City Attorney Litfin stated that Councilwoman Campbell has a potential conflict of interest on one site - S3-082, the parcels south of the City Yard on Eureka Avenue, due to the proximity of the site to her residence. Therefore, she will recuse herself after the opening of the matter. The Council action will therefore be for the zoning approval and placement of the site on the ballot as well as the CEQA certification for S3-082. Councilwoman Campbell can rejoin the meeting to participate in the remainder of the item once Council has taken action on S3-082.
Councilwoman Huang stated that since she is a candidate for Superior Court Judge she must recuse herself from this item under Judicial Canon 5.
Councilwoman Campbell and Huang recused themselves from Council Chambers at 7:03 p.m.
a. Open Public Hearing - Mayor Rodriguez opened the public hearing.
b. Staff Report
Community Development Director David Brantley provided a PowerPoint presentation overview of the Housing Element and said the City was required to plan for 2,415 housing units for 2021-2029. He said the Housing Element is reviewed by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for compliance and said staff has done its best to preserve the community to the greatest extent possible while complying with state law. He showed a table of Housing Element sites and discussed the consequences of non-compliance which include the California Attorney General's enforcement of housing element policies, risk of litigation, and fines of up to $600,000 per month, the City could become ineligible for State funds/grants (housing, infrastructure, and transportation), as well as state control of local land use and building permits (rezoning without local input or approval).
Planning Manager Nate Farnsworth said staff has received a lot of public input and involvement during this process. He said the City fought against the housing allocation to the best of its ability, along with other organizations, throughout the preparation of the housing element. He spoke of the public outreach, public hearings, as well as state certification, and the housing element implementation process. Planning Manager Farnsworth said this item is subject to Measure B and would therefore require placement on the ballot, with the recommendation for the November 8, 2022, General Election.
Nicole Morse, T&B Planning provided an overview of the CEQA process and discussed the preparation of the Program EIR (PEIR) and the differences between a Program EIR and a Project EIR. She spoke of the community's involvement and the comments received. She said revisions were made to the draft PEIR based on some of the comments, none of which require recirculation of the draft PEIR. Due to concerns received with respect to wildfire evacuation, Chief of Police Services Captain Joses Walehwa discussed the evacuation planning that the Orange County Sheriff's Department has prepared for since 2019. Chris Peña, Emergency Management Coordinator spoke about the city-wide safety planning efforts which have included applying for and being awarded 3 state and federal emergency management grants which will provide for the complete update of the City's safety plans, including: The Safety Element (an element of the General Plan), Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP), Fire Prevention/Fuel Reduction Grant and Emergency Operations Plan Update.
Charlene So, T&B Planning, provided an overview of the traffic analysis for Gypsum Canyon Road and La Palma Avenue. She spoke of traffic improvements for SR-71/SR-91, and SR-241/SR-91 interchanges and said both improvements will help with weaving on the SR-91 and reduce congestion.
City Attorney Todd Litfin spoke about the Housing Element deadline changes between AB 1398, adopted September 2021, and SB 197, adopted June 2022. He said that under AB 1398, the law was that if you had a certified Housing Element by February 2022, the deadline to rezone properties was October 2024. The City, though it had submitted its Housing Element to HCD, it did not get certified by the February deadline, therefore the City would have to complete all rezoning by October 2022. Now, under SB 197, cities with a certified Housing Element by October 2022 will have the deadline to rezone properties by February 2025. Based on these new deadlines, City Attorney Litfin discussed the four options outlined in the staff report for Council consideration.
Planning Manager Farnsworth concluded the report by discussing the staff recommendation to adopt Resolution No. 2022-5817 to certify the PEIR, introduce Ordinance Nos. 2022-1090 through 1093 and proceed with Option 3 which removes four sites recommended by the Planning Commission (S4-060, S4-201, S4-053, and S7-005) and would defer sites S7-001, S3-207, and S5-008 to a future election.
City Attorney Litfin said Council can now discuss site S3-082 and take action before Councilwoman Campbell rejoins the meeting.
