Focused General
Plan Update
CEQA
City Council Meeting
September 5, 2023
Item 11.2 Exhibit D
SLIDE 2
Recommend the following to City Council:
1. Certify the Final Supplemental Program
Environmental Impact Report (SPEIR) with the
Selection of the Alternate Project Location
Alternative, and
2. Adopting Findings of Fact, a Statement of
Overriding Considerations, and
3. Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
These documents were prepared to analyze the following:
— Focused General Plan Update
— Climate Action Plan
— Municipal Code Amendments
— Downtown Specific Plan Amendment
— Westside Specific Plan Amendment
— Bicycle Master Plan Update
— Rezone Parcels within Focus Areas
Staff
Recommendation
SLIDE 3
Scope of the Focused
General Plan Update
— Housing Element – 6th Cycle
Update
— Focused Policy Updates
— Updates to Codes,
Ordinances, and Development
Standards
— Environmental Review
Policies
— Housing Element
— Land Use Element
— Transportation Element
— Safety Element
— Climate Action Plan
Codes, Ordinances, &
Development Standards
— Zoning Code
— Specific Plans
— Objective Design Standards
Environmental Review
— Supplemental Program Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) Purpose of the FGPU
Create a policy framework that articulates a vision for the City’s long-term physical form and development while preserving and enhancing the quality of life for National City’s residents.
SLIDE 4
Project
Milestones Milestone Date
Project Kick-Off March 2020
Phase 1 Outreach August - September 2020
Draft Housing Element January 2021
Draft Land Use and Transportation Existing
Conditions
March 2021
Phase 2 Outreach March - April 2021
Land Use, Transportation, Safety, and CAP
Goals and Policies development
March 2021 – March 2022
24th Street Transit Oriented Development
Overlay Approved
June 2021
Housing Element Adopted August 2021
Housing Element Certified by California Dept.
of Housing and Community Development
(HCD)
November 2021
SLIDE 5
Project
Milestones Milestone Date
Phase 3 Community Outreach December 2021 – June 2023
Economic Study January - September 2022
Traffic Model Run March - September 2022
SEIR Drafting April - January 2023
House National City Development October 2021 - February 2023 Specific Plans Revisions October 2021 - February 2023
Municipal Code Amendment Development October 2021 - February 2023 House National City Refinement March 2023
SEIR Public Review February - March 2023
House National City – Housing Advisory
Committee
February 2023
House National City - City Council April 2023
SLIDE 6
Project
Milestones Milestone Date
FGPU – Planning Commission and City
Council (Information Items)
June 2023
FGPU – Planning Commission
(Recommendation)
August 2023
FGPU – City Council (Adoption) September 2023
SLIDE 7
The California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) sets statewide policies that require both
state and local agencies to consider the
environmental consequences of their decisions.
The goal of CEQA is to:
— Provide information about the
environmental effects of the project.
— Prevent significant environmental damage
and identify ways that environmental
damage can be avoided
(mitigation/alternatives).
— Disclose the basis for the decision of the
project considering its environmental effects.
What is CEQA?
SLIDE 8
Why was a Supplemental Program Environmental
Impact Report (SPEIR) prepared?
— Supplemental – Is an update to
the 2011 General Plan EIR
— Programmatic – Analysis of
potential impacts from policy
changes city-wide. No specific
projects are proposed at this time.
— Disclose/Inform - The potential
significant adverse environmental
impacts of the FGPU
— Mitigate - Includes recommended
mitigation measures which could
lessen impacts of future
development
— Alternatives - to the project are
presented to evaluate scenarios
that further reduce or avoid
significant impacts
General Plan (2011): https://www.nationalcityca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument?id=25124 Program EIR (2011): https://www.nationalcityca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/5238/636090627169130000 SLIDE 9
— To fully evaluate the environmental effects of projects, the CEQA mandates that alternatives to the project be
analyzed
— Section 15126.6 of the CEQA Guidelines requires the
discussion of “a range of reasonable alternatives to the project, or to the location of the project, which would feasibly attain most of the basic objectives of the
project but would avoid or substantially lessen any of
the significant effects of the project” and the
evaluation of the comparative merits of the
alternatives.
