City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: MARCH 19, 2024 FROM: COMMUNITY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WARDS: ALL
DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CITY’S GENERAL PLAN 2025 IN CALENDAR YEAR 2023 PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 65400(A)(2) ISSUE:
Receive and file an Annual Progress Report on the status of the City’s General Plan 2025 and submit it to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, pursuant to California Government Code Section 65400 (a)(2).
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the City Council:
Receive and file the 2023 Annual Progress Report for the City of Riverside’s General Plan 2025; and Direct staff to submit the Annual Progress Report for the City of Riverside’s General Plan 2025 to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, pursuant to California Government Code Section 65400 (a)(2).
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
In California, all jurisdictions must submit an Annual Progress Report (APR) on General Plan implementation, including project applications and approvals, processing times, and approval processes. Government Code Section 65400 requires the APR be presented to City Council and submitted to the Office of Planning and Research, and Department of Housing and Community Development and include the following:
The status of the General Plan and progress in its implementation.
The degree to which an approved General Plan complies with the State’s General Plan guidelines, and the date of the last revision to the General Plan.
The progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs assessment (RHNA), and local efforts to remove governmental constraints to the maintenance, improvement, and development of housing.
A list of sites rezoned to accommodate that portion of the City’s share of the RHNA.
The number of housing development applications received in the prior year.
The number of units included in all development applications in the prior year.
The number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year.
Within the Housing Element cycle, the number of net new units of housing, including rental and for-sale, issued a completed entitlement, building permit, or certificate of occupancy, and the income category, by area median income category, for each.
The number of affordable housing projects that requested processing under the State’s streamlining process (Government Code Section 65913.4(a)); and the number of units approved under the streamlining process, including those that conflicted with the State’s objective planning standards.
BACKGROUND:
The City’s General Plan 2025 was adopted in November of 2007 and includes the General Plan, Riverside Municipal Code (RMC) Title 19 - Zoning Code, RMC Title 18 – Subdivision Code, RMC Title 7 – Noise Control, and Citywide Design and Sign Guidelines. In October 2021 the Council adopted the 6th Cycle Housing Element, Updated Public Safety Element and Environmental Justice Policies were developed to meet the State’s 6th Cycle Housing Element requirements. The objectives and policies in the General Plan and subsequent updates provide the City’s vision for growth based on input from residents.
General Plan 2025 includes 12 elements, including the State-required elements (some of which have been combined) and optional elements including Arts and Culture, Education, Air Quality, Public Facilities and Infrastructure, Parks and Recreation, and Historic Preservation. General Plan 2025 includes an Implementation Plan, which contains Implementation Tools with specific actions, responsible entities, and timelines. The Implementation Tools show how the Objectives and Policies of the General Plan will be implemented. The Update includes policies and actions, including a detailed Action Plan, to help the City meet the Guiding Principles.
The Annual Progress Report (APR) (Attachment 1) reflects the City’s progress and fulfilling the General Plan 2025 objectives and policies and the Update policies and actions in the 2023 calendar year. State law requires the APR be presented to the City Council for review to ensure they are informed of the progress toward meeting mandated housing obligations. The APR also provides the public with an opportunity to give oral testimony and written comment.
DISCUSSION:
The City’s APR for calendar year 2023 was coordinated with all City Departments to verify implementation progress for the General Plan, the recently updated Housing and Public Safety Elements and Environmental Justice Policies. The APR includes General Plan 2025 implementation, General Plan 2025 course adjustments to improve implementation, correlation of land use decisions with the General Plan 2025 and progress in meeting the City’s share of regional housing needs, based on the 6th Cycle Housing Element, and removing governmental constraints to the development of housing.
GENERAL PLAN PROGRESS
Highlights of progress made in implementing General Plan 2025 and the Update, as detailed in the APR, are summarized in the following table:
Table 1 – Implementation Summary
Department
Summary
Community & Economic Development
Processed 17 new Mills Act Contracts to provide incentives to preserve historic properties.
Completed Title 19 Amendments to implement provisions for AB 2097, AB 2244, and the California Employee Housing Act.
Project kick-off for the Magnolia Corridor Reinvestment, Resiliency and Revitalization (MCR3) initiative, a precursor to an urban design-focused revitalization effort in the Arlington Village district and immediate surroundings that will act as a pilot for this effort.
Entered into an agreement with Design Path Studios to prepare standardized permit ready ADU plans in a variety of architectural styles that will be made available to the public free of charge, anticipated for release in 2024.
Adopted the Citywide Community Engagement Policy and Toolkit in December 2023 that provides a comprehensive policy for engagement and formalizes expectations for community outreach efforts for projects of all types.
Partnered with the Riverside Food Systems Alliance to co-host the annual Grow Riverside & Beyond Conference promoting capacity building in the local food system.
Housing and Human Services
Awarded project-based Section 8 vouchers for the Mulberry Gardens Family project (159 units) and Sunrise at Bogart (23 units).
Executed a Memorandum of Understanding with the County of Riverside to address homelessness in the City Through non-profit collaboration, created 48 transitional housing beds, 23 non-congregate shelter, and 28 recuperative care beds to serve our unhoused population.
