01-21-2014 - General Plan Update•
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Christopher J. Chung
City Manager
BY: Jeff Anderson, AICP
Planning Director
SUBJECT: GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
RECOMMENDATION:
• City of West Covina
Memorandum
AGENDA
ITEM NO. 10.
DATE_ January 21, 2014
Staff recommends the City Council direct staff to prepare a Request for Proposal to update the
required elements of the General Plan and complete a Program Environmental Impact Report
and include the following:
1. Proposals for a Focused General Plan that includes the review of all elements of the General
Plan with most of the land use analysis focused on the commercial and industrial areas of the
City.
2. A public outreach program including a minimum of 14 meetings and the use of social media
and technology to increase the opportunities for public interaction outside of public meetings.
3. Optional work products for increased. public outreach and for a comprehensive Zoning Code
update.
DISCUSSION:
The General Plan for the City of West Covina was last updated in 1985 and is the blueprint for
the long-term development of the City. The General Plan generally has a 10-20 year horizon. A
General Plan establishes policies for the growth and development of the City and identifies
physical development policies appropriate to protect and enhance those features and services,
which contribute to the quality of life enjoyed by the residents. Through a General Plan the
following can be achieved:
• Create a vision
• Manage change
• Build community identity
• Promote social equity and economic prosperity
• Steward and enhance the environment
• Fulfill requirements of State law
Given the understanding that the General Plan is now almost 30 years, staff began to work
towards the concept of updating the General Plan. In doing so, staff has researched the various
approaches utilized to update the General Plan, methods of financing the update, issues that
should be included in the Request for Proposal (RFP), and recommendations.
Each city in California is required to have an adopted General Plan. Pursuant to California State
law, a General Plan must have seven required elements, including Land Use, Circulation,
Housing, Conservation, Open Space, Noise, and Safety. The Housing Element is the only
element that has a statutory requirement to be updated periodically. (Currently the Housing
Element is required to be updated every eight years, the 2014-2021 Housing Element was
approved in 2013, so there is no need to update that element.) While the General Plan Update is
typically managed by the Planning Department, the required Elements also include policies for
other Departments including Engineering (Circulation), Community Services (Open Space),
Community Development Commission (Housing), and Fire and Public Works Departments
(Safety). The law allows considerable flexibility in preparing a General Plan update; State
planning laws do establish basic requirements about the issues that General Plans must address.
The California Government Code establishes both the content of General Plans and rules for
their adoption and subsequent amendments. State law and judicial decision establish three
overall guidelines for General Plans.
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• The General Plan must be comprehensive. There are two aspects to this requirement.
First, the General Plan must be geographically comprehensive. That is, it must apply
throughout the entire incorporated area and it should include other areas that the City
determines are relevant to its planning. Second, the general plan must address the full
range of issues that affects the City's physical development.
• The General Plan must be internally consistent. The General Plan must fully integrate its
separate parts and relate them to each other without conflict. All adopted portions of the
General Plan, whether required by State law or not, have equal legal weight. No portion
of the General Plan may supersede another; the Plan must resolve conflicts among the
provisions of each element.
• The General Plan must be long-range. Because anticipated development will affect the
City and the people who live or work there for years to come, State law requires every
general plan to take a long-term perspective.
Since the adoption of the General Plan, the City has continued to grow at slower pace than the
boom period of the 1980s. Since the 1985 Update there have been mandated requirements for
long range planning by the State such as new regional transportation planning requirements in
the mid-2000s and the mandate that cities address climate change in their long-range plans. The
lack of a long-range plan for growth makes the City susceptible to legal challenges because the
General Plan has not been updated since 1985. Since many larger developments require General
Plan Amendments as part of their entitlement, by not updating the General Plan future projects
will be at risk of legal challenges as well.
