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ADOPT A RESOLUTION RESCINDING THE 1999 GLEASON PARK NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN AND APPROVE THE HOUSING ACTION PLAN WITH THREE ASSOCIATED NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION PLANS
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Find no further environmental review is required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Section 15183 (Consistency with General Plan and Community Plan); and
2. Rescind the 1999 Gleason Park Neighborhood Park Plan and approve the Housing Action Plan, including three associated Neighborhood Action Plans for the Cabral/East Cabral, Little Manila/Gleason Park, and South Airport Way areas.
It is also recommended that City Council authorize the City Manager to take necessary and appropriate actions to carry out the purpose and intent of this resolution.
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Summary
On July 9, 2024, the City Council adopted the new 2023-2031 Housing Element to comply with State housing law. To improve the implementation of the Housing Element’s goals and policies, City staff has worked with residents and community groups to create Action Plans that address housing and community-specific needs. These plans aim to build on the goals and policies of the Housing Element and provide a strategic approach to increasing housing production and improving community areas that are struggling. The Action Plans include a citywide Housing Action Plan (HAP), incorporating three Neighborhood Action Plans (NAP) for Cabral/East Cabral, Little Manila/Gleason Park, and South Airport study areas.
The HAP is a unique planning document designed to be a user-friendly guide for various housing developers in Stockton (for-profit, non-profit, and individual residents). With a strategic approach, it identifies priority sites for housing and offers recommendations for further action steps to result in housing production. This HAP toolkit catalyzes producing both affordable and market-rate housing. Neighborhood Action Plans will focus on eliminating barriers to housing construction and improving quality of life, resulting in specific recommended actions and strategies for each specific Neighborhood Study Area. Since the proposed Little Manila/Gleason Park NAP falls within the boundary of the existing 1999 Gleason Park Neighborhood Plan, staff recommends that the City Council rescind the 1999 plan and approve the new action plan. This would avoid confusion created from having two guiding documents for a particular area and replace an existing plan that is over 25 years old. The proposed NAP is consistent with current policy documents and will guide staff and the public on future City-initiated efforts.
The Action Plans are not regulatory documents or official development projects, but instead plans to direct staff on how to proceed in implementing City policy and that offer guidance for residents, developers, and nonprofits. Since these plans are unique, there is no formal procedural process (i.e., map amendment) for their approval and/or acceptance (i.e., Findings of Approval). Staff elected to follow a similar process as is used with the Housing Element, that requests a recommendation from the Planning Commission for City Council’s consideration. On September 26, 2024, the Stockton Planning Commission affirmatively voted to recommend the City Council rescind the 1999 Gleason Park Neighborhood Plan, and approve the Action Plans
DISCUSSION
Background
Between 2019 and 2021, the City received various housing grants from the State to conduct policy and regulatory reforms intended to facilitate an increase in housing production. Since receiving said grants, the City has hosted numerous community meetings and gathered the information for an effort collectively identified as “Shape Stockton.” As part of the Shape Stockton effort, the City-proposed Action Plans will focus on eliminating barriers to housing construction through recommended actions and strategies for each neighborhood.
The proposed Action Plans are based on the 2023-2031 Housing Element goals. They provide detailed steps on housing capacity, market and social conditions, site-specific problems, development process, and actions to implement housing goals. The Housing Action Plan (HAP) will be a resource document to increase housing production in Stockton, offering guidance for residents, developers, and nonprofits and highlighting actions City staff intend to take. It does not create new policies or zoning standards but outlines the development process, provides recommendations for improvement, and identifies additional housing resources. Neighborhood Action Plans will include strategies for promoting new housing development in targeted Neighborhood Study Areas and an analysis of the non-housing needs of existing and future residents. This includes supportive services like childcare or the need for more businesses and job training. The Plans have been developed in partnership with residents, housing developers, and other stakeholders through an extensive engagement process.
