ATTACHMENT A
FINDINGS OF CONSISTENCY
Prior to the approval of a Zoning Code Amendment, the following findings must be made:
1. The proposed amendment is in conformance with the goals, policies and objectives of the General Plan, and other adopted goals and policies of the City.
The proposed amendment to the Zoning Code is consistent with the goals and policies of the General Plan as follows:
General Plan
Land Use Element
• Policy 2.1 (Housing Choices). Provide opportunities for a full range of housing types, densities, locations, and affordability levels to address the community’s fair share of regional, senior, and workforce housing needs and provide a strong customer base sustaining the economic vitality of Pasadena’s commercial land uses. The types, densities, and location of housing shall be determined by the Land Use Diagram and reflect the projected needs specified in the Housing Element.
• Policy 7.2 (Architectural Diversity & Creativity). Allow for the development of a diversity of buildings styles. Support innovative and creative design solutions to issues related to context and environmental sustainability.
• Policy 21.1 (Adequate and Affordable Housing). Provide a variety of housing types (i.e. small subdivisions, row housing, and condominiums), styles, densities, and affordability levels that are accessible to and meet preferences for different neighborhood types (e.g. mixed use pedestrian environments and traditional suburban neighborhoods), physical abilities and income levels, pursuant to the Housing Element.
Housing Element
• Policy HE-1.1 (Diversity of Neighborhoods). Provide balanced mixes, densities, and forms of residential and mixed-use districts and neighborhoods..
• Policy HE-1.2 (Property Conditions). Help property owners maintain the quality of rental and ownership housing by ensuring compliance with City building codes and standards.
Facilitate and promote the renovation, improvement, and rehabilitation of housing.
• Policy HE-2.1 (Housing Diversity). Facilitate and encourage diversity in types, prices, ownership, and size of single-family homes, apartments, town homes, mixed-uses, transit-oriented developments, and work/live housing, among others.
• Policy HE-2.4 (Affordable Housing). Facilitate a mix of household income and affordability levels in residential projects citywide, with an emphasis on ensuring integration of affordable housing into every neighborhood.
• Policy HE-2.7 (Missing Middle). Address the growing need for "missing middle" housing- rental and ownership homes affordable to the moderate-income workforce.
• Policy HE-2.8 (Development Process). Modify development processes to streamline and simplify the processing of entitlement permits, design review, building permits, and funding of affordable housing projects.
• Policy HE-4.1 (Senior Housing). Support development and maintenance of affordable senior rental and ownership housing and supportive services that facilitate independence and the ability of seniors to remain in their homes and the community.
• Policy HE-4.3 (People with Disabilities). Support the development of permanent, affordable, and accessible housing that allows people with disabilities to live independent lives.
• Implementation Program #11 (Review Alternative Housing Opportunities). Review the current ADU standards and review process and evaluate how best to amend the ordinance to reflect State law while maintaining the character and quality of residential neighborhoods. Make any adjustments needed to facilitate ADU production, including strategies to encourage covenanted affordable ADUs.
The proposed amendments include changes to the Zoning Code in order to facilitate creation of Accessory Dwelling Units within the confines of the recently amended State Law, which recognized Accessory Dwelling Units as an essential component of the State’s housing supply and as a means to help address the statewide housing crisis and housing affordability issues. The proposed amendments significantly expand areas where Accessory Dwelling Units can be constructed, provide the community with additional opportunity to create such units and allow for a housing type that can cater to various income levels. The proposed amendment is consistent with Land Use Element Policies 2.1 and 21.1, as well as the Housing Element Policy HE-2.4, HE-2.7, HE-4.1 and HE-4.3. In addition, the proposed amendments are consistent with the Land Use Element policies 7.2 and 21.1 along with the Housing Element Policy HE-1.1, since the proposed amendments will allow for architectural diversity in neighborhoods.
Lastly, the proposed amendment carries out Implementation Program #11 of the Housing Element, which requires the City to review the City’s Accessory Dwelling Unit standards for consistency with State Law and to further facilitate ADU production.
2. The proposed amendment would not be detrimental to the public interest, health, safety, convenience, or general welfare of the City.