Public Safety (Fire Department, Police Department, Emergency Management) Provided information via the ReadyRiverside program using social media, in-person and online presentations, preparedness booths, classes, and the ReadyRiverside.org website.
Coordinated a subdivision review with Cal Fire to identify residential developments with egress challenges to strengthen fire-fighting capabilities.
Participated in California Preseason Flood Coordination Meeting held by Riverside County and state Department of Water Resources.
Revised KEEP energy efficiency audit program and launched a new range of programs including small business direct installs, refrigerated load and outdoor lighting programs.
Updated EV customer rebate programs. Total number of publicly accessible EV charging stations citywide is 272 Level 2 chargers and 60 DC Fast Chargers.
Public Works
Completed new bicycle lane improvements along several roadways including Martin Luther King, Olivewood, Jurupa, Indiana, La Sierra, California and more.
Completed two free Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) projects for Arlanza Elementary School and Liberty Elementary School.
Continued to implement the traffic light synchronization program to retime signals in the Central Business District (Fall 2022 anticipated completion), As of 2023, six rail crossings under consideration for the implementation of railroad Quiet Zones (Panorama Rd, Cridge St, Palm Ave, Brockton Ave, Mission Inn Ave, and Spruce St).
Successfully awarded grant funds through the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant to develop individualized pedestrian and bicycle safety action plans and customized safe routes to school reports for each of the fifty (50) elementary and middle schools citywide.
Library
Allocated $20 million allocated towards the Eastside Library. $14.5 million in State funds and $5.5 million in local funds.
Museum
Initiated the Museum’s downtown site renovation and expansion, including the rehabilitation of the existing historic structure the construction of a new addition featuring sustainable design and materials.
Parks, Recreation and Community Services
Prepared CEQA documents for 8 Park Master Plans as part of the Riverside Gateway Parks Project. The project has been submitted to the Western Riverside Regional Conservation Agency for joint project review.
Innovation and Technology
Continuing preparation and deployment of the FiberCity initiative in partnership with SiFi to extend high-speed fiber optic internet access to 95% of the City by 2028.
HOUSING PERMITTED UNITS
In October 2021, the City adopted a comprehensive update of the General Plan Housing Element for the 6th RHNA Cycle. The City’s 6th Cycle RHNA allocation saw a significant increase over the prior cycle with a final allocation of 18,458 units. RHNA progress is tracked and monitored annually by collecting data on the number of permitted units during the reporting period. Since the start of the RHNA cycle in October 2021 to the end of 2023, the City permitted 2,152 units. Of these units, 1,094 were permitted during the 2023 calendar year.
For calendar year 2023, the building permits issued include:
209 single family units
615 multifamily units
270 accessory dwelling units
33 of the permitted units are covenant restricted for low-income households. The remainder will serve moderate or above-moderate income households. In 2023 the City finaled permits for 178 affordable units at the low and very low income level. A detailed breakdown of RHNA progress is included in Appendix A of the report.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
The report out contained in the Annual Progress Report (APR) supports the Envision Riverside 2025 City of Riverside Strategic Priorities as follows:
Strategic Priority 1 – Arts, Culture and Recreation (All Goals) Strategic Priority 2 – Community Well-Being (All Goals) Strategic Priority 3 – Economic Opportunity (Goal 3.3)
Strategic Priority 4 – Environmental Stewardship (Goals 4.2, and 4.3) Strategic Priority 5 – High Performing Government (Goals 5.2, 5.3, and 5.5) Strategic Priority 6 – Infrastructure, Mobility & Connectivity (Goal 6.1) This Update aligns with the following Cross-Cutting Threads as follows:
Community Trust – The report out contained in the Annual Progress Report aligns with the Community Trust Cross-Cutting Thread as the APR summarizes the outcomes of the General Plan 2025 and Update that sought public input in their development and benefits all residents in the City.
Equity – The report out contained in the Annual Progress Report aligns with the Equity Cross-Cutting Thread in that it provides a summary of progress made on the General Plan 2025 and Update that takes an “all Department” approach in implementation that benefits all residents.
Fiscal Responsibility – The report out contained in the Annual Progress Report aligns with the Fiscal Responsibility Cross-Cutting Thread the General Plan 2025 and Update implementation provides for a planned and coordinated use of public funds.
Innovation - The report out contained in the Annual Progress Report aligns with the Innovation Cross-Cutting Thread as it reports out implementation of the General Plan 2025 and Update actions and summarizes innovative approaches to action implementation.
Sustainability and Resiliency – The report out contained in the Annual Progress Report aligns with the Sustainability and Resiliency Cross-Cutting Thread as it includes an update on actions completed in implementing General Plan 2025 and the Update and considers the needs of residents without compromising future generations.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
Prepared by: Paige Montojo, Senior Planner
Approved by: Jennifer Lilley, Community & Economic Development Director Certified as to
availability of funds: Kristie Thomas, Finance Director/Assistant Chief Financial Officer Approved by: Rafael Guzman, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Phaedra A. Norton, City Attorney
Attachments:
Annual General Plan Progress Report for Calendar Year 2023 Presentation
PSP20-0003, Annual General Plan Progress Report for Calendar Year 2020 ● Page 2