PLANNING COMMISSION
Staff Report
Scenic Pacifica
Incorporated Nov. 22, 1957
DATE: January 4, 2024 FILE: GPA-106-24
ITEM: 1
SUBJECT: Consideration of Planning Commission recommendation to City Council on adoption of an Initial Study/Negative Declaration pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and on Adoption of the 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan.
PROJECT
LOCATION: Citywide
PUBLIC NOTICE: A one-eighth page Notice of Public Hearing was published in the Pacifica Tribune on December 20, 2023.
CEQA STATUS: Recommend adoption of an Initial Study/Negative Declaration (IS/ND).
REQUIRED
APPROVALS: City Council approval of the 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan.
RECOMMENDED
ACTION: Adopt the attached Resolution to recommend City Council adoption of an Initial Study/Negative Declaration, and approval of the 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan (Attachment A).
DISCUSSION
1. Background
State law1requires every city and county to adopt a housing element as one of the mandated elements of the general plan. The housing element of the general plan must be substantially compliant with state housing element law2 and updated periodically to maintain consistency with the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process. The RHNA and housing element update processes occur every eight years. Currently, local agencies are adopting housing element updates to address the 6th Cycle RHNA, 1 Government Code § 65302.
2 Government Code § 65580 et seq.
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PC Staff Report
2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
which in the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) region covers the period from 2023-2031.
Work on the Housing Element Update (HEU) commenced in August 2022, immediately following City Council’s adoption of the comprehensive 2040 General Plan Update in July 2022. Staff’s efforts over that period have resulted in preparation of a Draft Housing Element that includes all components necessary to comply with state law, as described in detail in Exhibit A to Attachment A. The Planning Commission must consider the Draft Housing Element and recommend to City Council whether to adopt it. Following City Council adoption, staff will then transmit the Adopted Housing Element to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for review and certification.
2. Community Engagement and Input
Public input has been an essential part of the process to prepare the Draft Housing Element. The City has provided numerous public input opportunities that have included online and in-person engagements. The community engagement strategy was developed with public and City Council input, including a FlashVote poll asking the community how it would prefer to be engaged during the HEU process, and also including a citywide mailer to all residential and business recipients in Pacifica announcing the HEU process and how to be involved. The City Council approved the community engagement strategy on August 8, 2022.
The City held three community meetings in late-2022 (one online and two in-person) to seek community input for the HEU to address RHNA 6 and guide its work to prepare the Draft Housing Element. These community meetings informed the public about the requirements for the HEU and the City’s obligation to plan for the RHNA. Public feedback received at these meetings confirmed the overall sites strategies and priorities to accommodate Pacifica’s RHNA, which was essential to the preparation of an initial Draft Housing Element.
The City also conducted a City Council-Planning Commission joint study session on March 21, 2023, provided a written public review and comment period from February 24 through March 27, 2023, and held three Planning Commission meetings to discuss objective development standards (ODS) on June 19, August 21, and September 5, 2023.
The City held two additional City Council-Planning Commission joint study sessions on September 25 and October 16, 2023, to discuss specific revisions to the Draft Housing Element in response to comments from HCD. Following revisions to the Draft Housing Element and release of an updated draft on December 8, 2023, an additional written public comment period on the Draft Housing Element was provided between publication of the latest Draft Housing Element and this public hearing.
A full discussion of the extensive community engagement process undertaken during development of the Draft Housing Element is included in Appendix A: Community Consultation of the Draft Housing Element (Attachment B).
1 Packet Pg. 4
PC Staff Report
2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
3. Review by California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD)
Staff transmitted a Draft Housing Element to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for a 90-day review period on May 10, 20233. City staff met with HCD staff assigned to review Pacifica’s Draft Housing Element on July 7 and July 27, with the first meeting including a site visit to Pacifica. The meetings provided City staff an opportunity explain the approaches to sites and programs contained in Pacifica’s Draft Housing Element, as well as the challenges and constraints that informed the approaches. City staff was able to answer numerous HCD staff questions and also heard HCD’s perspectives on key themes that must be addressed in a housing element in order to be certified by HCD.
HCD issued a comment letter to the City on August 8, 2023 (Attachment C). The letter included more than 30 unique comments requiring further analysis by staff and revisions to the Draft Housing Element.
The HCD comment letter attached to the staff report includes red numbering assigned by staff to aid reference to individual comments. Overall, staff assessed that HCD’s comments were generally as expected, and Pacifica did relatively well as compared to HCD comments made to other San Mateo County jurisdictions on their first submittals. Staff has revised the Draft Housing Element to address all HCD comments as further detailed in Exhibit B to Attachment A.
