Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
• Goal CM -1: Recreation and Culture. Provide opportunities for public and private recreation and cultural programs that meet the needs of Santa Ana’s diverse population.
o Policy CM-1.6 Recreation on Private Property. Promote the development and use of privately -owned recreation and entertainment facilities that help meet the needs of Santa Ana residents.
• Goal CM-3: Active Living and Well-being. Promote the health and wellness of all Santa Ana residents.
o Policy CM-3.2 Healthy Neighborhoods. Continue to support the creation of healthy neighborhoods by addressing public safety, land use conflicts, hazardous soil contamination, incompatible uses, and maintaining building code standards.
o Policy CM-3.5 Community Spaces. Encourage positive community interactions and neighborhood pride to create secure communities and promote safe public spaces.
o Policy CM-3.8 Underutilized Spaces. Repurpose underutilized spaces and City-owned vacant land as a strategy to improve community health and increase the number and accessibility of opportunities for health and recreation activities. Prioritize the redevelopment of such sites within environmental justice area boundaries and other areas underserved by parks and recreation opportunities
The project is consistent with these General Plan Community Element goal s and policies, as it provides for publicly -accessible recreation opportunities on the project site through its 13.1 acres of publicly -accessible, programmable open space areas.
The project results in the redevelopment of a 41-acre site by introducing a mixed-use, urban village that encourages active and passive recreation. While the existing commercial development has no onsite open space acreage, th e proposed specific plan requires the provision of onsite open space for both publicly -accessible and private open space areas.
• Goal M-1: Comprehensive Circulation. A comprehensive and multimodal circulation system that facilitates the safe and efficient movement of people, enhances commerce, and promotes a sustainable community.
o Policy M-1.6 Complete Streets. Transform travelways to accommodate all users through street design and amenities, such as sidewalks, trees, landscaping, street furniture, and bus shelters.
• Goal M -3: Active Transportation. A safe, balanced, and integrated network of travelways for nonmotorized modes of transportation that connects people to activity centers, inspiring healthy and active lifestyles.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
o Policy M-3.2 Nonmotorized Travelwa y Amenities. Enhance nonmotorized travelways with amenities such as landscaping, shade trees, lighting, benches, crosswalks, rest stops, bicycle parking, and support facilities that promote a pleasant and safe experience.
o Policy M-3.7 Complete Streets Desi gn. Enhance streets to facilitate safe walking, bicycling, and other nonmotorized forms of transportation through community participatory design.
• Goal M-4: Transportation, Land Use, and Design. Coordinated transportation planning efforts with land use and design strategies that encourage sustainable development and achieve broader community goals.
o Policy M-4.1 Intense Development Areas. Program multimodal transportation and public realm improvements that support new development in areas along transit corridors and areas planned for high intensity development. o POLICY M-4.2 Project Review. Encourage active transportation, transit use, and connectivity through physical improvements and public realm amenities identified during the City’s Development Review process. o Policy M-4.5 Land Use Development Design. Ensure that building placement and design features create a desirable and active streetscape, by prioritizing pedestrian access directly from the street and placing parking lots to the rear of a development site.
o Policy M-4.7 Parking. Explore and implement a flexible menu of parking options and other strategies to efficiently coordinate the response to parking demands. • Goal M-5: Sustainable Transportation. A transportation system that is attractive, safe, state-of-the-art, and supports community, environmental, and conservation goals. o Policy M-5.1 Enhanced Street Design. Improve the beauty, character, and function of travelways with amenities such as landscaped parkways and medians, bike lanes, public art, and other amenities.
The project is consistent with these General Plan Mobility Element goals and policies, as it provides for redevelopment of an existing, auto-oriented commercial center with a new mixed- use urban village that encourages multi -modal transit. Moreover, the proposed specific plan will introduce a walkable grid of streets and paseos, further encouraging pedestrian, bicycle, and alternate means of transportation both within and to/from the project site.
