HomeMy Public PortalAbout07_7F_General Plan_2020 General Plan Annual ReportCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
MEMORANDUM
D ATE: March 16, 2021
TO: The Honorable City Council
FROM: Bryan Cook, City Manager
Via: Scott Reimers, Community Development Director
By: Hesty Liu, AICP, Associate Planner
SUBJECT: MID-CENTURY GENERAL PLAN ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT FOR
2020
RECOMMENDATION:
The City Council is requested to:
1.Receive the 2020 General Plan Annual Progress Report;
2.Approve the report; and
3.Direct staff to file the report with the Office of Planning and Research and the
Department of Housing and Community Development.
BACKGROUND:
1.On January 7, 2014, the City Council adopted the Housing Element of the General
Plan. The updated Housing Element contains goals and strategies to facilitate
housing development to meet the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).
2.On December 5, 2017, the City Council adopted the Mid-Century General Plan and
Implementation Program. The Implementation Program along with Government
Code 65400 requires that staff prepare an annual report to the Planning
Commission and the City Council on the progress of implementing the General Plan.
3.Since the adoption of the Mid-Century General Plan, staff has prepared reports for
2018 and 2019. This is the third report and covers activities during 2020. Staff
presented the report to the Planning Commission on February 23, 2021. The
Planning Commission recommended that the City Council receive and approve the
report.
AGENDA
ITEM 7.F.
City Council
March 16, 2021
Page 2 of 5
ANALYSIS :
Government Code Section 65400 requires cities to prepare a General Plan Annual
Progress Report which should include the following:
1. The City’s progress in implementing its General Plan; and
2. The status of new housing development especially with respect to meeting the
number of units as assigned by RHNA.
General Plan Implementation in 2020
An emphasis of the Mid-Century General Plan was to direct new growth into the
Crossroads Specific Plan (CSP). In 2020, a mixed-use project at 5570 Rosemead
Boulevard was approved and an apartment project at 5430 Rosemead Boulevard is in
progress. The project at 5570 Rosemead, originally approved in 2019, subdivided the
apartments into 73 condominiums. The tract map for this project has been approved, is
now in the final map stage, and the applicant has also submitted for building plan
check. The second project at 5430 Rosemead Boulevard is a 26-unit apartment
building. After a few rounds of review, the applicant redesigned the project and
increased the number of units from 24 to 26, and with at-grade instead of underground
parking. The redesign will provide more housing units with a potentially reduced
construction cost.
Also noteworthy in the CSP was the establishment of a moratorium on tenant and land
subdivisions and public food markets. The moratorium, established in January of 2020,
was necessary to ensure that the uses and economic activity envisioned in the General
Plan and the CSP come to fruition. The City Council initiated an amendment to the
CSP. The process and the moratorium are expected to be completed in July of 2021.
In compliance with new state accessory dwelling unit (ADU) law, staff prepared an
urgency ordinance as an interim measure to guide the development of ADUs. A Zoning
Code Amendment was later prepared for ADUs which provided additional regulations
related to design standards. The California Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) reviewed the ordinance and provided feedback. A revised
ordinance will be brought back in 2021 based on HCD feedback.
In 2020, staff applied for and received grants from the State under its Local Early Action
Plan (LEAP) and Accelerating Housing Production (SB2) programs. The amount
approved was $150,000 and $160,000, respectively. The two grants will fund the City’s
update of the Housing Element and preparing multi-family objective design standards.
To implement the General Plan and to conform with State law, the City also modified
the CEQA thresholds of significance from level of service to vehicle miles traveled. In
consultation with the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District (SGVMVCD)
the City also updated its swimming pool maintenance ordinance.
City Council
March 16, 2021
Page 3 of 5
Housing Element Report 2020
After experiencing above-average housing activities between 2013 and 2015, the City
started to see a shift from new multi-family and single-family housing to smaller projects
such as house additions and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). In the past few years,
the construction of ADUs remained at a pace of 40 to 50 units per year. This trend
continued into 2020. Last year, staff approved 50 of the 62 ADU applications submitted
and issued 28 permits for ADUs and 26 certificates of occupancy. ADU construction
has become the main contributor to increasing affordable housing units in the City.
