TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Talyn Mirzakhanian, Acting Community Development Director
Jaehee Yoon, Senior Planner
SUBJECT:Title
Public Hearing to Consider Ordinance No. 23-0006 Amending:
a) the Zoning Text in Title 10, Part III of the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code and
b) the Zoning Map; and to Consider Resolution No. 23-0025 Amending the Land Use Element of the Manhattan Beach General Plan, to Create a Residential Overlay Zoning District for Certain Commercial Properties (Acting Community Development Director Mirzakhanian).
A) CONDUCT PUBLIC HEARING
B) INTRODUCE ORDINANCE NO. 23-0006
C) ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 23-0025
(Estimated Time: 30 Mins.)
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council: (1) introduce an ordinance to amend: (a) the zoning text in Title 10, Part III of the Manhattan Beach Municipal Code, and (b) the zoning map; and (2) adopt a resolution amending the Land Use Element of the Manhattan Beach General Plan, to create a residential overlay zoning district for certain commercial properties.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
On September 23, 2022, the Manhattan Beach City Council amended the Manhattan Beach General Plan by adopting the 6th Cycle Housing Element Update (“Housing Element”). The adopted Housing Element includes a number of programs to facilitate additional housing opportunities in the City. To implement the Housing Element and achieve consistency with that portion of the City’s General Plan, on February 22, 2023, the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council amend the City’s Land Use Element, Zoning Code, and Zone Map (the “Amendments”). If adopted, the Amendments will create a Residential Overlay District (“Overlay”) that will supplement the underlying zoning on certain properties to facilitate additional housing opportunities in the City. The Overlay will implement a portion of Program 2 and the full scope of Program 7 in the adopted Housing Element.
If adopted, the Overlay would be applied to 34 sites, comprised of 75 parcels in total, on select General Commercial (CG), Planned Development (PD), and Local Commercial (CL) zoning districts. As an overlay zoning district, the existing base zoning district regulations will continue to apply while providing an option to develop multifamily residential or mixed-use residential projects through the proposed regulations. Consistent with State Housing Law, objective development standards to allow for streamlined review of qualifying projects are incorporated into the proposed ordinance.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The fiscal implications associated with this item are limited to expenditure of staff time in drafting the staff report and the proposed amendments. Costs associated with any future application processing would be off-set by cost recovery fees.
BACKGROUND:
As stated in the linked Planning Commission staff report (which is incorporated by reference), the Housing Element is one of the State-mandated parts (elements) of a General Plan which describes the City’s needs, goals, policies, objectives, and programs regarding the preservation, improvement, and development of housing within the City. Per State law, jurisdictions are required to update the Housing Element every eight years.
On September 23, 2022, the City Council adopted the Housing Element. In order to implement certain programs in the adopted Housing Element, properties identified in the Housing Element must be “rezoned.” “Rezoning” in this case means creation of the residential overlay zone set forth in Program 2 in the adopted Housing Element. The proposed rezoning can also be extended to implement Program 7, as the same regulatory framework required for Program 2 is applicable. The proposed amendments would implement a portion of Program 2 and the full scope of Program 7, creating an overlay zoning district and applying it to the sites identified in Table 15 and Table 7 of Appendix E (Sites Analysis and Inventory).
On February 22, 2023, the Planning Commission conducted a duly noticed public hearing to consider the proposed amendments and make a recommendation to the City Council. After closing the public hearing, the Planning Commission unanimously (5:0) voted to recommend to the City Council adoption of the proposed amendments.
DISCUSSION:
As stated in the Planning Commission staff report, the Program Implementation section of the adopted Housing Element identifies 31 programs that will be implemented during the 6th Cycle planning period (2021 - 2029) to ensure that the City’s housing needs are met and to set the goals and policies in motion. Both Program 2 and Program 7 are intended to increase development capacity in identified areas within the City to meet housing needs.
The proposed Overlay encompasses approximately 43 acres of sites in the General Commercial (CG) and Planned Development (PD) districts and 0.5 acre in the Local Commercial (CL) district. In order to establish the Overlay, amendments to the City’s General Plan, zoning code, and zoning map, are required as demonstrated below.
1. General Plan Amendment to the Land Use Element
The General Plan is a document that establishes the long-range goals for the physical development of the community. A General Plan is often referred to as the "constitution" for development in the City, reflecting the long term "vision" of the community through its goals, policies and objectives. General Plans are required to be internally consistent, and as a policy document they are general in nature.
As noted above, State law requires cities such as Manhattan Beach to update their Housing Elements every eight years, as the City Council did last year. As part of the process, staff reviewed other elements of the Manhattan Beach General Plan to see if other Elements, such as the Land Use Element, also require amendments to achieve internal consistency or to implement Housing Element programs. Accordingly, staff and the Planning Commission recommend amendments to the General Plan Land Use Element.