The proposed amendments would not be detrimental to the public interest, health, safety, convenience, or general welfare of the City because these amendments will facilitate the construction of units of various sizes in lots where additional units were previously not allowed, which is the public interest of the City. In compliance with current state law, the proposed amendments allow exemption units of up to 800 square feet, 16 feet in height and with four-foot side and rear setbacks within any zone where residential uses are allowed.
The proposed amendments also include limits to lot coverage, building height, and various objective standards for non-exempt units as allowed by State ADU Law. The proposed amendments also limit accessory dwelling units in the Hillside Overlay Districts served by private or public streets of up to 26 feet wide to only the Statewide Exemption ADUs is consistent with Government Code Section 6585202, sub, (a)(1)(A) which allows municipalities to limit where ADUs may be located based on the “impact of the accessory dwelling units on traffic flow and public safety”. Reasons for limiting non-exempt units in Hillside Overlay Districts (HODs) include:
a) Narrow street widths: Fire engines not only need to be able to travel to their destination, but when they get there, they need to be able to get close enough to deploy hose lines and access fire hydrants and other connections. ‘Fire Apparatus Access Roads’ are the streets, roads and fire lanes which provide access for fire engines from the fire station to the subject property. The Pasadena Fire Code states that fire apparatus access roads shall have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet, exclusive of shoulders. In reviewing street widths in the HODs, many streets do not meet this standard. For example, Edgehill Place, Putney Road and Patrician Way all have street widths of 16 to 18 feet with no shoulders. City staff confirmed via fieldwork in August 2023 that even streets up to 26 feet wide are extremely narrow, as most of them allow parking on one or both sides, making the unobstructed width less than 20 feet. Limiting the size of ADUs to such properties will only affect approximately 1,600 properties (or 5.3 percent of all single-family zoned properties in the City). Refer to Attachment E (Street Widths Map).
b) Fire Hazards: Most of the City’s HODs are known as ‘urban-wildlife interface’ areas, which consist of hillside areas where homes and the naturally flammable chaparral vegetation interface. Much of the urban-wildlife interface was developed far before these fire hazards were understood, and the community has since expanded and outgrown its original narrow road infrastructure system. Properties within the urban-wildlife interface are also within VHFHSZ, as determined by CalFire. CalFire creates these hazard maps to assign a ‘hazard’ score based on the factors that influence fire likelihood and fire behavior. These fire hazard zones fall into the following classifications – moderate, high, and very high. Recent updates to the maps have resulted in expansions to the fire zones due to climate changes. All of private and public streets up to 26 feet wide are also within ‘very high’ fire hazard zones.
c) Evacuation Routes: Given that fires in the urban-wildland interface are generally fast- moving and evolving, not only is access for emergency personnel important but also evacuation routes. In addition, the duration of the fire season is significantly longer than in past decades, which can be attributed to climate change. According to CalFire, wildfire threats are also ever growing, and ‘catastrophic’ fires are becoming the new normal.
From 2019 through 2022, nearly 45,000 structures across California were destroyed or damaged as a result of wildfire. The most significant wildfires in Southern California during that period includes the 2017 Thomas Fire in Ojai, Santa Paula and Ventura (1,063 structures destroyed), 2017 Creek Fire in Sylmar (123), 2018 Woolsey Fire in Malibu (1,643), 2019 Sandalwood Fire in Yucaipa (74) and 2020 Bobcat Fire in Monrovia (170). Due the increasing number and frequency of wildfires, it is imperative to take necessary steps to limit ADUs on properties along private and public streets up to 26 feet wide.
d) Vehicle Ownership and Safe Pedestrian Access to Transit: The HODs present unique challenges with regards to pedestrian access to transit, compared to other parts of the City. For example, the Linda Vista neighborhood is only served by Pasadena Transit Route 51/52, which connects the Central District to the Art Center Hillside Campus and JPL Laboratory on weekdays only. The San Rafael neighborhood is only served by Metro Route 256. To access these routes, most residents need to walk along steep, winding and narrow roads. In addition, many of these roads do not include curbs, sidewalks, paved shoulders, guard rails or lighting. This significantly increases safety risks to pedestrians, especially those with disabilities or parents with small children. Based on the 2021 US Census American Community Survey, 91 percent of all households in Pasadena own a vehicle. It is presumed that residents in the HODs are even more likely to rely on personal vehicles for most or all their transportation needs. Many private and public streets up to 26 feet wide also have extremely poor pedestrian access to transit.