4. Prior Consideration of Draft Housing Element
The Planning Commission has been involved throughout development of the Draft Housing Element. As summarized above, the Planning Commission has already participated in six meetings to consider various aspects of the Draft Housing Element. Input from the Planning Commission has formed an important contribution to the process and ensured that public input has been thoroughly considered and incorporated where possible. The following list summarizes the Planning Commission’s prior involvement:
• March 21, 2023 | Joint study session of City Council and Planning Commission o Agenda report | Meeting video | Minutes
• June 19, 2023 | Planning Commission Discussion of ODS o Agenda report | Meeting video | Minutes
• August 21, 2023 | Planning Commission Discussion of ODS o Agenda report | Meeting video | Minutes
• September 5, 2023 | Planning Commission Discussion of ODS o Agenda report | Meeting video | Minutes not yet available • September 25, 2023 | Joint study session of City Council and Planning Commission o Agenda report | Meeting video | Minutes
3 The cover letter and first draft transmitted to HCD are available on the Project Documents page of PlanPacifica.org.
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2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
• October 16, 2023 | Joint study session of City Council and Planning Commission o Agenda report | Meeting video | Minutes
The ODS discussed by the Planning Commission included height, setbacks, lot coverage, floor area ratio (FAR), open space per dwelling unit, and off-street parking standards that should apply to the various sites in the Housing Sites Inventory. These six ODS will provide the basic framework to guide development of the sites in the Housing Sites Inventory and will be brought forward for adoption concurrently with the “Phase 1” rezoning action later in 2024, as described in Program HE-I-1, which is necessary to accommodate the City’s RHNA. Additional ODS will be considered as part of the Phase 2 rezoning action described in Program HE-I-2.
Key Policy Items Discussed by City Council and Planning Commission at Joint Study Sessions on September 25 and October 16, 2023
At the two City Council-Planning Commission joint study sessions on September 25 and October 16, 2023, more than a dozen specific comments in HCD’s letter from August 8, 2023, were discussed. The discussion and guidance provided allowed staff to incorporate changes into the Draft Housing Element related to the following, which comprised the most significant policy items requiring revisions in response to HCD’s comment letter:
• Reorganization of Housing Sites Inventory (HCD Comment B.3.1) • Assembly Bill (AB) 2011 Sites (HCD Comment B.3.2.B)
• Infrastructure Constraints (Rockaway Beach Pump Station) (HCD Comment B.3.9) • Farmworker Housing (HCD Comments B.2 & C.2)
• Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH): Mobility Support and Transit Advocacy (HCD Comment B.2)
• 100% Nonresidential Sites (HCD Comment B.3.2.C)
• Site Consolidation Program (HCD Comment B.3.3)
• Surplus Lands Act for City/School District/Caltrans Sites (HCD Comments B.3.5 & B.3.6) • Emergency Shelter Zoning (HCD Comment B.3.10.A)
• Zoning for Transitional and Supportive Housing (HCD Comment B.3.10.B) • Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Zoning (HCD Comment B.3.10.C) • Single-Room Occupancy (SRO) Zoning (HCD Comment B.3.10.D) • Off-street Parking Minimum Requirements (HCD Comment B.4.1) • Permits & Findings for Housing Approvals (HCD Comment B.4.3.A) • Planned Development (P-D) Zoning (HCD Comment B.4.3.B) • Group Homes for 7+ Persons (HCD Comment B.4.6.B)
• Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH): Affirmative Marketing Strategy in Racial Concentrated Areas of Affluence (RCAA) (HCD Comment C.4) • Housing Rehabilitation (HCD Comment D.1)
Staff also made other revisions to the Draft Housing Element based on its assessment of applicable legal requirements and professional judgment. These revisions are, in staff’s judgment, relatively minor compared to the significant policy items for which the Planning Commission and City Council already provided direction and/or confirmed staff’s recommended policy approaches. 1 Packet Pg. 6
PC Staff Report
2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
A full depiction of revisions made to the prior Draft Housing Element from May 2023 in response to HCD’s comments is provided in the redline version of the latest Draft Housing Element on the Project Documents page of PlanPacifica.org.
5. Key Housing Element Components
The Draft Housing Element consists of a main chapter and seven appendices covering specific subject matter:
• Appendix A: Community Consultation
• Appendix B: Prior Housing Element Review
• Appendix C: Housing Needs
• Appendix D: Assessment of Fair Housing
• Appendix E: Housing Resources
• Appendix F: Housing Sites
• Appendix G: Housing Constraints
Due to the length and complexity of the Draft Housing Element, this staff report focuses on summarizing two key components of the document: the Housing Sites Inventory and the proposed Policies and Programs.
