Administrative
Report
L.2., File # 22-3579 Meeting Date: 2/1/2022
To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: BRANDY FORBES, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
TITLE
PUBLIC HEARING FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE REVISED CITY OF REDONDO BEACH 6TH CYCLE 2021-2029 DRAFT HOUSING ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN CONFIRMING
CERTIFICATION OF AN INITIAL STUDY/NEGATIVE DECLARATION
ADOPT BY TITLE ONLY RESOLUTION NO. CC-2202-003, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING THE CITY’S 6TH CYCLE 2021-2029 DRAFT HOUSING ELEMENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN INCORPORATING
RECOMMENDED AMENDMENTS FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (HCD) AND CITING THE PREVIOUSLY ADOPTED CALIFORNIA
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA) DOCUMENTATION, INITIAL STUDY/NEGATIVE
DECLARATION
PROCEDURES:
1. Open public hearing;
2. Take testimony from staff and all interested parties, and deliberate;
3. Close public hearing;
4. Adopt by title only Resolution No. CC-2202-003
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On October 5, 2021, the City Council held a public hearing and adopted the City of Redondo Beach’s 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element. That adopted Housing Element was submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) prior to the October 15, 2021 statutory deadline.
HCD issued their comments on the City’s Housing Element on January 5, 2022, a full 90 days after the City’s adopted element was received by HCD. Attached is the HCD comment letter, dated January 5, 2022.
At their January 11, 2022 meeting, City Council discussed HCD’s comments and provided direction on the City’s next steps for response.
The City’s revised 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Draft Housing Element addressing the HCD January 5, 2022 letter, is still being prepared and will be provided as a Blue Folder item prior to the February 1, 2022 Hearing. The City Council will have the opportunity to consider the revised element on February 1, but may wish to continue the Public Hearing to February 8, to provide for additional consideration and
L.2., File # 22-3579 Meeting Date: 2/1/2022
but may wish to continue the Public Hearing to February 8, to provide for additional consideration and public input.
Adoption of the revised City’s 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Housing Element by resolution, incorporating recommended amendments from HCD and citing the previously adopted CEQA documentation should occur (and then be submitted to HCD) prior to February 11, 2022.
BACKGROUND
At the public meeting on June 15, 2021, the Redondo Beach City Council approved in a 3-2 vote the City’s Draft General Plan Land Use Plan/Map, which demonstrated the City’s capacity for complying with Redondo Beach’s 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), and authorized staff to submit the Draft Housing Element to the State’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
Staff submitted the Draft Element to HCD and on September 2, 2021 received HCD’s formal written comments (see attached). HCD’s correspondence noted that the City’s Draft Element addressed many of the State’s statutory requirements; but also stated that revisions were required to address concerns regarding 1) the adequacy of sites for accommodating the City’s regional housing needs allocation of 1,444 housing units for lower-income households, 2) affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH) requirements, 3) the amount of information on the City’s Housing Programs, and 4) the public’s opportunity to review and comment on the Draft Element.
At their public hearing on September 16, 2021, the Planning Commission considered HCD’s comments along with staff’s recommendations for response, received additional comments from the public, discussed and approved edits to the Housing Element, and recommended that the City Council adopt the City’s 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Draft Housing Element as revised along with the associated environmental documentation.
On October 5, 2021, the City Council held a public hearing and adopted the City of Redondo Beach’s 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element on a 3-2 vote. The adopted Housing Element was submitted to HCD, prior to the October 15, 2021 statutory deadline, for HCD to determine if the Housing Element complies with State Housing Element Law.
It should be noted that the City’s current 5th Cycle Housing Element was originally adopted by the City Council on March 18, 2014, covering an 8-year cycle from 2013-2021. However, since the City adopted the 5th Cycle Housing Element past the statutory deadline, the City was required to conduct a mid-term (4-year) update to the Housing Element in 2017. The City adopted the 2017 Technical Midterm Update to the 5th Cycle 2013-2021 Housing Element on September 19, 2017, which was prior to the statutory deadline of October 15, 2017. The City met the obligation of adopting the 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Housing Element by submitting before the October 15, 2021 deadline, making the City eligible to be on an eight-year Housing Element cycle beginning in 2021.
