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4 AGENDA ITEM
CITY OF GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA
REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
Report: Annual Report on the Status of the General Plan
1. Motion accepting the Annual Progress Report on the Status of the General Plan, in accordance with State law
COUNCIL ACTION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff is presenting an overview of the status of the City’s General Plan Elements, as well as the housing production data for the 2025 calendar year. This presentation is part of a submittal requirement of an Annual Progress Report (APR) of the Housing Element to the California Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) (formerly called the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research – OPR) and the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The APR tracks the City’s progress in meeting the community's share of regional housing needs and provides updates on progress made toward the programs within the certified Housing Element.
Item Type: Report
Approved forMarch 31, 2026 calendar
RECOMMENDATION
Accept the presentation of the Annual Progress Report on the Status of the General Plan
ANALYSIS/BACKGROUND
As noted in last year’s report, all cities and counties in California are required to prepare a long-term comprehensive plan, known as a General Plan, to guide future growth and development. The General Plan provides the overarching framework for coordinated decision-making over a 20- to 30-year timeframe and establishes goals and policies for the physical development of a city. It is intended to ensure that growth occurs in a manner that is sustainable, orderly, and consistent with the community’s needs and values. State law requires eight General Plan Elements: Land Use, Circulation, Housing, Conservation, Open Space, Noise, Safety, and Environmental Justice. Cities may also adopt additional optional Elements; Glendale has adopted four additional Elements: Recreation, Historic Preservation, Air Quality, and Community Facilities.
In last year’s report, staff provided an overview of the City’s General Plan framework and ongoing efforts to update several Elements. The City of Glendale is currently in the process of amending a number of Elements, including Land Use, Mobility, Open Space and Conservation, and Recreation. The Safety Element update was completed in 2025. In addition, as required by State law, the City is preparing a new Environmental Justice Element for inclusion in the General Plan.
State planning law (Gov. Code Section 65400) requires cities and counties to prepare an Annual Progress Report (APR) on the implementation of their General Plan and Housing Element. The APR must be presented to the City Council and submitted to the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) and HCD. This report provides the City’s annual update for 2025 and fulfills that statutory requirement.
The APR also fulfills the statutory housing element reporting requirements by identifying the City’s progress toward meeting its share of regional housing needs and its efforts to decrease governmental constraints to housing development, in line with Gov. Code 65584.3(c) and 65584.5(b)(5). The APR details the City’s status and progress in implementing its Housing Element using forms and definitions provided by HCD. Due to the size and comprehensive detail of the HCD form, it is not attached to this report; however, excepts are provided as Exhibit 1.
This report begins with a brief overview of the Housing Element, followed by a summary of housing production and Housing Element program implementation for 2025, and concludes with updates on the status of the City’s other General Plan Elements.
GLENDALE HOUSING ELEMENT
Background
California first established the Housing Element law in 1969, recognizing housing availability as an issue of statewide concern. State law requires every city and county to prepare a Housing Element and update it every eight years. The Housing Element identifies land suitable for residential development and establishes policies and programs intended to facilitate housing production across all income levels.
In recent years, the State’s focus has shifted from planning for housing to ensuring housing production. This shift has resulted in the adoption of numerous housing-related laws that limit local discretion over approvals, and strengthen State oversight. With the adoption of Assembly Bill 72 in 2017, the HCD was granted expanded enforcement authority, including the ability to review local decisions for consistency with State housing law, ability to revoke Housing Element certification, and refer violations to the Attorney General.
Compliance with State housing law is primarily evaluated through the APR. The APR requires jurisdictions to report annually on housing development activity, including information on every single residential unit approved, permitted, and completed during the calendar year, as well as progress made on implementing Housing Element programs. Submission of the APR demonstrates the City’s ongoing implementation of Housing Element policies and is also required to maintain eligibility for several State grant and funding programs.
Glendale’s 6th Cycle Housing Element was certified by HCD in February 2023 and covers the planning period from 2021 through 2029. The Element includes goals and policies intended to support a range of housing types, maintain existing neighborhoods, expand opportunities for affordable and special needs housing, promote fair housing, and encourage sustainable and livable housing options.
The City’s Housing Element is available online: https://www.glendaleplan.com/housing- element and also https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/community- development/planning/city-wide-plans/housing-element.