A. Housing Sites Inventory
The Draft Housing Element describes the City’s RHNA and identifies specific sites that can accommodate development of housing consistent with the RHNA. This information is summarized primarily in the main chapter and in Appendix F: Housing Sites.
The City of Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA allocation is 1,892 housing units. These housing units are further segmented by income4to ensure that sufficient housing can be approved and constructed for all income levels, as demonstrated in Table 1, below:
Table 1: Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA
Very Low
Income5
<50% of AMI
Low Income
50-80% of AMI
Moderate Income
80-120% of AMI
Above Moderate
Income
>120% AMI TOTAL
Units 538 310 291 753 1,892
4 The income levels in the RHNA refer to Area Median Income, or AMI, for the county in which a local jurisdiction is located. The 2023 AMI thresholds for San Mateo County are published by the San Mateo County Department of Housing and vary by family size. The Department of Housing’s published data also indicate the maximum rents considered to be affordable for each income level.
5 The RHNA only provides a Very Low Income (VLI) assignment for the lowest income level. However, other provisions of state law require the City to address Extremely Low Income (ELI) housing needs (0-30% of AMI). The Draft Housing Element apportions half of the VLI RHNA to the ELI category as permitted by law. 1 Packet Pg. 7
PC Staff Report
2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA is an increase of 1,479 units, or 358 percent, compared to its 5th Cycle RHNA allocation of 413 units. The increased RHNA required extensive evaluation of potential housing sites during preparation of the Draft Housing Element. Appendix F of the Draft Housing Element includes a detailed discussion of the City’s plan to satisfy its RHNA, including identification of specific sites and their suitability for housing affordable at various income levels. The Housing Site Inventory identifies five sites with suitable existing General Plan land use designations and 21 sites that will require General Plan amendments and/or rezoning to make them suitable for RHNA purposes. Table 2 includes a summary of the methods used to satisfy the RHNA:
Table 2: Methods Used to Satisfy 6th Cycle RHNA
Method Units
Existing General Plan Capacity 122
Amended General Plan Capacity (i.e., “Rezoning”) 2,042
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) 187
Approved Housing Units 223
TOTAL 2,574
The combined effect of the four methods used to satisfy Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA is a buffer of 36 percent above the 1,892-unit requirement, for a total of demonstrated capacity for the approval and construction of 2,574 housing units. HCD’s Housing Element Site Inventory Guidebook6suggests that housing elements include a buffer of “at least 15 to 30 percent more capacity than required, especially for capacity to accommodate the lower income RHNA,” and goes on to indicate that jurisdictions can also create a buffer by “projecting site capacity at less than the maximum density.” The site inventory in the Draft Housing Element places an emphasis on the lower income RHNA by providing a 50 percent buffer for that income category. The buffers for each income level are demonstrated in Table 3, below. Additional buffer is provided across all income levels by assuming only 81 percent of the maximum density on each site based on an average of densities for projects actually approved in Pacifica in recent years.
Table 3: Buffers by RHNA Income Level
Lower Income
Capacity
Moderate
Income
Capacity
Above Moderate
Income Capacity TOTAL
RHNA Requirement 848 291 753 1,892
Draft Housing Element 1,271 437 866 2,574
Buffer 50% 38% 15% 36%
6 Available at: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housingelement/docs/sites_inventory_memo_final06102020.pdf. 1 Packet Pg. 8
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2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
Beyond simply meeting the numerical requirement to accommodate the RHNA, the site inventory also balances the distribution of new housing throughout the city as shown in Figure 1, below. Please note that Figure 1 differentiates between sites that count toward the City’s RHNA requirement, referred to as “Core RHNA,” and sites that are intended as “buffer” sites that exceed the RHNA requirement. Please also note that, as explained in a note at the bottom of Figure 1, in some cases, housing development will only occur on a portion of the housing site and, in those cases, a separate figure included in the Housing Element specifies the exact location on the site on which housing is intended to be developed. 1 Packet Pg. 9
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2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
Figure 1: Housing Site Inventory Map
This figure shows the parcels on which housing is intended to be developed on all or a portion of the parcel. Where the entire parcel is not intended to be developed with housing, the specific areas of the parcel intended for housing development are 1 Packet Pg. 10
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2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
depicted in Appendix F, Figures F-2 through F-10 “Areas assumed for housing (in blue shading).” The areas of the parcels that are not shown as “Areas assumed for housing (in blue shading)” are not included in the Housing Element site inventory.
