CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
1/13/2025
1 SUBJECT:
Potential extension of public comment period for Draft Environmental Impact Report for Targeted General Plan Amendments, Rezoning, and Objective Development Standards Program for the Housing Element.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Discuss and consider whether to extend the Draft Environmental Impact Report public comment period to longer than 45-days.
STAFF CONTACT:
Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
Mayor Beckmeyer and Councilmember Boles requested this item be placed on the City Council agenda for the Council to discuss and provide direction to the City Manager as to whether the public comment deadline for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for Targeted General Plan Amendments, Rezoning, and Objective Development Standards Program for the Housing Element should be extended beyond the current 45-day deadline of January 26, 2025.
A concern was expressed that the noticing and distribution of the DEIR on Friday, December 13, did not include notification methods beyond the legally required methods.
On December 13th, the following legally required notification methods were followed:
• Posted to Project Documents Plan Pacifica <https://www.planpacifica.org/project-docs> • Hardcopies at the Community Development Department (1800 Francisco Blvd), Sharp Park Library (104 Hilton Way) and Sanchez Library (1111 Terra Nova Boulevard). • Posted at the City Hall bulletin board as well as on the front window of the Civic Center. • Filed with the County Clerk Recorder’s Office.
• The notice of completion and documents were sent to the State Clearinghouse. • Published in the newspaper (SMDJ).
The State’s website notes a posting date of December 16. Therefore, the state review period will end on January 29, 2025. Based on the Plan Pacifica website visitation metrics, there was a significant spike in traffic after the December 13 noticing. Although the website service used for Plan Pacifica doesn’t provide page-specific engagement analytics, it is likely that the traffic was related to the release of the Rezoning DEIR. Between December 13 and January 2, Plan Pacifica had over 500 page views, which is a 30% increase over the monthly average.
Once staff confirmed in late December a date and location for a public meeting to receive public comment, which is now scheduled for January 14, the City provided an additional round of notifications on January 3, 2025, beyond the legal requirements. This round of notification included a link in the Connect With Pacifica e-newsletter, adding links and information to multiple other webpages beyond the Plan Pacifica project documents page, and sending an electronic message directly to Plan Pacifica interested parties. The Plan Pacifica interested parties list is a general e-mail list for persons interested in receiving updates on the General Plan, Sharp Park Specific Plan, and Housing Element. Posting to this general e-mail list is not legally required for purposes of beginning the legally required 45 review period. However, staff did post through this general e-mail list once the January 14 public meeting date was confirmed.
Pacifica City Council 2
January 13, 2025
Extending the public comment deadline would impact timing of EIR certification, which could impact Housing Element certification. Delaying Housing Element certification poses two risks.
First, the City remains subject to the submittal of applications invoking the “builder’s remedy” until Pacifica’s Housing Element is certified. Second, discretionary delays in public review periods could be scrutinized by and concerning to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
If a majority of the Council is interested in extending the public comment period, the City Manager recommends consideration of extending the time period between 7 and 21 days from the January 29, 2025 date that ends the state review period. Seven days, or until February 5, 2026, provides an extra week for public comments, but minimizes risk. A 14-day extension, or until February 14, 2025, would provide for a 60-day public comment period, which is not legally required but sometimes utilized for CEQA public comment periods. An extension until February 17, 2025, allows for a 63-day public comment period total, but allows a total of 45-days from the January 3rd date when additional public noticing occurred.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
The City Council could choose to not extend the DEIR public comment period.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
Completion of the Housing Element is a major City Council strategy in the 2023-2030 Strategic Plan.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with the recommended action.
ORIGINATED BY:
City Manager's Office
ATTACHMENT LIST: