurrent to adoption of the Sustainability Element, staff recommends adoption of a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Strategy, which is not a general plan amendment, but rather an implementing program. The Planning Commission will review the draft reduction strategy as a separate agenda item following review of the draft Sustainability Element. The purpose of the Study Session is to provide an overview of the amendments, and receive initial comments and feedback on the draft documents. In addition, on Tuesday, June 28th, the Planning Commission is scheduled to: hold a public hearing on the draft amendments; review and consider an Addendum to the General Plan EIR prepared to assess the amendment; and adopt a resolution making a recommendation to the City Council. Update of Housing Element The draft updated Housing Element has been under preparation for a couple of years. After several public meetings, two rounds of review with the State Department of Housing and Community Development, and REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION / PAGE 2 FILE NO: P11-009/GPA11-001 considerable reorganization, the updated Housing Element is presented for Planning Commission’s review. Staff will present a Power Point overview of the draft Element, and present the proposed revisions made for consistency with State housing law. There are two initial points to highlight: 1) The draft housing sites list mandated by the State in order to demonstrate sufficient planning capacity is more detailed and longer than the list of housing sites in the current Housing Element. State law has changed to now require more detail about the feasibility of housing development, and to establish a default density of 30 units per acre for affordable housing. Thus, the draft element includes new tables documenting specific sites for housing, and a new table of sites that are zoned 30 units or more. Note that the housing sites lists rely on current land use and zoning. In other words, rezoning is not necessary as part of the draft Housing Element. 2) New State law SB 2 requires jurisdictions to establish a zone where a homeless shelter may be established without a use permit. Specific and limited standards may be applied through zoning, but a homeless shelter provider in such a zone would not have to obtain a use permit. After consultation with members of the General Plan 2020 Steering Committee and with homeless advocates, staff has identified four potential areas for the Commission’s consideration. San Rafael’s homeless shelter ‘need’ is 79 beds – any one of the four potential sites is large enough to meet this need. More information about the sites and SB 2 requirements will be provided at the Study Session. New Sustainability Element and Supportive Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Strategy Why a Sustainability Element? During preparation of the City’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) staff indicated to the City Council and the Green Ribbon Committee that the programs contained in the CCAP would be added to General Plan 2020 during the next update process. The intention was to assure that the CCAP programs have the same importance, application and long-term monitoring as other general plan policies. Rather than scatter the CCAP programs throughout the general plan in various elements, staff concluded that it would be preferable to prepare a new Sustainability Element for inclusion in General Plan 2020 to provide background and context to the issues of community sustainability and effects of climate change. Since the concepts of sustainability constitute an “umbrella” strategy for community planning, staff proposes that the Sustainability Element be included as the first element within General Plan 2020. The draft Sustainability Element was largely authored by a community volunteer, Pat Jung, who is a local landscape architect and graduate of the Dominican University’s Sustainable Practices Certificate Program. Goals, Policies and Programs The programs contained in the CCAP have been reformatted in some cases as policies, others have been modified to reflect wording changes and a few additional programs contained in the new GHG Emissions Reduction Strategy (Strategy distributed to the Planning Commission and summarized in a separate staff report). Amendment to Conservation Element Policy CON-3 (Unavoidable Filling of Wetlands) Since 1987, the City of San Rafael has had mandated wetland protection policies in its General Plan. In 2004, the City adopted the General Plan 2020, which re-vamped the Conservation Element. Policy CON- 3, which addresses the protection of wetlands through avoidance, was among the policies that were amended. However, since adoption, application of this policy has proved to be challenging in reviewing development projects that have involved wetland protection and proposed wetland fill. Specifically, the policy provides little flexibility in interpreting ‘avoidance’ and the terms such as ‘hydrologically isolated’ REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION / PAGE 3 FILE NO: P11-009/GPA11-001 and ‘historic drainages’ have been difficult to define and interpret, and have been problematic in their application of actual site and wetland conditions. It was determined that the policy text warranted refinement to provide better clarity, minimize inconsistent interpretation and address problematic conditions and terms without compromising the purpose or intent to protect and preserve wetlands. See the attached memorandum (Exhibit 1), which summarizes the research and outreach completed to assist in amending this policy. Following consultation with the San Rafael General Plan 2020 Focus Group and representatives of the Marin Conservation League, the following amendments to Policy CON-3 are proposed: CON-3. Unavoidable Filling of Wetlands Wetland Protection and Mitigation for Unavoidable Fill. In order to protect and preserve valued wetlands, Lloss of wetlands due to filling should shall be avoided, unless it is not possible or practical. Any request for fill must demonstrate that the proposed fill cannot be avoided. If fill is unavoidable, there shall be a compensatory minimum of 2:1 ratio of wetlands created or restored, on- site of off-site. When it is demonstrated that it is not possible or practical to avoid filling a wetland because of site constraints and conditions such as the geographic location of the wetland, site configuration and size, require that the wetland be replaced on-site, and in-kind at a minimum ratio of 2:1 (e.g., 2 acres for each acre lost ). If it is determined that on-site mitigation is not possible or practical, off-site mitigation shall be required at a minimum replacement ratio of 3:1. As assessed and determined on a case-by-case basis, theThe City may waive this policy for fill of a small wetlands (0.1 acre or less in size), hydrologically isolated wetland (surface water) or drainageway, provided that: the wetland or drainageway is not within or connected to historic drainages and provided that the applicant is in compliance with requirements of other agencies that regulate wetlands. (1) the wetland is isolated meaning that it is not within, a part of, directly connected with or hyrdologically-linked by natural flow to a creek, drainageway, wetland or submerged tidelands; (2) it is