Housing activities for new single-family houses continued to decline. In 2020, the City
issued permits for a total of 17 single-family units in comparison with 36 units in 2019.
Housing activities for multi-family units remained the same pace with permits issued for
four units in 2020 as compared to five units in 2019. Table 1 below is a summary of
housing activities in 2020.
Table 1: 2020 Building Permits and Certificates of Occupancy Breakdown
Permits Issued Certificates of Occupancy Issued
Category Total
Permits
Category Total
Permits
New Single-Family
Developments 17 New Single-Family
Developments 26
New Multi-Family
Developments 4 New Multi-Family
Developments 23
ADUs 28 ADUs 26
Total 49 Total 75
In terms of meeting the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), Table 2
summarizes the City’s 2020 performance. From the perspective of the total net units in
the City’s RHNA allocation (i.e., 603 units), the City has accumulated 597 units thus far.
This 8-year RHNA cycle ends in 2021, and staff is optimistic about adding an additional
6 units in 2021. However, producing affordable units remains a challenge. Of the 597
units, only 108 are affordable units, a number that is far below the 351 units in the
RHNA allocation. With the start of the sixth cycle of the Housing Element, staff will be
working closely with the Housing Element consultant to explore new policies or
programs to encourage affordable units. For more information, please see Attachment
“A” or see Table 2 for a summary.
City Council
March 16, 2021
Page 4 of 5
Table 2: 2020 RHNA Report (performance is in the highlighted column)
COVID-19 Response
The year 2020 was unique in that the COVID-19 pandemic became the focus of the
City’s attention. In response to the pandemic, the City Council directed staff to develop
a series of policies, program, and actions to assist in the economic recovery of the
community. The following list is a summary of the tasks that staff has completed:
• Created online building and planning application portals;
• Developed workflow systems to review plans electronically;
• Developed policies to grant time extensions for planning entitlements;
• Made changes to the banner permit program by waiving the application fee,
increased the number of banners that can be displayed, and extended the duration
banners can be displayed;
• Developed policies for temporary outdoor dining and other outdoor businesses,
waived the application fee, and reviewed 25 applications for compliance;
• Made changes to the business license program to clarify which “business by vehicle”
companies needed background checks; and
• Instituted a business license deferral and amnesty program.
Attachment “B” includes an updated work plan for implementing the General Plan.
CITY STRATEGIC GOALS:
Approving the General Plan Annual Progress Report furthers the City Strategic Goals of
Good Governance and Citizen Education and Communication.
FISCAL IMPACT :
Approval of this item will not have an impact on the Fiscal Year 2020-21 City budget.
City Council
March 16, 2021
Page 5 of 5
ATTACHMENTS:
A. RHNA Reporting Summary Tables
B. Updated General Plan Implementation Work Plan
GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN 2020
Strategy Near Term (0-5 yrs). Continuous Annual Mid-Long Term (5-10 +) Work Plan
General Plan Monitoring System
Establish a comprehensive development tracking system building on existing tools
and procedures that incorporates reporting metrics to ensure consistency with the
goals and policies of the Mid-Century General Plan (Mid-Century Plan). Among the
metrics that should
be incorporated into a comprehensive development tracking system are:
• The number of entitled residential units and non-residential building
square feet and, when permits are issued, adjustment of the remaining
development capacity based on the limits specified by Policy LU 1.3.
This should include a procedure to restore un-built capacity should the
permitted project not be constructed.
• Development impacts on critical issues such as traffic, air quality,
community services, and infrastructure and assessment of these for
consistency with the findings of the Mid-Century Plan Environmental
Impact Report (EIR).
• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction.
• Number and pricing of constructed affordable housing units.
• Balance of jobs and housing.
• Number and types of created jobs and salaries.