Regional Housing Needs Assessment
As noted in last year’s report, Housing Element law also requires jurisdictions to plan for their share of regional housing needs through the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). RHNA is a State-mandated process that assigns each city and county a housing need allocation across multiple income categories, including extremely/very low, low, moderate, and above-moderate income households. RHNA allocations are updated every eight years and establish the housing planning targets for each Housing Element cycle.
It is important to note once again that Housing Element law does not require that a city construct its full RHNA allocation, however, a city must demonstrate that it has the
development capacity and regulatory environment to accommodate their RHNA allocation. This development capacity is demonstrated through a “sites inventory”, which lists specific parcels within the City that meet certain parameters (i.e., size, location, zone designation, etc.) that make them suitable for housing development.
Because cities largely rely on the private sector to develop new housing, including affordable units, Glendale is responsible for adopting land-use plans and implementing regulations that do not unduly constrain the private sector from constructing housing.
The Housing Element includes a “housing plan” outlining programs and policy actions that the City must undertake to address constraints/barriers to housing development and facilitate the construction of new housing.
All cities and counties within California faced much larger RHNA allocations as the State attempted to address a housing shortage. Additionally, larger RHNA allocations within the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region were allotted to jurisdictions in closer proximity to jobs than those cities farther from employment centers. As a result, Glendale received an allocation of 13,425 units across all income levels for the 2021-2029 RHNA period.
Note: The total RHNA allocation is shown.
After accounting for completed units, and units approved but not yet constructed, the City’s remaining RHNA obligation was 12,053 units, including 3,244 extremely/very low-income, 1,834 low-income, 2,249 moderate incomes, and 4,726 above moderate- income units (See Section 5. Resources, starting on page 109 of the Certified Housing Element Background Report).
Housing Element law also requires jurisdictions to establish “quantified objectives,” which estimate the number of housing units expected to be constructed, rehabilitated, or preserved by income level during the planning period. These projections are based on factors such as historic development trends, land availability, funding sources, and anticipated implementation of Housing Element programs. As identified in the certified Housing Element (page 78), the City estimates that approximately 5,510 new housing units could realistically be constructed during the 2021–2029 planning period, which is lower than the City’s total RHNA allocation due to historic development patterns and
other constraints. The table below summarizes the City’s quantified objectives by income category.
Annual Progress Report – Housing Production
Consistent with prior reporting, progress toward the City’s RHNA is tracked annually in the APR based on building permits issued, rather than solely on projects approved or entitled by Planning Division or certificates of occupancy/permits finaled, though that information is also reported. In 2025, the City continued to approve, permit, and construct a range of housing types, including single-family homes, Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), and multi-family housing. A total of 386 units were issued building permits in 2025, which are being credited toward Glendale’s RHNA. 2025 Building Permits Issued by Affordability Summary
Income Level Current Year
Deed Restricted 0Very Low Non-Deed Restricted 0
Deed Restricted 0Low Non-Deed Restricted 0
Deed Restricted 0Moderate Non-Deed Restricted 0
Above Moderate 386
Total Units 386
As has been the trend over the past several years, ADUs continue to be a popular housing type in Glendale. The Housing Element includes a goal to permit 159 ADUs each year; however, the City has significantly exceeded this estimate each year. In 2025, a total of 371 ADU building permits were issued, compared with 229 in 2024, 263 in 2023, and 261 in 2022. The number of permits issued in 2025 represents a 62% increase over 2024 and is approximately 133% higher than the annual goal for ADU
permits issued in the Housing Element.
In addition, ADU construction continues to remain strong. A total of 251 ADU building permits were completed (finaled with Certificates of Occupancy) in 2024, while 288 ADU building permits were completed in 2025, representing a 12.85% increase.
The table below summarizes 2025 housing production by type, including ADUs:
Units by Structure Type Entitled Permitted Completed
Single-family Attached 0 0 0
Single-family Detached 16 11 8
2 to 4 units per structure 8 4 1
5+ units per structure 330 0 52
Accessory Dwelling Unit 317 371 288
Mobile/Manufactured Home 0 0 0
Total 671 386 349
As of the 2025 APR, a total of 2,317 units have been permitted during the 6th Cycle.
Exhibit 1 includes Table B – Regional Housing Needs Allocation Progress - Based on Permitted Units Issued by Affordability, which shows the progress the City of Glendale has made toward its RHNA goal.
