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ADOPT BY MOTION THE 2024 GENERAL PLAN AND HOUSING ELEMENT ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORTS AND AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT REPORTS TO THE STATE HOUSING DEPARTMENTS TO COMPLY WITH STATE LAW
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RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that City Council adopt by motion the 2024 Annual Progress Reports (APRs) for the Envision Stockton 2040 General Plan and the 2023-2031 Housing Element and authorize the City Manager to submit reports to the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) as required by State Law.
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Summary
California State Law (Government Code Sections 65400 and 65700) requires cities that have an adopted General Plan and Housing Element to prepare an Annual Progress Report (APR) that identifies the status of implementation activities for the previous calendar year. The APR must be presented to the City Council before submission to the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and Office of Planning and Research (OPR) by April 1st of each calendar year.
Following Council’s acceptance, the 2024 APR report will be submitted to HCD and OPR by the April 1, 2025, deadline in compliance with State Law.
Background
On December 4, 2018, the City Council adopted the Envision Stockton 2040 General Plan (hereafter "General Plan") by Resolution 2018-12-04-1503-02. The General Plan is the official long-range policy document for the City of Stockton and is the basis for local government decision-making to achieve the community's overall vision. The General Plan contains elements that address land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space/parks and recreation, safety, noise, and environmental justice. Various City departments are responsible for adhering to the policies and implementing specified actions throughout the 20-year timeframe established by the General Plan.
On July 9, 2024, the City Council adopted the 2023-2031 Housing Element update (hereafter "Housing Element”) by Resolution 2024-07-09-1601, which contains policies and programs that enable the City to anticipate and plan for the housing needs of all socioeconomic segments of the community. Although the Housing Element is considered an element of the General Plan, it is the only element that is reviewed and certified by HCD and OPR on an eight-year cycle basis. A primary component of the process of updating the Housing Element is to address the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (“RHNA”). The RHNA is mandated by State Housing Law and quantifies the need for housing within the city during the specified eight-year planning cycle.
The HCD provided a regional housing need allocation (RHNA) of 52,719 units that must be planned for San Joaquin County. The San Joaquin Council of Governments allocated the distribution of housing needs among the unincorporated county jurisdiction and city jurisdictions. The City of Stockton’s share of the RHNA is 12,673 units (broken down into 1,232 extremely low, 1,233 very low, 1,548 low, 2,572 moderate, 6,088 above moderate income levels). In the Housing Element, the City included an approach to meet the RHNA dwelling unit allocation. The City must maintain the housing capacity outlined by the RHNA allocation.
In the previous fifth cycle (2015 to 2023), Stockton averaged approximately 545 new housing units per year. There was a total of 4,358 units during the eight-year timeframe. Based on this, the City did not achieve the prescribed 11,824 mixed-income RHNA allocation by about 7,466 housing units. During this period, the City made efforts to encourage housing production and streamline permitting processes.
As a charter city, Stockton had been exempted from submitting annual progress reports in the past. Effective January 1, 2018, State law obligated charter cities to begin reporting annually to be eligible for participation in housing funding programs.
Current Situation
The 2024 Annual Progress Reports highlight the status of ongoing and future policy implementation efforts for the General Plan and Housing Element. The 2024 annual review is the first for the eight-year cycle of the 2023-2031 Housing Element (also known as the Sixth Housing Cycle).
• General Plan: The following is a brief overview of the annual progress report for the General Plan. These efforts are further detailed in Attachment A.
o Completed significant outreach that included workshops and stakeholder presentations for the Development Code and Design Standards overhauls as part of the comprehensive Shape Stockton effort.
o Adopted the Sixth Cycle Stockton 2023-2031 Housing Element and received certification by the State Department of Housing and Community Development to implement housing policies and actions to stimulate housing development.
o Adopted the revised Safety Element to comply with state law. The Safety Element is a long-range plan for the city that helps identify and protect against natural hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, and extreme heat.
o Adopted the Stockton Housing Action Plan, that includes three separate neighborhood action plans for South Airport Way Corridor, Little Manila/Gleason Park and Cabral/East Cabral areas to increase housing opportunities.
o Completed a development project annexation approval by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) expanding the city limit boundary by seven acres.
o Completed the 2023 Annual Development Agreement (DA) review to assess the status of agreements for ten major development projects in the city.
o Completed Assembly Bill 562 (AB 562) 2023 Annual Subsidies Report.
o Continued work on the Public Facility Fee (PFF) Nexus Study and fee update for traffic, utilities, city buildings, parks, and agricultural land mitigation.
o Continued work on development of new ADA Transition Plan for accessibility improvements to city programs, services, and activities in conformance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
o Significant process and performance enhancements made to the development and permitting processes. Notable examples include:
§ 76 of 84 DevStat iLab action items completed as of 12/31/2024.
