1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: March 11, 2025
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director VIA: Fred Ramirez, Assistant Community Development Director - Planning Scott Plambaeck, Planning Manager
Amanda Landry, Principal Planner
Greg Mirza-Avakyan, Senior Planner
BY: Robert W. Keatinge, Associate Planner
SUBJECT: Adoption of an Ordinance Amending the Burbank Municipal Code to Implement Burbank 2021-2029 Housing Element Program No. 22 Related to the Update of Project Appeal Procedures
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AMENDING TITLE 9, CHAPTER 3 (ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION) AND TITLE 10, CHAPTER 1 (ZONING) OF THE BURBANK MUNICIPAL CODE TO IMPLEMENT BURBANK 2021 - 2029 HOUSING ELEMENT PROGRAM NO. 22 RELATED TO THE UPDATE OF
PROJECT APPEAL PROCEDURES, AND MAKING OTHER RELATED AMENDMENTS (PROJECT NUMBER 24 -0001518, ZONE TEXT AMENDMENT AND CODE TEXT AMENDMENT) (Attachment 1).
SUMMARY
The above-entitled Ordinance was introduced at a Joint Meeting of the City Council and the Successor Agency, Housing Authority, Parking Authority, Public Financing Authority, and Youth Endowment Services Fund Board on February 25, 2025. Council Members Anthony, Mullins, and Rizzotti were present. The Ordinance will eliminate constraints to the development of housing and streamline the general project review and approval process by updating appeal procedures in the City’s Zoning Code. The also Ordinance includes proposed changes to Title 9, Chapter 3 (Environmental Protection) to ensure that the City’s local public notice of environmental decisions and associated appeals
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
2 process is brought into alignment with requirements of state law including the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Vote at Introduction:
AYES: Anthony, Mullins, and Rizzotti
NOES: None
ABSENT: Takahashi And Perez
This Ordinance is now presented for adoption.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed Ordinance has been evaluated under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and requires no further CEQA review. The proposed Zone Text Amendment (ZTA) and amendments to the City’s appeal procedures and initial and final reviewing bodies for multifamily residential housing with nonresidential use projects (mixed use projects) are consistent with the 2021-2029 Burbank Housing Element and as such, were contemplated and studied in the Program Environmental Impact Report for the 2021-2029 Housing Element (SCH No. 2021020393), certified in September 2022. Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines § 15183(a), no further environmental review is required for the ZTA.
Furthermore, none of the proposed Burbank Municipal Code ( BMC) amendments within the proposed Ordinance require CEQA review because they only involve administrative and procedural updates to the BMC. Adoption of the Ordinance is covered by the common-sense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects, which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA (CEQA Guidelines § 15061(b)(3)).
Additionally, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines § 15378, the proposed Ordinance is not considered a “project” subject to the requirements of CEQA because the Ordinance has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Instead, the proposed Ordinance involves modifications to administrative noticing requirements and procedural updates to internal review and approval bodies that will result in no direct or indirect physical changes to the environment.
FISCAL IMPACT
A slight fiscal impact to the City’s General Fund is projected by adopting the proposed Ordinance. Removing the ability to file a second appeal to City Council for a decision originally made by the Director then subsequently appealed to Planning Commission may have an impact to the amount of appeal application fees collected. Amending the permissibility of Mixed -Use projects from a Conditional Use Permit ( CUP) to an 3 Administrative Use Permit (AUP) may also have an impact on the amount of application fees collected given the lesser fee for an AUP application. However, as these fees are for cost recovery reasons only, the reduction in fees will be offset by staff’s availability to undertake other work assignments. These include the intake and processing of other projects in the furtherance of City Council and community goals and programs. All other amendments proposed under this Ordinance are not expected to produce a fiscal impact to the General Fund.
ATTACHMENT
Attachment 1 – Ordinance
Attachment 2 – Ordinance (Redlined)