HomeMy WebLinkAboutGeneral Plan Update Streamlining - City Council Member Itemo �.
CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
City Council Interoffice Communication
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
From: Mike Posey, City Council Member
Date: March 9, 2015
Subject: CITY COUNCIL MEMBER ITEM FOR THE MARCH 16, 2015, CITY
COUNCIL MEETING — GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
STREAMLINING
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
The current General Plan was adopted in 1996 and consists of 16 elements. State law
mandates eight elements. The City has been updating the General Plan since March 2014 and
expects to complete everything by September 2016. It is my opinion that the General Plan
update should focus only on the necessary, required elements that are needed to ensure
compliance with State law. As such, I am proposing that the City Council consider ways to
reduce the size and scope of the General Plan to address only the basic requirements. I have
discussed my issues with staff and, as a result of these discussions, would recommend the
following changes to the General Plan update. If the City Council agrees with the changes, the
City would reduce the project budget by approximately $100,000 and reduce the overall project
schedule by approximately two months.
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Direct staff to streamline the General Plan Update by implementing the following
changes to the project scope and process:
A. Reduce the scope of the Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) to meet the requirements
necessary to address State law and realize benefits of streamlined environmental review
for future projects.
B. Reduce scope of land use/circulation alternatives analysis.
C. Reduce the scope of the Coastal Resiliency Plan to address the necessary California
Coastal Commission requirements.
D. Formulate a General Plan structure to meet the State mandated requirements while
ensuring that the General Plan elements are reasonable in size and scope to meet all
legal requirements, as well as address issues identified by the GPAC. New structure
changes would result in reducing the number of elements from 16 to nine and include
the following elements: Land Use, Open Space/Conservation, Safety, Noise, Circulation,
Infrastructure/Public Facilities, Historic and Cultural Resources, Housing, and Coastal.
(It should be noted that the last three are not part of the General Plan Update project.)
Xc: Fred A. Wilson, City Manager
Ken Domer, Assistant City Manager
Joan Flynn, City Clerk
Scott Hess, Director of Planning and Building
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