• Adequacy of community infrastructure and services (parks, police, fire,
and other) to meet needs of Temple City residents.
• Other metrics defined by the Plan’s policies and of importance to the
City.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X x To be completed. Work Plan 2021
GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN 2020
Strategy Near Term (0-5 yrs). Continuous Annual Mid-Long Term (5-10 +) Work Plan
General Plan Development Capacity
Establish a procedure for considering modification of the Mid-Century Plan’s
development capacity on achieving 85 percent of the stipulated development
capacity, based on data provided by the tracking system. This may involve
conducting a study to determine if additional capacity could be accommodated
without exceeding the thresholds and findings of significance described in the Mid-
Century Plan EIR. If these are exceeded, an EIR may be prepared in accordance
with CEQA to assess the impacts of projected additional development capacity and
identify mitigation measures.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X To be completed. Work Plan 2022.
Zoning Ordinance
Upon adoption of the Mid-Century Plan, adopt a comprehensive update of the
Zoning Code (Temple City Municipal Code, Title 9) incorporating revisions for
consistency with the Plan. The updated Zoning will be prepared as a “hybrid code”
combining both form-based and traditional Euclidean code principles and features
as well as development standards and procedures.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X Completed in 2020
Specific Plans
Upon adoption of the Mid-Century Plan, implement the Las Tunas/Rosemead
Specific Plan and amend the Downtown Specific Plan for consistency with and to
implement the Mid-Century Plan, as necessary.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X Completed. Will be amended from time to time as
needed.
GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN 2020
Strategy Near Term (0-5 yrs). Continuous Annual Mid-Long Term (5-10 +) Work Plan
Building and Construction Code Revisions
Review and amend, where necessary, Building Regulations (Municipal Code, Title
7) to ensure consistency with the goals and policies of the Mid-Century Plan,
including green construction techniques that may exceed state standards, mitigation
of noise and other impacts for mixed-use buildings, and incentives for the adaptive
reuse of existing structures in lieu of demolition.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X Completed in 2020.
Inclusionary Housing Ordinance
Consider implementation of an inclusionary housing policy to encourage the
development of housing affordable to low and moderate income households as
specified in the General Plan Housing Element (not part of the Mid-Century General
Plan).
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X This implementation measure will be considered
as part of the Housing Element.
Affordable Housing Code Compliance
Continue to permit second dwelling units by right in R-1, R-2, and R-3 zones, as set
forth in the City’s Zoning Code (Temple City Municipal Code, Chapter 9, Article M)
and ensure that future zoning code updates will permit second dwelling units by
right in residential zones, pursuant to AB 1866. Waive permit processing fees for
second units that will be occupied exclusively by lower income persons.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X This implementation measure will be considered as
part of the Housing Element.
GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN 2020
Strategy Near Term (0-5 yrs). Continuous Annual Mid-Long Term (5-10 +) Work Plan
Public Streets Improvements
Continue to implement public street improvements as appropriate, throughout the
City, including commercial district and residential neighborhoods. The City should
identify priority locations for improvements in consideration of needs, budget
availability, and local support.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X In 2020, Las Tunas Drive was repaved. Street
Improvements plan for 2021 will be considered as
part of the budget process.
Development Fees and Exactions
Adopt impact fee schedule and update as necessary to provide revenue for required
supporting public infrastructure, parks, and services, and mitigation of transportation
impacts, such as impacts to air quality, GHG emissions, and traffic generated by
new development. All fees should be reviewed periodically for their sufficiency in
covering costs.
Responsible Departments:
• All City Departments
X X This implementation measure will be considered
as part of the Housing Element.
Parks Funding
Continue to investigate the feasibility of establishing a Quimby Act program to
provide adequate park, recreation, and open space areas and facilities, consistent
with the Mid-Century Plan and the needs of Temple City residents. Additionally,
explore other innovative strategies that are reflective of the built-out nature of
Temple City that provides park and open space areas that meet the needs of
current and future residents.