The site inventory considered factors such as access to transportation and other infrastructure, proximity to public transit and other services, high-opportunity areas near schools and parks, and prior public input including avoidance of hillsides to the maximum extent practicable and prioritizing redevelopment of single-use commercial centers into mixed-use residential/commercial. Importantly, and as further analyzed in Appendix D: Assessment of Fair Housing, the site inventory must support Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH). This includes actions to counter historic patterns of racial segregation in housing, avoiding concentration of lower income housing in the lowest income/lowest resource areas of the city, and identifying opportunities for affordable housing construction in the highest opportunity/highest resource areas of the city. The site inventory achieves these AFFH objectives by distributing housing sites in a balanced manner throughout Pacifica.
B. Policies and Programs
The policies and programs contained in the Draft Housing Element are an important companion to the Housing Site Inventory used to accommodate the RHNA. One important purpose of the policies and programs is to facilitate implementation of the RHNA by reducing or removing barriers to housing approval and construction. These are considered Housing Constraints and are analyzed in Appendix G.
The policies and programs are also intended to address other non-production aspects of housing, such as protection and preservation of housing units to prevent their loss or conversion to non-housing uses.
In total, the Draft Housing Element contains 14 programs (with numerous implementation actions associated with the programs). Some notable programs in the Draft Housing Element include the following:
• HE-I-1: General Plan and Zoning Amendments to Achieve RHNA o Includes future General Plan amendments and rezoning needed to accommodate the RHNA, along with six core ODS to guide development until Program HE-I-2 is completed
• HE-I-2: Zoning Modernization and Streamlining
o Includes a comprehensive update to the City’s zoning regulations to implement a broad range of objective development and design standards to guide development
• HE-I-5: Fund a Housing Action Fund
o Includes establishing and funding7 a special purpose City fund to pursue affordable housing-related activities
• HE-I-8: Rehabilitation of Homes in Lower Resource and Coastal Areas 7 The City has already taken steps to implement this program by establishing the Housing Action Fund and allocating approximately half of the $3.4 million of Excess Educational Revenue Augmentation Funding (ERAF) revenues projected to be collected in FY2023-24 (approximately $1.67 million) during the annual budget process.
While the city is not guaranteed to receive Excess ERAF long-term, the allocation of these funds in the FY 2023-24 budget demonstrates the City’s commitment to support housing activities. 1 Packet Pg. 11
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2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
o Includes assignment of Code Enforcement staff to proactively identify properties in need of significant maintenance, prior to receipt of a complaint and initiation of enforcement activity, to ascertain underlying reasons for the degraded property condition, and connection with available local, state, and federal resources that can assist with property rehabilitation for lower income or disabled property owners
• HE-I-12: Fair Housing Affirmative Marketing Strategy
o Includes improving the marketing activities for affordable housing units when they become available, such as adding schools outside the RCAA to the required recipient list for application solicitations to increase the chances of families with children outside the RCAA to learn about affordable housing opportunities within the RCAA
• HE-I-14: State and Federal Law Conformance
o Includes significant modernization of the Pacifica Municipal Code to align with state law addressing various housing-related topics
The timeline for implementation of each program is set forth in the main chapter of the Draft Housing Element. In total, work to implement Housing Element programs will comprise a major work program for Planning Department and other City staff during the eight-year planning period.
6. California Environmental Quality Act
Adoption of the Draft Housing Element is an action subject to environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). To comply with CEQA, staff has prepared an Initial Study/Negative Declaration (IS/ND), entitled “Housing Element Update – 2023-2031,” State Clearinghouse No. 2023110438 (Attachment D). Due to the Planning Commission’s purely advisory role on this item, it will also provide a recommendation to City Council on whether to adopt the IS/ND as prepared by staff.
The IS/ND found that adoption of the Draft Housing Element could not have a significant effect on the environment. The primary reason for this conclusion is that the Draft Housing Element is a policy document. It does not propose or approve specific projects, change General Plan land use designations or rezone properties, or implement ordinance amendments of any kind. Rather, it sets forth a plan for how the City may best facilitate housing development in a manner consistent with and required by state law, which will be implemented over the eight-year Housing Element cycle.
The IS/ND was available for public review and comment from November 16 through December 18, 2023. The City received eight comment letters from private individuals but did not receive any comments from public agencies during the public comment period (Attachment E). While CEQA does not require preparation of a formal response to comments for adoption of an IS/ND, staff has nevertheless prepared the responses below to address key themes in the public comment letters submitted.