demonstrated by a wetland expert that the preservation of the wetland is not practical as it would not result in a functioning, biological resource because of its isolation, and that the filling would result in a more appropriate and desirable site plan for the project; and (3) the City consults with and considers comments received from the appropriate resource agencies with wetland oversight (State of California Department of Fish and Game and/or the California Regional Water Quality Control Board). As a result of this proposed policy amendment, it was determined that the Conservation Element include a brief definition of wetlands. The following definition is proposed to be incorporated into this element: Wetland- Areas under the jurisdiction of the US Army Corps of Engineers that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation that is typically adaptive for life in saturated soils conditions. Wetlands generally include but are not limited to seasonal wetlands, marshes, vernal pools and bogs. Elimination of Project Selection Process (PSP) Contained in the San Rafael General Plan 2020 are policies and programs addressing the City’s Project Selection Process (PSP). Initially established in 1988 as the PPP (Project Priority Procedure), the PSP is essentially a competition process for new land development projects. Because of limited short-term traffic capacity in many areas of San Rafael, and the time frame for funding and constructing needed, long-term needed transportation improvements for these areas, the PSP was established as an equitable way to allocate the limited, short-term traffic capacity to selective, high priority land development projects. The PSP requires that new land development projects to compete against one another to secure an allocation of limited traffic capacity. The competition process is periodically initiated and hosted by the City, generally when there are multiple, pending land development projects proposed and/or when REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION / PAGE 4 FILE NO: P11-009/GPA11-001 there is general interest in new land development in an area where traffic capacity is limited. As part of the competition, development projects are required to propose a public benefit so as to obtain a “high priority” rating, which is necessary to secure a traffic allocation. A high priority rating is generally reserved for projects that are high tax-generating, propose a high percentage of affordable housing or propose a needed neighborhood-serving use. The PSP does not grant an entitlement to develop or build, nor is it a permit that vests land development approvals. Rather, the PSP merely grants a “placeholder” of traffic allocation to a development project, which is valid for two years. If the required land use entitlements or planning and building permits are not secured for the development project during this two-year window, the PSP expires, and the project is required to complete again for an allocation of traffic capacity. The traffic allocation that is granted by this process is not considered a “project” under the CEQA Guidelines and is therefore, not subject to environmental review. The PPP and the PSP were critical when the potential for land development was high (1980’s-early 2000’s) and there was inadequate traffic capacity in the road network to accommodate the land development demand. During these years, the PPP and PSP were successful in approving high priority projects and yielding many public benefits offered by these projects including, among others: contributions to fund the establishment of a landscape median on Manuel T. Freitas Parkway (at Northgate Drive); obtaining a 50-year land lease (at $1.00/year) for the City Corporation Yard site; contributions to fund technology training and programs sponsored by the Canal Alliance; and many affordable housing units in new residential developments. However, the process has “run-its-course” and no longer serves as a critical tool for the City in that: a) the community is now largely built-out and there are very few remaining land development opportunities and large undeveloped/underdeveloped sites; b) over time, the process did not result in yielding much more public benefit than the amount that could be obtained through the conventional project review process; and c) the limited traffic capacity has either been used up or needed transportation improvements have been implemented. The PSP is specifically addressed in Land Use Element Policy LU-3 and Program LU-3a, which read as follows: LU-3. Project Selection Process. Because there is limited traffic capacity, and in order to achieve desired projects with significant public benefit, prioritize and allocate that traffic capacity among development proposals citywide. Establish criteria to guide the City’s selection of high priority projects. LU-3a. Project Selection Process. Establish a citywide Project Selection Process (PSP) to approve projects consistent with citywide and neighborhood-specific priorities. Include criteria to guide the City’s selection of high priority projects. Involve the public in drafting the initial PSP program and criteria. Include public notification and involvement in the implementation of PSP program. The PSP is also referenced and cited in a number of other General Plan elements, as well as the Housing Element Background report. Adoption of GPA11-006 It is proposed that the amendments summarized above be adopted as a single amendment action to General Plan 2020. This single action will be presented in one resolution for Planning Commission consideration. Consistent with SB18, when processing a General Plan Amendment, the City must consult with the local Native American tribe to determined if there is interest in Tribal Consultation. An offer of Tribal REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION / PAGE 5 FILE NO: P11-009/GPA11-001 Consultation was made to but the City did not receive a response from the local tribe (Federation Indians of Graton Rancheria). Consistent with City Council Resolution No. 8379, the appropriate agencies and jurisdictions have been notified of the proposed General Plan Amendment. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Pursuant to the California Environmental Act (CEQA) Guidelines, a General Plan Amendment action is subject to environmental review. The proposed components of the General Plan Amendment were carefully reviewed against the San Rafael General Plan 2020 certified Environmental Impact Report (Plan EIR), 2004. Based on this review and the completion of an Initial Study, staff has prepared an Addendum (No. 2) to the Plan EIR. The amendment components would not result in any new significant impacts or an increase in the severity of the impacts presented in the Plan EIR. A copy of the Addendum has been distributed to the Planning Commission for review. EXHIBITS 1. Memorandum to Linda Jackson from Paul Jensen summarizing research and recommendations for amending Conservation Element Policy CON-3; August 23, 2010 The following documents were distributed to the Planning Commission with this staff report and are available at the Community Development Department: Draft Housing Element Update and Appendix B: Draft Housing Background Report Addendum (No. 2) to the San Rafael General Plan 2020 Certified Environmental Impact Report