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PLANNING COMMISSION INFORMATIONAL ITEM ON THE STATUS OF SHAPE STOCKTON ZONING AND HOUSING EFFORTS
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Planning Commission receive a presentation from City staff and provide feedback on the work conducted by City staff and the consultant teams, project objectives for all Shape Stockton efforts underway in 2024.
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Summary
From 2019 to 2021, the City Council directed staff to apply and receive three housing grants totaling just under $2 million. Those grants can only be used for updating and creating new planning documents to help implement process improvements that accelerate housing production. These initiatives include significant changes to the City's Development Code, Housing Element, and Design Guidelines, revisions to the Safety Element, and the creation of four new Action Plans. These Action Plans consist of a citywide Housing Action Plan (HAP) and three Neighborhood Action Plans for the Little Manila/Gleason Park, South Airport Way Corridor, and Cabral/East Cabral areas. Due to the amount and complexity of the efforts, the updates have collectively been called Shape Stockton.
Shape Stockton efforts are expected to be finalized by 2024, as the following summarizes the status of the efforts since their initiation in 2022:
• Housing Element Update: The second review is underway with the State. If the State determines the element is compliant with housing law, adoption public hearings will be scheduled soon.
• Safety Element Update: This amendment is required per State law and is tied with the new Housing Element. It pertains to a revised Vulnerability Assessment (VA) and amendments policies.
• Housing Action Plan (HAP): Drafts of three of the five sections have been released to the public. The Executive Summary and Housing Supply sections are still being worked on by staff and will be released to the public soon. Staff intends to pair the HAP with the Neighborhood Action Plans (NAPs) for action subsequent to approval of the Housing and Safety Elements.
• Three Neighborhood Action Plans (NAPs): The NAPs are like the HAP; however, they are focused on specific neighborhoods and can include actions not related solely to the production of new housing units like the HAP. All three NAPs have been released for public comment along with their supportive studies and attachments.
• Development Code Update: The current Development Code (Title 16) is being consolidated from eight divisions into six divisions to remove redundancy. Five of the six Divisions are available for public review. The proposed Division 2 section has not been released yet and will align with some of the public workshops that are scheduled to be conducted on Focus Areas to determine if special development standards or zoning overlays would be beneficial to preserve or enhance the areas. A Focus Area are regions that currently or could have specific development standards due to their importance to the City and/or surrounding region. These areas include the Channel district, Miracle Mile, Magnolia Historic District, Downtown, Little Manila-Gleason Park, and South Airport Corridor. These are defined in more detail below. To better streamline future reviews, the zoning code will be adding more design standards and will be the primary tool for approving future project approvals.
• Design Guideline Update: The current Design Guidelines are being considered for conversion to development standards under the Development Code. Staff is currently refining the new development standards to determine the necessary components that should remain as updated Design Guidelines.
This report outlines the status of the Shape Stockton efforts as many of them have workshops underway with public hearings tentatively scheduled for Spring and Summar of the 2024 calendar year. Any input received at the Planning Commission and interested public will be used by staff and the consultant teams to perform further analysis, engage residents and stakeholders, and develop recommendations for future Planning Commission action.
DISCUSSION
Background
Due to housing production (supply) not keeping pace with housing demand, the California legislature and Governor have declared the State to be in a housing crisis. To encourage increases in housing production, the State passed a series of bills to allocate funding to jurisdictions. This funding is to be used by jurisdictions to conduct studies, remove governmental constraints (regulations), and create pro-housing policies to encourage local housing development. From 2019 to the present, the Stockton City Council has authorized Staff to apply and receive $625,000 for Senate Bill 2 (Building Homes and Jobs Act), $750,000 for Local Early Action Planning (LEAP), and $621,150 for Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) Grant funds.
Since 2021, City staff has entered contracts with four consulting firms and begun work on efforts eligible under said grant funding. Starting in 2022, City staff conducted numerous Planning Commission study sessions and public workshops to solicit feedback for preparing draft documents for public review. The material for these workshops can be seen on Attachment A or on the Shape Stockton main website located at www.stocktonca.gov/ShapeStockton. As many of those efforts are preparing drafts and/or entering the final stages of review before consideration by the Planning Commission and City Council, this report provides an update status on them before they are finalized for adoption.
Present Situation
This Informational Item focuses on work conducted for all Shape Stockton efforts. Any input received during this Information Item presentation will be used by staff to perform further analysis and develop recommendations for future outreach and Planning Commission consideration.
The following items highlight progress made, remaining items, and estimated schedule for adoption and/or acceptance by the City Council.
Housing Element Update
The items below summarize work performed by City staff and the Consultant team.
• After numerous workshops and two major edits, the City resubmitted the revised Housing Element to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on January 23, 2024.
• Should HCD find the element complies with State law, public hearings will be scheduled for adoption. Once adopted, City staff will then resubmit to HCD for official certification.