§ Continued use of reporting/monitoring tools to track development review performance.
§ Of the 15 application types available for online submittal, 88% were submitted online.
§ Launched online application options for Residential Production Home and Encroachment permits for ease of customer process.
§ Incorporated APN (Assessor Parcel Number) genealogy information into Accela permit platform, improving data access to staff processing permit applications.
§ Implemented improved customer notifications for building inspections including automated text messages with estimated inspection window and inspection results. Daily inspection routes are also posted on the city website for customer viewing.
§ Made substantial progress on transitioning Fire Prevention permits onto Accela permitting platform (planned to go-live in Spring 2025).
§ Made substantial progress on Community Development Department (CDD) document digitization project & towards an improved electronic records management system.
§ Made efficiency improvements including adding new process automation features for development engineering permits and planning permits.
§ Established a new ten-year contract for Accela permitting software, including the addition of Accela’s Enhanced Reporting Database (ERD). Access to the ERD has allowed substantial progress on data analysis and reporting capabilities for permit review monitoring and key performance indicator analysis.
o Completed the annual recertification of our Community Rating System (CRS) classification thereby affording city residents a ten percent discount on flood insurance premiums.
o Completed the Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS) evaluation of the Building Division’s operations resulting in lower rates on disaster insurance for city residents.
• 2023-2031 Housing Element: The 2024 APR is the first annual progress report for the sixth cycle Housing Element that will be carried out over the next eight-year review period. Below summarizes major actions in 2024 related to new housing production or the implementation of housing policy through action. These efforts are further detailed in Attachment B. This Report is in the State-mandated format and cannot be modified.
o New Housing and Affordable Housing - The City issued building permits for 837 new housing units, including 253 very low-income units and 31 low-income units. Of the permits issued, 52 were accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
o Completed construction inspections and issued Certificates of Occupancy for affordable housing projects, Sonora Square and Villa De Flore.
o Approved construction plans for affordable housing projects, St. Mary’s Pathways and Park Center Apartments.
o The Sixth Cycle Stockton 2023-2031 Housing Element was completed following public outreach. The Housing Element was adopted by the city council on July 9, 2024. It was certified by the State Department of Housing and Community Development on September 9, 2024. This completed a process that included several public outreach events to guide its development. The first community workshop was held on September 14, 2022.
o The citywide Housing Action Plan and Neighborhood Action Plans were approved by the city council on November 19, 2024, with Resolution 2024-11-19-1504. The Housing Action Plan serves as a guide to assist members of the public, housing developers and builders to better understand housing development procedures for the City of Stockton and provide suggestions on how to increase housing production. The Housing Action Plans includes Neighborhood Actions Plans focused on targeted study areas to remove barriers to housing production and encourage the development of new housing. The study areas were South Airport Way, Little Manila/Gleason Park and Cabral/East Cabral were chosen due to a lack of quality housing, complementing services and amenities. These documents were created to assist staff and the public
o An expanded Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) preapproval program was launched. This program allows outside vendors to submit their ADU plans for preapproval, which reduces the permit timelines for ADU application projects.
The city continues to build upon the policies and actions established by the 2040 General Plan and 2023-2031 Housing Element to encourage increased housing production.
Environmental Analysis
The 2040 General Plan and 2023-2031 Housing Element annual reports are not considered discretionary “projects” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and are therefore exempt under Section 15061(b)(3) (“Common Sense Exemption”).
Public Notice
In preparation for the March 18, 2025, City Council public hearing, on March 8, 2025, notice for the City Council public hearing for this request was published in The Stockton Record at least ten (10) days prior.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
This report summarizes past and existing actions, and the requested action will have no direct fiscal impact.
Attachment A - 2024 General Plan Annual Progress Report (APR)
Attachment B - 2024 Housing Element Annual Progress Report (APR)