Planning Commission Study Session and Regular Meeting - December 10, 2019
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Planning Commission Study Session and Regular Meeting - December 10, 2019
The Huntington Beach Planning Commission held a study session at 4:30 PM and a regular meeting at 6:00 PM on December 10, 2019. The study session focused on a proposed amendment to the Housing Element and the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan to achieve state certification and eligibility for SB2 funding. The regular meeting included a public hearing and approval of the Park Avenue Rezone (item 19-1123). Public comments emphasized the importance of addressing homelessness and securing state funding.
Consent Calendar
- None.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Several speakers addressed the study session item. One former planning commissioner urged the commission to support the housing element amendment to regain state certification and access funding for homeless programs, noting the city is the only one in Orange County unable to build without state funding.
- A representative from the Homeless United group stressed the responsibility to solve homelessness, stating that children should not live in cars, and urged the commission to take steps to help resolve the issue.
Discussion Items
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Study Session: Housing Element Amendment and Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan Amendment (Item 19-1198)
- Staff presented background: City Council directed staff on November 4, 2019 to prepare a housing element amendment for HCD certification. A 60-day state review period began November 14, 2019, ending around January 13-14, 2020. The amendment includes an affordable housing overlay within the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan to accommodate the remaining lower-income regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) shortfall. The overlay would allow by-right residential development with minimum 20% lower-income units, no conditional use permit or public hearing, and relaxed parking standards.
- Commissioners asked questions about development standards, the process for public hearing on the specific plan amendment, and the reason for losing certification in 2015 (reduction of maximum residential capacity in the specific plan). Staff clarified that the plan check would be administrative and that the public hearing for the specific plan amendment would occur at a future meeting.
- No action was taken on the study session; it was informational only.
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Public Hearing: Park Avenue Rezone (Item 19-1123)
- Staff recommended approval of a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND No. 19-004), General Plan Amendment (GPA No. 19-002), Zoning Map Amendment (ZMA No. 19-002), and Local Coastal Program Amendment (LCPA No. 19-001) to rezone 16926 Park Avenue from Open Space-Water Recreation (OS-W) to Residential Low Density (RL) to make it consistent with surrounding properties.
- Commissioner Ray expressed support, noting it is not spot zoning but making everything consistent. Commissioner Mandick supported, referencing a resident from a previous meeting who found the low-density reduction satisfactory.
- Commissioner Kalmick voted no. The motion carried 6-1. The item will be forwarded to the City Council for a public hearing.
Key Outcomes
- Study session: No action; the housing element and specific plan amendments will return for a public hearing at a future meeting (tentatively January 14, 2020).
- Park Avenue Rezone: Approved (6-1) and forwarded to City Council for consideration.
- The Planning Commission meetings on December 24, 2019 and City Council meeting on January 6, 2020 are canceled. Next Planning Commission meeting is January 14, 2020. Next City Council meeting is December 16, 2019, with items including Magnolia Tank Farm specific plan and zoning code update.
Meeting Transcript
To plan in an appropriate way for density setbacks, all of that. And it was a response to community requests. As a tool, it's become dangerously unstable to use. And that is since uh July nineteenth. I'm speaking specifically about Assembly Bill, which uh became uh signed by the governor, I believe, in July. An uncertified housing element could cost the city a six hundred thousand dollar fine per month, retroactive to the date that the housing element became uncertified. If we don't do anything and allow the housing element to stand as it has been amended in twenty fifteen, the butcher's bill approaches fifty million dollars in a lump sum payment. And that development pushes forward all sorts of city um uh agendas relating to the homeless quality of life and affordability in the city. So I would um I I would seriously consider this overlay, or something that that does the same job. So thank you for your thank you for your attention. Next speaker. I'm Jenny Braithwaite, a resident of Huntington Beach and a volunteer with the SHIP shelter, as well as a member of the homeless united of Huntington Beach group. Honorable members of the Huntington Beach Planning Commission. We are at a rendezvous with destiny. And hopefully, and hopefully positive ones for our city. It doesn't seem to be projecting, but we're good. All right. So let's say we decide not to recertify our housing element. We're gonna go it until 2021 when we have the next cycle. What do we lose? Number one, we will lose yearly 500,000 approximately dollars in SB2 money, which could be used to operate homeless shelters. Add that up, that's quite a bit of money over a decade. Number two, currently we are losing access to real estate recording fees. If you work in business or real estate, you add up all the real estate transactions that go on in the city. We lose a good chunk of change because we're not allowed to keep those funds. That's a punishment for not having a housing element in place. Currently, we are not allowed to join the Orange County Housing Finance Trust. That is a group of donations. The first company to donate was the Walt Disney Company, $5 million. There's a huge amount of money which cities can access, basically forming cooperation between the private sector and the government in order to serve the homeless. We're not allowed to play the game because we don't have a housing element. That may occur. And there is a possibility of losing $600,000 per month all the way retroactive to 2015. That is $50 million of fines that our city will incur because we don't have a housing element. As a taxpayer, I pay a lot of state income tax. I don't want my taxes to go and pay for other city shelters. It's time we step up to the plate. We can't enforce our anti-camping laws until we have a shelter for the homeless. And please do it, whatever it is. Thank you. Hi, I'm Ralph Bauer, longtime resident of Huntington Beach, and I'm sympathize with you because I used to do the job you're doing a long time ago, and it's hard to satisfy everybody. I brought you a couple of pieces of paper handouts. So one is an interesting article, which probably most of you read, uh grading housing by city in uh Orange County, and sadly enough, uh we got a flat F, which uh distresses me a bit. Uh there are four cities, uh La Habra, Westminster, and Santa Anna got A's. Uh and I'm not sure I know how to fix that, but maybe uh you could talk about it a bit and talk to the staff, talk to other cities and see how we might uh improve our rating. Uh the second uh piece of paper I'll give you is uh some comments I made to the city council about homeless a while back, and it might uh give you a sort of a flavor of why housing is such important uh issue. Uh I look upon your job as well, the job of the council is that to be trying to be responsive to every all citizens. You'll find that most of the homeless here are uh actually citizens of Hunting Beach. They've lived here for a long time, they just have fallen hard time. So hopefully uh you'll do your best to address that issue and uh uh maybe we can uh change some of the low grades we've gotten on this housing thing to something a little bit better.
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