During the 6th Cycle review and adoption process, Assembly Bill 1398 was adopted and approved by the Governor on September 28, 2021. This bill removed the 4-year update requirement for those municipalities not meeting the statutory deadline for adoption of a Housing Element, thus establishing an 8-year cycle for all municipalities. Yet, the new State regulations have a restriction that if a local government does not adopt a substantially compliant Housing Element (as determined by HCD) within 120 days of the October 15, 2021 deadline (February 11, 2022), the municipality must then
L.2., File # 22-3579 Meeting Date: 2/1/2022
within 120 days of the October 15, 2021 deadline (February 11, 2022), the municipality must then complete the rezoning to effectuate the Housing Element by October 15, 2022 rather than by the standard three-year deadline of October 15, 2024.
Although Redondo Beach met the October 15, 2021 statutory deadline for adoption and submission of its Housing Element, the January 5, 2022 letter from HCD states that additional revisions are necessary for the Housing Element to be certified as substantially compliant with the State Housing Element Law. Therefore, currently Redondo Beach is not guaranteed the three-year timeframe to complete the rezoning needed to effectuate its Housing Element.
Staff had a virtual meeting with the HCD representative reviewing the Redondo Beach 6th Cycle Housing Element to determine what additional actions and revisions are needed to bring the City’s Housing Element into compliance by February 11, 2022. The information resulting from those discussions was presented at the January 11, 2022 City Council meeting, and includes the following:
· HCD acknowledged that they did not see enough explanation as to why the AES site was not part of the housing inventory. The City presented the obstacles of the AES site being considered, including the number of initiatives over the past two decades rejecting housing on the site and encouraging the property to become park space. · The biggest concern of the sites inventory was the North End location. Although HCD had previously requested that the City demonstrate that there would be interest for development of housing on that site in order for them to consider the site, once they received the letter they recognized the owner’s interest to develop mixed use, rather than vacating the site for scrape and build, and determined that it was unlikely that any housing would be built at the 100% affordable level. As a result, the City can only plan to count a portion of the total, around 20% of those units, toward affordable housing.
· Staff discussed other sites the City had considered, but didn’t include in the Housing Element, such as the parking lots for the South Bay Marketplace, where Living Spaces and Nordstrom Rack are located. The HCD representative confirmed that properties that are just parking lots have much more viability. HCD expressed that if we describe the condition of the parking lots as having no built structures, and include future project conditions, such as having parking on the main level remain for existing commercial uses and that residential units be built above, the sites would be considered by HCD and could help contribute to the City’s affordable unit count.
· Staff also confirmed that if the City spread the affordable units across more sites (such as adding South Bay Marketplace and increasing density South of the Transit Center and at 190th Street sites) instead of a majority at the North End location, HCD would view the plan more favorably
· Overall, HCD wants to see more narrative explaining why the City is proposing these sites and why the sites are suitable. For example, the City is very limited in the number of sites over ½ acre in size that would be viable for housing development, that is why there are a limited number of sites included in the Element. As well, when there are comments about these sites being on the periphery of the City, it is important to note the reasons why and that they are in proximity to transit sites.
· City staff also informed HCD that since the adoption of the Housing Element, the City has supported the Project Homekey application proposed in District 1 on PCH, to provide 20 units of permanent supportive housing. The HCD representative stated that this will help substantiate meeting the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) requirement. HCD also
L.2., File # 22-3579 Meeting Date: 2/1/2022
substantiate meeting the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) requirement. HCD also noted that the City should take credit for these units in the annual project report once built. · HCD did clarify that they do not credit inclusionary housing ordinances or density bonuses. · The representative did note that ADUs might be increased, but it is important to recognize that they have to be relatively in line with what the City has seen and expects to see developed over the next 8 years. The City is already using the SCAG methodology approved by HCD to count approximately 64% of the projected ADUs as affordable. · It is uncertain how much the City could count SB9 units, since there is no historical data to determine the expected number of lot splits or two-unit projects. If the City were to count them toward the low income RHNA, and they aren’t built as affordable, this would deplete the RHNA buffer and the City would eventually have to find other sites.
