CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
9/17/2024
1 SUBJECT:
Consideration of a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Certifying that the Revised Certification Draft Local Coastal Land Use Plan (LCLUP) with Alternative Modifications is Intended To be Carried out in a Manner Fully in Conformity with the California Coastal Act; Adopting the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with Alternative Modifications; Directing the City Manager to Transmit the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with Alternative Modifications to the California Coastal Commission For Certification; and Finding that Approval of the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP With Alternative Modifications Is Exempt From The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
1) Receive a presentation from staff and confirm alternative modifications to the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP; and
2) Approve the Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Certifying that the Revised Certification Draft Local Coastal Land Use Plan (LCLUP) with Alternative Modifications is Intended To Be Carried Out In A Manner Fully In Conformity With The California Coastal Act; Adopting the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with Alternative Modifications; Directing the City Manager to Transmit the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with Alternative Modifications to the California Coastal Commission For Certification; and Finding that Approval of the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP With Alternative Modifications is Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
STAFF CONTACT:
Stefanie Cervantes, AICP, Acting Deputy Director
(650) 738-7341
[email protected]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City has worked on an update to its Local Coastal Land Use Plan (LCLUP) since 2009.
Most recently in 2023 and 2024, the City has undertaken a community engagement strategy to inform the community and City Council about the LCLUP Update process and steps that could be considered to respond to California Coastal Commission (CCC) staff suggested modifications from March 2023 that would modify the City’s Certification Draft LCLUP approved by City Council in February 2020. Completion of the LCLUP Update would advance Goal 4, Strategy C of the City Council’s 2023 to 2030 Strategic Plan: Update Pacifica’s Local Coastal Plan and improve communications and collaboration with the California Coastal Commission.
Most recently, on August 12, 2024, the City Council held a Special Meeting to undertake a detailed discussion of alternative modifications that City staff has proposed in response to the CCC staff’s suggested modifications released in March 2023. The City Council was able to discuss many of the policies in Chapter 6 but was unable to complete the discussion on the Special Shoreline Resiliency Area (SSRA) policies.
The September 17th meeting is intended to conclude the detailed review of the alternative modifications and determine whether City Council intends to submit the City-staff recommended alternative modifications to the CCC.
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This report does not contain a revised Summary Table or revised Redline LCLUP since the August 26, 2024 meeting. Staff will be referencing to the versions attached in the August 26, 2024 report during the meeting.
INTRODUCTION:
Pacifica Needs an Updated LCLUP
The California Coastal Act requires every city along the coast to prepare a Local Coastal Program (LCP), which consists of two parts: a Local Coastal Land Use Plan (LCLUP) and an Implementation Plan (IP). The LCLUP must be consistent with the Coastal Act. The LCLUP must specify the intended uses of land within the Coastal Zone, and serves as a policy framework for future actions, such as development review and City infrastructure projects. The LCLUP must balance statewide interests for the Coastal Zone as expressed in the Coastal Act with local land use priorities. The LCLUP also guides the contents of the IP, which consists of the zoning ordinance, zoning map, and other policies and programs to implement the LCLUP.
The City’s LCLUP currently in effect was last comprehensively updated in 1980 (“1980 LCLUP”). While the LCLUP is separate from the General Plan, much of the descriptive text and policies overlap between both documents due to their similar purposes of specifying land uses, establishing goals and policies, and providing a policy framework for future actions.
There are many benefits to having an updated LCLUP. These include, but are not limited to, accurate maps, modernized policies to guide development, enhanced environmental protections, strengthened economic development and housing policies, and consistency with the City’s 2040 General Plan. Achieving consistency with the City’s General Plan, which the City Council comprehensively updated in July 2022, will become increasingly challenging over time if a corresponding LCLUP Update is not completed. Also, whenever a conflict between the 2040 General Plan and the 1980 LCLUP occurs, the 1980 LCLUP’s policies will prevail.
Staff’s assessment is that the 1980 LCLUP is not adequate to continue guiding the City’s actions in the Coastal Zone on a long-term basis. Many objectives of the 1980 LCLUP have been accomplished, such as protection of key beach and open space areas and formalization of public coastal access in many locations, while its assessments of some coastal neighborhoods are no longer reflective of the challenges and needs of those areas. Moreover, the 1980 LCLUP does not do enough to help Pacifica plan for the future. The plan is over 40 years old, and importantly, the 1980 LCLUP does not effectively identify climate change and sea level rise (SLR) as major issues that need to be addressed.
