DATE: March 25, 2025
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Development Services
SUBJECT: General Plan Annual Progress Report: Accept the Hayward 2040 General Plan Annual Progress Report for Calendar Year 2024
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council accepts the City of Hayward 2040 General Plan Progress Report for the 2024 Calendar Year.
SUMMARY
In 2014, the City Council adopted the Hayward 2040 General Plan (General Plan). The General Plan is a long-range comprehensive plan that controls and regulates land uses and development in the City through 2040. The individual elements of this General Plan (Land Use, Mobility, Economic Development, Community Safety, Natural Resources, Hazards, Education & Lifelong Learning, Community Health & Quality of Life, Public Facilities & Services, Environmental Justice and Housing) contain goals, policies, programs and actions that guide future development in the City.
California Government Code Section 65400 et seq requires local jurisdictions to annually review the General Plan and to provide a progress report for the previous calendar year to the State Office of Planning and Research (OPR) and State Housing and Community Development (HCD) by April 1. The 2024 Annual Report was prepared for review and acceptance by the Planning Commission and City Council and will be forwarded to OPR and HCD to ensure compliance with State reporting requirements.
This General Plan Annual Progress Report was prepared by the Planning Division with input from various City Departments and Divisions including Public Works and Utilities, Fire, Police, Library Services, Maintenance Services, and the City Manager’s Office, and provides status updates related to activity conducted in the reporting year of 2024 for all Programs of the General Plan.
BACKGROUND
On July 1, 2014, following a 22-month community planning process, the City Council adopted the Hayward 2040 General Plan1. Part 4 of the General Plan contained an Implementation Plan2 with a series of Programs designed to achieve goals and policies set forth in the document. Each Program contains a timeframe, lead and supporting Department/Division to carry out the Program. Some programs have specified timeframes, while others are ongoing or annual meaning that monitoring and reporting will occur throughout the General Plan implementation timeframe.
On February 7, 20233, the City adopted Resolution 23-033 adopting the 6th Cycle Housing Element, and a new Housing Plan comprised of Goals, Policies and Actions intended to implement the City’s Housing Goals through the next eight-year cycle (from 2023-2031). On July 27, 2023, the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) certified the City’s Housing Element as being in compliance with State Law. The updated Housing Element contains 120 new programs (“Actions”) that will be implemented between 2023 and 2031.
On January 30, 20244, the City Council adopted Resolution 24-023 updating the Climate Action Plan (CAP), amending the General Plan Hazards Element, adopting a new Environmental Justice Element and amending the General Plan Implementation Plan to include new and updated Programs related to the Climate Action Plan. A total of 247 new or updated Programs related to CAP implementation were included within the Natural Resources, Mobility, Public Facilities and Services and the new Environmental Justice Elements.
On February 27, 2025, this report was provided to the Planning Commission who asked two clarifying questions about how the General Plan Programs intersect with the Strategic Roadmap. Staff noted that these are two separate and parallel efforts and that each Attachment indicates where a specific General Plan Program is aligned with a Strategic Roadmap initiative.
DISCUSSION
To date, the City has made progress on 76% of the General Plan’s 433 Implementation Programs in that they are Complete (10%), Partially Complete meaning that they have been started in some form (16%) and will either be completed or shift into ongoing status; or are Ongoing which involves monitoring, reporting, collaboration, workshops, outreach or other activity that will occur annually or on other timeframes throughout the life of the General Plan (50%). A total of 24% of Programs have Not Started for various reasons, including recent adoption, funding availability, limited resources, and/or shifting priorities, which are aligned every year to match the City’s other guiding policy initiatives such as the Let’s House Hayward! Strategic Plan (2021)5 and the Hayward Strategic Roadmap (2024)6.
It is important to note that the timeframes associated with the General Plan Elements adopted in 2014 do not align with the timeframes included for the Programs included in the recently
updated Elements (Housing, Hazards, Mobility, Natural Resources, Public Facilities and Services and Environmental Justice), which were adopted in 2023 and 2024. Therefore, this update focuses on Program status generally and alignment with the Strategic Roadmap.
Table 1 provides Program status by Element. Attachments II through XIII provide detailed status updates for each Program and references to the specific Strategic Roadmap projects with which the Program is aligned.
Table 1 – Program Status by General Plan Element
General Plan
Element
Total
Programs
Complete
Partially
Complete
Ongoing
Not Started
Strategic
Roadmap
Alignment
Administrative
Implementation
3 0
0 3
0 2
Land Use &
Community
Character
18 5
6 1
6 4
Mobility 72 2 18 26 26 27
Economic
Development
15 1 0 13 1 6
Community Safety 14 1 2 10 1 4
Education &
Lifelong Learning
8 3
0 3
2 4
Hazards 14 1 2 7 4 2
Natural Resources 83 0 25 20 38 31
Community Health
& Quality of Life
8 3
0 2
3 0
Environmental
Justice
30 2 3 10 15 15
Public Facilities &
Services
48 2
6 30
10 30
Housing 120 23 7 90 0 25
Total 433 43 69 215 106 150
Total % 10% 16% 50% 24% 35%
Attachment XIV contains a Summary of the Annual Progress Report (APR) that is provided to HCD on April 1 of every calendar year. Table 2 below shows the City’s progress towards achieving the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) as measured in building permits issued since the adoption of the Housing Element in 2023 and the remaining RHNA through 2031. In 2024 the City issued 273 building permits (81 Very Low-Income Units, 11 Low Income Units, 56 Moderate Income Units and 125 Above Moderate-Income Units), which count towards the City’s 2023-2031 RHNA. It is important to note that there are over 2,300 residential units in the City’s residential development pipeline including units that are
approved/entitled or under review, which will count towards the City’s RHNA when developers pull building permits for the approved units.
Table 2 – RHNA Status & Building Permits Issued 2023-2024 RHNA Allocation
2023-2031
2023 2024 Remaining
2025-2031
Very Low
(Extremely Low)
1,075
(537)
58 (44)
81 (29)
936
Low 617 147 11 459
Moderate 817 108 56 653
Above Moderate 2,115 141 125 1,849
Total 4,624 454 273 3,897
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item is a routine operational item and does not relate to any of the six priorities outlined in the Council’s Strategic Roadmap; however, as indicated on Attachments II through XIII, about 35% of the General Plan Programs fall under a Strategic Roadmap Initiative or project in the areas of Confront Climate Change, Invest in Infrastructure, Preserve, Produce and Protect Housing, Grow the Economy, Enhance Community Safety and Cultivate Vibrant Neighborhoods.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with this report.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
There are no direct sustainability features associated with this report. Sustainability features will be more directly identified with specific implementation programs as they are carried out.
PUBLIC CONTACT
The development of the Hayward 2040 General Plan, including the various implementation programs, contained a significant amount of community outreach component. The Hayward 2404 General Plan is included on the City’s website and periodically updated to include implementation program status. In addition, many of the individual implementation programs require community outreach and engagement prior to completion.
NEXT STEPS
Following City Council review of this report, staff will submit the report to the State Office of Planning and Research and the Department of Housing and Community Development by April 1 pursuant to State Law. Development Services staff will continue to provide annual updates to the Planning Commission and City Council on General Plan implementation progress; and, staff from various departments will continue to take the lead on the various programs, helping to implement the General Plan’s goals and policies.
Prepared by: Leigha Schmidt, AICP, Principal Planner
Recommended by: Sara Buizer, AICP, Development Services Director
Approved by:
_____________________________________________
Dr. Ana M. Alvarez, City Manager