Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1985/11/05 Item 4,b-c COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Item 4 it- Meeting Date 4$/22/85 ITEM TITLE: EIR-83-2(B) El Rancho Del Rey Supplemental Environmental Impact Report Resolution /€743 Certifying EIR-83-2(B), El Rancho del Rey Supplemental Environmental Impact Report r, SUBMITTED BY: Planning Director %fit (4/5ths Vote: Yes No X ) REVIEWED BY: City Manager, EIR-83-2 (along with an Addendum) on the El Rancho del Rey Specific Plan Amendment has been found to adequately address all appropriate environmental issues known at the time of its preparation. However, a recent study conducted by Michael Brandman Associates, Inc. (MBA) for The Gersten Companies revealed significant new information pertaining to biological resources onsite (MBA 1985). Additional information obtained subsequent to the completion of both the WESTEC and MBA studies has also been determined to be highly significant. Principal among these new findings was the discovery of two State- designated endangered species of plants. This supplemental EIR has seen prepared in response to concerns raised regarding potential impacts of the proposed project upon these two regionally significant endangered species. RECOMMENDATION: Certify that this supplemental EIR (EIR-83-2(B)) has been prepared in compliance with CEQA, the State CEQA guidelines and the Environmental Review Procedures of the City of Chula Vista, and that the Council has reviewed and considered the information in the final supplemental EIR. BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: On October 9, 1985, the Planning Commission certified the final supplemental EIR. DISCUSSION: A. Project Description Subsequent to the preparation of the Addendum in March 1985, the project density has been reduced by 200 dwelling units and several residential and non-residential land use changes have been made. The employment park has been reduced to 100 net acres resulting in the property on the south side of "H" Street being redesignated for residential purposes. Additionally, a portion of the residential collector road in the vicinity of the Otay Lakes Road connector road has been realigned. None of these mo. is considered significant from an environmental pers‘ - ive. Dated COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Item 4$ Meeting Date 10/22/85 ITEM TITLE: Affordable Housing Planning, Programming, and Production in El Rancho Del Rey SUBMITTED BY: Director of Planning (ol4 REVIEWED BY: City Manager ,. (4/5ths Vote: Yes No X ) The City Council , meeting in regular session, on June 25, 1985, instructed staff to study the City of Chula Vista' s affordable housing program and progress within the El Rancho Del Rey Specific Plan Area, and to report its findings. This charge requires staff to examine the city-planning value of Chula Vista's affordable housing effort in El Rancho Del Rey. The scope of the subject assignment encompasses social and legal , as well as physical city-planning issues. The term, "affordable housing," as utilized in this report is confined to "housing for low and moderate income households." RECOMMENDATION: That Council continue to apply the Housing Element' s Affordable Housing Program to the El Rancho Del Rey Community. BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: Not applicable. DISCUSSION: Our discussion is broken down into three components: An overview of the State requirements, an overview of Chula Vista's housing program and specifics on El Rancho Del Rey. A. State Requirements & Regulations 1. The State of California, under Section 65302 of the Government Code requires each city and county to include within its General Plan a housing element, developed pursuant to regulations established under Section 50449 of the Health and Safety Code. This element shall consist of standards and plans for the improvement of housing and for the provision of adequate sites for housing; and, "shall make adequate provision for the housing needs of all economic segments of the community." 2. The said regulations established under the Health and Safety Code were prepared by the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and call for each city and county to accept its "fair share" of the responsibility of meeting its region's need for low and moderate income housing. Each local general plan shall express this acceptance, and include a program for its implementation. Page 2, Item Meeting Date }-O-f- t/85 3. The Government Code, under Section 65915, also mandates density bonuses or other bonus incentives for the purpose of stimulating the provision of low and moderate income housing. This section, in part reads: "When a developer of housing agrees to construct at least 25 percent of the total units of a housing development for persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code, or 10 percent of the total units of a housing development for lower income households, as defined in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code, a city, county, or city and county shall either (1 ) grant a density bonus or (2) provide other incentives of equivalent financial value." 