General Plan Binder - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES Our Core Values reinforce the City's commitment to enabling all persons to enjoy equal access to healthy environments, healthy foods, parks and recreational facilities, and civic engagement opportunities. However, the City recognizes that throughout our communities, some bear a disproportionate burden of pollution and associated health risks. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE The concept of environmental justice seeks to correct this inequity by reducing pollution and increasing public investments in these communities, and ensuring their input is considered in decisions that affect them. State law enacted through Senate Bill 1000 (2016) requires all cities and counties to update public policies to address environmental justice. The City has opted for an "environmental justice in all policies' approach to ensure the topic is present alongside the multitude of issues and topics that affect our communities. It should be noted that the goals, policies, and implementation actions presented in the General Plan build upon the important work that Santa Ana residents and stakeholders have already started to improve conditions for residences, childcare centers, schools, medical facilities, senior care centers, and parks and recreation facilities throughout the city. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COMMUNITIES An environmental justice community is an area of the city where residents have the highest risk of exposure to pollution in the air, water, and soil. This pollution may be caused by passing vehicles (cars and trucks) or by the daily activities of businesses and institutions. Residents in these areas also tend to be burdened by socioeconomic and health issues, such as higher rates of language barriers, poverty, and asthma. Such areas also tend to experience lower rates of investment and improvements from individuals, private companies, and public agencies. All ofthesefactors can lead to unequal opportunities to lead a healthy and prosperous life. 11 iiu.�..•• CITY OF SANTA ANA GENERAL PLAN The City uses a mapping tool from CalEPA called CalEnviro5creen ICES, Version 4.0) to identify the most vulnerable and disadvantaged areas in Santa Ana. The CES tool measures 21 indicators for every census tract in California related to people's exposure to pollution and quality of life. The results for each census tract are combined and measured against every other census tract, producing a composite score that ranks census tracts from the least impacted to the most impacted. Those ranked in the top 25 percent —with values between 75 and 100 percent —are considered disadvantaged orenvironmentaljustice communities. This top 25th percentile score is also referred to as an upper quartile score. Figure CN-3 maps areas of Santa Ana considered to be environmental justice communities. Table CN-1 provides more detail on the neighborhoods that overlap the environmental justice areas. The mapped environmental justice communities represent the areas where the City's policies will emphasize and prioritize improving existing environmental conditions, expanding access to public facilities and resources, and augmenting opportunities for civic engagement.