• Goal EP-1: Job Creation and Retention. Foster a dynamic local economy that provides and creates employment opportunities for all residents in the city. o Policy Attract Business Strengthen and expand citywide business attraction efforts in order to achieve the city’s full employment potential.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
• Goal EP-3: Business Friendly Environment. Promote a business friendly environment where businesses thrive and build on Santa Ana’s strengths and opportunities. o Policy EP-3.4 Complete Communities. Encourage the development of “complete communities” that provide a range of housing, services, amenities, and transportation options to support the retention and attraction of a skilled workforce and employment base.
o Policy EP-3.10 Rethinking Strip -Commercial. Promote the creation of distinctive neighborhood serving districts through the renovation or redevelopment of existing strip-commercial development.
The project is consistent with these General Plan Economic Prosperity Element goals and policies, as it provides for redevelopment of an existing, auto-oriented commercial center with a new mixed-use urban village. The project will contain a diverse range of employment opportunities for the commercial, senior continuum care, hotel, and residential communities that will take shape on the project site. • Goal OS -1: Parks, Open Space, and Recreation. Provide an integrated system of accessible parks, recreation facilities, trails, and open space to serve the City of Santa Ana.
o Policy OS-1.2 Parks and Recreation System. Provide and support a comprehensive and integrated network of parks, recreation facilities, trails, and open space that is diverse, with a variety of active and passive recreational opportunities.
o Policy OS-1.5 Park and Open Space Types. Provide a mix of community, neighborhood, and special use parks, along with greenway corridors, natural areas, and landscape areas, to meet community needs for greenspace, recreation space, social space, and trail connectivity. o Policy OS-1.9 New Development. Require all new development to provide adequate parks and open space, including via parkland dedication or development fees, in order to meet the City’s park standard. Ensure that new development includes pedestrian and multi -modal travelways to promote a quality living environment. For new development within park deficient and environmental justice areas, prioritize the creation and dedication of new public parkland over the collection of impact fees.
o Policy OS-1.10 Creative Solutions for Deficiencies. Develop c reative and flexible solutions to provide greenspace and recreation activities in park - deficient neighborhoods. Encourage private and commercial recreational facilities that are physically open to the public and are affordable to residents of surrounding neighborhoods, and serve community needs.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
The project is consistent with these General Plan Open Space Element goals and policies, as it provides for redevelopment of an existing, auto- oriented commercial center with a new mixed-use urban village. The project will contain 13.1 acres of total onsite public open space, which will be maintained for public acc ess and enjoyment through both the Specific Plan’s goals and development standards, as well as the project’s proposed Development Agreement (No. 2023- 02). The 13.1 acres of onsite open space comprise almost one- third of the entire site’s 41 acres, and will be programmed for both passive and active uses, with a minimum of four community events per year. Moreover, the project’s street frontages will contain new bike lanes, with stretches built as protected bike lanes, encouraging active recreation to and from the project site.
• Goal LU-1: Growing Responsibly. Provide a land use plan that improves quality of life and respects our existing community
o Policy LU-1.1 Compatible Uses. Foster compatibility between land uses to enhance livability and promote healthy lifestyles.
o Policy LU-1.3 Equitable Creation and Distribution of Open Space. Promote the creation of new open space and community serving amenities in park-deficient areas that keeps pace with the increase in multi-unit housing development, with priority giv en to those that are also within environmental justice area boundaries.
o Policy LU-1.5 Diverse Housing Types. Incentivize quality infill residential development that provides a diversity of housing types and accommodates all income levels and age groups.
o Policy LU-1.6 Transit Oriented Development. Encourage residential mixed-use development, within the City’s District Centers, Urban Neighborhoods, and adjacent to high quality transit.
o Policy LU-1.8 Development Tradeoffs. Ensure that new development projects provide a net community benefit.
o Policy LU-1.9 Public Facilities and Infrastructure. Evaluate individual new development proposals to determine if the proposals are consistent with the General Plan and to ensure that they do not compound existing public facility and service deficiencies.
