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GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT TO COMPLY WITH STATE REGULATIONS RELATED TO DISADVANTAGED UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES AND FLOOD RISK AND LAND USE PLANNING
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt a Resolution forwarding a recommendation to the City Council to adopt a General Plan Amendment to conform with state law requirements related to disadvantaged unincorporated communities and flood risk and land use planning.
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Summary
Two state laws, Senate Bill 244 and Assembly Bill 162, both require local governments to amend their general plans to address disadvantaged unincorporated communities, and flood risk and land use planning, respectively. The amendments are required when the Housing Element is updated. The State Department of Housing and Community Development certified the Stockton 2015-2023 Housing Element on April 25, 2016. Thus, the City must amend its existing 2035 General Plan to comply with the two State mandates. The SB 244 analysis concludes that even though there are several communities in and around Stockton that meet the State definition of a disadvantaged unincorporated community, the City serves most of these communities with City services. There are no identified deficiencies within any of the communities and the infrastructure services are sufficient. Although there are no deficiencies identified, the analysis provides an overview of potential funding sources available if any infrastructure deficiencies come about in the future. The AB 162 amendments incorporate information on floodplain areas, floodwater corridors, and flood hazards within the land use element, conservation element, and safety element of the Stockton General Plan as required by the law. The amendments were sent to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board for a mandatory 90-day review period as required by the law, and no comments were received.
DISCUSSION
Background
On April 07, 2016, the City Council approved, based on the recommendation of the Planning Commission, a General Plan Amendment to adopt the City of Stockton 2015-2023 Housing Element. Following Council approval, the City submitted the adopted Housing Element to the State Department of Housing and Community Development and received its certification on April 25, 2016. Completion of the Housing Element triggers the requirement for the City to amend its existing 2035 General Plan to comply with two State mandates, commonly referred to as Senate Bill 244 and Assembly Bill162.
SB 244
Senate Bill 244 (SB244) was signed into law in the year 2011 and is codified in sections 56430 and 65302.10 of the Government Code. Per the legislative findings behind SB 244, hundreds of unincorporated communities in California lack access to basic community infrastructure, including safe drinking water, adequate wastewater processing and fire hydrants and water supply lines. These communities can be in remote areas or near, and sometimes surrounded by, fast-growing cities. The purpose of SB 244 is to address the infrastructure deficits and service needs within disadvantaged unincorporated communities, when contemplating growth of cities and counties.
SB244 requires that cities identify and describe each "island community" or "fringe community" that is a disadvantaged unincorporated community (DUC) within their sphere of influence. Cities and counties must review and update the Land Use Element to include the following criteria:
• An "island community" is an unincorporated territory that is surrounded or substantially surrounded by city territory.
• A "fringe community" is an unincorporated territory located on the fringe of the city within the sphere of influence (SOI).
• A "disadvantaged unincorporated community" (DUC) is defined as a community containing 10 or more dwelling units near one another that is either within the city’s SOI, and has existed for more than 50 years and has a median household income that is 80 percent or less than the statewide household income.
• The "sphere of influence" (SOI) is considered the probable physical boundaries and area that can be served with city utilities and fire protection, and is considered a benchmark for the maximum extent of the city’s future service area.
For each identified DUC, the general plan must include an analysis of water, wastewater, and structural fire protection needs or deficiencies. The general plan must also include an analysis of potential funding mechanisms that could make the extension of services to the identified communities financially feasible.
In addition to setting requirements for local cities and counties, SB 244 sets requirements on Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCO). A LAFCO is charged with developing and updating a SOI for each city within a county. This agency is also responsible for coordinating logical and timely changes in local governmental boundaries including annexations and detachments of territory and incorporations of cities. Under SB244, LAFCOs must consider the adequacy of utility and fire infrastructure needs of DUCs prior to approving annexations and SOI updates.
For LAFCO purposes, the definition of a DUC differs slightly from cities and counties. SB 244 identifies a DUC for LAFCO purposes as an inhabited territory (with more than 12 registered voters that constitutes all or part of a disadvantaged community (i.e. community with an annual median household income that is less than 80 percent of the statewide annual median household income). SB 244 contains procedural requirements for LAFCOs related to approval of annexations contiguous with DUCs.
The San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Commission (San Joaquin LAFCO) is the agency responsible for San Joaquin County. San Joaquin LAFCO updated its policies and procedures for SB 244 in 2012. The update included identifying several DUCs for the Stockton Metropolitan area and adopting policy language for addressing these communities. Per the new policy, San Joaquin LAFCO shall not consider an annexation of 10 acres or more that is adjacent to a DUC unless a concurrent application for all or part of a DUC has also been filed. The policy excepts areas for which an application has been made in the past five (5) years and areas where a majority of registered voters within the DUC oppose annexation.
AB 162
Assembly Bill 162 (AB162) was signed into law in the year 2007 and is primarily contained in Government Code section 65302. The purpose of AB 162 is to ensure that local planning agencies that make long-term decisions on the location of new development consider and plan for flooding risks as they prepare their general plans. For this reason, AB 162 requires cities to update their general plan to provide information on floodplain areas, floodwater corridors, and flood hazards. More specifically, state regulation specifies that this flood information be included within the land use element, conservation element, and safety element of the general plan.
The existing Stockton General Plan 2035 consists of a Goals and Policies Report and a Background Report. Since AB 162 primarily requires the incorporation of flood information, including figures and maps into the General Plan, the proposed amendment adds this information into the Background Report. There is a component of AB 162 that requires the establishment of a set of comprehensive goals, policies and objectives based on specified information for the protection of the community from among other things, the unreasonable risk of flooding. This component was already amended into the existing General Plan Goals and Policies Report in 2015 as part of a more comprehensive general plan amendment to address another related state flood mandate referred to as Senate Bill 5 to provide 200-year flood protection (see Attachment A - Resolution No. 2015-06-23-1601)
Since State law requires the City to amend its general plan, the proposed amendment is addressing the existing Stockton General Plan 2035 that is in effect today. It is expected that this information will also be carried forward and integrated into the General Plan update that is underway to ensure the City remains in compliance with State law.
Project Description
SB 244
The City hired Mintier Harnish, a planning consultant, to assist with SB 244 compliance. Based on its assessment, the City of Stockton has four island DUCs and three fringe DUCs. In addition, San Joaquin LAFCO identified five DUCs for the Stockton Metropolitan Area, based on its required SB 244 analysis. These DUCs were derived from the 2010 census data and are referred to as census designated places (CDP). Attachment B provides a map that shows all identified DUCs. Once identified, an analysis was performed on each DUC to determine the adequacy of available utility infrastructure including drinking water, wastewater, and fire infrastructure. Although not explicitly required by SB 244, the analysis also included an evaluation of services available for handling stormwater.
A new Section 3.2 "Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities" is proposed to be amended into Chapter 3 (Land Use) of the Background Report. This Section identifies each DUC area by name and a location map and provides the required SB 244 analysis of the available utility and fire infrastructure (see Attachment C - General Plan Amendment Redline/Strikeout Version). The services in each circumstance are provided in a variety of ways. As an example, water service providers in the Stockton Metropolitan area include the City of Stockton Municipal Utilities Department, California Water Service Company, and San Joaquin County Maintenance Districts. Sanitary sewer and treatment facilities in the Stockton Metropolitan Area consists of the Stockton Regional Wastewater Control Facility and the City of Stockton Wastewater Collection System Facilities, and some areas presently rely on private septic systems. The stormwater infrastructure consists of underground storm mains and pump stations and open roadside ditch gravity drainage. Fire protection in the Stockton Metropolitan area is provided by the City of Stockton through contracts the City maintains with many of the rural fire protection districts.
The SB 244 analysis concludes that even though there are several communities in and around Stockton that meet the State definition of a DUC, the City serves most of these communities with City services. There are no identified deficiencies within any of the communities and the infrastructure services are sufficient. Although there are no deficiencies identified, the analysis provides an overview of potential funding sources available if any infrastructure deficiencies come about in the future.
AB 162
The proposed general plan amendment to comply with AB162 includes updates to Chapter 3 (Land Use), Chapter 10 (Recreation and Waterways) and Chapter 11 (Public Health and Safety) in the Background Report of the 2035 General Plan (see Attachment C - General Plan Amendment - Redline Version). The update to Chapter 3 references floodplain awareness maps as being contained in Chapter 11. The update to Chapter 10 addresses the requirements of AB 162 to provide an overview of waterways in Stockton, including groundwater. This section provides a description of rivers, creeks, streams, flood corridors, riparian habitat, and other land that may accommodate floodwater for the purposes of ground water recharge and stormwater management. A new Figure 10-3 Flood Water Accommodations is being added to show all the required information.
Most AB 162 updates occur in Chapter 11 (Public Health and Safety), Section 11.6 Flood Hazards. The “Regulatory Setting” in this section is substantially revised to reflect the most current Federal, State and local flood regulations in place today. The “Environmental Setting” is expanded to provide flood event history in and around Stockton and existing flood risks related to the numerous levees and other flood control infrastructure that function to protect areas by conveying floodwaters past locations without causing flooding. New descriptions and figures for the 100-year and 200-year flood zones are being added. References and weblinks to other sources of flood information from outside agencies including Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), State Department of Water Resources (DWR) and San Joaquin County Flood Control are proposed. Dam inundation data and maps are being provided to show the areas of Stockton that could be affected in the unlikely event of dam failure.
AB 162 requires that a local agency must submit its draft general plan amendment to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board for review and comment at least 90 days prior to the adoption of the amendment. The regulation also requires the Central Valley Flood Protection Board to review the draft amendment and provide written recommendations to the planning agency within 60 days of receipt of the draft amendment. The City transmitted the draft general plan amendment and the prior Council approved amendment to the General Plan Goals and Policies Report (Attachment A) to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board on January 17, 2017. The City received minor textual edit comments from the Board on February 15, 2017. Minor revisions were incorporated into the proposed amendment. The Board expressed that no further comments will be forthcoming, with satisfies AB 162 requirements.
The proposed General Plan Amendment satisfies all requirements of the Stockton Municipal Code and the required affirmative findings for approval are provided in the proposed resolution. Therefore, staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt a Resolution forwarding a recommendation to the City Council to adopt a General Plan Amendment to modify the Background Report to address SB 244 Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities and AB 162 Flood Risk and Land Use Planning.
Environmental Review
The proposed General Plan Amendment is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under the “general rule” that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing significant environmental effects, as specified in Section 15061(b)(3). All future requests for any discretionary approvals relating to a project would be required to comply with the General Plan and would be subject to compliance with CEQA based upon their own merit.
VOTES REQUIRED
A vote of a majority (four) of the total authorized membership of the Planning Commission is required for the Commission to act on this matter. A matter that is subject to the Commission’s action shall be deemed disapproved without the required minimum number of votes.
Attachment A - Resolution No. 2015-06-23-1601
Attachment B - Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities
Attachment C - General Plan Amendment (Redline Version)