The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About03 - Amendment to the Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan to Reduce the Minimum Percentage of Affordable Residential Units (PA2023-0082)Q SEW Pp�T CITY OF z NEWPORT BEACH c�<,FORN'P City Council Staff Report May 9, 2023 Agenda Item No. 3 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Seimone Jurjis, Community Development Director - 949-644-3232, sjurjis@newportbeachca.gov PREPARED BY: Rosalinh Ung, Principal Planner, rung@newportbeachca.gov PHONE: 949-644-3208 TITLE: Resolution No. 2023-25: Initiating an Amendment to the Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan to Reduce the Minimum Percentage of Affordable Residential Units (PA2023-0082) ABSTRACT: The Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan (Newport Place PC) requires that residential projects must allocate a minimum of 30 percent of their units as affordable housing. For the City Council's consideration is the initiation of an amendment that would reduce this requirement, lowering the minimum percentage of affordable residential units from 30 percent to 15 percent. RECOMMENDATIONS: a) Determine this action exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15262 (Feasibility and Planning Studies) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3; and b) Adopt Resolution No. 2023-25, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Newport Beach, California, Initiating an Amendment to Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan to Revise the Minimum Affordability Percentage of the Residential Overlay (PA2023-0082). DISCUSSION: On April 25, 2023, Council Member Erik Weigand requested the initiation of an amendment to the Newport Place PC to revise the affordability level from 30 percent to 15 percent, pursuant to City Council Policy A-1. The City Council voted unanimously, via a straw poll, in favor of staff returning with an item. This agenda item is not a public hearing. If the City Council adopts the attached resolution to initiate the proposed amendment, specific text changes will be drafted and considered by both the Planning Commission and the City Council at future public hearings. Newport Place is a 145-acre Planned Community (PC) in the Airport Area that was originally designed in the early 1970s with clusters of offices, parks and industrial uses. Overtime, light industrial uses have been replaced with commercial supporting retail and office uses. The introduction of the MU-H2 land use classification as part of the 2006 General Plan Land Use Element created an opportunity for residential uses. 3-1 Initiating an Amendment to the Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan to Reduce the Minimum Percentage of Affordable Residential Units May 9, 2023 Page 2 In 2012, the City Council amended the Newport Place PC to create the Residential Overlay (Overlay). The Overlay was necessary to secure certification of the Housing Element for the 5th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Assessment (not the 6t" Cycle Housing Element which was recently certified). The amendment implemented the MU-H2 General Plan land use category for parcels within the Newport Place PC. The Overlay included use and development standards for housing projects, and required that 30 percent of the residential units in a development be affordable to lower -income households for a minimum of 30 years. The requested amendment would reduce the percentage of affordable units from 30 percent to 15 percent. According to a study prepared by Keyser Marston Associates for the City of Newport Beach in February 2022, affordable housing percentages higher than 15 percent would likely be too high, making most projects financially infeasible in the City. Reducing the affordability percentage would eliminate this potential impediment and would also affirmatively further fair housing consistent with the policy actions provided in the certified 2021-2029 Housing Element. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact related to the initiation. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The initiation of an amendment to Newport Place Planned Community is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15262 (Feasibility and Planning Studies) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential to have a significant effect on the environment. No final action on the amendment will occur at this meeting and the initiation of the amendment does not have any legally binding effect upon future consideration of the amendment itself. The City will conduct an environmental review prior to the consideration of approval of the amendment. NOTICING: The Municipal Code does not require notice for the initiation of amendments. Notice of this item appeared on the agenda for this meeting, which was posted at City Hall and on the City website. Should the City Council initiate the amendment, public notice will be provided for subsequent public hearings before the Planning Commission and the City Council as required by the Municipal Code. ATTACHMENT: Attachment A — Resolution No. 2023-25 3-2 ATTACHMENT A RESOLUTION NO. 2023- 25 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA, INITIATING AN AMENDMENT TO THE NEWPORT PLACE PLANNED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN TO REVISE THE MINIMUM AFFORDABILITY PERCENTAGE OF THE RESIDENTIAL OVERLAY (PA2023-0082) WHEREAS, City Council Policy A-1 ("City Council") allows a member of the City Council to request that an item be placed on a future City Council agenda for consideration; WHEREAS, at the April 11, 2023, City Council meeting, City Council Member Erik Weigand requested that an item be placed on a future City Council agenda that reduced the inclusionary housing percentage for the Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan (PC-11) from thirty to fifteen percent; and WHEREAS, City Council desires to initiate an amendment to the Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan (PC-11) related to the minimum affordability percentage of the Residential Overlay in accordance to Section 20.56.050(E) (Development Plan Amendments) and Section 20.56.050(B) (Development Plan) of the Newport Beach Municipal Code. NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Newport Beach resolves as follows: Section 1: The City Council hereby initiates an amendment to Newport Place Planned Community Development Plan to lower the minimum affordability percentage of the Residential Overlay. Section 2: The recitals provided in this resolution are true and correct and are incorporated into the operative part of this resolution. Section 3: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this resolution is, for any reason, held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions of this resolution. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this resolution, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional. 3-3 Resolution No. 2023- Page 2 of 2 Section 4: The City Council finds the adoption of this resolution is exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA"), pursuant to Section 15262 of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Division 6, Chapter 3, because it involves feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the agency, board, or commission has not approved or adopted. Section 5: This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the City Council, and the City Clerk shall certify the vote adopting the resolution. ADOPTED this 9th day of May, 2023. NOAH BLOM Mayor ATTEST: Leilani I. Brown City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE ar n C. Harp City Attorney 3-4