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PUBLIC HEARING TO ACCEPT GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT TO COMPLY WITH STATE REGULATIONS RELATED TO DISADVANTAGED UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES AND CONSIDERATION OF FLOOD RISK IN LAND USE PLANNING
recommended action
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council accept the Planning Commission’s recommendation and adopt a resolution to conform with state law requirements related to disadvantaged unincorporated communities and consideration of flood risk in land use planning.
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Summary
Two state laws require local governments to amend their general plans. Senate Bill 244 (California Government Code §56430 and §65302.10, 2011) requires an analysis of communities in and around Stockton that meet the State definition of a disadvantaged unincorporated community to determine if there are adequate municipal services. The analysis concludes that these communities are adequately served with safe drinking water, sanitary sewer, and fire service infrastructure. In many instances, the City is providing the services through out-of-agency service contracts. There are no identified deficiencies within any of the communities, and the infrastructure services are sufficient. The analysis also provides an overview of potential funding sources available if any infrastructure deficiencies come about in the future.
Assembly Bill 162 (California Government Code §65302, 2007) requires that the City of Stockton amend its General Plan to incorporate information on floodplain areas, floodwater corridors, and flood hazards. The purpose is to ensure that local planning agencies consider this flood risk information when making long-term decisions on locations for new development. The proposed amendments were sent to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board for a mandatory 90-day review period as required by the law, and no objections were received.
The amendments are required following the update of a Housing Element. 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 Planning Commission reviewed/held a public hearing on April 27, 2017, and recommends that Council adopt a resolution to amend the General Plan to incorporate the changes mandated by SB 244 and AB 162.
DISCUSSION
Background
On April 7, 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 (California Government Code §56430 and §65302.10) and Assembly Bill 162 (California Government Code §65302).
SB 244
Per the legislative findings behind SB 244 (California Government Code §56430 and §65302.10), 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 drinking 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 if deficiencies are identified.
AB 162
The purpose of AB 162 (California Government Code §65302) is to ensure 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 is 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 on 200-year flood risk (Attachment A).
The proposed general plan amendment is addressing the existing 2035 Stockton General Plan that is in effect today. This information will also be carried forward and integrated into the Envision Stockton General Plan 2040 update that is underway to ensure the City remains in compliance with State law.
Project Description
SB 244 Analysis
SB 244 requires that the City identify DUCs and conduct its analysis of drinking water, wastewater, and structural fire protection needs or deficiencies and incorporate this information into its general plan. 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 if deficiencies are identified.
The City hired Mintier Harnish, a planning consultant, to assist with SB 244 compliance. Based on its assessment, the City of Stockton SOI area has a total of 20 DUCs. This includes twelve island communities, three fringe communities, and five communities that were identified from a prior effort conducted by the San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Commission for the Stockton Metropolitan Area, based on the 2010 census data and 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. Much of the 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 balance provided by independent rural fire protection districts.
The SB 244 analysis concludes that even though there are 15 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 Analysis
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 (Attachment C). Much of the 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. These General Plan updates are consistent with the existing General Plan policies that the City Council adopted in 2015 to address the state mandate on 200-Year flood protection.
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 before the adoption of the amendment. The City transmitted the draft general plan amendment, and the prior Council approved an amendment to the General Plan Goals and Policies Report (Attachment A) to the Central Valley Flood Protection Board on January 17, 2017, and no objections were received within the 90-day period.
Planning Commission Action
The proposed General Plan Amendments satisfy state law for SB 244 and AB 162 and all requirements of the Stockton Municipal Code including the required affirmative findings for approval provided in the proposed adopting resolution. The Planning Commission held a public hearing on April 27, 2017, to consider the amendments. There were no public comments received on this matter. Overall, the Commission indicated that it understood compliance with the law was essential. The Planning Commission unanimously approved (6-0, 1 absent) the adoption of a Resolution to forward a recommendation to the City Council to adopt a General Plan Amendment. (Attachment D).
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 CEQA Guidelines 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.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
There is no anticipated financial impact to the City of Stockton because of the General Plan Amendment. The Amendment simply brings the City into compliance with State law.
Attachment A - Resolution No. 2015-06-23-1601
Attachment B - Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities
Attachment C - General Plan Amendment (Redline Version)
Attachment D - Planning Commission Resolution No. 2017-04-27-0503