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2013 - December 16Planning Commission December 16, 2013 Minutes Planning Commission City of Orange PRESENT: Commissioners Steiner, Cathcart, and Gladson ABSENT: Commissioners Buttress and Correa STAFF PRESENT: Leslie Roseberry, Planning Manager Gary Sheatz, Assistant City Attorney Angie Ibarra/Jackie Bateman, Recording Secretary Jennifer Le, Senior Planner REGULAR SESSION 1. OPENING: Chair Steiner called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. 1.2 FLAG SALUTE: Commissioner Cathcart led the flag salute. 1.3 ROLL CALL: December 16, 2013 Monday 7:00 p.m. Commissioners Cathcart, Gladson & Steiner were present. Commissioners Buttress and Correa were absent. 1.4 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION None. 1.5 CONTINUED OR WITHDRAWN ITEMS: None. 1.6 PLANNING MANAGER REPORT: The Planning Manager introduced Angie Ibarra as new recording secretary. 1.7 APPEAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Chair Steiner advised the audience of the City's appeal process. 1 Planning Commission December 16, 2013 2. CONSENT CALENDAR: 2.1 APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED MEETING OF DECEMBER 2, 2013 Motion was made to approve the minutes as written. MOTION: Commissioner Gladson SECOND: Commissioner Steiner AYES: Commissioners Gladson and Steiner ABSTAIN: Commissioner Cathcart ABSENT: Commissioners Buttress and Correa MOTION CARRIED 2 Planning Commission December 16, 2013 3. NEW HEARINGS: 3.1 CITY OF ORANGE 2014 -2021 HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT 2013 -0002 AND INITIAL STUDY NO. 1834 -13 A request to adopt an updated General Plan Housing Element in accordance with State law. The updated Housing Element replaces the existing 2010 Housing Element in its entirety. The Housing Element is one of the State - required chapters or "elements" of the City's General Plan. The updated Housing Element identifies and analyzes existing and projected housing needs, plans for the long- term provision of housing for a variety of household income levels and articulates the City's official policies for the preservation, conservation, improvement and production of housing within the City for the 2014 through 2021 planning period. LOCATION: City -wide NOTE: Initial Study No. 1843 -13 was prepared in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to evaluate the environmental effects of the Housing Element Update. The Initial Study concludes that project impacts have already been analyzed and mitigated pursuant to an earlier Environmental Impact Report (the Program Environmental Impact Report prepared for the 2010 Comprehensive General Plan Update, State Clearinghouse No. 2006031117, certified on March 9, 2010). Therefore, the Initial Study finds that no further documentation is warranted or required in order to comply with CEQA. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Adopt Planning Commission Resolution 43 -13 recommending City Council make certain findings pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and approve General Plan Amendment 2013 -0002 adopting the City of Orange 2014 -2021 General Plan Housing Element. Discussion — Senior Planner Jennifer Le presented a project overview consistent with the Staff Report. Commissioner Cathcart asked what will happen if we don't meet the requirements. Ms. Le responded that if the City doesn't adopt a Housing Element, the worst case scenario is that the general plan would be found out of compliance. Ultimately the City could be sued and lose the ability to issue building permits or any sort of development permit. In terms of immediate adoption of the Housing Element, Planning Commission December 16, 2013 there is also the deadline of February 12, 2014 and if the City misses that deadline, we will be updating the housing development every four years instead of eight. Commissioner Gladson asked about the new policy action number 14 that deals with coordinating with Chapman University to deal with student housing. Did that come out of the public outreach or is that something staff is aware of? Ms. Le affirmed that this came out of the public outreach affect of the housing element update. The staff started out the housing development with community outreach booths at our local farmers markets in January of 2013. One was held in Old Towne Orange and another held at The Village at Orange. We did get a lot of feedback from folks at that booth, particularly in the Old Towne location. There was a significant comment about Chapman University's roll in the community and how student housing would ultimately fit in with the neighborhood and whether there was more that needed to be done in the way of policy guidance for Chapman University. That is where that policy action came from and it is also something that city staff is aware of and has been aware of for some time. Commissioner Gladson asked about the comment letter from the Kennedy Commission and the lack of response to the particular items they addressed; specifically where they asked about the covenants for the project at AMLI. We probably would want to give our City Council some response to those inquires from the Kennedy Commission and explain if we did incorporate them, I didn't see them in the element or why we chose to not. Ms. Le answered saying that there is no written response to the Kennedy Commission Letter included in your packet. Commissioner Gladson stated that it was nice to see that there are 180 affordable low income units in those projects. Ms. Le stated that for the AMLI residential project, there were no deed restricted affordable housing units required as part of that project. What you see in the reference to the housing element is the fact that based on the rental rate for AMLI, 180 of the 334 units fall within the lower income category. They are not deed restricted and they were not required to be included as part of that development. Commissioner Steiner stated that the bigger picture that was talked about is 163 of new construction, but there is also a relocation of 32 units. The conservation and preservation of 97 are at risk at reverting from affordable to market rate. That is over the timeline of 2014 -2021. Ms. Le stated that this was correct on all Chair Steiner's comments. 4 Planning Commission December 16, 2013 Chair Steiner opened the public hearing. There were no public speakers and Chair Steiner closed the public hearing. