HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-18; Carlsbad Tomorrow: Growth Management Citizens Committee Recommendations Status Update (Districts - All); Murphy, JeffTo the members of the:
CITY COUNCIL
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April 18, 2024
Council Memorandum
To:
From:
Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council
Jeff Murphy, Community Development Director
Via:
Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, C~unity Services
Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager ~
{city of
Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2024026
Re: Carlsbad Tomorrow: Growth Management Citizens Committee Recommendations
Status Update (Districts -All)
This memorandum provides an update on the status of implementing the Carlsbad Tomorrow:
Growth Management Citizens Committee recommendations and other actions, as directed by the
City Council on July 18, 2023.
Background
The city's Growth Management Program (GMP} was created in the late 1980s and is largely
credited with creating the city's excellent quality of life, well-planned infrastructure, and financial
health over the past 35+ years. However, in recent years, new state housing laws have been
passed that render some parts of the city's GMP unenforceable, including the city's ability to limit
how many new homes can be built in the city and the application of longstanding performance
standards1 on new housing development.
In response, the City Council included as part of their five-year Strategic Plan an objective to
engage the community through a citizens committee to create a new plan to manage growth in
Carlsbad in a way that maintains an excellent quality of life while also complying with state law.
Shortly thereafter, the City Council formed a resident-led advisory committee in March 2022, later
named the Carlsbad Tomorrow: Growth Management Citizens Committee (Committee}, to
develop recommendations on revised development performance standards. The Committee held
15 meetings between March 2022 and April 2023 and developed a series of recommendations for
1 The GMP, in part, imposes conditions on how growth could occur, including the requirement that new development
must plan for, construct, and pay for the public infrastructure and facilities necessary to serve the new development.
A set of "performance standards" were developed for 11 different public facilities/services that developers needed to
consider (city administration facilities, libraries, park, drainage, circulation, fire response, open space, sewer
collection, schools, water distribution, and wastewater treatment). Under the GMP, established standards for each of
these facilities/services must be met before new residential development can be approved. New state laws, however,
has significantly limited a city's ability to deny residential development based on these standards.
Community Services Branch
Community Development Department
1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 760-602-4600 t
Council Memo -Carlsbad Tomorrow: Growth Management Citizens Committee Recommendations
April 18, 2024
Page 2
City Council consideration. The Committee's recommendations were presented to the City Council
on July 18, 2023 (Attachment A).
Discussion
Following the presentation of the Committee's recommendations and City Council consideration
and discussion, three follow up tasks were directed at the July 18, 2023, City Council meeting
(Attachment B). Those tasks and their status are provided below.
Task 1: Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Bhat-Patel, seconded by Council Member Acosta, to adopt
Resolution No. 2023-205 (Attachment C). Motion carried unanimously, 5/0. By adopting
the resolution, the City Council received the Committee's recommendations and directed
staff to return with an implementation program and options to update the GMP
consistent with the Committee's recommendations within three months following the
completion of the Housing Element Rezoning Program (Program 1.1).
Status: Pending. When the City Council directed staff to return three months after the Housing
Element Rezone Program with an implementation program, staff anticipated completing
the rezone program in April 2024, and then returning to City Council with the
implementation program in July 2024. However, the rezone program was approved in
January 2024, three months early. The City Council meeting schedule is heavy through
June, with budget discussions beginning in May. Staff intends to meet the original target
date and return to the City Council with the requested implementation plan prior to
summer recess.
Task 2: Minute Motion by Mayor Pro Tern Bhat-Patel, seconded by Council Member Acosta to
return to the City Council with a discussion on reevaluating Proposition H. Motion carried
unanimously, 5/0.
Status: Pending. The City Attorney's Office is preparing the options to address the Committee's
recommendations on Proposition H and will bring those options to the City Council by
summer and in advance of any deadlines to place an item on the November 2024 ballot,
should City Council choose to pursue that option.
Task 3: In response to an inquiry from City Manager Chadwick, Parks & Recreation Director
Lancaster explained that staff could return to the City Council 60 days after the adoption
of the Parks Master Plan with more information on the distance-based park standard.
Status: Completed. Staff presented the City Council on September 26, 2023, with the 2023-2030
Parks Master Plan Update. As part of that staff report, staff included information related
to proximity of parks and recreation facilities to residential areas throughout the city (see
pages 553-568 of Attachment D). The City Council did not direct staff to further pursue
creation of a distance-based park standard.
Next Steps
Staff will return to the City Council with an implementation program before the end of July 2024
with the following actions:
Council Memo -Carlsbad Tomorrow: Growt h Management Cit izens Committee Recommendations
April 18, 2024
Page 3
• Present steps to implement the Committee's recommendations to keep, modify or remove
existing public facility performance standards, as specified in the Committee's final report.
• Present options related to the Committee's recommendation to consider a ballot measure
to increase the $1 million general fund expenditure limit.
Attachment:
A. City Council Staff Report, dated July 18, 2023 (on file with the City Clerk's Office)
https://records.carlsbadca.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=6440390&dbid=0&repo=Cityo
fCarlsbad&cr=l
B. City Council Meeting Minutes, dated July 18, 2023 (on file with the City Clerk's Office)
https://records.carlsbadca.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=6470023&dbid=0&repo=Cityo
fCarlsbad
C. Resolution No. 2023-205 (on file with the City Clerk's Office)
https://records.carlsbadca.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=6440392&dbid=0&repo=Cityo
fCarlsbad
D. City Council Staff Report, dated September 26, 2023 (on file with the City Clerk's Office)
https://records.carlsbadca.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=7084725&dbid=0&repo=Cityo
fCarlsbad
cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Allegra Frost, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Kyle Lancaster, Parks & Recreation Director
Mike Strong, Assistant Community Development Director
Eric Lardy, City Planner
Robert Efird, Principal Planner
Jennifer Jesser, Senior Planner