6TH CYCLE HOUSING ELEMENT - ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION PROJECT TITLE: 6th Cycle Housing Element Update
PROJECT LOCATION: City of Ripon – Citywide.
The 6th Cycle Housing Element is a city-wide project. The City is located within San Joaquin County and is bounded by unincorporated San Joaquin County to the north, east, and west, and by the Stanislaus River and unincorporated Stanislaus County to the south. The City is accessed primarily via Highway 99, which transects the City. The Housing Element focuses on actions and sites within the City limits and does not identify any sites for annexation.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The Project is an update to the Housing Element of the City of Ripon 2040 General Plan (Ripon General Plan) that was adopted by the City of Ripon in 2006. State Housing Law (Government Code Section 65580 [et. seq.]) mandates that local governments must adequately plan to meet the existing and projected housing needs of all economic segments of the community. Upon its adoption, the 6th Cycle Housing Element will become part of the Ripon General Plan. The Housing Element historically has been updated every five to eight years to address changing community needs. The proposed 6th Cycle Housing Element Update covers the State of California’s designated eight-year projection period from June 30, 2023 through December 31, 2031 and planning period from December 31, 2023 through December 31, 2031.
State requirements for Housing Elements are more detailed and exacting than for any other General Plan element. California Government Code Sections 65580 through 65589 require that Housing Elements contain:
• An assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints relevant to meeting those needs;
• A statement of the community’s goals, quantified objectives, and policies relevant to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing; and • A program that sets forth an 8-year schedule of actions that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake, with specified timetables, to implement the policies to achieve the goals and objectives of its Housing Element.
As required by state law, the 6th Cycle Housing Element identifies residential sites adequate to accommodate a variety of housing types for all income levels, analyzes governmental constraints to housing maintenance, improvement, and development; addresses conservation and improvement of the condition of the existing affordable housing stock; and outlines policies to promote housing opportunities for all persons. The projected housing needs for the City of Ripon during the planning cycle were determined through the Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) process. The RHNA for each San Joaquin County jurisdiction was established by the San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) pursuant to Section 65584 of the California Government Code. Ripon is required to accommodate 1,424 units, including 347 units for very low income households, 218 units for low income households, 255 units for moderate income households, and 604 units for above moderate income households. State law does not mandate that these units be constructed; they do, however, the City is required demonstrate adequate zoning and available vacant and underutilized lands to meet this projected need.
In compliance with State Housing Element Law requirements, the City of Ripon has prepared the 6th Cycle Housing Element to:
• Provide goals, policies, quantified objectives and scheduled programs to preserve, improve, and develop housing,
• Identify and analyze existing and projected housing needs for all economic segments of the community,
• Identify sites that can reasonably be expected to be available within the 8-year housing cycle to meet the City’s fair share of regional housing needs at all income levels, • Affirmatively further fair housing,
• Substantially comply with State law, and
• Be internally consistent with other parts of the General Plan.
The 6th Cycle Housing Element includes the City’s “Housing Plan,” which includes the goals, policies, and programs the City will implement to address constraints and needs. The City’s overarching objective is to ensure that decent, safe housing is available to all current and future residents at a cost that is within the reach of existing and future residents. To this end, the Housing Plan focuses on goals, policies, and programs that:
• Provide and maintain adequate sites to accommodate the City’s housing needs for each income levels, special needs groups, and a variety of household types. • Foster development of a variety of housing types, densities, and prices to meet Ripon’s housing needs for people and households of all income levels, including extremely low, very low, low, and moderate income households, and special needs households through removal of constraints, designation of adequate sites, and encouragement of a variety of housing types.
• Promote the conservation, maintenance, and improvement of Ripon’s existing housing stock and preservation of affordable units.
• Affirmatively further fair and equal housing opportunities throughout the community for all persons, including special needs populations and all classes protected under Federal and State fair housing laws, so that safe and decent housing is available to all persons and all income levels.
• Encourage energy conservation in residential development.
REASONS WHY THIS PROJECT IS EXEMPT OR DOES NOT REQUIRE FURTHER ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTATION:
The 6th Cycle Housing Element supports population growth that is mandated to be accommodated by the State; the City does not have the discretion to decrease the amount of growth allocated to the City through the 2023-2031 Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan adopted by the San Joaquin Council of Governments. The 6th Cycle Housing Element focuses on accommodating development that is mandated by the State, has been planned for San Joaquin County region by the San Joaquin Council of Governments, and is consistent with the Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy which addresses regional growth, transportation, and sustainability.
The project has been revised for potential impacts associated with all CEQA topics, including:
• Aesthetics
• Agriculture / Forestry Resources
• Air Quality
• Biological Resources
• Cultural Resources
• Energy
• Geology/Soils
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Hazards & Hazardous Materials
• Hydrology/Water Quality
• Land Use / Planning
• Mineral Resources
• Noise
• Population / Housing
• Public Services
• Recreation
• Transportation
• Tribal Cultural Resources
• Utilities / Service Systems
• Wildfire
• Mandatory Findings of Significance
The Project does not have the potential to result in a significant or potentially significant impact related to any of the above-listed environmental resource.
The Housing Element update is strictly a policy document and does not provide entitlements to any specific land use projects. The Project contains goals, policies, and programs aimed at accommodating the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation of 1,424 housing units by 2031. The proposed project does not entitle, propose, or approve any development project, zoning amendment, General Plan land use amendment, or any other physical change to the environment.
The 6th Cycle Housing Element identifies an inventory of sites with capacity under the existing General Plan, zoning, and requirements of State law that can accommodate the projected need. The 6th Cycle Housing Element encourages a variety of housing types, including dense, mixed-use housing development, within areas of the City that are already designated and zoned to accommodate housing with adequate existing or planned infrastructure to support development, in compliance with the City’s Ripon General Plan, the Municipal Code, including Title 16 (Development Title), and mandates of State law to accommodate eligible housing projects. The Project does not require the rezoning of any sites to accommodate the City’s housing needs. The Project does not entitle any development projects. Further, the City does not have the discretion to disapprove housing projects and densities that are mandated to be accommodated by State law, including State density bonus standards and by-right development that meets specific criteria where office, retail, or parking uses are a principally permitted use.
Therefore, the 6th Cycle Housing Element would not result in any direct or indirect physical changes to the environment.
Implementation of future programs, including programs to update the Development Title of the Municipal Code and consideration of future development projects will be reviewed at the projectlevel as those projects are reviewed by the City and appropriate CEQA analysis will be prepared in connection with those amendments.
Based on the above facts, the City of Ripon finds that there is no substantial evidence that the 6th Cycle Housing Element may have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, the Housing Element Update is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as set forth in Public Resources Code Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines. Further, the project is exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15283 as an action to implement a regional housing need determination and under CEQA Guidelines Section 15262 exempting feasibility studies for future actions which an agency has not yet approved.