TO: LINDA REICH, CITY MANAGER
FROM: WARREN MORELION, AICP, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
SUBJECT
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2021-2029 Housing Element Update and Zone Ordinance Amendment.
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RECOMMENDATION
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Discuss and provide direction related to the adoption of the revised 2021-2029 Housing Element and associated Zone Ordinance Amendments.
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FISCAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact related to reviewing the revised 2021-2029 Housing Element Update and associated Zone Ordinance Amendments.
CITY OF CHINO MISSION / VISION / VALUES / STRATEGIC ISSUES
The recommendation detailed above will further the City’s values and strategic issues that serve as key pillars on which identified priorities, goals, and action plans are built, by fostering:
• Superior Customer Service
• Responsible Long-Range Planning
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BACKGROUND
On February 6th,13th and 20th, 2024, the City Council held two public hearings and a workshop to discuss and receive input on the City’s revised 2021-2029 Housing Element (Housing Element) and related Zone Ordinance amendments (Zoning Code amendments). The revised document addresses feedback provided by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and must be approved by the City in order to receive final certification by HCD that the Housing Element is in compliance with State law. At the February 20, 2024, public hearing, the City Council directed staff to have the General Plan Ad Hoc Committee meet with the representative from HCD to discuss options related to required changes to the City’s Mixed-Use Overlay (MUO) and Affordable Housing Overlay (AHO) ordinance. The primary concerns of the City Council were related to the proposed Zoning Code amendments, which would allow sites within the MUO to be developed 100 percent with residential units as required by State law, thereby potentially reducing existing and/or future commercial space in the City. The City Council also expressed concern with “by right” approval of such developments, which is also a requirement of State law. Other questions were brought up by the City Council regarding what the impacts would be of not adopting the Housing Element and/or Zoning Code amendments, finding alternative overlay sites, and possibly removing some of the MUO sites to help protect commercial properties.
ISSUES/ANALYSIS
The Housing Element Ad Hoc Committee first met on April 18, 2024, with Paul McDougall, Housing Policy Manager, for HCD to discuss the various concerns, and to ask if there were any options to not require that the City’s Zoning Code be revised as noted above. Some of the options initially identified by Mr. McDougall included finding additional non-commercial sites to add to the AHO districts; increasing the density and adding capacity at other existing AHO sites; and the removal of some commercial sites from the MUO, thereby reducing the number of total overlay sites. Mr. McDougall indicated that he would further evaluate the options he provided and respond back to the City once he had a chance to review the language in both Measure M (adopted in 1988) and Measure Y (adopted in 2022), which created the overlay districts to implement the new Housing Element.
The Housing Element Ad Hoc Committee met with Mr. McDougall again on July 15, 2024, to discuss his findings. At that meeting, Mr. McDougall confirmed that after reviewing the Measure M and Measure Y information, the existing ordinance (Ordinance No. 2024-003) would need to be amended to include all the changes he originally requested and was last presented to the City Council on February 20, 2024. His recommendation is mostly due to the inability for the City to include alternative overlay sites to replace some of the MUO sites if removed by the City Council, or to increase the capacity at existing AHO sites, since another ballot measure to amend provisions approved under Measure Y would be required to be approved by the residents to amend the land use designations from commercial to residential, or to increase the density on existing AHO sites, required by Measure M. Mr. McDougall agreed that removing any current MUO district sites without replacing them in other areas of the City to accommodate the required RHNA number puts the City at risk of not having a large enough buffer capacity as recommended by HCD.
Additional information will be provided by staff and the City’s Consultant at the workshop to provide further detail and to answer questions. Staff is seeking final direction from the City Council to move forward with the readoption of the Housing Element with the suggested amendments and the proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance, as required by HCD. If the amendments are found to be acceptable to the City Council, a public hearing on this matter will be scheduled in the near future.
The following attachments are provided for reference for the workshop discussion.
Attachments:
1. Ordinance No. 2024-003 (Draft)
2. Housing Element Sites Inventory Maps
3. Housing Element Sites Inventory Matrix
4. Table B-1: Summary of RHNA and Sites Inventory from the Housing Element
5. 2021-2029 Housing Element (strike out and underline version) (see link below)
6. Existing Shopping Centers and Housing Overlay Sites Map
<https://www.cityofchino.org/591/Environmental-Documents>