The recommended amendments to the Land Use Element focus on commercial districts and corridors, such as Sepulveda Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue east of Sepulveda. Specifically, additional language has been added, or existing sentences have been revised, to allow for multifamily residential developments in the commercial areas identified on the Map, consistent with the adopted Housing Element. Details of the proposed amendments to the Land Use Element Is attached, with new text in red underline and deletions in strikethrough.
Please note that, unrelated to the Overlay, the recommended amendments to the Land Use Element also include clean-up language regarding the Longfellow Drive Overlay (D7) and Sepulveda Boulevard Corridor Overlay (D8), both of which are not currently reflected in the General Plan, to attain consistency with Chapter 10.44 (D Design Overlay District) of the zoning code.
2. Zoning Text and Map Amendment
In general, a City’s zoning code is the document that implements the General Plan. The Zoning Code sets forth more specific development and use standards to implement the General Plan’s vision and must be consistent with the General Plan. Similar to their review of the Land Use Element, staff reviewed the Zoning Code to see if the Code likewise requires amendments to achieve consistency with the General Plan or to implement Housing Element programs. In addition, staff drafted specific development and use standards to implement the adopted Housing Element’s vision and programs. Accordingly, staff and the Planning Commission recommend amendments to the Zoning Code and Zoning Map. Property owners of applicable sites within the Overlay will continue to have the option of developing their properties pursuant to the existing base zoning district regulations. If the Council adopts the proposed amendments, such property owners would have the additional option to develop multifamily residential projects, including mixed-use projects, in accordance with the proposed overlay zoning regulations.
If adopted, the Overlay will be incorporated into the Zoning Code as Chapter 10.50 (Residential Overlay District) of Part III (Overlay District Regulations) of Title 10 (Planning and Zoning). The provisions within Chapter 10.50 will establish objective development standards facilitating housing development consistent with Program 20 (Objective Design Standards) of the Housing Element. A summary of the proposed objective standards are provided in Table 1 - Residential Overlay District Development Standards (Attachment).
The Overlay will be applicable to 34 sites identified in Table 15 and Table 7 of Appendix E (Sites Analysis and Inventory) in the Housing Element (Attachment); the 34 sites are composed of 75 parcels. All 34 sites are located along major corridors with convenient access to a variety of resources. The existing zoning designations consist of 23 sites zoned as CG, eight sites zoned as CG-D8 (Sepulveda Boulevard Corridor Overlay), two sites zoned as PD, and one site zoned CL. The sites all contain commercial uses. The attached zoning map amendment shows all 34 sites (Attachment).
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
The noticing related to this public hearing was mailed to all property owners of the 75 identified parcels for the Overlay, posted at City Hall and other City locations, posted on the City’s website, and published in The Beach Reporter on February 23, 2023.
In addition, the specific sites selected in the adopted Housing Element resulted from a very robust public engagement effort conducted in connection with the adoption of that Housing Element. Local governments must demonstrate a diligent effort to achieve public participation of all economic segments of the community in their development of the Housing Element. Accordingly, development of the Housing Element Programs and specific site selection was a result of community input received during the following public meetings/events:
• August 24, 2021 City Council meeting
• August 31, 2021 Stakeholder’s Workshop
• September 15, 2021 Planning Commission Study Session
• September 21, 2021 City Council meeting
• October 2, 2021 City’s Hometown Fair
• November 2, 2021 City Council meeting
• December 8, 2021 Planning Commission meeting
• January 12, 2022 Planning Commission public hearing
• February 1, 4, and 9, 2022 City Council public hearings
• March 22, 2022 City Council public hearing
• September 23, 2022 City Council public hearing
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
On March 22, 2022, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 22-0014 adopting an Initial Study/Negative Declaration (IS/ND) prepared for the Housing Element, and adopted findings pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the State CEQA Guidelines. On September 23, 2022, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 22-0137, adopting an Addendum to the adopted IS/ND in connection with its adoption of the revised Housing Element. As the proposed amendments are implementation actions that are within the scope of the adopted IS/ND and Addendum, no further environmental analysis is required.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary, and has approved as to form the draft ordinance.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Draft Ordinance No. 23-0006
2. Draft Resolution No. 23-0025
3. Table 1 - Residential Overlay District Development Standards
4. February 22, 2023 Planning Commission Staff Report (linked)
5. Adopted 6th Cycle Housing Element (linked)
6. HCD’s Housing Element Compliance Incentives and Noncompliance Consequences
7. Powerpoint Presentation