Comment Theme 1: The Housing Element will add approximately 2,000 new housing units to the City of Pacifica, which will result in potentially significant environmental impacts including potential cumulative 1 Packet Pg. 12
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2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
impacts. Environmental review should not be deferred to a project-by-project basis, and an environmental impact report (EIR) should be prepared.
Response to Comment: The Draft Housing Element, if adopted, would not amend the Land Use Element of the General Plan, or rezone the Zoning Map. Rather, these actions would require further Planning Commission and City Council actions in the future. General Plan amendments to the Land Use Element of the General Plan and rezoning to the Zoning Map are actions that would be subject to environmental review pursuant to CEQA. The City will prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) to assess potentially significant environmental impacts that would result from implementation of Housing Element Program HE-I-1 which includes the General Plan amendment and rezoning actions necessary to create new housing capacity and to accommodate the RHNA. Because adoption of the Housing Element would not amend the Land Use Element of the General Plan or rezone sites to create new housing capacity, this action would not result in any direct or indirect physical impacts to the environment.
Comment Theme 2: Development of housing on Site 21 (Oceana High School) would have potentially significant effects on the environment and should have been evaluated in the IS/ND.
Response to Comment: As described in the response to Comment Theme 1, the Draft Housing Element, if adopted, would not amend the Land Use Element of the General Plan, or rezone the Zoning Map. Therefore, adoption of the Housing Element would not result in any direct or indirect physical impacts to the environment. Furthermore, the specific setbacks, lot coverage, height, and other development standards associated with the future General Plan amendment and rezoning necessary to establish new housing capacity on Site 21 are not known at this time.
As a result, potential aesthetic impacts are not reasonably foreseeable at this time and cannot be adequately analyzed. As noted in the response to Comment Theme 1, the City will prepare an EIR to assess the impacts of Housing Element Program HE-I-1.
Comment Theme 3: State Planning and Zoning Law requires housing elements to provide an “inventory of land suitable and available for residential development” that have “realistic and demonstrated potential for redevelopment during the planning period to meet the locality’s housing need.” (Gov. Code sec. 65583(a)(3)). As a result, the Draft Housing Element should include the former Sea Bowl bowling alley site in the Housing Site Inventory based on a specific development proposal contemplated for the site.
Response to Comment: This comment does not relate to the sufficiency or adequate of the IS/ND. Rather, the comment relates to the content of the Housing Site Inventory in the Draft Housing Element. The comment has been made available to the Planning Commission for consideration.
Based on the foregoing public comments, no revisions to the IS/ND prepared by staff and attached to this staff report are required at this time.
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2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption Recommendation to City Council January 4, 2024
7. Public Comments
The City received extensive written public comments during the course of development of the Draft Housing Element. These are consolidated in Appendix A: Community Consultation of the Draft Housing Element (Attachment B).
The public remains welcome to submit written public comments at [email protected].
8. Staff Recommendation
Staff recommends adoption of the attached Resolution which would recommend City Council approval of the Negative Declaration and the 2021-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan.
Adoption of the Housing Element after revisions in response to HCD’s comment letter is consistent with the actions taken by other Bay Area jurisdictions following receipt of their HCD comment letters.
Following adoption, staff will then transmit the Adopted Housing Element to HCD for a 60-day review period. The potential exists for HCD to have additional comments on the Adopted Housing Element which may require further revisions. Staff will request that the Council, when adopting the Housing Element, authorize staff to make revisions that are requested by HCD to achieve certification and that are consistent with Council direction. More substantive revisions could require readoption before the City achieves certification.
9. Commission Action
MOTION FOR APPROVAL:
Move to adopt the attached Resolution to:
A. Recommend that the City Council adopt an Initial Study/Negative Declaration for the project title “Housing Element Update – 2023-2031,” State Clearinghouse No. 2023110438 in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); and B. Recommend that the City Council approve the 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan in the form included as Attachment B to the staff report; and C. Incorporate all documents and testimony into the record by reference.
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment A - Draft Resolution Recommending Approval to City Council (PDF) Attachment B - Draft Housing Element 2023-2031 - December 8, 2023 (PDF) Attachment C - HCD Comment Letter on First Draft Housing Element (with numbering) (PDF) Attachment D - Pacifica Housing Element Draft Initial Study/Negative Declaration (IS/ND) (PDF)
Attachment E - Public Comments on IS/ND (PDF)
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ATTACHMENTS TO PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT INTENTIONALLY OMITTED