• The Housing Element is the main policy document for the City on all things housing. It is the basis for our decisions and is needed to avoid litigation and allow us to submit for various forms of Federal, State, and Regional funding.
• The Housing Element Update items can be found on the City’s Shape Stockton website by searching “Shape Stockton/Housing and Safety Element” at www.stocktonca.gov.
Safety Element Update
• State law requires that the City update its Safety Element as a companion to the updated Housing Element. As a part of this work, the City is preparing a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and an analysis of Stockton’s evacuation routes.
• The City of Stockton Safety Element is a long-range plan that helps identify and protect against natural hazards in Stockton, including flooding, earthquakes, and extreme heat. Stockton’s Safety Element was last updated in 2018.
• A Background Report was created and revisions to the Safety Element are proposed and available for download on the City’s website Housing and Safety Element website by searching “Shape Stockton/Housing and Safety Element”.
• The revisions clarify actions the City should take in the event of an emergency, and certain hazards the City could be susceptible to under the right conditions (i.e., climate change, flooding, fires, dam inundation, and heat).
Action Plans (Housing and Neighborhood)
• Draft of all three Neighborhood Action Plans (NAP) for Cabral, Manila/Gleason, and South Airport areas are available, while three of the five sections of the Housing Action Plan (HAP) are available. The HAP Executive Summary and Housing Supply sections are being finalized now, based on additional feedback received.
• Associated studies and materials are also available. These studies include an infrastructure analysis, Public Outreach summary, a citywide displacement study, an updated market study, and analysis of “Missing Middle” housing types that includes housing types likely for Stockton and pro-forma indicating feasibility.
• The HAP and materials can be found on the City’s website by searching “Shape Stockton/Housing Action Plan”.
• The NAPs and materials can also be found online by searching “Shape Stockton/Neighborhood Action Plan”.
• A Public Workshop has been scheduled for Tuesday March 26, 2024, within the Council Chambers in City Hall for members of the public to view the draft HAP and NAPs and discuss any remaining housing issues before their consideration by the Planning Commission and City Council (Attachment B).
Development Code Overhaul
• After a year of outreach and discussion with City departments, drafts of five of the six proposed Divisions of the new Title 16 (Development Code) have been released to the public. The proposed Division 2 will align with the Focus Area public workshops as shown below. The proposed Development Code sections and materials can be found online by searching “Shape Stockton/Development Code and Design Guideline Updates”.
• The public comment period on the released Divisions ends Friday April 12, 2024. While comments can be received up to the adoption hearing, this comment period is for edits that could be included in the revised draft.
• The draft will also feature edits needed to act on new Housing Element and Action Plan recommendations.
• As the proposed Division 2 includes a discussion on zoning overlays, this draft has been delayed until staff can conduct further outreach in the following “Focus Areas”. These areas have (or may have) unique zoning and design standards as part of the overhaul efforts.
• Beginning mid-February, staff will conduct public workshops for the following “Focus Areas”. Property owner mailers have been sent to all Focus Area property owners and staff anticipates additional outreach with stakeholders and members of the development community. Feedback from meetings with individual groups will be integrated, if applicable, into the proposed Division 2 draft for public circulation (Attachment C).
o Channel Area- currently an existing zoning overlay and design district.
o Manila/Gleason Park- currently, Gleason Park is an existing design district only. This boundary aligns with the NAP boundary for the same area.
o Magnolia and Design Districts- currently an existing zoning overlay and design district.
o Miracle Mile- currently an existing design district and Business Improvement District.
o Downtown Area- currently an existing design district only. There is also a Commercial Downtown (CD) zoning district; however, it does not align with only the downtown areas and includes properties south of HWY 4.
o South Airport- is a new study area. No zoning or design standards exist. This boundary aligns with the NAP boundary for the same area.
Design Guideline Overhaul
• Design Review is the primary review process that relies on the City’s adopted Design Standards. Since State law is changing to make design review more objective, many of the existing design guidelines will become zoning standards in Title 16 (Development Code) as guidelines are not always enforceable by law.
• The Design Guidelines will still be used for review; however, it will be more of a guideline than a requirement, showing more examples and detail on what the zoning code requirement means.
• Since this relies on the Development Code being finalized, the proposed guidelines will not be circulated for public comment until after public and departmental comment on the draft Development Code, to see where certain standards should be placed for use by staff and the development community.
Environmental Analysis
The Planning Commission's direction to City staff on the status of the overhaul effort is not considered a discretionary "project" under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and will not require analysis.
This staff report was prepared by Matt Diaz, Planning Manager, (209) 937-8598; matt.diaz@stocktonca.gov.
Attachment A - Shape Stockton Past Workshop Materials
Attachment B - Shape Stockton Upcoming Workshops
Attachment C - Focus Area Map