STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of October 8, 2024
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Timothy Rood, AICP, Community Development Director SUBJECT: Waive Second Reading and Adopt Amended Hercules Municipal Code Modifying the Requirements of a Planned Development Plan (PDP) in the Overlay Districts (Special Flood Hazard Area Overlay District, Refugio Creek Overlay District, School-Park Overlay District, Special Study Area Overlay District and Scenic Road and Highway Overlay District), the Residential Districts (RS-E, RS-L, RM-L, RM-M and RM-H), the Public/Quasi-Public Districts (P/QP-C, P/QP-O, P/QP-P and P/QP-S), the Planned Office-Research and Development Mixed-Use District (PO/RD), and the Planned Commercial Residential Mixed-Use District (PC-R). Modify the Planned Development Plan Section to allow the PDP process to be utilized as requested by an applicant in all zones and overlay districts.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Staff recommends that the City Council waive second reading and adopt Ordinance No. 24-XX (Attachment 1) to amend provisions of Hercules Municipal Code Sections 13-6.200(3), 13-10.200(3), 13-15.200(1 & 2), 13-16.200(1–3), 13-21.400(2), 13-22.300(1 & 2), 13-23.300(1), 13-24.300(1 & 2) and 13-25.300(2) to modify the requirement of a Planned Development Plan (PDP) for new and expanded development within the specified zoning and overlay districts, to amend Hercules Municipal Code Section 13-48.200 to allow a PDP process to be requested in all zoning and overlay districts, and finding the actions exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3).
PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION AND COUNCIL INTRODUCTION:
On September 3, 2024, at their regularly scheduled meeting, the Planning Commission approved Resolution No. 24-05 (Attachment 2), recommending City Council approval of the amended provisions of the Hercules Municipal Code to modify the requirement of a Planned Development Plan (PDP) for new and expanded development within the specified zoning and overlay districts and to allow a PDP process to be requested in all zoning and overlay districts.
At its September 24, 2024 regular meeting, the City Council waived first reading and introduced the proposed Ordinance with a vote of 5-0.
BACKGROUND:
Overlay Zoning Districts
In addition to the various base zoning districts shown on the City’s Land Use and Zoning Map (Attachment 3), the Municipal Code also includes several overlay districts, which are used to highlight areas in the city that have unique development characteristics. Essentially, an overlay district is a secondary zoning district applied over one or more underlying or “base” zoning districts.
Each overlay district includes additional development standards and additional findings that must be met for approval, and some overlay districts mandate particular approval processes that the base zone does not require. The proposed removal of the PDP requirement from the base and the applicable overlay districts will not affect the performance standards, which will still be required and which projects can meet without using a PDP.
The 1998 General Plan Land Use Element called for the creation of these overlay zones at a time when many portions of the City had not yet been master-planned or developed, and they were duly written into the zoning code sometime prior to its codification in 2018. The properties affected by the Overlay Districts are defined within the Zoning Ordinance, but the affected parcels had never been mapped and the overlay zone requirements do not appear to have been considered in some prior development approvals.
State law (Government Code 65940.1) requires that all zoning ordinances and development standards that apply to each parcel be available on the City’s website. To meet this requirement, as part of the migration to a new Geographic Information System platform in April 2024, staff took the initiative to map the parcels affected by overlay districts. These included the Historic Overlay District, Special Flood Hazard Area Overlay District, Refugio Creek Overlay District and the Scenic Road and Highway Overlay District. See Attachment 3 for maps of each overlay district. These maps are now posted on the City’s Land Use & Zoning Regulations webpage and are also linked to each parcel record in the GIS.
Mapping the Overlay Districts allows staff to easily access and provide direction to customers of the location of the Overlay Districts and their applicable standards, in order to enforce the applicable zoning code provisions as development occurs.
Planned Development Plans
A Planned Development Plan (PDP) is a customized zoning approval that can modify certain standards of the base zoning district, such as lot size and setbacks, while remaining subject to the purpose, use limitations, density and other standards of the zoning district. Recent projects that have used the PDP process include Owl Ranch and Sycamore Crossing.
