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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3b_Draft Minutes of September 25, 2019CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH GENERAL PLAN UPDATE STEERING COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS – 100 CIVIC CENTER DRIVE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 REGULAR MEETING – 6 P.M. I.CALL MEETING TO ORDER – 6 p.m. II.WELCOME AND ROLL CALL MEMBERS PRESENT:Chair Nancy Gardner, James Carlson, Catherine O'Hara, Ed Selich, Debbie Stevens, Larry Tucker, Paul Watkins MEMBERS ABSENT: (Ex Officio Member) Mayor Diane Dixon Staff Present: Deputy Community Development Director Jim Campbell, Principal Planner Jaime Murillo, Associate Planner Ben Zdeba, Administrative Assistant Clarivel Rodriguez III.PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS Charles Klobe provided Committee Members with copies of The Little House. Jim Mosher noted the September 12, 2019 meeting minutes were not on the agenda. He inquired about the consultant preparing meeting minutes. He added that the slogan for the 2002-2006 Listen and Learn process was "Step Up to the Future." Associate Planner Ben Zdeba explained that the City's third-party vendor drafts meeting minutes. Audio and video for the September 12 meeting were not available in time for the vendor to prepare draft minutes for inclusion in today's agenda. Committee Member Stevens noted the video recording of the September 12 meeting was posted on the City’s website and advised that she reviewed as much of the meeting video as she could. IV.CURRENT BUSINESS Chair Gardner announced Item IV(a) would be heard after Items IV(b) and IV(c). a.Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) Presentation No action required. Principal Planner Jaime Murillo reported the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has released a RHNA allocation of nearly 1.35 million housing units for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region for the October 2021 to October 2029 Housing Element cycle. SCAG has filed an objection to the allocation, and HCD has 45 days to respond. If HCD reduces the number, the reduction will likely be small. SCAG has proposed 850,000 to 950,000 housing units as the correct allocation. SCAG will develop a methodology to allocate the nearly 1.35 million housing units to each jurisdiction. The 2021-2029 Housing Element will have to demonstrate that the City has zoned adequate sites to accommodate the City's allocation. SCAG has released three methodologies and a tool for cities to calculate their RHNA GP Update Steering Committee - October 16, 2019 Attachment 2 General Plan Update Steering Committee Minutes September 25, 2019 Page 2 of 5 allocations using the three methodologies. The City's allocation ranges from 2,300 units to 5,300 units based on the three methodologies. Based on comments regarding the methodologies, SCAG has released a new methodology, but no tool to calculate jurisdictions' allocations. SCAG's Regional Council will review and approve a final methodology on November 7. The State's goal is to plan for projected growth and to build for the existing underproduction of housing. Based on SCAG's calculator, the City's projected housing need is 320 units, 238 units for projected growth plus 7 units as a future vacancy need adjustment plus 75 units for replacement need. The City has notified SCAG of its contention that the City has replaced the 75 units in the current planning period. Key factors of existing housing need are household growth, proximity to job centers, proximity to transit, and a residual unit allocation. A social equity adjustment will be applied to the total housing need, and a second social equity adjustment factor will be applied based on opportunity indices. As an example, if the City's allocation is 3,000 units, the City would have to zone for 570 units of very low income housing, 330 units of low income housing, 360 units of moderate income housing, and 1,740 units of above moderate income housing. With application of the social equity adjustment, the numbers would change to 894 units of very low income housing, 600 units of low income housing, 684 units of moderate income housing, and 876 units of above moderate income housing. For the 2008-2014 Housing Element cycle, the City's allocation was 1,914 units, including 770 lower income units. The Housing Element identified the Airport Area as having a zoned capacity of 2,200 units and included an affordable housing overlay to satisfy HCD's requirements. For the 2014-2021 Housing Element, the City's allocation was 5 units, including 2 lower income units. The Housing Element remained essentially the same as the 2008-2014 Housing Element. The 2021-2029 Housing Element must be submitted by October 2021. Redevelopment of underutilized sites and increasing density may accommodate the 2,300-5,300 unit allocation. Committee Member Tucker noted the City will likely amend the Land Use Element in conjunction with updating the Housing Element. If the allocation is sufficiently large, one or more statistical areas will have to be zoned to provide more than 100 housing units, which could trigger Green Light provisions. Deputy Community