Item 24 - Public Hearing for Amendments to the Transit Zoning Code

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ZOA No. 2024-02 & AA No. 2024-03 (Transit Zoning Code Amendments) June 3, 2025 Page 17 3) Provide a legal briefing related to potential challenges that may result from adoption of the proposed amendments. Additional Community Meeting — March 3, 2025 Staff held a community meeting with interested parties, including business owners, property owners, residents, and others, on Monday, March 3, 2025, from 5.30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center (SARTC) First Floor Conference Room (1000 E. Santa Ana Blvd.) to garner additional feedback about the proposed changes. The summary of the March 3, 2025 TZC (SD-84) Community Meeting can be found in Exhibit 1 of Exhibit 7 (March 6, 2025 Special Planning Commission Supplemental Staff Report and Exhibits), which is attached to this staff report. As a result of the input received at that community meeting, combined with the prior analysis of the proposed amendments as outlined in the February 24, 2025, Planning Commission staff report, staff proposed clarifying edits as well as text edits to the Ordinance presented to the Planning Commission on February 24, 2025 that can be found in Exhibit 7. Specifically, the clarifications address typographical errors as well as the emergent themes from the March 3rd community meeting related to hours of operation and clarifying that nonconforming and "legal" nonconforming are one and the same term for the purposes of implementing the TZC. The summary of the March 3, 2025 TZC (SD- 84) Community Meeting can be found in Exhibit 1 of Exhibit 7 (March 6, 2025 Special Planning Commission Supplemental Staff Report and Exhibits), which is attached to this staff report. Financial Information related to adoption of proposed TZC (SD-84) amendments The Planning Commission requested City staff to provide financial information specifically on the amendments' effects on City revenues that would result from the proposed ordinance. Staff from the City's Finance and Management Services Agency evaluated aggregate financial information using data sources for the City's tax base that include sales tax, property tax, businesses license tax, and utility users' tax within the TZC. Staff provided information as part of City staff's presentation during the scheduled March 6, 2025, meeting and emphasized that due to confidentiality requirements, revenue details provided are in general and aggregate form, preventing the disclosure of individual business revenue. Furthermore, evaluating the actual fiscal impact would be speculative and may vary significantly due to numerous unpredictable factors, including the fact the proposed ordinance does not propose the closure of any business; rendering business uses legal nonconforming does not preclude the establishment of a new, similar business in the same location that may result in no change to the City's revenues; fluctuations in economic conditions; and potential changes in business operations. These factors were presented to the Planning Commission, which took the information into account in making its recommendation to approve to the City Council. A description of the requested