Outreach
From August 2022 to the present, City staff and consultants have conducted various outreach efforts related to housing issues. Those outreach efforts included sending over a thousand mailed notices to owners, dozens of notices to the Record and email groups, hosting over fifteen (15) workshops, conducting dozens of interviews, and holding numerous meetings with residents and stakeholders. Those meetings include:
• Land Inventory Public Workshop #1
• Housing Element/Housing Action Plan Kick-Off Meeting
• Land Inventory Priority Site Owners Meeting
• Neighborhood Action Plan Neighborhood Meeting #1
• Land Inventory Public Workshop #2
• Housing Element Public Workshop #2
• Planning Commission Housing Element Study Session
• Three Neighborhood meetings were conducted in each neighborhood - the South Airport Corridor, Little Manila/Gleason Park, and Cabral/East Cabral areas
• Attendance at various community events in 2022-2023
• Planning Commission Action Plan Study Session 10/12/23
• Action Plan Public Workshop 10/12/23
• Planning Commission Action Plan Consideration (This Meeting)
All Shape Stockton meeting flyers were sent in English, Spanish, Hindi, Punjabi, and Chinese, and all individual workshop materials were presented in English and Spanish. In addition, Spanish translators were present at most of the workshops and community events attended by City staff and assisting consultants. Attachment A contains all Shape Stockton (zoning, housing, neighborhoods) comments received, while Attachment B responds to how those comments have been addressed.
On September 15, 2023, the first draft of the HAP and three Neighborhood Action Plans were released to the public for comment. The Action Plans and associate appendices and reports can be viewed and downloaded in the Community Development Department’s Shape Stockton website. A public review hardcopy is available at the City of Stockton Permit Center at 345 North El Dorado Street.
Present Situation
Action plans have been drafted based on feedback provided at the numerous housing workshops and stakeholder interviews, and those working public drafts circulated for public feedback. The Action Plans are summarized below.
Housing Action Plan (HAP)
The HAP focuses on citywide housing issues. The plan is broken into four main sections: 1) Housing Market and Needs, 2) Housing Supply, 3) Development Review Process, and 4) Neighborhood Action Plans. The sections below summarize the HAP contents and items for discussion.
• Executive Summary and Introduction: This section highlights five main issues and actions for providing housing in the City. It also identifies relationships to other documents and determines how the plan can be updated.
• Housing Market: Outline and summary of the housing market in Stockton. While the HAP cannot directly impact the housing market, it does propose an outline of challenges and actions that may assist the development of future housing proposals.
• Housing Supply: This section identifies the City’s total potential housing capacity, which indicates the potential housing supply the City has in meeting housing demand. The potential housing supply includes analyzing how many housing units could be built utilizing unincorporated areas, vacant and approved projects highlighted in the Housing Element, and underutilized properties and buildings. It also includes an analysis of potential redevelopment areas and identifies ten potential catalytic housing sites. The redevelopment areas have the potential to be reused, which could lead to revitalized physical, economic, and social urban spaces. The catalytic projects include a significant scale and scope that could make a substantial impact, provide leverage to create a multiplier effect, and have the potential to radically activate development in the surrounding area, while components like Housing Capacity sites and ten priority sites have been available to the public for comment.
• Housing (“Development”) Process: This section identifies the definition, approval process, potential funding sources, partnerships, and examples for Emergency Housing (homelessness), Transitional/Supportive Housing, and Permanent Housing for all identified income levels, types, and densities. It also provides challenges and actions for developing select housing types (i.e., emergency and permanent) in areas that could support more housing and how they can be improved to encourage said housing. Once the Development Code overhaul has been completed, a zoning table and maps specific to the Housing Type (Permanent, Transitional/Supportive, and Emergency) will be added to clarify which standards apply to each group.
• Neighborhood Action Plans. These are discussed more below but have been included in Chapter 6 to improve continuity between the action plans.
• Appendices: To complement the HAP, the City conducted a Housing Market Analysis, a Citywide Displacement Study, and a Housing Types (“Missing Middle”) study with financing gap analysis. The appendices also include an Implementation Table for identified actions.
