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Home My WebLink About2020-08-12; Housing Element Advisory Committee; ; GENERAL PLAN MAINTENANCE PRIMERMeeting Date: To: From: Staff Contact: Subject: HOUSING ELEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE Staff Report August 12, 2020 Housing Element Advisory Committee Members Don Neu, City Planner Don Neu, City Planner Don. Neu @carlsbadca.gov, 760-602-4612 General Plan Maintenance Primer Recommended Action Item No.3 Receive information on the General Plan Maintenance Project coinciding with the Housing Element Update. Executive Summa The General Plan is the primary comprehensive roadmap for guiding future development in counties and cities throughout California. California Government Code Section 65300 et seq. requires each county and city to adopt a general plan for its future development, as follows: Each planning agency shall prepare and the legislative body of each county and city shall adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and of any land outside its boundaries which in the planning agency's judgement bears relation to its planning. The Housing Element is one of the seven required elements of a jurisdictional General Plan. The city's General Plan contains optional elements as well. All elements are developed to complement one another, working together to provide a holistic framework to guide development and help to ensure negative impacts to the community are avoided and mitigated. Goals and policies throughout the General Plan aim to guide the location, amount, and type of development as well as protect sensitive resources from development impacts. California law also requires the General Plan elements, including the Housing Element, to be internally consistent with respective goals and policies. Government Code Section 65300.5 requires that the goals, policies, and objectives and various accompanying analyses and text of the Housing Element must be reviewed in the context of the rest of the elements of the general plan. Additionally, Government Code Section 65583(c) requires jurisdictions to identify the means by which consistency will be achieved and maintained with other general plan elements, including land use. Requirements for General Plan consistency are set forth to reduce potential conflicts within land use and planning decisions, and to provide an overall cohesive guide towards future development in the City. To maintain this consistency, updates to the Carlsbad General Plan will be identified in the coming months. To help identify these updates, an analysis of current programs and policies throughout the General Plan will be conducted. In the context of the Housing Element Update, this analysis is necessary as the update may contain new programs or policies that will trigger the need to change other elements. As an example, if a program of Housing Element Advisory Committee Agenda Item 3 August 12, 2020 Page 2 the updated Housing Element Update calls for changing property from non-residential to residential, the Land Use Map of the General Plan Land Use and Community Design Element will need amendment. Furthermore, potential updates to certain elements may necessitate consistency checks with additional city documents and plans such as the City's Zoning Ordinance, Climate Action Plan, Local Coastal Plan, Growth Management Plan, and Habitat Management Plan. These documents also will be amended as necessary. This information and the presentation at the HEAC's meeting are provided for the committee's awareness only. Amendments to elements of the General Plan besides the Housing Element and potential changes to documents other than the General Plan are outside the committee's purview. Public Notification This item was noticed in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act and was available for viewing at least 72 hours prior to the meeting date. anan Hofman Planning Associates Planning Fiscal Services Coastal Attachment 1 August 5, 2020 Mayor Matt Hall and City Councilmembers City of Carlsbad 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive Carlsbad, CA 92008 SUBJECT: Bressi Ranch Potential Affordable Housing Sites Mayor and Councilmembers: This letter is written to recommend inclusion of the site located on Gateway Road just east of the Pizza Port restaurant within Bressi Ranch (Map 16 of staff report) into the Housing Element as a residential site. This property is an ideal site for the location of affordable housing units necessary to meet the city's RHNA housing numbers for several reasons: • The property is close to public transportation. The site is directly adjacent to the City's main east -west circulation corridor, Palomar Airport Road. Existing bus lines are readily available to carry passengers to both employment centers and regional transportation hubs including the Coaster and Amtrak stations. • The property is located conveniently to a major commercial center within the Bressi Ranch Master Plan. This center contains markets, restaurants and other retail facilities that are within easy walking distance from this location. • The property is nearby the city's premiere employment center, the Bressi Ranch Business and Industrial Park. The businesses within this center provide employment for all income levels and are within easy walking and biking distance from this site. • With all the conveniences located in such close proximity to this site, the Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) from this site will be greatly reduced from other candidate sites. A residential development here would leave a low carbon footprint and better meet the city's Climate Action Plan goals. • Bressi Ranch contains a very small percentage of the city's affordable housing stock so this site would provide a better balance of affordable housing throughout the city. • The site is conveniently located to public and private schools. • The location of this site in the northeast corner of Bressi Ranch allows excellent traffic circulation patterns that would minimize impacts to the more highly used streets and intersections. 3152 Lionshead Avenue • Carlsbad CA • 92010 • 76o.692.4100 • Fax 76o.692.4105 The property is currently zoned industrial and is ranked as a third priority out of seven categories just under Planned Projects and Vacant lands with an existing residential designation. Since the property is located within the Bressi Ranch Master Plan, safeguards are in place to ensure that any residential use would maintain compatibility with the surrounding land uses. Currently, a bank and group of professional offices are located to the east, a restaurant to the west, open space to the south and Palomar Airport to the north. This site is being looked at by two premier residential developers and, if selected, would begin processing development plans immediately. This would mean that more affordable housing units will be constructed in a relatively short time helping to fulfill city affordable housing goals. We strongly urge the City Council to select this site as an affordable housing location under the new Housing Element. Sincerely, Bill Hofman President 3152 Lionshead Avenue • Carlsbad CA • 92010 • 76o.692.4100 • Fax 76o.692.4105