Ongoing development in Glendale shows promising progress, though it is highly unlikely that the full RHNA allocation of 13,425 new units will be completed in the 6th Cycle. However, there is potential to reach the quantified objective of 5,510 new units by 2029, with several large projects recently approved or in the development pipeline.
As noted above in the RHNA section, the City is dependent upon private developers to produce most of the housing within Glendale. Several factors affect whether developers undertake a housing project, many of which are outside the control of City staff and decision-making bodies, such as the land cost, construction materials prices, and other macro-economic conditions that are especially challenging for local jurisdictions to address. Since the beginning of the 6th Cycle in 2021, economic conditions have not been favorable for housing construction. Post-COVID inflation increased the price of construction materials, and ongoing uncertainty, such as tariffs on imported goods, trade tensions, and fears of a recession, may further hinder progress. Therefore, the City can best encourage development interest and continue making progress toward meeting the RHNA goals by implementing the Housing Element programs to reduce barriers to construction.
Annual Progress Report – Housing Programs - Compliance
In addition to tracking the number of housing units produced at each income level, the APR requires updates regarding each of the Housing Element programs. The City continues to implement programs that are geared toward reducing regulatory barriers
in the production of housing, preserving existing affordable units, and ensuring that adequate housing sites remain to accommodate affordable units for development. The Glendale Housing Element contains 34 programs addressed by nine strategies:
1. Provision of Adequate Sites (consisting of eight programs)
2. Preservation and Enhancement of Existing Housing Stock (consisting of five programs)
3. Production of Affordable Housing (consisting of five programs)
4. Rental Assistance (consisting of one program)
5. Increased Homeownership (consisting of two programs)
6. Housing Services (consisting of three programs)
7. Fair Housing (consisting of three programs)
8. Sustainability (consisting of four programs)
9. Removal of Constraints (consisting of three detailed programs) Notable actions taken in 2025 include initial surveying of ADU property owners to monitor affordability levels (Program 1F and 1H) and ongoing efforts to improve the quality of existing housing and conserve existing affordable units (Program 2C and 2E).
Long Range Planning staff also conduct detailed monitoring of the sites inventory (Program 1A), which requires tracking every project approval on a site that is identified in the Housing Element sites inventory, as well as any housing project with affordable units, so that an accurate accounting of the RHNA capacity at each affordability level is maintained at all times. Pursuant to the State’s No Net Loss law, jurisdictions must maintain sufficient site capacity throughout the planning period to accommodate their remaining RHNA by income level.
This robust tracking has revealed that the City will need to rezone parcels or identify additional (new) adequately zoned sites not previously included in the last Housing Element’s Sites Inventory to accommodate the unmet RHNA and cover the shortfalls in the specific income categories. These shortfalls were identified through No Net Loss reviews for the former Sears site project and the 820 N. Central project, which resulted in a deficit of 127 very low/low-income units and 32 moderate income units. If the proposed car wash at the Acapulco site is approved, the deficit for moderate income category would increase to 69 units. To maintain compliance with State housing law, the City will need to update the Housing Element Sites Inventory to restore adequate capacity in the very low/low income and moderate income categories. Any revisions to the Housing Element Sites Inventory to address these deficits will need to be submitted to HCD for review and approval and may also require City Council approval. While the City may utilize sites associated with affordable housing projects currently in the development pipeline, additional sites may need to be identified to fully address the shortfall.
The Glendale Housing Authority also continued to provide direct financial assistance to non-profit developers to increase the supply of affordable housing (Program 3B).
Additionally, in 2025, the designation of the Verdugo Housing Corporation (VHC) as a Community Housing Development Organization allowed the City Council and Housing
Authority to appropriate almost $3,000,000 to expand its current facility for women affected by domestic violence (Program 3D).
Several affordable housing projects were advanced with support from the Housing Authority in 2025. This includes the Citrus Crossing development, a 127-unit affordable housing project at 900 East Broadway, which received a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy in 2024 and was fully leased as of the first quarter of 2025, and the 40-unit Harrower Village adaptive reuse senior affordable housing project at 920 East Broadway that received its Certificate of Occupancy in 2025. Additionally, the 340-unit family and senior affordable housing project at 515 Pioneer Drive and the 67-unit senior affordable housing project at 426 Piedmont Avenue and 507 Naranja Drive both continued construction and are anticipated for completion in 2026.
