Agenda #: 2.1
Meeting Date: January 27, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Daniel Fox, City Manager
TITLE: GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT, DEVELOPMENT CODE
AMENDMENT AND ZONING MAP AMENDMENT TO IMPLEMENT THE
2021-2029 HOUSING ELEMENT.
STRATEGIC
GOAL: Safe, Sustainable & Healthy Community
RECOMMENDATION:
A. Open the public hearing to receive public testimony; B. Close the public hearing;
C. Adopt Resolution No. 2025-04 amending the General Plan Land Use and Economic Development Element to implement Program H-8 of the City’s Certified 2021-2029 Housing Element; and
D. Introduce first reading by title only, waive full reading of the Ordinance, and schedule the second reading and adoption at the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting.
ORDINANCE NO. 01 (2025): AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING VARIOUS
PROVISIONS OF TITLE 22 (DEVELOPMENT CODE) OF THE DIAMOND BAR
CITY CODE TO ESTABLISH A HOUSING ELEMENT SITE OVERLAY
DISTRICT TO IMPLEMENT THE GENERAL PLAN.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
None.
BACKGROUND:
Under Government Code section 65583.4(a), local governments must complete
rezonings to align with their 6th Cycle housing elements within three years and 120 days of the statutory deadline for adopting their housing elements. For Diamond Bar and other agencies in the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region, this deadline is February 12, 2025. However, due to the extraordinary challenges posed by recent wildfires, the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has extended the deadline to March 12, 2025.
Program H-8 of Diamond Bar’s 6th Cycle Housing Element, covering the years 2021 through 2029, commits the City to rezone the General Plan’s three Mixed-Use designations to allow residential development at a minimum density of 20 dwelling units per acre and a maximum density of at least 30 dwelling units per acre. Failure to complete these rezones by the statutory deadline places the City at risk of having the State decertify our Housing Element, and exposes the City to the potential consequences of decertification as outlined in this report.
In light of the foregoing, it is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached resolution and ordinance approving the following actions:
1. Amend the Land Use and Economic Development Chapter of the General Plan (“Land Use Element”) to allow a maximum residential density of 30 dwelling units per acre in the Town Center Mixed Use designation.
2. Amend Title 22 (Development Code) of the Diamond Bar City Code to establish the housing element site (H) overlay zoning designation and associated development standards as set forth in the attached draft ordinance.
3. Amend the Official Zoning Map to rezone the sites identified in Program H-8 of the Housing Element with the H zoning designation.
The recommended actions are limited to those that the City has already committed to in order to implement the 2021-2029 Housing Element and other applicable policies of the General Plan.
On December 17, 2019, the City Council adopted the Diamond Bar General Plan Update (“General Plan 2040”) and the Climate Action Plan (“CAP 2040”) to create a vision and blueprint for development through 2040. General Plan 2040 establishes the Town Center Mixed Use, Neighborhood Mixed Use, Transit Oriented Mixed Use, and Community Core Overlay focus areas and corresponding land use designations, estimates that up to 3,750 new housing units could be built in the city by 2040, and anticipates that much of this growth will occur within these four focus areas.
On August 11, 2022, the City Council adopted the 6
th Cycle Housing Element (hereafter,
“Housing Element”). On October 5, 2022, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) certified the Housing Element, confirming its full compliance with State Housing Element Law (Government Code Article 10.6).
The Housing Element identifies the Neighborhood Mixed Use, Neighborhood Mixed Use and Transit-Oriented Mixed Use focus areas as the sites where the City’s 2021-2029 Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 2,516 residential units can be accommodated. These areas will facilitate residential development with minimum densities of 20 dwelling units per acre and maximum densities of at least 30 dwelling units per acre. As stated, these sites must be rezoned accordingly by March 12, 2025.
The Housing Element further states that specific plans will be prepared to guide the long-term development of these focus areas in accordance with General Plan Goals and Policies.
The City initiated Planning Case No. PL 2024-87, which proposes amendments to the General Plan Land Use Element, the Development Code, and the Official Zoning Map to implement Program H-8 of the Housing Element. These amendments are intended to rezone sites within the Town Center Mixed Use, Neighborhood Mixed Use, and TransitOriented Mixed Use focus areas until specific plans for each focus area are fully adopted to align with the General Plan.