— Alternatives selected for consideration include: the No Project (Adopted General Plan) Alternative and the
Alternate Project Location Alternative (also
the Environmentally Superior Alternative)
CEQA Alternatives
SLIDE 10
Various sites throughout the Planning Area were
considered for inclusion in each Focus Area and ultimately rejected during the FGPU process:
TODO - Study Area 2: Hoover Avenue: Potential new land use incompatibilities by allowing the co-location of light industrial and residential uses
TODO - Study Area 3: Mile of Cars Way: Co-locating
residential uses with existing automobile-oriented uses TODO - Study Area 4A: National City Boulevard (SubArea): Concerns with co-locating residential uses with existing automobile-oriented uses
TODO - Study Area 4B: National City Boulevard (SubArea): Concerns with co-locating residential uses with existing automobile-oriented uses
TODO - Study Areas 5A and 5B: Highland Avenue: Already zoned mixed-use, TODO recommendation was design guideline focused
Alternatives
Considered but
Rejected
SLIDE 11
Alternate Project
Location Alternative
SLIDE 12
Alternate Project
Location Alternative
— Excludes 24th Street Transit Station
— Replaces density at alternate site
— Nets additional 119 dwelling units
— Reduces of 87,705 sf of commercial
— Reduces air quality and noise impacts
— Environmentally superior alternative
SLIDE 13
— The Project would result in significant
and unmitigated air quality impacts,
including impacts associated with the
placement of sensitive receptors in
proximity to the I-5 freeway.
— All other issues were found to be less
than significant.
— The Alternate Project Location
Alternative would move new sensitive
receptors within a focus area further from
the I-5 corridor; thus, reducing air quality
impacts from freeway emissions.
Impacts of the
Project VS.
Alternate Project
Location Alternative
SLIDE 14
Findings of Fact and
Statement of
Overriding
Considerations
— Significant and unavoidable impacts in Air
Quality.
— Most potentially significant impacts will
occur regardless of the alternative chosen,
including the “no project alternative,”
which assumes the 2011 Plan remains in
place.
SLIDE 15
Findings of Fact and
Statement of
Overriding
Considerations
— The City has identified the need to serve the residents of National City and the region; to meet projected increases in demand for housing opportunities; and to further
become a resilient, transit-oriented development
community by providing a framework for future
development through 2050.
— The FGPU will provide opportunities for infill development of new housing and commercial properties, specifically in proximity to transit corridors.
— The FGPU provides guidance to improve vehicular,
pedestrian, and bicycle connections and circulation.
— The FGPU provides a framework to reduce citywide GHG
emissions to meet state reduction targets.
— The FGPU provides guidance for smart growth that will encourage the development of complete neighborhoods
that meet the community’s needs for sustainable and
high-quality living environments.
SLIDE 16
Findings of Fact and
Statement of
Overriding
Considerations
The Statement acknowledges:
—Significant and unavoidable impacts of
the implementation of the FGPU project.
—Provides findings supporting the position
that FGPU conveys social, legal, economic,
technological, and other benefits that
outweigh such impacts.
—Once the General Plan Update EIR has
been certified and the plan adopted, the
EIR will then be used to inform and
streamline CEQA review for future
development projects in the City.
SLIDE 17
Public
Meetings/
Hearings
Meeting/Hearing Date
City Council - Information June 20, 2023
Planning Commission – Action
Recommendation
August 21, 2023
City Council – Public Hearing September 5, 2023
City Council – Public Hearing September 19, 2023
Second Reading of an Ordinance for a Zoning Amendment to the Westside Specific Plan
Second Reading of an Ordinance for a NCMC Title 18 Amendment Planning Commission – Public Hearing October 2, 2023
Reading of an Ordinance for a National City Zoning Map Amendment City Council – Public Hearing October 17, 2023
Introduction of an Ordinance for a National City Zoning Map Amendment City Council – Public Hearing November 7, 2023
Second Reading of an Ordinance for a National City Zoning Map Amendment SLIDE 18
Recommend the following to City Council:
1. Certify the Final Supplemental Program
Environmental Impact Report (SPEIR) with the
Selection of the Alternate Project Location
Alternative, and
2. Adopting Findings of Fact, a Statement of
Overriding Considerations, and
3. Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
These documents were prepared to analyze the following:
— Focused General Plan Update
— Climate Action Plan
— Municipal Code Amendments
— Downtown Specific Plan Amendment
— Westside Specific Plan Amendment
— Bicycle Master Plan Update
— Rezone Parcels within Focus Areas
Staff
Recommendation
SLIDE 19
Questions?