Item 21 - Public Hearing - Amendments to the Transit Zoning Code (SD-84) Zoning District and Citywide Zoning Code

Home Browse Search

ZOA No. 2024-02 & AA No. 2024-03 (Transit Zoning Code Amendments) May 6, 2025 Page 7 Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), California Department of Consumer Affairs Cemetery and Funeral Bureau (CFB), and Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) with several heavy industrial business operators in the TZC. This is supported through internal correspondence and phone conversations with staff from these agencies to understand their investigation and compliance processes. To address issues of industrial operators, including recycling and waste processing facilities near schools and residential areas, the City adopted new regulations such as a Noxious Uses Ordinance (Ordinance No. NS- , adopted June 20, 2023) to include a notification requirement to the City by the property owner to obtain a permit from a regulatory public agency; a requirement of a 1,000 linear foot distance buffer measured from the outermost boundary of the subject property; and a conditional use permit requirement when businesses require a permit from a regulatory public agency to handle, store, emit, or discharge particulate materials, exhaust emissions, or regulated compounds, or chemicals near a public park, school (K- 12), or property zoned for residential purposes. City staff have also researched commercial real estate acquisition data and current for - sale properties to identify any trends that could potentially generate an increase in the application of the City's Noxious Uses Ordinance for proposed or expanded industrial uses. From September 2022 to date, 15 properties (six commercial, three office, and six industrial businesses) sold. Three of those businesses (800-808 E. Washington Avenue, 1045 N. Fuller Street, and 923 N. Logan Street) are located in the Logan neighborhood. Currently, multi -tenant industrial and manufacturing warehouse spaces are on the market for lease located in the TZC. Recent Citv Council Actions and Direction to Address TZC Land Use Conflicts On April 16, 2024, the City Council adopted a 45-day moratorium on the approval, commencement, establishment, relocation, or expansion of industrial uses within the TZC through adoption of Urgency Interim Ordinance No. NS-3063. The purpose of the moratorium was to immediately offer protection of public health, safety, and welfare from industrial uses significantly causing pollution burden to adjacent residential neighborhoods within the TZC. On May 7, 2024, the City Council issued a report to the public, pursuant to Section 65858 d of the California Government Code, describing the City's measures to alleviate conditions that led to the adoption of the moratorium. On May 21, 2024, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. NS-3064 to extend the moratorium for an additional ten (10) months and fifteen (15) days pursuant to the Government Code as necessary to provide sufficient time for staff to continue with data tracking and reporting, research appropriate regulations, and coordinate with outside regulatory agencies and City departments to determine whether further, permanent action is necessary and to generate recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council. As part of its approval, the City Council expressed a desire for City staff to begin evaluating permanent solutions to the irreconcilable land use conflicts in the TZC area in as timely a manner as possible, which resulted in immediate evaluation of the zoning