The current General Plan includes the seven required elements. Although, the seven elements
are specifically required, the General Plan process offers a great deal of latitude to create a vision
for the community that reflects the communities' unique needs by including other optional
elements related to land -use developments such as public facilities; urban design, economic and
fiscal development; capital improvements, water, etc. In addition, the current General Plan also
includes three additional elements: Economic Development, Human Resources, and Design. The
current General Plan can be found on the Planning Department page of the City website.
As part of a General Plan Update, an Environmental Impact Report is completed in compliance
with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Staff is intending to include in the RFP
a request for the consultant to prepare a Program Environmental Impact Report. A Program EIR
will allow for future development to be streamlined if it is consistent with the General Plan and
was analyzed in the Master Environmental Impact Report. In addition, staff is intending to
request the consultant to prepare a Fiscal Analysis (for infrastructure analysis, City and regional
economic issues, and preferred land use and circulation scenarios).
APPROACHES TO UPDATING A GENERAL PLAN
There are different approaches that can be used to update a city's General Plan. Cities can elect
to do a "Visionary" General Plan Update, a "Focused" General Plan Update, or a "Legally
Adequate" General Plan. These approaches are not mutually exclusive, but rather
generalizations of the ways that other cities have determined to update their General Plans.
Visionary General Plan Update
This option is often used by communities that have experienced substantial changes or where
their General Plan no longer reflects the present and future realities of the community. This
approach includes a comprehensive overhaul of the General Plan. The process for this type of
update typically includes an extensive visioning/outreach program. A substantial amount of
outreach occurs up -front to formulate goals for the update of the General Plan that is reflective of
the vision and values of the community. During the initial visioning process issues, assumptions
and principles are identified and a vision and/or mission for the update of the General Plan are
articulated with assistance from the public and stakeholder groups. The amount of community
involvement and methods for including the public can vary greatly. However, this type of update
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usually includes a robust outreach program aimed at creating broad -based community support for
the General Plan Update.
Undertaking a visionary, comprehensive general plan update is typically the most expensive and
time -intensive approach. The number of public meetings and the time it takes to articulate a
"new vision" for the City can be costly. In addition, a comprehensive update opens up the
process to re-evaluate the scope and content of the City's General Plan to address not only state
standards and legal requirements, but changes in professional practices, planning trends and the
City's new stated vision. Therefore, this type of update might include the introduction of new
elements in addition to the seven mandatory elements. The General Plan document might be
reformatted and reinvented to be more "modern" and "state-of-the-art". The vision and General
Plan update may take the City in a new direction, which might include extensive analyses
beyond that required for the environmental impact report. Based on information received, these
can cost between $1.2 million and $4 million and take 3 to 6 years to complete.
Focused General Plan
A Focused General Plan Update does not attempt to overhaul all elements of the General Plan
simultaneously. It may focus the update on certain elements or revising elements to address
defined issues/themes. This type of update allows a jurisdiction to spread the cost of an update
over a longer period and allows the jurisdiction to decline updating elements, or portions of
elements, that might still be current. The overall process for a Focused General Plan Update is
not substantially different than for a Visionary General Plan Update.
This type of General Plan Update approach is used when portions of the of the General Plan are
out of date, but the overall vision and direction of the City is still valid. For large portions of the
city that have been developed with single-family or other types of residential uses, it is unlikely
that there will be significant changes to land use designations or zoning. In these cases, the focus
is on commercial or industrial areas of the City where infill development is most likely to occur
(including areas that may be targeted for mixed -use development). Additionally, the outreach
program could be more direct and rather than asking broadly stated questions about the
community's vision for the future, the focus might be on identifying and prioritizing key change
areas/opportunity areas and specific needs such as the desire for better parks and trail
connectivity throughout the community. A Program EIR would accompany the Focused General
Plan Update, still providing the City with a tool for tiering and streamlining future projects in the
change areas. Focused General Plans can cost between $500,000 and $800,000 and take 18
months to 2 years to complete.