In addition to the above accomplishments, the City and Housing Authority continue to provide important housing programs and services to the community year-over-year.
This includes the Rental Rights Program (Program 2E), which provides stability and mitigates the impact of tenant displacement; the Section 8 program (Program 4A), which issues Housing Choice, Mainstream, Fair Share, and Emergency Housing Vouchers and has earned the Housing Authority the distinction of being designated as a High Performing Agency by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; the Elderly Nutrition Program (Program 6A), which served an average of 5,969 meals per month in 2025; and an array of services for individuals experiencing homelessness (Program 6B), including emergency shelters, homeless prevention programs, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and Home Again L.A.
Additionally, in 2026, staff anticipates bringing amendments to the GMC and Objective Design Standards for multi-family residential and residential mixed-use development projects (Programs 3E and 9B), recommendations to update the City’s Density Bonus ordinance to comply with recent changes in legislation (Program 3A), and the issuance of certificates of occupancy and full lease-up of the Pioneer and Piedmont affordable housing projects, bringing more than 400 units of affordable housing online (Program 3B).
Work on other Elements of the Glendale General Plan also continued, including adoption of the Safety Element in April 2025 and the initiation of updates to the Open Space and Conservation Element and the Recreation Element. In 2026, City staff anticipates bringing the Land Use, Mobility, and Environmental Justice Elements for City Council adoption (Programs 1A and 9C, updates of which are discussed in greater detail below).
GENERAL PLAN ELEMENT UPDATES
As noted above, the City is in the process of updating several General Plan Elements.
The table on the next page lists each of the Elements, the most recent comprehensive update, and the current status.
General Plan
Element
Last
Comprehensive
Update
Status
Housing* 2021 Certified; must be updated every eight years; 7th Cycle starts in 2029.
Land Use* 1986 Comprehensive Update - in process.
Circulation/Mobility* 1998 Comprehensive Update - in process.
Environmental
Justice*
New New Element - in process.
Safety* 2003; 2025** Required amendments adopted by Council April 1, 2025
Open Space* &
Conservation*
1993 Comprehensive Update - in process.
Recreation 1996 Comprehensive Update - in process.
Noise* 2007 No updates currently planned; to be amended as needed.
Historic Preservation 1996 Outdated. Amendments or deletion to be considered.
Community Facilities 1975 Outdated. Amendments or deletion to be considered.
Air Quality 1994 Outdated. To be considered for deletion. *General Plan Element required by the State.
LAND USE ELEMENT
The Land Use Element establishes the City’s long-term vision for physical development and consists of two primary components: the Land Use Map, which designates land uses throughout the City on a parcel-by-parcel basis, and the Land Use Plan, which provides policy guidance for growth and development. The Element is intended to coordinate with the other General Plan Elements so that land use decisions consider infrastructure needs, economic feasibility, and environmental impacts.
The City is currently undertaking a comprehensive update to the Land Use Element for the first time since 1986, although it has been amended periodically since then. The updated Element will include revised policy guidance, updated land use designations, the Land Use Map, and buildout projections intended to promote a balanced and accessible distribution of land uses throughout the City. The City Council received progress updates and provided direction on January 30, 2024, and July 30, 2024.
Based on that feedback, the draft Element addresses topics including land use mix, directed growth, compatible development, urban design, economic development, and infrastructure planning through a series of goals, policies, and implementation actions.
A Public Review Draft of the Land Use Element was released for comments on June 30, 2025. The comment period was extended several times to allow for additional public outreach and remained open for 144 days, closing on November 21, 2025.
During this time, the City conducted extensive outreach including:
City Council study session on July 15, 2025
Email notifications, City Connection newsletter announcements, social media posts, posts in the La Crescenta Weekly Newspaper
PeachJar flyer to Glendale Unified School District families and staff Public outreach at numerous community events, including Earth Day, Building & Safety Day, Fire Service Day, Cruise Night, and National Night Out, as well as several others in conjunction with the Mobility Element (see a complete list below)
Presentations to homeowner associations and community organizations, including the Montrose Shopping Park Association (MSPA), the Glendale Realtors Association, and the Crescenta Valley Community Association. Dedicated community meetings, both virtually and in person Staff is compiling and reviewing the over 1,500 public comments received via email, online comment form submittals and written comment cards; a summary of comments and topical responses will be included in the final report.