As of this writing, the Town Center Specific Plan (TCSP) has not been adopted.
Therefore, the proposed zone change would ensure the site complies with the Housing Element while the TCSP is still in progress.
General Plan Amendment
The Land Use Element of General Plan 2040 established the City’s three mixed-use districts to accommodate future residential growth through infill redevelopment. These districts are highlighted on the map below:
Source: Diamond Bar General Plan 2040, page 2-10
General Plan Table 2-2 currently establishes the following density criteria for the three focus areas:
Table 2-2: Current Land Use Density/Intensity Standards Land Use Density (du/ac) Intensity
(FAR)
Acreage % of
Planning
Area
CITY OF DIAMOND BAR
…
Mixed Use
Town Center Mixed Use Up to 20.0 Up to 1.5 45 <1
Neighborhood Mixed Use Up to 30.0 Up to 1.25 38 <1
Transit-Oriented Mixed Use Min. 20.0/Max 30.0 Up to 1.5 33 <1 …
Source: Diamond Bar General Plan 2040, page 2-16
To bring Table 2-2 into alignment with the Housing Element, the highlighted cells must be updated as described below:
• The Town Center Mixed Use focus area consists of 45 acres along Diamond Bar Boulevard, between Golden Springs Drive and the State Route 60 freeway flyover.
The Town Center is envisioned to become the City’s downtown, with residential, retail, restaurant, entertainment and community gathering spaces to create a walkable environment. The General Plan 2040 Land Use and Economic Development Element currently allows a maximum residential density of 20 dwelling units per acre within the focus area.
To implement Housing Element Program H-8, the table must be revised to increase the maximum residential density to 30 dwelling units per acre, and establish a minimum density of 20 dwelling units per acre. The TCSP will incorporate these density standards.
• The Neighborhood Mixed Use focus area is envisioned as a combination of residential and neighborhood serving retail and services to promote revitalization of North Diamond Bar Boulevard between Sunset Crossing Road and Highland Valley Road. A maximum residential density of 30 dwelling units per acre is permitted within the 38-acre focus area.
As is the case for the Town Center, the table must be updated to also require a minimum density of 20 dwelling units per acre whenever a residential or mixed-use project is proposed in the Neighborhood Mixed Use designation. • The 33-acre Transit-Oriented Mixed Use focus area is intended to leverage underutilized sites around the Metrolink station to provide higher-density housing, offices and supporting commercial uses close to regional transit. The Land Use Element specifies a maximum FAR of 1.5 with residential densities between 20 and 30 dwelling units per acre.
Because the density provisions for the Transit-Oriented Mixed Use designation already align with the Housing Element, no further revisions to Table 2-2 are required.
The required text revisions are provided in Exhibit “A” of the attached resolution in Attachment 1.
Development Code Text Amendments
The attached draft ordinance (Attachment 2) establishes a new zoning designation named housing element site (H) overlay district. The purpose of the H overlay district is to allow multifamily dwellings as a standalone development, or as part of a mixed-use development, on sites containing other uses that are permitted in the underlying zoning district on which the overlay is applied. By applying the H overlay district to the Town Center Mixed Use, Neighborhood Mixed Use and Transit Oriented Mixed Use General Plan designations, residential development at a density of up to 30 dwelling units per acre may occur in those areas prior to the adoption of their respective specific plans.
The development standards established for the high density residential-30 units/acre (RH-30) zoning district will apply to multifamily residential development in the H overlay district. For nonresidential components of mixed-use developments, the development standards of the underlying zoning district would generally apply. The draft ordinance also contains off-street parking standards for mixed-use developments where reductions from the parking standards for standalone uses may be considered when shared parking among uses with varying peak demand periods is proposed.
Zoning Map Amendments
The parcels comprising the proposed housing element site (H) overlay district are those parcels with General Plan land use designations of Town Center Mixed Use, Neighborhood Mixed Use, and Transit Oriented Mixed Use. The three sites subject to rezoning are shown within the yellow boundary lines below.
