CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
8/8/2022
1 SUBJECT:
Housing Element Update Community Engagement Plan
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive staff presentation about the Housing Element Community Engagement Plan and provide direction.
STAFF CONTACT:
Christian Murdock, AICP, Acting Planning Director - (650) 738-7341 [email protected]
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
1. Background:
The City of Pacifica, as a local jurisdiction within the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) region, must adopt an update to the Housing Element of its General Plan as part of the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), also known as RHNA 6. The RHNA 6 Housing Element update will cover the period from January 2023 through January 2031. The deadline for adoption of the Housing Element update is January 31, 2023. State law provides a 120-day grace period beyond the due date before the City would experience any consequence from delayed adoption. The City last adopted an update to its Housing Element as part of the 5th Cycle RHNA on May 11, 2015.
The City intends to undertake a robust community engagement process as part of its Housing Element update. The City Manager recommended, and the Council adopted, $20,000 in additional budget allocation in the FY2022-2023 budget for community engagement efforts for the Housing Element update. Community input in the Housing Element update is particularly important given the ongoing challenges for many people to locate housing affordable for their families in Pacifica, as well as the City’s obligation to identify suitable sites for the 1,892 housing units allocated to the City under RHNA 61. Staff plans to build on prior community engagement efforts, including the Home for All community conversations and General Plan/Sharp Park Specific Plan community meetings, for the Housing Element update engagement process.
Staff is seeking City Council review and confirmation of the Housing Element community engagement plan due to the important nature of the input needed. The City’s community engagement plan is also an important part of the Housing Element review process by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), which will consider the City’s efforts to include all economic segments of the community and/or their representatives in the development and update of the Housing Element. Therefore, the community engagement plan is a critical component of achieving HCD certification of the City’s Housing Element update.
1 For comparison, the City’s 5th Cycle RHNA allocation was 413 housing units.
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2. Housing Element Update Process:
The Housing Element update process includes multiple steps. These include, but are not limited to, background research on housing issues in Pacifica; technical work to analyze eligible housing sites for compliance with criteria in state law; community education and engagement; drafting of the Housing Element document; public review and comment on the draft document; preparation of responses to comments; HCD review and comment; revisions to the draft document; and, public hearings at Planning Commission and City Council for the final adoption process.
An update to the Housing Element is a major task for any local jurisdiction. Many cities and counties in the ABAG region started work on their Housing Element updates in mid- to late2021. While the City participated in informational meetings and limited community outreach as part of the San Mateo County housing collaborative 21 Elements during that timeframe, the City had focused significant resources on completion of the General Plan update. City Council adoption of the General Plan update2 on July 11, 2022, cleared the way for staff to refocus resources on the Housing Element update. As explained by staff during the General Plan update process, replacing the 1980 General Plan with the 2040 General Plan was an important prerequisite to an effective Housing Element update process.
The schedule ahead of the City for the Housing Element update process will require efficient work by staff and engagement with the community. It will also include using some portion of the 120-day grace period provided in state law. Table 1 outlines key milestones in the Housing Element update process in a rough timeline for planning purposes:
Milestone Description Projected Timeline
Confirmation of Community
Engagement Plan
City Council confirmation of key components
and timeline for community engagement on
Housing Element update.
August 8, 2022
Inventory of Potential Housing
Sites
Initial staff technical analysis of potential
housing sites meeting state criteria for
inclusion in Housing Element update.
August 2022
Community Engagement Public input opportunities to shape the housing site inventory and other components
of the Housing Element update.
Sep-Oct 2022
Finalize Draft Document Finalize the initial draft of the Housing Element following community engagement.
Nov-Dec 2022
Public Review and Comment 30-day public review and comment period on draft Housing Element.
Jan-Feb 2023
30 days (min.)
City Council Study Session Informational meeting and comment opportunity for City Council and public during
public review and comment period.
January 2023
Consider Public Comments Review and incorporate public comments into draft Housing Element.
Feb 2023
10 business days (min.)
2 The comprehensive General Plan update adopted by the City Council did not include a Housing Element update.
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HCD Review HCD review and comment period to identify
changes needed to achieve HCD
certification.
Mar-April 2023
Incorporate HCD Comments Revise the Housing Element to incorporate HCD’s required edits.
April 2023
Planning Commission Public
Hearing3
Consideration and recommendation to City
Council.
