Item 13 - City of Santa Ana 2023 General Plan Annual Progress Report_20240313225459475

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14 Environmental Justice The General Plan’s 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 its communities, some bear a disproportionate burden of pollution and associated health risks. The concept of environmental justice (EJ) 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. Environmental Justice in the General Plan An EJ 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 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. Removing and addressing the root causes of EJ concerns in the built environment has been made a high priority by the community and the City Council, especially as experienced by low-income neighborhoods and vulnerable households throughout the City. As such, that commitment has been memorialized in over 150 EJ focused policies and implementation actions within the City’s General Plan. Commitment to Addressing EJ Issues To demonstrate the City’s commitment to EJ, the City formed a new section, Neighborhood Initiatives and Environmental Services (NIES), within the Planning and Building Agency at the end of 2022 to focus on supporting Santa Ana’s disadvantaged communities through General Plan EJ policy and implementation work. In 2023, the NIES team worked diligently to begin implementing and addressing the EJ related actions in the General Plan. NIES accomplishments for the 2023 calendar year include: Established an electronic repository of EJ facilities of concern including such properties that receive a Notice of Violation from South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD), to digitally save in the corresponding property folder. Held organizational development trainings to build the capacity of neighborhood associations and provide them with resources to be more autonomous. Cultivated relationships with key staff at regulatory agencies through periodic discussions with staff from offices of state and federal-elected officials to assist with addressing EJ concerns involving state, regional, or federal regulatory agency (e.g., Department of Toxic Substances Control, South Coast AQMD, and EPA).