The City’s consultant, De Novo Planning Group, continues to work with City staff to refine the Land Use Element in coordination with the Mobility Element update and the new Environmental Justice Element. All three of these General Plan Elements are being evaluated under one Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Background studies and technical analyses were prepared for the EIR. However, as noted at March 3, 2026, City Council meeting regarding SB 79, the EIR and associated technical background reports need to be updated to reflect potential densities under SB 79. To address this, a contract amendment was approved, extending the project timeframe and revising the scope of work to incorporate these updates. Once completed, the Draft EIR will be made available later this year for public comments and the consultant together with City staff will conduct a robust public outreach campaign.
CIRCULATION/MOBILITY ELEMENT
State law requires the Circulation (now Mobility) Element to address the general location and extent of major transportation facilities and to provide a framework for the City’s multimodal transportation system, including roadways, transit, bicycle, pedestrian, and rail modes of travel. The Element also ensures coordination with Los Angeles Metro regarding regional transportation planning and funding. Glendale’s Circulation Element was last updated comprehensively in 1998.
The City is currently preparing a comprehensive update and renaming the Element as the Mobility Element to better reflect its scope. The Mobility Element provides a citywide framework that supports the mobility needs of all users and abilities, including goals, policies, and implementation actions addressing complete streets, walking and bicycling, public transit, ridesharing and carpooling, traffic demand management, environmental health and air quality, parking, and goods movement. These policies are being informed by the City’s new traffic model. Staff provided a progress update to City Council on July 30, 2024, and the draft Element is being developed in coordination with
the Land Use Element.
The Draft Mobility Element was released for public comment on September 3, 2025, and the comment period closed on November 21, 2025. Key outreach efforts included a City Council presentation on October 21, 2025, and a Transportation and Parking Commission (TPC) presentation on September 15, 2025. As part of a comprehensive public outreach campaign with the Land Use Element, public meetings on the Mobility Element were held in-person on November 3, 2025, and virtually on November 10, 2025. Staff is compiling and reviewing public comments received; a summary of the approximately 100 comments and topical responses will be included in the final report.
Public Outreach at City Events for the Land Use and Mobility Elements Since the Land Use and Mobility Elements are closely related, the public comment periods for the two Elements overlapped. This allowed the public to review the documents side-by-side and comment on both topics together. Additionally, staff conducted public outreach for both Elements at multiple City events, including:
Montrose Harvest Market (9/7/2025)
Women’s Equality Day Event at the Alex (9/10/20205)
LA Riverwalk Workdays (9/13/2025 and 10/11/2025)
Walk Bike Glendale at Verdugo Park (9/28/2025)
Walk to School Day at three separate locations (10/1/2025) Coffee with a Cop (10/1/2025)
Montrose Oktoberfest (10/4/2025)
Fremont Park Grand Re-opening (10/11/2025)
Glendale Police Department Open House and Touch-a-Truck (10/18/2025) Fall Festival (10/25/2025)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ELEMENT
State law now requires cities with disadvantaged communities to incorporate environmental justice (EJ) into their general plans when two or more elements are being updated, as is the case for Glendale. A disadvantaged community (or environmental justice community) is a neighborhood that is unfairly affected by pollution and other dangers, which can cause health problems, exposure to harmful substances, or damage to the environment.
Staff has been working with De Novo to prepare Glendale’s first Environmental Justice Element. The Element will reflect the City’s efforts to promote equitable access to resources and create a healthy and safe community, including improving air and water quality, increasing access to safe and clean parks, and ensuring availability of healthy food options. The Element also emphasizes meaningful community participation in decision-making. To that end, the City has conducted robust, multilingual outreach, including an online and hard-copy survey, pop-up booths at the 2024 Fire Service Day, Cruise Night, National Night Out, and the Fall Festival, project information on GlendalePlan.com, email and social media announcements, and a direct mailer sent to over 40,000 households in English, Armenian, Spanish, Korean, and Tagalog.
While this is Glendale’s first formal EJ Element, the City has long been committed to creating a safe, clean, and healthy environment. The Element evaluates existing policies and proposes new goals to address pollution exposure and air quality, public facilities, healthy food access, safe and sanitary housing, physical activity, unique health risks, civic engagement, and public improvements and programs.