Responsible Departments:
• Parks and Recreation
X X This implementation measure will be considered
as part of the Housing Element.
GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN 2020
Strategy Near Term (0-5 yrs). Continuous Annual Mid-Long Term (5-10 +) Work Plan
Transportation Services and Management
Maintain and expand the City’s curb-to-curb paratransit system and work with Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) and other transit providers to
investigate the feasibility of local transit alternatives for local residents, including
students, as funding is available.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X Work Plan 2021-2022
Affordable Housing Entitlement Processing
Analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of the entitlement process for affordable
housing projects and modify as necessary to reduce barriers to the provision of a
range of affordable housing options in Temple City.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X This implementation measure will be considered as
part of the Housing Element.
Housing Affordability Improvements Funding
Evaluate funding sources and technical assistance for affordable housing programs
and update as necessary to adequately provide for housing choices that are
consistent with the goals and policies of the General Plan Housing Element and the
Mid-Century Plan..
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X This implementation measure will be considered
as part of the Housing Element.
GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN 2020
Strategy Near Term (0-5 yrs). Continuous Annual Mid-Long Term (5-10 +) Work Plan
Subdivision Ordinance
Review and amend the Subdivision Ordinance (Temple City Municipal Code, Title
9, Chapter 2) for consistency with the Mid-Century Plan’s Land Use Diagram, goals,
and policies to approve and design street alignments, street grades and widths,
drainage and sanitary facilities, lot size and configuration, traffic access, and other
measures as may be necessary or convenient to insure consistency with, or
implementation of, the Mid-Century Plan or any applicable specific plan.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X Work Plan 2021-2022
Design Standards and Guidelines
Create citywide Design standards and guidelines that incorporate the Las
Tunas/Rosemead and Downtown Specific Plan design standards and guidelines
into one document, and include citywide guidelines that identify the City’s
expectations for planning, designing, and reviewing projects and development
proposals, related to building design and materials, and landscape guidelines
requiring sustainable, drought-tolerant species.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X The City has completed the update of the Zoning
Ordinance which includes the design standards for
all commercial and residential zones. In 2021 and
2022, the City will develop Objective Design
Standards for multiple family developments.
GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION WORK PLAN 2020
Strategy Near Term (0-5 yrs). Continuous Annual Mid-Long Term (5-10 +) Work Plan
Compliance with CEQA
On submittal of an application for development, the City will determine whether the
project qualifies as a “project” is “exempt” subject to CEQA’s criteria. If so, an Initial
Study must be prepared to identify the environmental impacts of the project and
determine whether the identified impacts are "significant". Based on its findings of
"significance", the City prepares one of the following environmental review
documents:
• Negative Declaration if it finds no "significant" impacts;
• Mitigated Negative Declaration if it finds "significant" impacts but revises
the project to avoid or mitigate those significant impacts; or
• Environmental Impact Report (EIR) if it finds "significant" impacts
The Program EIR prepared for the Mid-Century Plan constitutes an
“umbrella” document describing citywide impacts that may be used by subsequent
projects found to be consistent with the Mid-Century Plan to tier from.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X This is a continuous effort. All projects submitted to
the City will be reviewed in light of CEQA
compliance. In 2020, the City modified the CEQA
thresholds of significance from level of service to
vehicle miles traveled
General Plan Updates
At least once every ten years conduct a comprehensive review and update of the
Mid-Century Plan, including a review of the economic markets for commercial,
industrial, and housing development; identify trends that impact or provide
opportunities for the City; assess the Plan’s land use diagram, policies, and
standards for their effectiveness in addressing these; evaluate traffic conditions and
their correlation with land use development; and amend these where desired and
necessary. As many of the General Plan’s implementation programs are dependent
on available funding and evolve over time to reflect changing community needs,
they should be reviewed and updated at least once each three years to assure their
continuing relevancy.
Responsible Departments:
• Community Development
X In 2020, the City initiated the update of the Housing
Element for the six cycle. In 2021 and 2022, the City
will continue and finish the update.