Development Director Campbell indicated the current Housing Element contains housing opportunity sites, and staff hopes to rely on those sites for housing in the upcoming Housing Element. In that case, the General Plan will not need amending, and “Greenlight” provisions will not be triggered. However, the State's definition of housing opportunity sites is changing, and the City could lose many of its sites. If a greenlight election fails to approve a General Plan amendment, the City's Housing Element would be out of compliance. SB 330 contains a variety of provisions that remove local control. The City will submit a letter in opposition to SB 330. Deputy Community Development Director Campbell related that staff will present updated RHNA information to the Planning Commission on October 3, and the City Council on October 8. Staff will plan additional presentations and study sessions as they learn additional information. The Listen and Learn process will discuss housing issues but not potential housing sites. Committee Member Watkins emphasized the need to communicate repeatedly with the public about the RHNA allocation. Committee Member Tucker believed the City's RHNA allocation would garner the most community engagement of any prior General Plan Update. Committee Member Stevens requested staff update the Committee regarding the estimated RHNA allocation and high quality transit areas as information becomes available. General Plan Update Steering Committee Minutes September 25, 2019 Page 3 of 5 Committee Member Selich expressed concern about identifying credible opportunity sites given the potentially large allocation. AB 68 allows a second accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on single- family residential parcels. Deputy Community Development Director Campbell indicated staff is submitting comment letters based upon the Council's legislative platform. Committee Member O'Hara requested staff provide the number of existing housing opportunity sites in an effort to alleviate some of the concern around identifying 3,000 or 5,000 new sites. In reply to inquiries, Principal Planner Murillo advised that ADUs count toward the RHNA allocation. If a property owner does not charge a family member rent for living in an ADU, the ADU can be counted as an affordable unit. ADUs may be an additional strategy to show the City has adequate housing sites. Short-term rentals are not counted towards housing. Deputy Community Development Director Campbell reported the City is not actively pursuing any changes in zoning to reduce density at this time. Through the Housing Element update process, the community may have to consider adding density to existing housing sites. In some instances, a duplex or single- family home is allowed on a parcel zoned multifamily residential (RM). The Zoning Code may need changes to preserve apartment buildings. The State is asking cities to plan for and accommodate growth that regions have not planned for. Water and electric supplies will have to be accommodated in the future. Committee Member O'Hara stated housing units cost the City in terms of services. In answer to Charles Klobe's queries, Principal Planner Murillo explained that the date a permit or a certificate of occupancy is issued for a housing development determines the Housing Element cycle in which the development is counted. Chair Gardner related that Principal Planner Murillo is attending SCAG meetings. Deputy Community Development Director Campbell added that the City has hired a Housing Element consultant and is coordinating with like-minded Orange County cities to advocate for sound planning. Jim Mosher expressed confusion as to the City's ability to count housing sites identified in the current and previous Housing Element and rule changes for counting sites. Perhaps Staff could share graphics depicting changes in the City resulting from the previous and current Housing Elements. Committee Member Tucker disagreed with sharing technical data with the public because the public will be interested in the upcoming allocation only. Jim Mosher clarified that the public will be confused by the presentation and by the potentially different allocations. Hoiyin Ip referred to San Jose's “ADU Tuesday” program and a sea level rise presentation before the Coastal Commission. Ms. Tourje reiterated that the City has to zone for the number of housing units, not build them. Chair Gardner commented that the Listen and Learn process will have to focus on a vision for the City because the City will change with housing production. Committee Member Carlson concurred with the need for graphics depicting current housing sites and potential future housing sites. General Plan Update Steering Committee Minutes September 25, 2019 Page 4 of 5 b. Website Review and Launch Recommended Actions: Review website navigation with refined branding and messaging discussed at the September 12 meeting. Jenna Tourje, Kearns & West, reported the website is in draft form. Content, images, and icons will be updated. Navigation tabs are located at the top of the page. Widgets are located on the side of each page. [Due to technical difficulties, the Committee completed Item c before returning to Item b.] Ms. Tourje