Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPresentation - Item 28 - Urgency OrdinanceItem 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 1 TRANSIT ZONING CODE MORATORIUM EXTENSION Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 2 Overview Recommended Action: Adopt an Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension for Ten Months and Fifteen Days by Four-Fifths (4/5) Vote, pursuant to Government Code Section 65858(a). Purpose: Provide additional staff time and resources needed to implement a comprehensive evaluation of the industrial uses and determine whether further, permanent action is necessary and to generate recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council. Such action may entail a zoning map amendment, zoning text amendment, or both, which would address industrial land uses in the TZC. Area: Specific Development No. 84 (the “Transit Zoning Code” or “TZC”) Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 3 Background •Based on the adoption date of April 16, 2024, the 45-day Transit Zoning Code moratorium is scheduled to expire on June 1, 2024. •The moratorium will have no further force and effect 45 days from the date of its adoption, unless the City Council extends the moratorium by four/fifths (4/5) vote. •On May 7, 2024, the City Council issued and filed a Ten-Day written 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. •An Extension of the moratorium provides additional staff time and resources needed to implement a comprehensive evaluation of the industrial uses in the TZC. •The proposed extension is for Ten Months and Fifteen Days from June 1, 2024. Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 4 Next Steps •Continue to monitor, document, and address violations of local, regional, and state agencies’ permits and licenses. •Continue to analyze and implement a comprehensive evaluation of the industrial uses in the TZC utilizing the data reporting and tracking, regulatory research, enforcement reports, and department discussions to fully understand the effects of industrial uses in the TZC. •Continue to address current and immediate threats to public health, safety, and welfare, due to growing code enforcement complaints stemming from the irreconcilable land use conflicts within the TZC. •If permanent code updates are required, those amendments would follow the Planning Commission and City Council public hearing processes. Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 5 CEQA and Fiscal Impact •The proposed ordinance is not subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15060(c)(2), because the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment Guidelines Section 15060(c)(3), because the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly and so is not a project •Notice of Exemption will be filed upon adoption of this urgent ordinance extension •There is no fiscal impact associated with this project Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 6 Recommended Actions 1.Adopt an ordinance extending a moratorium on the approval, commencement, establishment, relocation, or expansion of industrial uses within SD-84, by four-fifths (4/5) vote, pursuant to California Government Code Section 65858(a), for an additional 10 months and 15 days. 2.Find that, in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the proposed action is not subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, pursuant to (Guidelines) Section 15060(c)(2) because the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment and 15060(c)(3) because the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly and so is not a project. Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 7 Discussion Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 8 Measures Taken following April 16, 2024 Urgency Interim Ordinance (Moratorium) No. NS-3063 Adoption 1. Review of City Department Activities •Interagency meetings to understand which industrial activities are intertwined with residential land uses in the TZC area, impacting Logan and Lacy neighborhoods. •Continue to monitor public safety-related calls for service, code enforcement inspections including implementation of the noxious uses ordinance pertaining to these facilities 2. Review of External Agency Records and Activities •Initiated public records information requests and database searches for violation records from outside regulatory agencies (South Coast Air Quality Monitoring District, Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, County Health Care Agency Environmental Health, Department of Toxic Substances Control, etc.) •Review of information and records from outside regulatory agencies to understand the correlation and environmental burdens that may be attributed to permitted activities for industrial businesses in historically disadvantaged communities. Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 9 3. Comprehensive Zoning Code and Neighborhood Engagement •Continued extensive community outreach and process to comprehensively update the City’s Zoning Code with MIG to address irreconcilable land use conflicts and land use inconsistencies in the TZC in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of disadvantaged communities. •Identify additional resources at the federal and state-level to enhance deeper awareness of pollution exposure, long-term health effects, and immediate solutions to support the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods. •Continue to work with Santa Ana’s Environmental Justice (EJ) Cluster Representatives to complete the formation of the EJ Action Committee, the community-led EJ advocacy group, to guide the prioritization and resource investments to implement the City’s General Plan EJ policies and implementation actions. Measures Taken April 16, 2024 Urgency Interim Ordinance (Moratorium) No. NS-3063 Adoption Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 10 Santa Ana’s Disadvantaged Neighborhoods: Logan and Lacy (cont’d) •Rank at least 90% or higher in heavy air pollution attributed to indicators describing exposures to: Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 Diesel Particulate Matter, Air Toxics Cancer Risk, Toxic Releases to Air, and Hazardous Water Proximity CalEnviroScreen 4.0 Highest Pollution Burden score of 90% and above for Lacy and Logan neighborhoods Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 11 Fire Incident and Other Pollution Concerns •Recent black smoke incident from crematory facility on April 26th, resulting in City and outside agency resources to investigate and respond •Video from August 29th showed high flames escaping the stack on the rooftop, sounding a screeching noise nonstop for 10 minutes, and neighbors noticed a foul smell coming from the fire. •Other concerns reported by neighbors range from air pollution and smoke, toxic release exposures, idling trucks on residential streets, lead exposure, illegal storage, unpermitted uses, loud noise at night, and other property maintenance pose an immediate public health threat that is straining public resources to continuously investigate and address these matters Crematory Fire August 29, 2023 at 9:18 p.m. Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 12 Santa Ana’s Disadvantaged Neighborhoods: Logan and Lacy •Lacy and Logan neighborhoods are more dense than the City as a whole. Combined population density is 15,531.7 persons per square mile, whereas the City’s is 12,471.5 people per square mile Highlights from the U.S. Census Bureau and ESRI forecasting data Logan Lacy Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 13 Logan: A Historically Disadvantaged Community •Oldest Mexican and Mexican-American neighborhood of Santa Ana and one of the oldest barrios in Orange County •Originated as early as 1886 and was largely settled by 1900, before the practice of zoning was enshrined by Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.in 1926 •Restrictions and covenants based on race during the first half of the 20th century limited Mexicans and those of Mexican descent to buy land in a few places like Logan •By early 1920’s, Logan neighborhood comprised residential, industrial, commercial, and related land uses, with issues further exacerbated by rail lines, fuel storage depots, and the construction of the Santa Ana Freeway between 1947 and 1956. Item 28: Urgency Ordinance Moratorium Extension Planning and Building Agency May 21, 2024 Slide 14 General Plan Inconsistency with Present Land Uses •Numerous policies of the General Plan are inconsistent with the present, irreconcilable land use pattern of the TZC. Specifically, these policies include: Policy LU-1.1 (Compatible Uses), Policy LU-3.8 (Sensitive Receptors), Policy LU-3.9 (Noxious, Hazardous, Dangerous, and Polluting Uses), Policy LU-3.11 (Air Pollution Buffers), Policy LU-4.3 (Sustainable Land Use Strategies), Policy LU-4.6 (Healthy Living Conditions), Policy CM-3.2 (Healthy Neighborhoods), Policy EP-1.9 (Avoid Conflict of Uses), and Policy CN-1.5 (Sensitive Receptor Decisions), •Policies aim to correct past land use planning practices that have placed an unequitable environmental and health burden on certain neighborhoods now termed disadvantaged communities.