4. If the City of Chula Vista was to exclude El Rancho Del Rey from the purview of the Chula Vista Housing Element or its affordable housing Action Programs, the adequacy of the Element could be legally challenged. Furthermore, it is doubtful that the City could legally preclude the operation of the above quoted Section 65915. B. Chula Vista' s Affordable Housing Program 1. Pursuant to the provisions of the Government Code, the City Council , early in 1982, adopted this City' s second housing element, called the "Chula Vista Housing Element of 1981 ." This plan, in accordance with the National Housing Goal--"a decent home and a suitable living environment for each American family"--embodies numerous policies and action programs designed to foster the production and maintenance of affordable housing within the Chula Vista Planning Area. Most of these policies and programs were, by intention, specifically formulated to meet the regulations of the Government Code and the Health and Safety Code, as well as the local and regional housing needs of the Planning Area. 2. Subprogram 8 of the City's Housing Element is particularly germane to the issues-at-hand. Its text provides that the City of Chula Vista shall continue to participate in SANDAG'S regional program for the fair share allocation of lower-income housing, and shall continue its effort to provide where such provision would be consistent with sound urban and economic planning, more lower-income housing than the said program requires. The second paragraph of this subprogram reads: "The City Council has officially accepted SANDAG'S lower income household assistance formula and the statement of Chula Vista's fair share allocation, embodied therein. Under this formula, Chula Vista' s good faith and diligent demonstration would entail this municipality's earnest endeavor to provide assistance to 482 lower income households during the 1980-85 period. " (This commitment will require assistance to 740 households during the 1985-90 period. ) Page 3, Item 44-4--, Meeting Date 10122/85 The City of Chula Vista has substantially met the 1980-85 goal of this subprogram as far as its regional allocation in percentage terms. 3. The Action Program of the Housing Element also provides a series of incentives for the production of affordable housing, which include the "fast tracking of developmental proposals; the expenditure of Block Grant funds; the encouragement of demonstration programs; and, the granting of special density bonuses, under certain circumstances." 4. The City of Chula Vista's "Low and Moderate Income Senior Housing" provisions of the Municipal Code complement the Action Program and evince this municipality's commitment to affordable housing. C. Affordable Housing in El Rancho Del Rey 1. Chula Vista is endeavoring to increase its commercial and industrial activities. As its efforts succeed, the demand for affordable housing for workers and their families will resultantly increase. A part of this demand could be met by El Rancho Del Rey which calls for both high end and low end housing products. 2. Affordable housing programs should be carefully located to avoid the saturation of neighborhoods or communities with low and moderate income housing. The Chula Vista Housing Element, therefore, at Page 23, provides that affordable housing should not be unduly concentrated. In other words, this Element calls for "balanced communities." 3. The 2,300 acres of land covered by the El Rancho Del Rey Specific Plan is substantially undeveloped and could readily accommodate, through careful planning, their proportionate share of affordable housing, without saturation or over concentration. 4. The establishment of affordable housing within El Rancho Del Rey could be materially beneficial to the City of Chula Vista from the standpoint of physical planning, as well as comprehensive planning. In the first place it would reduce the pressure upon the Central Chula Vista Community to accommodate more affordable housing. It would also increase the variety of housing types in El Rancho Del Rey. 5. The text of the El Rancho Del Rey Specific Plan, under Section III G3 has a unique, built-in inducement for the development of affordable housing and has in conjunction with the policies of the Housing Element, spawned the private sector' s commitment to the development of 153 affordable dwelling units within the Rice Canyon SPA, at Terra Nova. This project has not adversely affected the production or sales of other housing within El Rancho Del Rey.* * The subject project authorized the construction of 153 dwelling units, of which 46 have been built, to date. i Page 4, Item 4a-,, Meeting Date .1.9f-2-2/85 t-s- 6. The application of the Affordable Housing Program to El Rancho Del Rey should not affect the economic viability of the involved landowners. 7. The proposed Corcoran Ranch Revision to the El Rancho Del Rey Specific Plan calls for 4,028 dwelling units. The revised text prescribes that 10% of this yield should be devoted to low and moderate income housing, with an emphasis on maximizing the provision of low income housing to the extent feasible. The resultant affordable housing yield of 402 dwelling units would provide the community an excellent residential balance, and would contribute to its variety of housing types. D. Conclusions 1. The application of the Housing Element's Affordable Housing Program to El Rancho Del Rey is beneficial to the subject community and Chula Vista-at-large. The benefits produced by the Program would further the causes of both physical and social planning. 