At the January 11, 2022 meeting, the City Council directed staff to revise the Housing Element to increase the narrative explanation for why housing sites are being selected. The direction was also to spread the affordable housing RHNA distribution that had been in the adopted Housing Element from the North Tech site to areas such as the Kingsdale and South Bay Marketplace and 190th Street, and for staff to utilize expertise and any flexibility needed to revise the plan to address the HCD comment letter. City Council directed that the revised Housing Element be returned for a public hearing on February 1, 2022.
ADDITIONAL HOUSING SITES/CONDITIONS TO BE CONSIDERED
Although preparation of the draft Housing Element is still underway and will be made available on February 1, below are the main sites/conditions the City is considering for adding the unit density and/or residential overlay zones needed to meet HCD requirements:
· North Kingsdale (area consolidated by property owner): re-designate all properties to C-4 with a residential overlay of 50 du/acre. The property owner has indicated his interest in at least 15% of the units set as affordable. Previously the units at the site only counted toward moderate and above moderate, so this interest from the property owner allows the City to consider a portion of the units as affordable.
· North Tech District: reduce the allocation of affordable to 20% of the unit capacity, with the remaining 80% to count toward the moderate and above moderate RHNA. · 190th Street: evaluating feasible density levels.
· Industrial Flex - South of Transit Center: evaluating density levels and expanding the residential overlay to the site on the NE corner of Kingsdale and 182nd Street. · South Bay Marketplace - South of Galleria: add residential overlay across the parking lots. · South PCH - LensCrafters and former FedEx sites: increase density of the mixed use. · South PCH - Smart and Final north of Elena Ave: add residential overlay across the parking lots.
This agenda item provides an opportunity for the City Council to hold a public hearing and consider adoption, by resolution, of a revised City 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Draft Housing Element incorporating recommended amendments from HCD and citing the previously adopted California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Initial Study/Negative Declaration, for submittal to HCD by the February 11, 2022 deadline.
L.2., File # 22-3579 Meeting Date: 2/1/2022
COORDINATION
Preparation of this agenda item has been in coordination with the City Manager’s Office, as well as with the City’s Housing Consultant Veronica Tam and Associates.
FISCAL IMPACT
The costs associated with the adoption of the 6th Cycle Housing Element are within the scope and budget of the existing contract with the City’s Housing consultant, Veronica Tam & Associates.
Additional revisions and/or meetings may require an amendment to the contract to address HCD’s extended process.
APPROVED BY:
Mike Witzansky, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
· HCD Review Letter on Adopted Redondo Beach 6th Cycle Housing Element dated January 5, 2022
· City’s Draft General Plan Land Use Plan/Map-City Council Approved June 15, 2021 · June 15, 2021 City Council Minutes excerpt
· HCD Comment Letter September 2, 2021
· Planning Commission Resolution No. 2021-09-PCR-14
· Planning Commission’s September 16, 2021 Administrative Report · Planning Commission Minutes September 16, 2021 excerpt · City Council October 5, 2021 Administrative Report - link to all agenda packet documents from that public hearing available at:
<https://redondo.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5157660&GUID=D84EA357-7A91-4CF9-A5EF- =
· City Council Resolution CC 2110-095 Adopting Housing Element October 5, 2021 · Final Initial Study Negative Declaration with Comments and Responses (Approved October 5, 2021)
· City Council Resolution to Adopt Housing Element February 1, 2022 · Public Hearing Legal Ad Proof