The HAP document is structured to highlight the main takeaways (challenges) and their solutions, with actions associated with the corresponding solutions (i.e., collaboration and funding). While there are specific takeaways and actions, the Executive Summary highlights the following as the main takeaways and solutions for the City of Stockton. The HAP is included as Exhibit 1 in the Proposed Resolution.
HAP Takeaways
• Market constraints restrict sustainable housing production, leading to separate concentrations of the City's above-market and below-market regions.
• Inadequate Infrastructure in older urban and rural areas of the City.
• Financial challenges for private and public sectors to fund the hard and soft costs of producing more homes.
• An increase in the homeless population and housing and supportive needs for that increasing population.
• Need for clarity, focus, and collaboration to achieve housing objectives. This includes policy creation, regulatory standards, financing, and regional coordination.
HAP Solutions
• Increase Public-Private Partnerships for policy creation and funding. This includes special financing districts, incentivized zoning and funding, reliance on private agreements (e.g., Development Agreements), and enhanced regulations and exactions.
• Proactively coordinate policy with infrastructure planning and funding in areas that will result in the most significant public benefit for the community. These areas include the downtown business district, marina, and south and east Stockton communities.
• Increase wealth-building opportunities in disadvantaged areas. This includes job training, education, supportive service opportunities, and increasing property valuation from civic and private investment.
• Enhance internal communication for the city and externally with the public to define and act on challenges to housing production. This includes policy direction to staff, proactive marketing of City resources and opportunities, enhanced communication with residents and community groups, and enhanced permit review coordination.
Neighborhood Action Plans
Due to their relationship with the HAP, the Action Plans have been included in Chapter 6 of the HAP for increased continuity between the documents. These Action Plans include neighborhood-specific actions, some of which may involve discussing non-housing or supportive housing services. The plan is broken into two main components: 1) the background report and 2) recommended actions. The sections below summarize the Plans’ contents and items for discussion.
• Introduction: This section includes the plan’s purpose, identifies priority actions, and provides an overview of how to use the Action Plan and its relationship to other City Documents.
• Study Area Background: Includes demographics, existing land uses, and input/feedback received from the community.
• Potential for New Housing: Outlines challenges and opportunities for developers in constructing new homes and allowing residents to reuse or purchase existing housing stock. It highlights vacant sites and housing typologies (such as cottage courts, multiplexes, and multi-units) that could be applied when developing those sites.
• Implementation/Actions: Outlines recommended actions and highlights the timing and department responsible for the action’s implementation.
• Appendices: As was done with the HAP, the City conducted a series of analyses to inform the decisions of the Action Plan. These analyses included an Existing Conditions Report, an Infrastructure Analysis, and a Community Outreach Summary.
NAP Takeaways and Solutions
• Each area has sufficient land to accommodate more housing, but each area needs more variety in housing, both in type and intended income level.
• Areas that would like more choice in transportation. This includes walking, bus, transit, bike lanes, and other means without relying on a personal automobile.
• Neighborhood revitalization is needed. This includes enhanced infrastructure needs that vary within each neighborhood area, and some areas need more offsite infrastructure (roadways, sidewalks, etc.), upsized utilities to provide more capacity for additional housing units, and access to supportive services like childcare, job training, business ownership, homelessness assistance, and enhanced security from crime.
• The HAP includes Actions for housing that would apply to each neighborhood.
• Each neighborhood includes Actions specific to the findings of the report. This includes what type of development should occur in vacant and underutilized properties, local organizations that aid, use of local resources (parks, community centers, and programs), and specific City resources that can apply (loans, grants).
The Neighborhood Action Plans are included as Chapter 6 in the HAP shown in Exhibit 1 in the Proposed Resolution. Attachment C includes all the Housing and Neighborhood Plan actions in a table for easy reference.