The draft EJ Element was finalized and released for public comment on June 30, 2025, alongside the Land Use Element. The public comment period closed on August 29, 2025, and staff received less than 20 comment letters/emails. Feedback will be reviewed and incorporated as appropriate in the final Element.
SAFETY ELEMENT
The Safety Element is a state-mandated General Plan element that must identify potential natural and human-created hazards and establish a framework that anticipates these hazards and prepares the community to minimize exposure to these risks. Originally adopted in 1976 and comprehensively amended in 2003.
The Safety Element includes goals and policies related to the following topics: seismic and geologic hazards, flooding hazards, fire hazards, hazardous materials, terrorism, civil disobedience and crime, dangerous animals and plants, and disaster preparedness, recovery and emergency response.
In 2025, in compliance with recent State legislation, the City revised its 2003 Safety Element to include additional information on natural hazards such as wildfires and floods, as well as evacuation and emergency preparedness and response. Recent State Law also requires the Safety Element to identify how these and other hazards in Glendale are exacerbated by climate change, and what populations, locations, and community features (natural assets and built infrastructure) are particularly vulnerable to climate hazards and changing climate conditions. Staff and the City’s consultants updated the 2003 Safety Element to meet these new State mandates, and the 2025 Safety Element Update was adopted by City Council on April 1, 2025.
OPEN SPACE & CONSERVATION ELEMENT AND RECREATION ELEMENT Open Space and Conservation are two of the eight State-required General Plan topical Elements. State law requires that the Open Space Element contain detailed information about a jurisdiction’s natural resources, managed production of such resources, outdoor recreation, public health and safety, military support, and tribal resources. The Conservation Element is required to address conservation of environmental and agricultural resources, as well as development and utilization of natural resources including water and its hydraulic forces, forests, soils, rivers, harbors, fisheries, wildlife, and minerals. Because the two topics are so closely related, Glendale combines them into one Open Space and Conservation Element. This Element guides the City in the preservation and acquisition of more than 5,000 acres of open space, and addresses planning for parks, recreational land, and associated improvements.
Glendale's first Open Space, Conservation and Recreation Element was adopted in 1972. In 1993, the City updated the Open Space and Conservation Element and adopted a separate Recreation Element in 1996. The Open Space and Conservation Element was again comprehensively updated in 2006, while the Recreation Element was also updated in 2006 in conjunction with the adoption of the Downtown Specific Plan.
Note that the Recreation Element is not a State-required Element, but it does provide a broad overview of existing conditions, community needs, issues and opportunities and suggests a comprehensive approach for the development and management of public recreational resources.
A comprehensive update of the Open Space and Conservation Element, as well as the Recreation Element, was initiated at the end of summer 2025, following City Council’s May 20, 2025, contract approval of Olin as the consultant for the project.
The Open Space and Conservation Element will be combined with the Recreation Element as part of the ongoing update. The updated Open Space, Conservation, and Recreation (OSCR) Element will include an Open Space and Conservation Assessment that will survey vegetation and wildlife, conduct target assessments for restoration opportunities, identify opportunities for climate-smart management strategies, identify trail and wildlife corridor opportunities, and identify local and regional conservation partners. The OSCR Element will also include a Parks Needs Assessment and Park Inventory, which will evaluate the current conditions of all parks and recreation facilities, analyze opportunities to upgrade local recreation facilities, examine ADA accessibility of parks and playgrounds, and inventory the City’s trees and public and private memorials. It will also include recommendations to expand and acquire existing and new parkland and to improve recreation services.
The project is anticipated to take approximately two years to complete with the OSCR Element anticipated to be adopted late 2027. Since the August 18, 2025 kick-off meeting, there has already been extensive public outreach for the project, including:
Pop-up booths at Fremont Park Grant Re-Opening 10/11/2025, GPD Open House & Touch-a-Truck 10/18/2025, Fall Festival 10/25/2025, Glendale Health Festival 10/25/2025, etc.
Two project community meetings: in-person at Pacific Edison Park on November 20, 2025 and virtual on December 1, 2025.