May 2023
City Council Public Hearing Consideration of adoption of the final Housing Element.
May 2023
Table 1. Key Milestones for Housing Element Update Process.
The community engagement plan that will support the City’s accomplishment of the abovelisted key milestones is discussed in the following section of this report. However, some of the milestones, such as HCD review, are outside of the City’s control and may exceed the estimated time for completion. It is also possible that rezoning will be required to accommodate the City’s RHNA 6 allocation. In that case, additional time will be required to perform environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) prior to Housing Element adoption.
Delays in accomplishing any of the milestones in Table 1 could result in adoption of the Housing Element update beyond the 120-day grace period provided in state law. Adoption of the Housing Element update more than 120 days but less than one year beyond the January 31, 2023, deadline would require the City to complete any rezoning required to accommodate the RHNA 6 allocation by January 31, 2024, rather than January 31, 20264. It is not known at this time whether the City will need to perform any rezoning to accommodate its RHNA 6 allocation. That determination will be made following technical work and community engagement on the housing site inventory component of the Housing Element update.
3. Community Engagement Plan:
Community engagement is an essential component of the Housing Element update process.
It can leverage the public’s deep knowledge of housing issues in Pacifica and introduce new ideas about how to address them. The community engagement process will be most effective if it includes a broad segment of the Pacifica community, including not only those who live here, but those who aspire to live here, and those who may have previously been displaced from Pacifica. For purposes of Housing Element community engagement, the “community” also includes housing and disability advocates, affordable and market rate housing developers, faith leaders, and persons of all income levels and ethnicities. Staff will leverage the extensive connections it established during the Home for All community conversations in 2019 as a starting point for contacting key community members who can spread the word about community engagement opportunities on the Housing Element.
The City has utilized various outlets for community engagement in the past. These have included in-person and online meetings, pop-ups at community events, presentations to 3 The Planning Commission public hearing indicates the shift to the decision making phase of the Housing Element update process.
4 Additionally, ABAG’s One Bay Area Grant (OBAG 3) program requires adoption of an HCD-certified Housing Element by December 31, 2023, in addition to other requirements, for funding eligibility.
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community groups, messaging via the City’s Connect with Pacifica e-newsletter and other email lists, social media posts, online surveys, print and social media advertising, and other methods to reach different segments of the community. The Housing Element community engagement process will utilize many of these methods to spread the word about engagement opportunities and/or to conduct the engagements themselves.
As a preliminary effort in preparing staff’s recommended community engagement plan, staff conducted a FlashVote survey of public engagement preferences for the Housing Element update from Wednesday, July 27 to Friday, July 29. The FlashVote survey system is a tool for customized, scientific polling to yield statistically valid results. The surveys last for 48 hours and are intended to provide rapid results to the City. The tool establishes a panel of Pacifica residents for future surveys, from which a random selection of a statistically relevant sample size is selected to participate in any given survey initiated by the City. The use of specific sample sizes and randomized sample selections provides cost-effective yet representative survey results for the broader Pacifica community. Use of randomized samples also minimizes potential opt-in bias that may skew results. Any Pacifica community member can register as a FlashVote panelist at https://flashvote.com to participate in future surveys.
Attachment 1 contains a summary of the FlashVote results on Housing Element community engagement preferences. The survey asked four questions related to engagement preferences and provided a fifth “open ended” response opportunity. The results in Attachment 1 are grouped by the “Panel members” (those pre-registered in FlashVote and randomly selected to participate in the survey) and “Other” (those who accessed the survey link but who were not part of the random sample selection). In general, respondents had the following characteristics:
• The greatest proportion of respondents had lived in Pacifica for more than 20 years • Preferred online surveys and other input tools as well as online meetings/workshops over other forms of engagement such as in-person meetings/workshops • Preferred use of a mobile phone to provide input during a meeting and follow-up comments after a meeting over other forms of input such as three-minute public comment periods and small breakout discussions
• Preferred weekday evenings over other meeting times
Staff prepared the following community engagement plan based on its past experience with community engagement and informed by inputs from the FlashVote survey. Table 2 summarizes key engagement activities during the Community Engagement phase (September-October 2022) of the Housing Element update as well as the public review and comment period on the draft Housing Element document (January-February 2023). It is not an exhaustive list of supplemental or supporting engagement activities particularly those intended to increase awareness of the Housing Element update process to various community members. However, the list is intended to be reflective of the diversity of community engagement options sought by the community as evidenced from the FlashVote poll.