The City Council has recognized since at least 2009 that an update was needed, and started the process at that time. Yet, despite 15 years with various starts and stops in the process, the update is not yet completed. As more time passes, the need for an update continues to grow, and the problems the LCLUP seeks to address will only become more complex. The City Council has demonstrated the capacity to tackle difficult challenges in recent years, and has used lessons learned during community planning processes to inform subsequent planning and implementation activities, as exhibited in the following:
• The General Plan Update, which identified a community desire for in-fill, mixed-use development, preservation of open spaces, enhancement of parks and other community facilities, and improved planning to address hazard mitigation and evacuation from wildfires and other events, among other priorities.
• The Sharp Park Specific Plan (SPSP), which creates a plan for the historic Sharp Park Pacifica City Council 3
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neighborhood to enhance it as a regional destination and active neighborhood center. • The Housing Element Update, which demonstrated the need to plan for more than 2,000 housing units, while undertaking other supporting actions to accelerate housing approvals and provide services for the neediest members of our community. • The Economic Opportunities Study, which identified ways for the City to strengthen its fiscal position so it can continue to provide high-quality services, infrastructure, and facilities to meet community needs.
The priorities identified in the above-referenced planning documents cannot meaningfully move forward in the Coastal Zone while limited by the 1980 LCLUP. An updated LCLUP is needed to address these emerging community priorities while also addressing issues that are all the more pressing in the Coastal Zone such as climate change and SLR adaptation. While significant City staff resources continue to be absorbed by the LCLUP Update process, work on those other community priorities cannot proceed effectively. Housing Element implementation, pursuing economic development initiatives, planning for City infrastructure and facilities, etc., can all advance much more efficiently once an updated LCLUP is in place. Completion of the LCLUP Update is also needed before staff can focus on pursuing CCC certification of the Sharp Park Specific Plan (SPSP), which combined with redevelopment of 2212 Beach Boulevard (a major economic opportunity site for the City) will provide a major boost to the Palmetto Avenue commercial corridor and enhance the City as a visitor destination. Implementation SPSP is on hold until the LCLUP and, subsequently, SPSP are certified by the CCC.
Lastly, an update to Pacifica’s LCLUP to account for SLR is inevitable. State law, as enacted in late 2023 with Senate Bill (SB) 272, now requires LCLUPs throughout California to be updated to include a plan to address SLR.
Based on this information, staff’s assessment is that completion of the LCLUP Update as expeditiously as possible and consistent with the 2040 General Plan is in the City’s best interest.
DISCUSSION:
1. Community Engagement
Community engagement has been a significant component of the LCLUP Update process, particularly the latest phase occurring in 2023 and 2024. The City Council has expanded the community engagement plan it initially approved with three meetings into a four-meeting plan, with potential for a fifth meeting. This May 23 meeting is the third iteration of “Meeting #4,” effectively resulting in a six-meeting community engagement plan, and continues the discussion of alternative modifications proposed by City staff that started on April 15. Additional information on the City’s work to update the LCLUP and the community engagement plan is available in the City Council agenda reports for the City Council meetings on October 9, 2023 (Agenda Item No. 10), November 13, 2023 (Agenda Item No. 1), December 5, 2023 (Agenda Item No. 1), March 2, 2024 (Agenda Item No. 1), April 15, 2024 (Agenda Item No. 1), April 22, 2024 (Agenda Item No. 6), May 23, 2024 (Agenda Item No. 1), June 26, 2024 (Agenda Item No. 1), and August 12, 2024 (Agenda Item No. 14). The March 2, 2024 report includes detailed case studies that describe specific scenarios that could result from application of different potential LCLUP policies in the Coastal Zone and responses to almost 150 questions submitted by the public. Additionally, the May 23, 2024 report includes responses to over 100 questions received by the public and City Council.