The PDP process, as outlined in Hercules Municipal Code Chapter 13-48, may include three (3) review stages: (1) Conceptual; (2) Initial; and (3) Final. The Conceptual stage is optional and intended to provide an informal review of the project. The Initial stage focuses on the review of the subdivision plan and/or the site development plan. During the Initial stage the applicant provides a comprehensive set of documents and conditions of approval are prepared. The Final PDP stage establishes a set of documents and conditions of approval for the detailed design of buildings and other improvements. The applicant may request that the Initial and Final PDP stages be reviewed concurrently.
Current PDP Requirements
Currently, a PDP is required in the Special Flood Hazard Area Overlay District, Refugio Creek Overlay District, School-Park Overlay District, Special Study Area Overlay District and the Scenic Road and Highway Overlay District. PDPs are also required in several base zoning districts including, but not limited to, Residential Districts (RS-E, RS-L, RM-L, RM-M and RM-H), the Public/Quasi-Public Districts (P/QP-C, P/QP-O, P/QP-P and P/QP-S), the Planned Office-Research and Development Mixed-Use District (PO/RD), and the Planned Commercial Residential Mixed-Use District (PC-R).
The Overlay Districts that require a PDP have a requirement for a PDP for all new and expanded development or when a certain unit number or acreage threshold is met. The definition of Development in Hercules Municipal Code Section 13-60.200, Definitions, is as follows:
“Development” means any human-made change to improved or unimproved real estate, including but not limited to buildings or other structures, mining, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations.
Pending Applications Affected by PDP Requirement
Although they are not under consideration as part of this action, staff has received development inquiries from Valley Bible Church and from Sutter Health, both of which propose development within the Scenic Road and Highway Overlay District, with the Sutter Health property also located within the PO/RD base zoning district.
Valley Bible Church has inquired about improving one (1) of their existing buildings to slightly increase the building footprint to create a café use and to place an accessory building on their property for storage. Sutter Health is proposing to remodel an existing building and to construct a parking lot.
The City’s review of these development scenarios highlighted the PDP requirements within the Zoning Ordinance. Neither of the projects would benefit from a PDP, as they are not requesting a zoning modification that would warrant a PDP application and process, and the zoning standards can be met without the use of a PDP.
ANALYSIS:
The City Council must approve all Planned Development Plans, so the requirement for a PDP plan adds time, risk, cost and complexity to projects subject to the requirement, which might otherwise be able to be approved by the Planning Commission. In addition, the City’s draft Housing Element Update identified the PDP requirement in some zones as a constraint on housing development and includes a program to reduce or eliminate the requirements for a PDP in order to promote approval certainty. Staff will be returning with a comprehensive package of additional zoning ordinance amendments to implement the Housing Element following its adoption.
Staff proposes, and the Planning Commission recommends, the removal of the PDP requirement from the Special Flood Hazard Area Overlay District, Refugio Creek Overlay District, School-Park Overlay District, Special Study Area Overlay District and the Scenic Road and Highway Overlay District, Residential Districts (RS-E, RS-L, RM-L, RM-M and RM-H), the Public/Quasi-Public Districts (P/QP-C, P/QP-O, P/QP-P and P/QP-S), the Planned Office-Research and Development Mixed-Use District (PO/RD) and the Planned Commercial Residential Mixed-Use District (PC-R).
Staff also proposes, and the Planning Commission recommends, modifying Hercules Municipal Code Section 13-48.200 to allow applicants to utilize the PDP process regardless of specific zoning designations, unit numbers, or acreage thresholds of the individual zoning districts. This will continue to allow applicants to utilize the PDP process to develop customized standards for a particular project, if desired, while providing the ability to improve property through the conventional use permit and design review processes, without mandating the PDP process.
Pursuant to Chapter 13-48, Planned Development Plans, an applicant may use the PDP process to propose development standards that deviate from the zoning district; however, the proposal must remain consistent with the intent of the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Further, a PDP may only include uses and densities that are already permitted in the subject zoning district. These requirements would remain in place.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION
The proposed ordinance is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) – Common Sense Exemption in that the proposed ordinance would only establish and clarify administrative processes and would not facilitate new construction or other groundbreaking activities. It can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the ordinance would result in either a direct physical change to the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change to the environment. Further, none of the circumstances described in CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2 applies.
FISCAL IMPACT OF RECOMMENDATION:
There are no direct fiscal impacts associated with this item.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – Draft Ordinance
Attachment 2 – Planning Commission Resolution 24-05
Attachment 3 – Zoning and overlay maps
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