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Activity Description
Initial outreach to build awareness
August 2022
Utilize all outlets (social media, email, phone calls, etc.) to inform community of upcoming engagement opportunities; seek sign-ups to Housing Element email list.
Knowledge Building
Aug/Sep 2022
Social media posts and emails with background information on Housing Element process and legal requirements; outline of upcoming engagement opportunities.
Online community meeting5
September 2022
Expand on background information on Housing Element process; identify key requirements of update (RHNA sites, housing constraints identification, etc.); explain importance of continued community participation.
Post-meeting comment period
September 2022
Opportunity for email comments by meeting attendees after the online community meeting.
Pop-up Outreach
September 2022
Setup at Farmers’ Market to have conversations about Housing Element update process, inform community of upcoming engagement opportunities; seek sign-ups to Housing Element email list.
Online survey
Sep/Oct 2022
Online survey and/or map inputs seeking identification of housing opportunity sites/preferred housing locations for siting RHNA; prepare community for in-person community meeting.
In-person community meeting6
October 2022
Focused engagement on identifying constraints to housing production and sites discussion for accommodating RHNA.
Post-meeting comment period
October 2022
Opportunity for email comments by meeting attendees after the inperson community meeting.
Publicize public review and
comment period
Jan-Feb 2023
Email and social media publicity for public review and comment period on draft Housing Element.
City Council Study Session
January 2023
Informational meeting and public comment opportunity during public review and comment period.
Table 2. Community Engagement Activities During Housing Element Update.
The community meetings identified above are the focal points of the community engagement process for the Housing Element update. Planning and conducting community meetings is resource intensive in terms of time and money. Staff’s recommendation to conduct two community engagement meetings is consistent with the efforts of several surrounding jurisdictions for their Housing Element updates. Also, as noted in the FlashVote survey results, meetings are not preferred by all community members as a method for providing their input.
Thus, a variety of engagement opportunities is the best approach in staff’s assessment to reach a broad range of the community.
5 In addition to recognizing the community’s desire for diverse engagement options, the online format of this community meeting would also be consistent with the City Council’s direction to conduct public meetings as teleconference meetings (e.g., Zoom) through September 2022 as a public health precaution due to ongoing high transmission rates of COVID-19.
6 The in-person format of this community meeting could shift to an online format if necessary as a public health precaution related to COVID-19.
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While acknowledging the importance of community engagement, it is also important to recognize the limits of the City’s discretion to incorporate public input into the Housing Element update. Ultimately, the City must comply with the requirements of state law including the identification of sufficient sites to accommodate the RHNA, and must also satisfy HCD staff who will review and certify the City’s Housing Element. The City is also confronting a challenging timeline to adopt the Housing Element update, meaning there must be a reasonable time limit for community engagement and a clear transition point into the recommendation and decisionmaking process by the Planning Commission and City Council, respectively.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
The City Council could direct additional types of community engagement. The City Council could also add one additional community meeting if determined necessary to achieve the community engagement objectives for the Housing Element update. However, adding a third community meeting beyond the two meetings recommended could present potential timeline challenges.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
This item is consistent with the following Council-adopted goals and Work Plan initiatives:
Goals
● “An Engaged Community” includes creating opportunities to expand public participation, increase communication, and build community post-COVID. ● “A Healthy and Compassionate Community” includes addressing affordable housing and mental health services, exploring and implementing strategies that relate to homelessness, and supporting community services for all ages.
Work Plan
● Item 10: Prepare an update to the Housing Element of the General Plan.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Fiscal Year 2022-2023 budget allocated $103,449 for the Housing Element update process.
The allocated funds include $50,000 from the Local Early Action Planning (LEAP) and $33,449 from the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) grant programs. Allocated funds also include $20,000 for community engagement efforts for the Housing Element update. A third, optional community meeting is estimated to cost at least $5,000 although costs could be greater depending on the meeting design and intent. The cost for this optional community meeting is not currently included in the allocated budget for the Housing Element update.
ORIGINATED BY:
Planning Department
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment 1 - FlashVote Survey Results (Engagement Preferences) (PDF)