2. The continuance of the Affordable Housing Program within El Rancho Del Rey would not adversely affect the economic development of the territory in question, or substantially reduce its market-rate, dwelling-unit yield. 3. The discontinuance of the Program in El Rancho Del Rey would adversely affect low and moderate income housing opportunities in Chula Vista and compromise this City's regional commitment. 4. The discontinuance of the Program could further concentrate affordable housing within the Central Chula Vista Community, and thereby adversely affect its ordered and land-use balance. 5. The exclusion of El Rancho Del Rey from the purview of the Housing Element and its Affordable Housing Program could raise the legal issue: "Is the Chula Vista Housing Element adequate?" WPC 2042P J t'a; , i to COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Item 4c Meeting Date 10/22/85 ITEM TITLE: Consideration of Revised "Candidate CEQA Findings" and "Statement of Overriding Considerations" Resolution / Adopting Findings relative to Section 21081 of CEQA and Sections 15091 , 15092, and 15093 of the CEQA Guidelines SUBMITTED BY: Director of Planning GX REVIEWED BY: City Manager(. (4/5ths Vote: Yes No x The attached "CEQA Findings" and "Statement of Overriding Considerations" has been revised to reflect the changes in the proposed project. The revised findings do not make any changes in the conclusion reached in the previous document, only the numbers and description have been changed. RECOMMENDATION: That Council adopt the attached "Candidate CEQA Findings" and "Statement of Overriding Considerations." BOARDS/COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: Because the Planning Commission adopted a motion to deny the requested specific plan amendment they took no action on these items. DISCUSSION: It is the conclusion of these findings that: 1. Insignificant Impacts The final EIR for the El Rancho del Rey Specific Plan Amendment concluded that the project would not have any significant adverse impacts in the following areas (numbers refer to section of the EIR where the issue is discussed) : Land Use (3.1) Fiscal Analysis (3.3) Water Service (3.14) / ' � Sewer Service (3.15) 6 e r Solid Waste Disposal (3.16) //: r Fire Protection (3.17) Police Protection (3.18) Ly' Energy Consumption and Conservation (3.19) ,ia Socioeconomics (3.20) Dated /1' by he 'City Council of Chula Vista, California Dated /7- S �` Page 2, Item 4c Meeting Date5- 2. Changes or other measures have been included in the project or are otherwise being implemented which mitigate significant environmental impacts in the following issues (see attached findings for details) : a) Traffic b) Cultural Resources c) Paleontological Resources d) Geology/Soils e) Hydrology/Water Quality f) Landform/Aesthetics g) Noise h) Schools i) Parks, Recreation and Open Space 3. There are two areas of impact which remain significant and infeasible to mitigate: a) Biological Resources (3.4) Development of the proposed project as revised, will result in the loss of some biological resources which now exist on the project site. This would also be the case with development under current Plan. The impacts of the two plans are very similar because the pattern and extent of preserved open space is very similar. The current plan includes about 553 acres in this category while the proposed includes about 528, a loss of 25 acres or approximately 5 percent. All significant biological environmental effects that can feasibly be avoided have been eliminated or substantially lessened by virtue of the project changes and mitigation measures identified in the Final EIR, addendum and supplemental EIR and incorporated in the project as set forth above. There remain some significant biological impacts. The remaining unavoidable significant effects have been reduced to an acceptable level when balanced against facts set forth above and in the Statement of Overriding Considerations. b) Air Quality (3.10) The emissions resulting from project generated traffic, when compared to regional emissions, are relatively small . However, the San Diego Regional Air Quality Strategy (RRAQS) is based on population and growth projections contained in SANDAG'S growth projections. Therefore, to the extent that development under the proposed amendment exceeds that of the existing plan, which was considered in the current growth projections, and is not a redistribution of growth within the region, it is inconsistent with the RRAQS. To the extent that El Rancho del Rey precludes RRAQS from achieving the goals of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) , the emissions from project-related sources must be considered significant on a cumulative basis. /1 ;2 Page 3, Item 4c Meeting Date /86, z //- All significant environmental effects that can feasibly be avoided have been eliminated or substantially lessened by virtue of the mitigation measures identified in the Final EIR and incorporated into the project as set forth above. There remain significant cumulative impacts on regional air quality. The remaining unavoidable significant effects have been reduced to an acceptable level when balanced against facts set forth above and in the Statement of Overriding Considerations. WPC 1847P