Residents John Lang, Rob Dow, Debra Milbee and two other residents expressed their concerns with site S3-082.
Mayor Rodriguez asked City Attorney Litfin to discuss the recent State audit of the RHNA allocations. City Attorney Litfin said that HCD was audited by the State and the auditor made findings that the HCD did not meet and confer with all of the regional entities to obtain the necessary information when the housing calculations were determined. Therefore some of the assumptions were incorrectly based and the number of units were too high. He said there have been a number of court cases that indicate the courts do not have jurisdiction to resolve the issue and is instead a political issue for the leadership. In his opinion, an attempt by a City to move forward with a lawsuit on that basis would have a hard chance of succeeding. Mayor Rodriguez said he voted to authorize legal counsel to challenge the HCD RHNA allocation in May of last year as a member of the Orange County Council of Governments. He said he believes the findings of the audit as well as the new State law, SB 197, which extends the deadline to rezone properties for qualifying cities would allow for more community input and research and expressed his desire to defer action to allow staff to further explore any other sites which could be added to the housing sites inventory and reduce the number of housing units which would be allowed on this site.
Council discussed the potential deferral of this site and City Attorney Litfin spoke of the possible legal ramifications.
Motion by Hernandez to move forward with putting site S3-082 and the associated CEQA review on the November 8, 2022 ballot. Seconded by Haney. Motion failed with Mayor Rodriguez voting no.
AYES (2): Haney, Hernandez
NOES (1): Rodriguez
ABSTAIN (2): Campbell, Huang
Councilwoman Campbell rejoined the meeting at 8:13 p.m. for the remainder of the public hearing.
c. Take Testimony
The following residents expressed their concerns with the remainder of the Housing Element: Diane Kanne, Ed Gunderson, Dave Nichols, Paulina Rodriguez, Kim Racette, Janice Morger, Steve Harms, Janice Taylor, Jennifer Shepard, George Horton, Debra Thrasher, Patrick Thrasher, Russ Heine, Denise Franklyn, Michele Vincent and Andre Winebar.
Bac Tran, owner of Savi Ranch, said they have 22 acres and would be willing to work with the City to consider potential sites in Savi Ranch. He expressed concerns with some of the sites.
RECESS
Mayor Rodriguez called a recess at 9:38 p.m. and reconvened the meeting at 9:48 p.m.
Public Comments continued with the following residents expressing concerns about the Housing Element: Lori Moore, Linda Bauermeister, Pam, Daisy Shobokshi, Bryan Krueger, Karen Krueger, Tracy Prout, Stefania Andreetta, Tom Costanzo, Kristine Dane, Brandon Kidd, Ted Koniniec and Dee Dee Friedrich.
d. Close Public Hearing - Mayor Rodriguez closed the public hearing.
e. Make Determination
Motion by Rodriguez to proceed with the Planning Commission’s recommendation to remove four sites (Sites S4-060, S4-201, S4-053, and S7-005), defer any action on sites S7-001, S3-207, and S5-008 and proceed with Option 4 - deferring any action on the General Plan Amendments and Zoning Code Amendments for all sites identified in the Housing Element until a future date. Motion died for lack of a second.
A lengthy discussion ensued among Council regarding the Housing Element and options presented in the staff report.
Motion by Hernandez to support staff's recommendation as presented in the staff report - that the City Council follow the Planning Commission’s recommendation to remove Sites S4-060, S4-201, S4-053, and S7-005 from the Housing Sites Inventory and, in light of the provisions of SB 197, to additionally defer any action on Sites S7-001, S3-207, and S5-008 until a future election (Option 3), including certification of the Program EIR (PEIR). Seconded by Haney.
Director Brantley asked Council about their interest in including with the motion the requirement of a hydrology study for the Fairmont site if a project were to come forward in response to the public comment from a resident.
Motion amended by Hernandez, Seconded by Haney to also include the requirement of a hydrology study with their motion.