Legally Adequate General Plan
The goal of this type of update would be to prepare a legal, yet minimal, low budget update. This
update would seek to satisfy the statutory update requirements in the most cost-effective manner.
This type of update would need to address Complete Streets requirements, flood -related matters,
and disadvantaged communities.
A legally adequate update assumes no change in land uses and the minimum outreach necessary
to inform the public of the process and ensure appropriate participation and review of
documents. In this option, a Program EIR is likely not necessary as no land use changes are
contemplated. This approach would allow the City to address the legal adequacy of the General
Plan and defer additional changes and more extensive outreach for a subsequent phase or update
effort. These types of General Plan Updates can cost between $250,000 and $500,000 and take
12 to 18 months.
FINANCING
The City has been preparing for the potential of a General Plan Update by identifying various
funding sources. In the early 1990's, the City established .a General Plan maintenance fee that is
charged to applicants of discretionary entitlement permits (General Plan amendments, zone
changes, precise plans, etc.) through the Planning Department. In addition, the City has set -aside
funds received per Proposition C (transportation). Lastly, the City was selected to receive a
grant from the Southern California Association of Governments (SLAG) through their Compass
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Blueprint Sustainability Program. The following chart indicates the funding currently available
for the General Plan Update.
Funding Source
Amount
General Plan Maintenance Fund
$151,000
Proposition C
$200,000
SCAG Grant
$200,000
TOTAL
$551,000
ISSUES
In preparing to release a Request for Proposal, staff would like to inform and seek consensus
from City Council regarding the approach of updating the General Plan, public outreach, and
optional work products to be included in the RFP.
Approach to the General Plan Update
In considering what approach to take in updating the General Plan, the following should be
considered.
• West Covina is a built -out City where future development will replace existing
development,
• The great majority of the land use of the City is comprised of single-family and multi-
family neighborhoods,
• Established residential neighborhoods should be protected and supported (both single
family and multifamily),
• The focus should be on potential areas of change from a strategic standpoint to establish
goals and policies to direct growth to selected areas,
• New development should be limited to densities that do not exceed the capacity of the
City to provide public services and adequate public safety,
• The City has limited funds to devote to the General Plan Update,
• There has not been any recent visioning or community outreach recently regarding what
resident's value and changes they would like to see in the community,
• New infill development opportunities should be identified.
For those reasons, staff believes it is appropriate to embark on a Focused General Plan update,
but with increased public outreach and community workshops. A Focused General Plan Update
could allow the process to focus on the key opportunity/change areas such as the Azusa corridor,
Central Business District, BKK landfill area and the auto mall area along the freeway; thus
preserving the residential neighborhoods. Additionally, the outreach program could be more
direct and rather than asking broadly stated questions about the community's vision for the
future, it might focus on identifying and prioritizing key change areas/opportunity areas and
specific needs of the community. A Program EIR would accompany the Focused General Plan
Update, still providing the City with a tool for tiering and streamlining future projects in the
change areas. This approach would allow the City to still be pro -active about updating the
General Plan in a more fiscally responsible manner while allowing for appropriate community
outreach and the creation of vision for future development. As they are not required and in order
to be cost conscious, staff is proposing to focus on the seven required elements and include the
existing additional elements (economic development, human resources, and design) as
components in the required elements.
Public Outreach
Public outreach will be a key component of the General Plan Update. The amount of public
outreach affects the cost of the update. In being mindful of that fact, staff has researched some
recent RFP's from other cities to get an idea of the average community outreach. Staff is
suggesting that the RFP include the following public outreach: two public hearings for City
Council, two public hearings for Planning Commission, three joint City Council/Planning
Commission workshops, and seven community meetings in a variety of locations in the City.
This would be a total of 14 public meetings. In addition, the RFP will request the use of social
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media and technology to increase the opportunities for public interaction outside the traditional
public meetings.