Rescinding the 1999 Gleason Park Neighborhood Plan
In March 1997, the City Council adopted the Final Gleason Park Needs Assessment Report, and shortly after approved a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application to fund the Gleason Park area action plan creation. On April 20, 1999, the Stockton City Council accepted the 1999 Gleason Park Neighborhood Plan via resolution (Attachment D). This plan was intended to highlight existing conditions and standards and guide City staff. While the City has completed some of the original action items, many existing conditions, standards, and policies have changed since adopting the plan nearly 25 years ago. The current Little Manila/Gleason Park NAP reflects these updates and was drafted to be consistent with current policy documents like the Housing Element and HAP. Staff recommends that the City Council rescind the 1999 Plan and approve the proposed Little Manila/Gleason Park NAP to avoid confusion by having two guiding documents for a particular area. The NAP is consistent with current policy documents and will guide staff on future city-initiated efforts.
STAFF ANALYSIS
Staff recommends that the City Council find the Action Plans align with the City’s housing policies based on the analysis provided below.
General Plan and Municipal Code Consistency
The Action Plans do not create new policies or zoning standards but make explicit recommendations on items and seek to inform the public and elected officials of the City staff's direction in addressing a variety of tasks. Where Action Plan recommendations may result in policy or code changes, those efforts will be reviewed for consistency at the time of their adoption. Housing policies and programs specific to the Action Plans include:
• Policy HE-1.1 Availability of Land
• Policy HE-1.12 Adaptive Reuse
• Policy HE-1.13 Public/Private Partnerships
• HE Program 2. Downtown Implementation
• HE Program 5. Housing and Neighborhood Action Plans
• HE Program 7. Infill Strategy
• HE Program 22. Housing Rehabilitation Programs
• HE Program 23. Code Enforcement Program
• HE Program 30. Affirmatively Further Fair Housing
The Little Manila/Gleason Park NAP is consistent with current policy documents and will guide staff and the City Council on future city-initiated efforts. Because the existing Gleason Park action plan is 25 years old and does not align with current policies, staff, and the Planning Commission recommend that the City Council rescind the 1999 Plan and approve the new Neighborhood Action Plan to avoid confusion by having two guiding documents for a particular area. This would allow the new Plan to direct staff and the City Council and be consistent with current housing policy.
Environmental Analysis
No further environmental review is required for the proposed Action Plans under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Section 15183 (Consistency with General Plan and Community Plan). The proposed Action Plans do not create new regulatory standards or result in a physical environmental change. The Action Plans merely clarify existing standards and policies to provide additional direction to City staff. These plans are consistent with General Plan policies to enhance project reviews and environmental protections and increase housing production for all residents. No potential new impacts related to the Project have been identified that would necessitate further environmental review beyond the effects and issues already disclosed and analyzed in the General Plan Environmental Impact Review. Therefore, no additional environmental review is required per CEQA Guidelines section 15183 (Consistency with General Plan or Community Plan).
Public Notice
A published notice for the City Council’s consideration of this request is not required since it is not being considered in a public hearing. An e-mail notice was sent to all residents and stakeholders interested in the Action Plans at least ten days before the meeting. As of the publication of this report, written comments have not been received.
Planning Commission
On September 26, 2024, the Planning Commission held a regularly scheduled meeting to consider approval of the Action Plans. After a presentation from staff and a discussion on the Plans and public comments received, the Planning Commission voted 7-0 to approve a resolution recommending the City Council rescind the 1999 Gleason Park Neighborhood Plan and approve the Housing Action Plan, including the Neighborhood Actions Plans (see Attachment E - Approved PC Resolution).
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
The requested action will have no immediate financial impact. The Action Plans are intended to direct staff in implementing existing policy documents related to housing production.
Attachment A - Shape Stockton Feedback Summary
Attachment B - Responses to Shape Stockton Feedback
Attachment C - Action Plan Tables
Attachment D - 1999 Gleason Park Neighborhood Plan
Attachment E - Approved Planning Commission Resolution