Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: CITY OF COTATI 2025 GENERAL PLAN ANNUAL
PROGRESS REPORT
Date: March 10, 2026
Written by: Pema Sherpa, Planning Technician
Recommendation
It is recommended by the Community Development Department that the City Council review the information provided in the General Plan Annual Progress Report, identify any concerns or direction for staff, and file the report for future discussion.
Background
The City of Cotati General Plan identifies the City’s vision for the future and provides a framework that will guide decisions on growth, development, and conservation of open space and resources in a manner consistent with the quality of life desired by the City’s residents and businesses. The City adopted its current General Plan in March 2015.
A General Plan is required by State of California law. While Annual Progress Reports on the Housing Element of the General Plan have been required by the State for many years, the requirement to provide a report on the other Elements of the General Plan is relatively new. The first year for which the State Office of Planning and Research (OPR) required an Annual Progress Report (APR) for the remainder of the General Plan was 2019. OPR has now been rebranded into the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Innovation (LCI). Annual Progress Reports (APRs) on General Plan implementation must now be submitted to the State of California annually by April 1.
The General Plan APR allows LCI to identify statewide trends in land use decision-making and how local planning and development activities relate to statewide planning goals and policies.
APRs may also inform future modifications to LCI’s General Plan Guidelines and other technical advisory documents. In addition, LCI can track progress on a local jurisdiction's comprehensive General Plan update using the information provided in the APR. To date (and unlike the HE APR) a specific format for the GP APR report has not been mandated, although format guidance has been published. On March 2, 2026, the Planning Commission reviewed the 2025 GP APR.
Analysis/Discussion
Staff has prepared the 2025 General Plan APR, describing the City’s progress in implementing the goals of the Plan (excluding the Housing Element) as identified upon adoption in 2019, during calendar year 2025. The APR reports on the specific actions set forth in the General Plan, and is organized by the different Elements of the Plan, which include:
· Circulation
· Community Health and Wellness
· Community Services and Facilities
· Conservation
· Economic Vitality
· Land Use
· Noise
· Open Space
· Safety
· (Housing—APR prepared and submitted separately)
Individual departments provided updates to the implementation status of projects and tasks managed by their staff, with status typically being identified as completed or ongoing, with some identified as both. Occasionally, certain projects or tasks are identified as not yet started. Cotati’s 2025 APR will be submitted to the state by March 31, 2026.
Financial Considerations
Other than the staff time to prepare the report, there are no identified impacts to the 2025/26 FY budget associated with the preparation of the 2025 General Plan APR. Individual projects may request budget allocations, but these will be separate actions from the preparation of the GP APR.
Environmental Issues
The action of receiving the annual general plan report does not constitute a project as defined by California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378; therefore, no further environmental review is required.