This community engagement process is intended to conclude the comprehensive LCLUP update process that started nearly 15 years ago. It involves concluding the LCLUP update process based on the structure and policy emphasis approved by the City Council in the 2020 LCLUP, with consideration of alternative modifications to certain policies as an alternative to the Pacifica City Council 4
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CCC staff’s suggested modifications from March 2023 (i.e., the “alternative modifications”). This process is not a reconsideration of policy emphasis or direction that was approved in the 2020 LCLUP (and continued in the Revised LCLUP) and instead is focused on specific changes to LCP policies that will ensure CCC certification.
The purpose of the LCLUP Update process and community engagement process is to bring the Council and community to a point of understanding the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with Alternative Modifications so an informed decision can be made on whether to approve the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with Alternative Modifications. This is a necessary step to conclude the comprehensive LCLUP update process that was started in 2009 and most recently included incorporation of conforming General Plan amendments in October 2023. Consideration of a resolution to propose alternative modifications that may be acceptable to the CCC is the best and most expedient way for the City to seek CCC certification of the LCLUP in a form that is acceptable to the CCC and the City Council.
The need for transmittal of alternative modifications by resolution arose during a City-CCC staff coordination meeting after LCLUP Meeting #3 on March 2, 2024. At the coordination meeting, CCC staff relayed that further internal discussions at the CCC concluded that transmittal by resolution was required pursuant to Public Resources Code section 30510 which states, in part, that “a proposed local coastal program may be submitted to the [CCC]” only if it is submitted “pursuant to a resolution adopted by the local government...” Staff has prepared the draft resolution included as Attachment A which will serve as the mechanism for transmittal of the alternative modifications to the CCC once they are finalized by the City Council. Adoption of the resolution would be considered at a subsequent City Council meeting.
2. Follow-up Items from August 12, 2024
Staff noted a few points in City Council’s discussion at the August 12th meeting that required follow-up, related to policies CR-I-20 and CR-I-21. Staff will clarify these points during the September 17th meeting. Additionally, there were items identified in the August 12th report related to policies LD-I-20, ER-I-1, ER-I-24, Substantial Structural Modification definition, and additional text revisions needed for Coastal Act Consistency as stated in the letter from California Coastal Commission (CCC) staff, dated August 6th (Attachment C). Staff has continued the conversation with CCC staff, and it is anticipated that both staffs will reach consensus on the points raised in the August 6th letter by September 17, 2024, but have not received final confirmation from CCC staff by the time of this staff report release. Accordingly, City staff will clarify status during the September 17 meeting. The text revisions are included in the clean version of the LCLUP (Attachment B); however, it is anticipated that minor revisions may be needed once CCC staff confirms. These minor revisions can be read into the record at the September 17 meeting.
3. Next Steps
The key outcome of this meeting is to approve the attached Resolution which approves the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with alternative modifications and then staff will submit the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP to CCC staff. CCC staff has indicated that they will need approximately 2-3 months to review and schedule a hearing on the City’s LCLUP once they receive the City Council resolution. The CCC may then certify the City’s LCLUP as submitted, deny the LCLUP submittal, or certify subject to City Council acceptance of additional suggested modifications.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Staff has received one public comment since the August 12, 2024 City Council Meeting and Pacifica City Council 5
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before the release date of this report, see Attachment D.
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA):
Adoption of the Revised Certification Draft LCLUP with Alternative Modifications would be exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15266 of the CEQA Guidelines (“Adoption of Coastal Plans and Programs”) which provides that “CEQA does not apply to activities and approvals pursuant to the California Coastal Act…by (1) Any local government, as defined by Section 30109 of the Public Resources Code, necessary for the preparation and adoption of a local coastal program…” Section 15265 further provides that “CEQA shall apply to the certification of a local coastal program… by the California Coastal Commission.” ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
No alternative action has been identified.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
The Local Coastal Land Use Plan Update is consistent with the following item(s) in the Counciladopted Strategic Plan and Priority Work Plan for FY 2023-24:
• Goal 4: Pursue climate change adaptation and mitigation. o Strategy C: Update Pacifica’s Local Coastal Plan and improve communications and collaboration with the California Coastal Commission.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact from this item.
ORIGINATED BY:
Planning Department
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment A - Draft Resolution for LCLUP Process Update (DOCX) Attachment B - Revised Certification Draft Local Coastal Land Use Plan (PDF) Attachment C - CCC comment letter to City of Pacifica 8-6-24 (PDF) Attachment D - Public Comment (PDF)