In-person survey boards at the ARC, Pacific Community Center, Maple Park and Pacific Pool during December 2025
Updates in the CSP Newsletter, CM’s City Connection Newsletter, E-blasts, social media posts, PeachJar notices to all GUSD staff and parents Community survey and statistically valid survey
The Community Services and Parks and Long Range Planning staff will continue working together with Olin to prepare the OSCR and conduct public outreach
throughout the process.
NOISE ELEMENT
The Noise Element is one of the eight State-required General Plan elements. It is intended to limit the community’s exposure to excessive noise in sensitive areas and during certain times of day, addressing sources such as traffic, rail operations, airport facilities, industrial uses, and other local noise sources. The Element coordinates with the Land Use Element to protect residential neighborhoods and other sensitive areas and includes mitigation measures as needed.
Last comprehensively updated in 2007, the Glendale Noise Element identifies and analyzes projected noise conditions in the community and includes measures to abate or mitigate potential noise levels. It is administered through Title 8 of the GMC and is used in environmental evaluations under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). No updates are currently planned at this time, though future amendments may be considered if changes to Municipal Code standards or other regulatory requirements occur.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION ELEMENT
A Historic Preservation Element is not one of the required general plan elements in California. However, it is often included in communities that value protection of historic structures and sites. Historic preservation is used to maintain community character, provide economic benefits to the community and individual property owners, preserve cultural heritage, enhance aesthetic appeal, and promote sustainability through adaptive reuse.
Amongst one of the first cities in California to include it as an Element in the General Plan in 1977, Glendale’s Historic Preservation Element was last comprehensively updated in 1997. It is used to identify important community resources and establish processes to identify and designate historic properties in the City. No updates are planned in the near future. However, an update of this Element should be considered after the pending East-West Glendale historic survey is completed.
COMMUNITY FACILITIES ELEMENT
The Community Facilities Element was adopted in 1975 and contains information on educational facilities, libraries, parks, recreational facilities, post offices, government facilities, health care facilities, cemeteries, religious facilities, transportation facilities, utilities, and vacant land. It is not one of the required elements and has not been updated in 50 years. Due to significant changes throughout the City during that time, the Glendale Community Facilities Element has limited application today. Additionally, the Element has become somewhat redundant as the information contained in the Community Facilities Element can now be accessed in multiple ways, such as in other Elements of the General Plan, Specific Plans, Community Plans, through nonprofit organizations, and on websites and social media channels. As such, the Community Facilities Element may either be reimagined in the future
AIR QUALITY ELEMENT
Prepared in 1994, the Air Quality Element was created to recognize and consider the relationship between land use and air quality in Glendale’s planning efforts, to identify ways in which Glendale can reduce its emissions of air pollutants through various policies and programs, and to comply with the region’s Air Quality Management Plan. It is not a required Element of the General Plan and is out of date with more recent State legislation, particularly those related to Greenhouse Gas emission reduction requirements. Additionally, other guiding documents, such the Glendale Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), largely address topics covered in the Air Quality Element.
The Air Quality Element is currently of limited function and may eventually be retired from the Glendale General Plan.
NEXT STEPS
This report provides the annual update on the Housing Element and a status report on the Glendale General Plan, including ongoing and potential future updates to each General Plan Element. Next steps specific to each element have been included in the corresponding summary sections. Staff is recommending that the City Council receive and file the report.
STAKEHOLDERS/OUTREACH
Outreach for each General Plan Element is being conducted concurrently with each project. This report serves as an opportunity to provide the community with additional information on the status of the Housing Element implementation and the General Plan overall.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with the acceptance of the annual report. Funds have been allocated for all General Plan Elements that are in the process of being comprehensively updated.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW (CEQA/NEPA)
No environmental review is required in conjunction with the annual report.
Environmental review in compliance with State and Local CEQA Guidelines will be conducted as part of the pending General Plan Element Updates.
CAMPAIGN DISCLOSURE
This item is exempt from campaign disclosure requirements.
ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION
Submitted by:
Roubik R. Golanian, P.E., City Manager and Interim Director of Community Development Prepared by:
Vilia Zemaitaitis, AICP, Deputy Director of Community Development, Long Range Planning Teresa Santilena, AICP, Principal Planner, Long Range Planning Jackie Martinez, Planner, Long Range Planning
Approved by:
Roubik R. Golanian, P.E., City Manager
EXHIBITS/ATTACHMENTS
1. 2025 Annual Progress Report Excerpts