Optional Work Products
The RFP can request proposals for optional items. Optional work products are separate items
with a separate proposal that the jurisdiction can elect to have completed after the consultant is
selected. There are three items that staff has considered including as optional items if the budget
allows it. These include increased public outreach, a comprehensive Zoning Code update, and
optional General Plan elements.
Additional Public Outreach - City Council may elect to increase the amount of public outreach
beyond the 14 public meetings mentioned previously for which an optional work product could
be requested as part of the RFP. Upon selection of the consultant, we could then work with them
to find the right balance of public outreach that the City Council deemed appropriate.
Comprehensive Zoning Code Update - The current Zoning Code was adopted in 1977. There
have been many amendments to the Zoning Code since that time, which generally are focused on
an individual issue without a comprehensive evaluation. Due to the age of the Zoning Code, it
would be appropriate to complete a comprehensive Zoning Code update. The purpose of the
update is not necessarily to modify existing development standards or review processes but to
reword some of the standards to make the requirements clear, organize the Code to allow for a
user -friendlier document and to implement any new policies that are adopted as part of the
General Plan update. It is common for cities to complete a Zoning Code update following the
completion of a General Plan update.
Update to Additional Elements - Many cities have elements in their General Plan in addition to
the required elements. The current West Covina General Plan includes three additional
elements: Economic Development, Human Resources, and Design. The City could request an
optional work product for the update of those three elements, for additional elements that we
currently do not have, or some combination. Staff is not recommending an optional work
product to update the three additional elements. Staff is proposing to focus on the seven required
elements and include such additional goals and policies for economic development, human
resources, and design as components in the required elements. This may allow for a more
economical and timely process.
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS:
Given the current economic circumstances, staff has been cognizant in preparing a Request for
Proposal that is in keeping with the funding available. Staff would facilitate the community in
crafting a vision and the policies to implement that vision. Since a comprehensive General Plan
update is a significant and costly process that is not a standardized process, many cities forgo this
process. In that sense, West Covina is not unique in having a dated General Plan..
In order to move the process forward, staff recommends the City Council do the following.
Direct staff to prepare a Request for Proposal to update the required elements of the General Plan
and complete a Program Environmental Impact Report and include the following:
1. Proposals for a Focused General Plan that includes the review of all elements of the General
Plan with most of the land use analysis focused on the commercial and industrial areas of the
City.
2. A public outreach program including a minimum of 14 meetings and the use of social media
and technology to increase the opportunities for public interaction outside of public meetings.
3. Optional work products for increased public outreach and for a comprehensive Zoning Code
update.
Upon release of the RFP, City staff will bring back the approval to award the bid to select the
General Plan consultant.
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ALTERNATIVES
The following are some alternatives to staff s recommendation.
1. No General Plan Update. Continue to conduct business as usual without a plan to
manage growth and physical changes within the City. Future development would or
should occur as set forth under the existing 1985 General Plan. Continue to risk legal
challenges for new projects that require General Plan Amendments (public and private).
2. Adopt Specific Plans. The City could consider preparing Specific Plans in the areas
where growth can be redirected. This approach is narrow in scope and does not solve
underlying issues cited above.
3. Direct staff to prepare an RFP for a Legally Adequate General Plan. The City could
release an RFP requesting consultants to submit proposals for a Legally Adequate
General Plan. This type of Update would likely take a year and have a significantly
lower cost. This type of Update would allow for revisions to the existing General Plan
and include limited public outreach and visioning.
4. Direct staff to prepare an RFP for a Visionary General Plan. The City could release an
RFP requesting consultants to submit proposals for a Visionary General Plan. This type
of Update would likely take longer than two years and the cost would potentially greatly
exceed the amount that is currently set aside.
The listed alternatives above are some of the options available to the City Council. The may be
other alternatives that the City Council might wish to pursue. Staff is open and interested in
receiving input on proceeding with the General Plan.
r
l
Prep y: Jeff Anderson
Planning Director
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