• Goal LU-2: Land Use Needs. Provide a balance of land uses that meet Santa Ana’s diverse needs.
o Policy LU-2.1 Employment Opportunities. Provide a broad spectrum of land uses and development that offer employment opportuniti es for current and future Santa Ana residents.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
o Policy LU-2.2 Capture Local Spending. Encourage a range of commercial uses to capture a greater share of local spending, and offer a range of employment opportunities.
o Policy LU-2.3 Supportive Spaces. Provide a diversity of land uses that support residents, visitors, and businesses, such as open space, areas for community gatherings, and outdoor entertainment venues
o Policy LU-2.4 Cost and Benefit of Development. Balance the benefits of development with its fisc al impacts on the city and on quality of life for the community.
o Policy LU-2.5 Benefits of Mixed-Use. Encourage infill mixed-use development at all ranges of affordability to reduce vehicle miles traveled, improve jobs/housing balance, and promote social interaction.
o Policy LU-2.7 Business Incubator. Support land use decisions that encourage the creation, development, and retention of businesses in Santa Ana. o Policy LU-2.8 City Image. Encourage land uses, development projects, and public art installations that promote the city’s image as a cultural, governmental, and business-friendly regional center.
o Policy LU-2.10 Smart Growth. Focus high density residential in mixed- use villages, designated planning focus areas, Downtown Santa Ana, and along major travel corridors.
• Goal LU -4: Complete Communities . Support a sustainable Santa Ana through improvements to the built environment and a culture of collaboration. o Policy LU-4.5 VMT Reduction. Concentrate development along high quality transit corridors to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and transportation- related carbon emissions.
The project is consistent with these General Plan Land Use Element goals and policies, as it provides for redevelopment of an existing, auto- oriented commercial center with a new mixed-use urban village. The project has been thoroughly evaluated for environmental impacts, as well as for market, fiscal impact, economic impact, and community benefits through multiple analyses. The proposed specific plan establishes a foundation for future developments within the specific plan area that provide a balance of commercial and residential land uses, conforming to the General Plan’s DC-5 land use designation and the South Bristol Street Focus Area’s goals. The infill nature of the project encourages smart growth by conserving resources and locating new development in an already -urbanized, transit-oriented area adjacent to or near major employment centers. The project conforms to all Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) guidelines adopted by the City and enhances the City’s image at a major intersection leading into Santa Ana.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
• Goal UD-1: Physical Character . Improve the physical character and livability of the City to promote a sense of place, positive community image, and quality environment. o Policy UD-1.1 Design Quality. Ensure all developments feature high quality design, materials, finishes, and construction.
o Policy UD-1.2 Public Art. Require public art as part of major developments and the public realm improvements.
o Policy UD-1.4 Safety Through Design. Incorporate public safety design features into private and public developments to prevent loitering, vandalism, and other undesirable activities.
o Policy UD-1.5 Attractive Public Spac es. Encourage community interaction through the development and enhancement of plazas, open space, people places, and pedestrian connections with the public realm. o Policy UD-1.6 Active Transportation Infrastructure. Support the creation of citywide public street and site amenities that accommodate and promote an active transportation-friendly environment.
• Goal UD- 2: Sustainable Environment . Improve the built environment through sustainable development that is proportional and aesthetically related to its setting. o Policy UD-2.1 Enhanced Public Realm Experience. Encourage development to enhance the existing environment through the use of creative architectural design and sustainable streetscape treatments that are consi stent on each corridor.
o Policy UD-2.2 Compatibility and Use With Setting. Employ buffers and other urban design strategies to encourage the compatibility of new development with the scale, bulk, and pattern of existing development. o Policy UD-2.4 Intentional Design. Encourage design and architecture on private and public property that accentuate focal points, activity nodes, and historic areas.
o Policy UD-2.5 Relation to Surroundings. Ensure new development exhibits a functional, comfortable scale in relation to its neighborhood. o Policy UD-2.7 Building and Strengthening Identity. Collaborate with community stakeholders to strengthen and foster development of community and neighborhood identity and district character through complementary architecture, unique streetscapes, and programming.
