CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
10/9/2023
1 SUBJECT:
Update regarding Local Coastal Land Use Plan (LCLUP) certification process and incorporating 2040 General Plan consistency revisions into the existing Certification Draft LCLUP and approving a Revised Certification Draft LCLUP to transmit to the California Coastal Commission.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Adopt the attached resolution: 1) certifying that the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP is intended to be carried out in a manner fully in conformity with the California Coastal Act; 2) directing the City Manager to incorporate 2040 General Plan consistency revisions into the existing Certification Draft LCLUP to form the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP and adopting the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP; 3) approving transmittal of the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP to the California Coastal Commission (CCC) for certification; and, 4) finding that approval of the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act; and
Provide direction on a community engagement plan to update the public on the status of Pacifica’s efforts to obtain CCC certification of the LCLUP.
STAFF CONTACT:
Christian Murdock, AICP, Planning Director
(650) 738-7341
[email protected]
Stefanie Cervantes, AICP, Senior Planner
(650) 738-7341
[email protected]
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
The City’s work to update the Local Coastal Land Use Plan (LCLUP) component of the City’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) started in 2009, leading to a 2014 public review draft. However, for various reasons, work on the LCLUP was then placed on hold. The City resumed work on the LCLUP by undertaking a focused sea level rise (SLR) adaptation planning process from 2017-2018, and reengaging with residents and stakeholders through a significant public outreach process in 2019. In February 2020, City Council approved the Certification Draft LCLUP and directed its transmittal to the California Coastal Commission (CCC) for certification.
Additional information including the Certification Draft LCLUP document are available on the Project Documents page of the Plan Pacifica website1.
Staff submitted the Certification Draft LCLUP to the CCC in June 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, City and CCC staffs exchanged several rounds of information in response to CCC staff requests. In August 2022, the CCC finally accepted the City’s Certification Draft LCLUP for filing. Acceptance for filing is a procedural requirement that must be achieved prior to 1 Available at https://www.planpacifica.org.
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scheduling an LCP amendment for hearing by the CCC. There is a 90-working day statutory deadline for action on LCP amendments by the CCC, which in the case of the Certification Draft LCLUP submittal was December 22, 2022. On December 16, 2022, the CCC took action to extend the deadline by one year, as authorized by Public Resources Code section 30517.The CCC’s action extended the deadline to December 22, 2023. Failure to act within the statutory deadline results in an LCP amendment being deemed approved by the CCC.
In late February 2023, the City received notice the CCC would consider the City’s Certification Draft LCLUP at the March 8, 2023 meeting. The CCC staff report for the item included CCC staff’s final recommendation, which included many suggested modifications to the City’s submittal2. The City requested a continuance of the March 8th hearing date to allow an opportunity to review and consider the CCC staff’s recommendations. Since then, City staff has met multiple times with CCC staff to gain a better understanding of the suggested modifications and explore what potential revisions could satisfy CCC staff interests while remaining consistent with Council’s action in February 2020. These staff-to-staff meetings are ongoing and substantial progress has been made on understanding each other’s interests and identifying several potential revisions that the Council may wish to consider at a future meeting and through a community engagement process as described later in this report.
Consistency with the 2040 General Plan
The City Council’s approval of the Certification Draft LCLUP in February 2020 was a significant milestone in the ongoing process to update the City’s two primary land use plans: the LCLUP and General Plan. Following the February 2020 approval of the Certification Draft LCLUP by City Council, work continued to comprehensively update the General Plan. In July 2022, the City Council adopted the 2040 General Plan update, the first comprehensive update to Pacifica’s General Plan in over 40 years. While the broad vision and objectives of the City did not change between the 2020 adoption of the Certification Draft LCLUP and the 2022 adoption of the 2040 General Plan, some of the specific language in the General Plan was modified in the course of the extensive public process leading to adoption.
These modifications have resulted in differences between the Certification Draft LCLUP and the 2040 General Plan. For instance, much of the background and introductory language was changed to reflect updated information, such as the City’s adoption of the 2020 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan and new data from other State and Federal agencies. More importantly, some of the policies in the General Plan were also changed to address typos and clarify their intent. Attachment B3 shows the Certification Draft LCLUP redlined with changes to reflect the adopted language in the 2040 General Plan. While most LCLUP chapters have redlines, they are focused in Chapter 2: Land Use and Development, Chapter 3: Public Access and Recreation, and Chapter 4: Environmental and Scenic Resources.