1. Neighborhood Mixed Use
2. Town Center Mixed Use
3. Transit Oriented Mixed Use
The revised zoning map is included as Exhibit 1 to the draft ordinance. The map legend depicts the zoning designations subject to the H overlay with the suffix “-H,” accompanied graphically with vertical hatches on the map where the overlay applies, as shown below:
ANALYSIS:
The City committed to rezoning the H overlay sites as far back as December 2019 when the General Plan 2040 Update was adopted. This commitment was renewed and refined with the City Council’s certification of the Housing Element Update in August 2022, followed by HCD’s certification in October 2022.
Enforcement of California’s housing laws, including the RHNA requirements, has intensified in recent years. Decertification of the Housing Element can trigger several significant consequences, including:
• Loss of Zoning Control (Builder’s Remedy). Developers can invoke the builder’s remedy, which limits the City’s ability to deny housing projects that include affordable units, even if they conflict with local zoning laws. In other words, developers that invoke the builder’s remedy effectively have a right to build housing on any property not exclusively designated for public use, regardless of zoning designation. • Legal Action and Penalties. The State Attorney General or housing advocacy organizations may sue the city for noncompliance. Potential legal penalties could include:
o Court-ordered mandates to bring the housing element into compliance. o Significant financial fines for continued noncompliance. • Ineligibility for State Funding. Cities with a decertified housing element may lose access to certain state funding programs for housing, transportation, and infrastructure projects. Examples include:
o CDBG funding
o Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) funding
o Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) grants
o SB 2 Planning Grants
• Increased State Oversight. HCD or the courts may impose additional oversight on the City’s planning and zoning processes to ensure compliance with state housing laws.
While staff has been proceeding in good faith on the Town Center Specific Plan, the effort has taken longer than anticipated, and public hearings are not likely to take place prior to late spring of 2025. The time and effort put into the TCSP thus far has delayed the commencement of specific plans for the Neighborhood Mixed Use and Transit Oriented focus areas.
With limited time remaining to meet the statutory deadline and avoid potential consequences, it is recommended that the City Council adopt both the attached resolution (Attachment 1) approving the proposed General Plan amendment and the attached ordinance (Attachment 2) approving the Development Code amendment and Official Zoning Map amendment.
The recommended actions fundamentally do nothing more than implement what the City committed to when it adopted the 2021-2029 Housing Element. Specific plans for the Neighborhood Mixed Use and Transit Oriented Mixed Use focus areas must still be completed to implement the broader General Plan objectives for these areas, but those actions are not subject to statutory deadlines mandated under State Law.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
In conjunction with the adoption of the Diamond Bar General Plan 2040 and the Climate Action Plan 2040, the City prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to analyze the potential environmental impacts of those plans. The City Council certified the EIR on December 17, 2019, and the City filed a Notice of Determination on December 18, 2019.
In conjunction with adoption of the 2021-2029 Housing Element, the City evaluated the potential environmental impacts of the Housing Element in an addendum to the EIR.
The City Council adopted the addendum on August 11, 2022. The proposed housing element site (H) overlay implements the densities established in the General Plan Land Use Element and required by the 2021-2029 Housing Element for the Town Center Mixed-Use, Neighborhood Mixed-Use, Transit Oriented Mixed-Use focus areas. The H overlay would not result in any new significant impacts or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant impacts; therefore, no further environmental analysis is required. (Public Resources Code § 21166; CEQA Guidelines §§ 15168, 15162.).
PLANNING COMMISSION REVIEW:
The Planning Commission held a properly-noticed public hearing on January 14, 2025 to consider the proposed actions. By a 4-0 vote (one absence), the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council adopt the General Plan Amendment, Development Code Amendment and Zoning Map Amendment as presented in this staff report and in accordance with the attached draft resolution and ordinance.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed and approved the Resolution and Ordinance as to form.
PREPARED BY:
REVIEWED BY:
Attachments:
1. 2.1.a Resolution No. 2025-04, General Plan Amendment
2. 2.1.b Orinance No 01 (2025), Housing Overlay