STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: May 23, 2023
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Tim Rood Community Development Director
SUBJECT: 2022 Annual General Plan Progress Report
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Direct staff to submit the 2022 General Plan Annual Progress Report to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR).
BACKGROUND:
California state law requires each city and county to adopt a general plan “for the physical development of the county or city, and any land outside its boundaries which in the planning agency’s judgment bears relation to its planning”. The general plan expresses the community’s development goals and embodies public policy relative to the distribution of future public and private land uses. The California Supreme Court has described general plans as the “charter to which [zoning] ordinance[s] must conform.” Still, the general plan extends far beyond zoning and land use. A general plan is more than the legal underpinning for land use decisions; it is a vision of how a community will grow, reflecting community priorities and values while shaping the future.
Per Government Code Section 65400(a)(2)(A), beginning January 1, 2019, the City is required to submit an annual report to the State on the City’s progress in implementing the General Plan. The State-mandated General Plan (GP) Annual Progress Report (APR) provides information regarding the City’s progress in meeting the community’s goals through implementation of the GP. The General Plan APR allows OPR to identify statewide trends and how local planning and development activities relate to statewide planning goals and policies. The APR may inform future updates to OPR’s General Plan Guidelines and help track local jurisdictions’ progress in updating General Plans.
In the past several years since the requirement went into effect, staffing and workload limitations have prevented Community Development staff from preparing and submitting Annual Progress Reports on the full General Plan, although the required Housing Element Annual Progress Reports have been consistently submitted.
ANALYSIS:
Community Development staff have prepared the City’s first General Plan Annual Progress report for 2022. The report was presented to the Planning Commission for information on May 15, 2023.
Unlike the Housing Element APR, the State does not prescribe a specific report format, and cities are advised to highlight measures associated with the implementation of the GP, such as GP and Zoning Ordinance amendments, policy actions by the City Council, Citywide initiatives, and City-initiated projects.
As detailed in the attached report, in 2022 the City initiated or continued a number of activities implementing the General Plan, which include:
Franklin Canyon RV Resort entitlement approvals
Owl Ranch entitlement approvals
Hercules Hub planning, design and grant applications
All-Electric Ordinance adoption
ADU and Senate Bill 9 Ordinance amendments
Parks and Recreation Facilities Master Plan preparation and public outreach FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct financial impact of filing the GP annual progress report.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attach 1 - 2022 Annual General Plan Progress Report
Gov. Code § 65300
Lesher Communications, Inc. v. City of Walnut Creek (1990) 52 Cal.3d 531, 540