Inconsistencies between the LCLUP that will be ultimately certified by the CCC and the 2040 General Plan could be problematic for future City decision making and action on development permits. For example, many development permit findings require the City to determine a project is consistent with both the General Plan and the certified LCP, which includes the LCLUP.
Deviations between provisions in the 2040 General Plan and LCLUP could complicate findings of consistency. Therefore, staff recommends that City Council consider resubmittal to the CCC 2 Available under Agenda Item No. 14.a for the meeting on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at https://www.coastal.ca.gov/meetings/agenda/#/2023/3.
3 The attachment is assembled to align with the CCC staff report exhibit from March 8, 2023, for ease of comparison. As a result, figures have been omitted throughout the document and the layout will appear differently from the City Council approved Certification Draft LCLUP. Figures are included at the end of the document. No changes to figures are proposed.
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of a revised LCLUP to reflect updates to common subject matter between the Certification Draft LCLUP and 2040 General Plan.
Submittal of Revised Certification Draft LCLUP to the California Coastal Commission Since the 2040 General Plan was adopted after the submittal of the Certification Draft LCLUP, the City will need to submit an LCP amendment application to the CCC in order to achieve consistency between the 2040 General Plan and the LCLUP. One option, recommended by staff, is to submit the LCP amendment application at this time, prior to final action by the CCC.
An alternative option, not recommended by staff, is to submit a new LCP amendment application following final CCC action. In the case of staff’s recommended option, formal action by the City Council is required to revise the submittal directed in City Council Resolution No. 15- 2020 (Attachment C4).
Staff recommends that the City submit a revised Certification Draft LCLUP that incorporates the 2040 General Plan with the Certification Draft LCLUP (“Revised Certification Draft LCLUP”).
The Revised Certification Draft LCLUP changes are identified in the redlined document included as Attachment B. Taking the opportunity to update the pending LCLUP amendment application now, prior to CCC certification, would be most efficient in terms of time and staff resources. CCC staff concurs with the approach identified by City staff.
Submission of the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP would have the additional benefit of eliminating the December 22, 2023 deadline. This additional time would allow for staff-to-staff discussions about potential revisions to the LCLUP to address the CCC staff suggested modifications from March 2023. Any revisions that may result from these ongoing staff-to-staff discussions would eventually be presented to the City Council for consideration and authorization of a comment letter to formally request consideration by the CCC ahead of an LCLUP certification public hearing by the CCC. Based on discussions of this approach with CCC staff, City staff does not believe that submittal of the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP to incorporate changes for 2040 General Plan consistency will result in significant new CCC staff suggested modifications. The March 8, 2023 CCC staff report contained few suggested modifications to Chapters 2, 3, and 4, and those that were included were generally minor in nature. Thus, staff anticipates a CCC certification hearing on the revised application would occur no later than June 2024.
Without the resubmission recommended by staff, it is unlikely that policy differences between the February 2020 Certification Draft LCLUP and March 2023 CCC staff suggested modifications could be resolved prior to the existing deadline for CCC action on December 22, 2023. Furthermore, internal CCC staff deadlines require any City comment letter to be submitted by early November 2023, which would not provide sufficient time to undertake the community engagement process described in the section below. The end result of proceeding without resubmittal as recommended by staff is likely to be CCC certification as indicated in the March 8, 2023 CCC staff suggested modifications. It is unclear whether City Council would accept the LCLUP as modified by the CCC, which could terminate the LCLUP submittal process without a certified LCLUP in place after more than three years of effort by the City subsequent to City Council approval.
Community Engagement Plan
There continues to be significant community interest in the LCLUP update process. The last substantive discussions about the LCLUP update facilitated by the City occurred in the lead up 4 Attachment C omits the exhibits to Resolution No. 15-2020. The full resolution can be accessed at https://www.cityofpacifica.org/government/city-council/city-council-resolutions.