o Policy UD-2.10 Greening the Built Environment. Promote planting of shade trees and require, where feasible, preservation and site design that uses appropriate tree species to shade parking lots, streets, and other facilities, with the goal of reducing the heat island effect.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
• Goal UD-3: Attractive Travelways. Create and maintain safe and attractive travelways through coordinated streetscape design.
o Policy UD-3.3 Foster Community Building. Promote a safe environment that facilitates social interaction and improves active transportation along corridors. o Policy UD-3.4 Improvements to Streetscape. Promote streetscape improvement plans that are responsive to community needs, the nature of adjacent uses, path characteristics, street classification, pedestrian scale, and view corridors.
o Policy UD-3.6 Linear Park System. Support open space improvements along roadways and nonvehicular paths, such as bike or multiuse trails, to create linear open space that connect to a network of parks and activity areas throughout the city.
o Policy UD-3.8 Pleasant Travel Experience. Maximize the use of street trees and parkway landscaping to create a pleasant travel experience and positive city image.
• Goal UD-4: Nodes and People Places. Create nodes and urban hubs throughout the City to foster community, education, arts and culture, business activities, entertainment, and establish Santa Ana as a vibrant center. o Policy UD-4.1 Intentional Development. Support development growth in nodes consistent with the City’s vision as the dynamic urban center of Orange County. o Policy UD-4.2 Image Making Through Architecture. Promote development within nodes to reflect the significance of the area and cultivate a positive image of Santa Ana through high quality architecture.
o Policy UD-4.3 Activate Open Space. Ensure architectural and landscape design activates open space as a means to promote community interaction and enhance the aesthetic quality of development.
o Policy UD-4.4 Vibrant Street Life. Encourage development w ithin nodes that promotes pedestrian activities, enhanced amenities, and engaging designs that allow for discovery, excitement, and social interaction. • Goal UD-5: Focus Intersections. Create focal points at major intersections to enhance community identity and open space.
o Policy UD-5.1 Building Presence at Intersections. Create a strong presence at focus intersections by locating intense building mass and open space areas along the street that include high quality design and materials. • Goal UD-7: Gateways. Create and strengthen gateways into the City that promote a sense of arrival.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
o Policy UD-7.1 First Impression. Strengthen the architectural design of developments near gateways to communicate a sense of arrival and inspire positive images of the City.
o Policy UD-7.2 Streetscape Improvements. Enhance Santa Ana’s gateways to include unique and distinctive streetscape improvements.
The project is consistent with these General Plan Urban Design Element goals and policies. The project improves a major site at a gateway intersection leading into Santa Ana by redeveloping an outdated, auto-oriented strip-commercial center with a dynamic, mixed-use urban village that complements the scale an intensity of existing developments surrounding the project site. Through onsi te private streets and improvements to public streets along the site’s street frontages, the specific plan will create attractive travelways and establish activity nodes at the intersections of Bristol Street and Sunflower Avenue, and Bristol Street and MacArthur Boulevard, near the interchange of Bristol Street and the San Diego (I -405) Freeway. The redevelopment of the existing site will establish a new gateway into Santa Ana that is consistent with the South Bristol Street Focus Area’s vision for the project site.
• Goal HE-1: Livable and affordable neighborhoods with healthy and safe housing conditions, community services, well -maintained infrastructure, and public facilities that inspire neighborhood pride and ownership.
o Policy HE-1.3 Complete Neighborhoods. Improve neighborhood quality by locating or providing access to complementary services and public facilities, including the integration of community gardens and access to healthy food options in neighborhoods.
o Policy HE-1.4. Healthy Neighbor hoods. Create and maintain parks and open spaces; plant trees, green parkways, and medians; support access to healthy food options; and maintain a continuous pattern of pathways that encourage an active and healthy lifestyle.