reviewed the content, purpose, and plan for each page of the website. The community can provide feedback on each webpage. Community comments from the website and workshops can be placed on the website for public review. The Committee's webpage can host a Q&A with Committee Members. Community members must register in order to provide feedback, and demographic data is collected when they register. In reply to Committee Members' questions, Deputy Community Development Director Jim Campbell advised that unedited copy for the website can be presented to the Committee, but the website needs to be completed and live soon. Ms. Tourje explained that the request for stories will be framed as sharing an experience or a place that evokes positive feelings of Newport Beach. The Committee will review slogan action statements when materials are presented for approval. The Committee agreed to staff reviewing website content and completing the website. In answer to Charles Klobe's query, Ms. Tourje explained that the risk of someone creating false email addresses to provide multiple online comments is low. The project team can view IP addresses of logins to determine whether one person is using multiple email addresses. Allan Beek remarked that radio station KPFK is going through a similar process. KPFK's budget for the initial event is $600. Hoiyen Ip suggested removing the requirement for community members to create an account. c. October 26, 2019 Launch Event Discussion Recommended Actions: Review and provide direction on the event format. Ms. Tourje reported the first step after the October 26 launch event is a series of workshops, one in each Council district. Potential dates are November 12-14, 16, 20-21, and 25. The content will be the same for each workshop. The launch event may have live music, food trucks, City and nonprofit booths, games, prizes, and engagement activities. A storytelling week during October 20- 26 will advertise the launch event and create excitement. The storytelling week will focus on Newport Beach. Engagement activities could include mapping, a photo booth, a storytelling wall, educational boards and handouts, partner booths. The estimated total cost for Tier 1 events is $5,125. Information material printed for the launch event can be used throughout the Listen and Learn process. The estimated cost for Tier 2 events (no food or live music) is approximately $3,000. Tier 3 events would be a community workshop. Committee Member Selich commented that food attracts people. Committee Member Stevens liked Tier 1 and its reasonable cost. General Plan Update Steering Committee Minutes September 25, 2019 Page 5 of 5 In response to questions from the General Plan Update Steering Committee (Committee), Associate Planner Zdeba indicated an acoustic band probably could be heard and would add ambience to the launch event. Ms. Tourje explained that the event will be promoted through the City's database registered community members, social media, flyers posted throughout the city and sent to community partners, and a City Council announcement. Chair Gardner suggested newspaper and NBTV ads. Charles Klobe requested the URL for the website and the owner of the URL. The launch event could introduce digital engagement tools to the public. Perhaps Newport Beach firefighters could provide food for the launch event. Hoiyen Ip suggested nonprofits participating in the launch event be limited to those that can contribute to the General Plan Update. Food containers should not be single-use plastics. Jim Mosher asked if educational materials will be available for the launch event and if the Steering Committee will review the content of educational materials. Linda Watkins remarked that plans for the launch event are underwhelming. The amount of food has to increase if the Committee wants to attract 1,000-1,500 people. Ms. Tourje indicated the City owns the URLs of newporttogether.com and newporttogether.org. Including local nonprofits in the launch event is intended to attract community members who might not have a relationship with the City. One-page brochures for each of the General Plan elements will be available for the November workshops. The project team and staff will prepare and review educational boards. Motion by Committee Member Tucker, seconded by Committee Member Stevens, to approve Tier 1 events with firefighters' providing food, if they are available, in place of TK Burgers. Motion passed 7-0 [The Committee returned to Item b.]. V. COMMITTEE ANNOUNCEMENTS OR MATTERS WHICH MEMBERS WOULD LIKE PLACED ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR DISCUSSION, ACTION OR REPORT (NON-DISCUSSION ITEM) Committee Member Watkins suggested the Committee consider engaging a group on a digital platform survey. Committee Member Tucker requested a discussion of zoning issues raised by SPON. In answer to Committee Member O'Hara's inquiries, Deputy Community Development Director Campbell reported the City Council's budget allocation can be used to pay for the launch event's direct costs. Staff can provide a cost estimate for a statistically significant survey. VI. ADJOURNMENT – 8:04 p.m. Next Meeting: October 16, 2019, 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.