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to the February 2020 Certification Draft LCLUP approval by City Council. Now that CCC staff has released its suggested modifications that were intended for the March 8, 2023 CCC certification hearing, there is an opportunity for a productive community conversation on how the City should proceed with the LCLUP certification process.
The City Manager recommends, for Council consideration, an appropriate community engagement strategy to update the public on where the LCLUP update process stands, and to discuss where it should go next. The City Manager recommends a three meeting approach consisting of one City Council study session, one community engagement meeting, and one City Council consideration item as outlined below:
• Meeting #1: City Council Study Session
o Purpose: The first meeting would be a City Council study session to present and discuss the CCC staff suggested modifications from March 8, 2023. o Timing: Late October/early November 2023
• Meeting #2: Community Roundtable Discussions
o Purpose: The second meeting would be a community roundtable format and would allow the public an opportunity to discuss potential alternative modifications to those presented by CCC staff for the March 8, 2023 CCC meeting. The potential alternatives would reflect the discussions between City and CCC staffs that started in June 2023 and would serve as the basis for a comment letter to be considered by City Council at Meeting #3. o Facilitation: Due to the complexity of the subject matter proposed to be discussed at this community meeting, the City Manager recommends engagement of a professional facilitation service. A professional facilitation service would bring trained facilitators to support the small-group community conversations of proposed alternative modifications to the LCLUP. Professional facilitation will be essential to ensure a diverse range of viewpoints can be expressed which will provide the best feedback for City Council consideration. o Timing: Late November/early December 2023, coordinated to avoid any scheduled Beach Boulevard Infrastructure Resiliency Project (BBIRP) community meetings.
• Meeting #3: City Council Consideration of a Comment Letter to CCC o Purpose: The third meeting would be a City Council consideration item to discuss a potential comment letter from the City requesting revisions to the CCC staff's March 2023 suggested modifications. Transmittal of this comment letter would need to be sufficiently in advance of a CCC certification hearing on the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP to allow time for CCC staff to analyze the City’s requests and publish a staff recommendation. Staff recommends transmitting the comment letter at least two months prior to a desired CCC certification hearing.
o Timing: Mid- to late-January 2024
If the City Council is interested in revisions to or refinement of the above-outlined community engagement process, the City Manager recommends that any revisions continue to allow completion of the process by end of February 2024, and that any revisions bear in mind the numerous other Strategic Plan priorities the City is undertaking in this same timeframe.
Continuation of the community engagement process beyond February 2024 may cause a CCC certification hearing to occur later than June 2024.
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ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
The Council may choose to not incorporate the 2040 General Plan revisions into a revised LCLUP submittal to the CCC. In order to meet the statuary deadline of December 22, 2023, the CCC will likely take action based on the CCC staff’s suggested modifications from March 8, 2023. In such a scenario, the City would have six months to adopt the certified LCLUP with CCC-approved modifications. If the City failed to do so, the LCLUP would be null and void, requiring the City to resubmit, and leaving the City without a certified LCLUP after more than three years since City Council approval of the Certification Draft LCLUP.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
The Local Coastal Land Use Plan is consistent with the following item(s) in the Council-adopted Strategic Plan and Priority Work Plan for FY 2023-24:
● Goal 4: Pursue climate change adaptation and mitigation. ○ Strategy C: Update Pacifica’s Local Coastal Plan and improve communications and collaboration with the California Coastal Commission.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Staff’s ongoing work toward LCLUP certification can be accomplished within regular Planning Department operations and does not require an additional appropriation at this time.
The community engagement process directed by City Council may have a direct fiscal impact (to be determined). Community meetings have a direct cost of at least $3,000-5,000 inclusive of meeting supplies and other logistics, including food/refreshments for attendees. Utilization of professional facilitators would result in additional expenses, estimated at several thousand dollars per meeting. The City Manager’s recommended community engagement process would include one community meeting.
ORIGINATED BY:
Planning Department
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment A - Draft Resolution (DOCX)
Attachment B - Revised Certification Draft LCLUP (Redlines) (PDF) Attachment C - City Council Resolution No. 15-2020 (PDF)