o Policy HE -1.10. Parking Manag ement. Support innovative and creative strategies that proactively minimize parking impacts and deficiencies within residential neighborhoods, including parking management requirements, installation of parking lifts, and incentives for active transportation. • Goal HE -2. Foster an inclusive community with a diversity of quality housing, affordability levels, and living experiences that accommodate Santa Ana’s residents and workforce of all household types, income levels, and age groups. o Policy HE 2.3. Urban V illages. Create higher intensity, mixed- use urban villages and pedestrian-oriented experiences that access and support the office centers, commercial services, and cultural activities within District Centers and Urban Neighborhood designated areas.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
o Policy HE-2.4. Rental Housing. Facilitate the construction of rental housing for Santa Ana’s residents and workforce, with a commitment to provide rental housing for extremely low -, very low -, and low -income residents as well as moderate income Santa Ana workers.
o Policy HE -2.6. Housing Design. Require excellence in architectural design through the use of materials and colors, building treatments, landscaping, open space, parking, and environmentally sensitive (“green”) building and design practices.
• Goal HE -4. Pr ovide sufficient rental and ownership housing opportunities and supportive services for seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, and people experiencing homelessness.
o Policy HE -4.1. Senior Housing. Support development of affordable senior rental and ownership housing, readily accessible to support services; provide assistance for seniors to maintain and repair their homes to facilitate the maximum independent living.
The project is consistent with these General Plan Housing Element goals and policies.
The project will provide high-quality diversity of rental housing for Santa Ana’s residents and workforce. Through the project’s Development Agreement, the project will provide inclusionary housing fees that will be used by the City to provide onsite affordable housing opportunities in the community. Through innovative use of land, the project will provide for healthy communities with 13.1 acres of onsite open space, a full -service grocer, and underground parking, freeing up valuable acreage for the development of community - serving commercial, residential, and open space land uses.
Moreover, the SP and requested entitlements address General Plan consistency for the South Bristol Street Focus Area in the following manners:
• The District Center-High is a mixed-use designation identified in the General Plan as including “high density urban villages consisting of visually striking and dynamic buildings and spaces with a wide range and mix of residential, live-work, commercial, hotel, and employment-generating uses.”
• Table LU-2 of the General Plan (Buildout) identifies an assumed housing growth of 5,272 units in the District; the proposed 3,750 falls within the assumed growth. • Table LU-8 of the General Plan identifies the DC-5 area as allowing a maximum Floor Area Ratio of 5.0, or 125 dwelling units per acre and a maximum height of 25 stories.
The General Plan allows the FAR to be calculated on a gross basis for an individual development project.
• The General Plan’s District Center designation would all ow up to 8,733,780 square feet of mixed uses, inclusive of residential uses, based on the maximum FAR of 5.0 over the 41.13-acre (gross) site. As proposed, the Related Bristol will result in an FAR of 2.7, well within the maximums allowed in the General Pl an. No General Plan Amendment is required nor proposed.
Exhibit 13
Consistent and Supportive General Plan Goals and Policies
• The General Plan envisions “urban villages”, “an intense multistory presence” and “mixed use opportunities”. The Development Plan implements this vision with a range of building heights and configurations in two mixed-use Districts/Villages, with heights and intensities within the limits identified in the General Plan. • The General Plan requires fiscal neutrality ( Policy LU 2.4). The Project results in positive fiscal impacts.
• The General Plan calls for community involvement ( Policy LU 3.2). Significant outreach has occurred as outlined in Specific Plan Section 2.5, Community Engagement.
• The General Plan encourages areas for community gathering and outdoor entertainment (Policy LU 2.3). The Specific Plan includes approximately 13 acres of open space, which includes public plaza areas and a central park, accessible to the public and allowing for outdoor entertainment.
• The Specific Plan area is not within an Environmental Justice area. However, as designed, the provision of nearly one- third of the 41- acre site for publicly accessible open space with active and passive recreation opportunities is a means of addressing open space deficiencies prevalent in many portions of Santa Ana.