CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
April 1, 2025 {{section.number}}{{item.number}}
INTRODUCTION OF AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PORTIONS OF CORONADO MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTERS 86.34 AND 86.70 TO IMPLEMENT THE CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION’S SUGGESTED MODIFICATIONS REQUIRED TO OBTAIN CERTIFICATION OF THE CITY’S LOCAL COASTAL PROGRAM RELATED TO THE SIXTH CYCLE HOUSING
ELEMENT UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION:
Introduce an Ordinance titled “An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Coronado Amending Portions of the Coronado Municipal Code Related to the Sixth Cycle Housing Element Update”.
BACKGROUND:
The Housing Element is one of seven state-mandated elements included in the City’s General Plan and is the only one required to be updated periodically. Its purpose is to identify and plan for existing and projected housing needs in the region within the eight-year planning cycle.
The City adopted the Housing Element Update and required Zoning Ordinance and Local Coastal Program (LCP) Amendments in April 2024. After adoption, the Amendments were submitted to the California Coastal Commission (CCC) for Certification as is required due to the City’s location within the Coastal Zone. On December 12, 2024, the California Coastal Commission approved the LCP Amendments with modifications that update the plan to provide clarity and affirmative language to ensure consistency with the Chapter 3 policies of the Coastal Act in regard to visitorserving commercial uses and coastal hazards (Attachment 2).
ANALYSIS:
The CCC modifications are not considered major. The CCC’s stated goal with the modifications was to ensure consistency with their policies to maintain visitor-serving commercial uses and acknowledge coastal hazards. The modifications are specific to Coronado Municipal Code Chapters 86.34 – Housing Element Opportunity Site Overlay Zone, and Chapter 86.70 – Coastal Permits, as well as incorporating the Housing Element Opportunity Site Overlay Zone into the LCP Implementation Plan. The latter is achieved by including CMC Chapter 86.34 and the updated Zoning Map showing the Housing Element Overlay Zones.
Changes required in CMC Chapter 86.34 call for specifying that for commercially-zoned properties, shopkeeper units or live-work quarters are allowed on the entire ground floor, that residential uses may front on Second Street between A and B Avenues, and that other residential uses shall not occupy more than 50% of the total square footage of the ground floor and shall not front on a street. Additionally, a new section related to flood risk is to be included specific to 150 B Avenue, otherwise known as the Smart and Final property. This requires the owner to enter into an agreement with the City that includes the following acknowledgements and provisions:
1. That the property is located in an area of future sea level rise that may become hazardous in the future;
2. That sea level rise could render it infeasible to provide services to the site;
3. That the boundary between public land and private land may shift with rising seas and the development approval does not permit encroachment onto public trust land except for properties governed by the Court of Appeal decision in SLPR, LLC v. State Lands.
Com. (2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 284;
4. That additional adaptation strategies may be required in the future to address sea level rise consistent with the Coastal Act and certified LCP;
5. That the owner waives any rights under Coastal Act Section 30235 and related LCP policies to hard shoreline armoring to protect the development;
6. That the structure may be required to be removed or relocated and the site restored if it becomes unsafe;
7. The owner shall provide notice in the lease to all occupants of the provisions stated above; and
8. That the finished first floor of the development shall be elevated at least above existing grade and shall not include subterranean parking garages or basements.
The current property owner of 150 B Avenue was in communication with City and CCC staff regarding these acknowledgements and provisions prior to the CCC hearing in December and was amenable to the language.
One final change to CMC Chapter 86.34 included additional language related to the “By-right approval” language that called out a coastal permit in addition to the language requiring ministerial design review.
Changes required in CMC Chapter 86.70 provide reference to the City’s overall LCP rather than CMC Chapters 86.74 and 86.76 which are related to Waterfront Development and Protection of Natural Ocean and Bay Processes.
A redline version of the CMC amendments can be found in Attachment 3.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Housing Elements are required by the State and are intended to effectuate State policy. Some State and SANDAG funding is contingent upon a State-certified Housing Element. Without a certified Housing Element, Coronado is not eligible to receive these funds. Additionally, if found out of compliance the State can suspend the City’s authority to issue building permits, grant zone changes or variances, or grant subdivision map approvals, and can fine the City up to $100,000 per month. AB 72, passed in 2017, further strengthened State housing law by allowing for HCD to refer any non-compliance to the State Attorney General for enforcement. This happened when the State sued Huntington Beach in 2019 for removing capacity to build affordable housing units and forced them to rezone sites to provide adequate affordable housing.
ALTERNATIVE:
The City Council may choose to not adopt the CCC’s suggested modifications and risk not obtaining certification of the amended LCP, therefore losing Housing Element Certification.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT:
The project is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to Government Code Section 65759, because the project consists of actions necessary to bring the City’s General Plan into conformance with state law under the terms of a judgment entered by the Superior Court of San Diego on November 8, 2023. As provided in Government Code Section 65759, the City has prepared and Environmental Assessment (EA), the content of which substantially conforms to the required content for a draft environmental impact report set forth in Article 9 (commencing with Section 15140) of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, to analyze potential environmental impacts from the project. The EA identifies mitigation measures that are required to reduce potential impacts to a less than significant level related to Biology (preconstruction nesting bird survey), Cultural Resources (archaeological and Native American monitor), Geology and Soils (fault study and geotechnical reports required prior to construction, and paleontological monitoring), Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Require project attributes to comply with the 2022 Scoping Plan design requirements, and Noise (vibration impact analysis).
All other impact areas are considered less than significant without mitigation.
PUBLIC NOTICE:
Public notice was published in the Coronado Eagle and Journal on March 19, 2025.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Draft Ordinance No. 2025-03
2. California Coastal Commission Certification Letter
3. Proposed Coronado Municipal Code Amendments in Redline Submitted By: Community Development Department / Jesse Brown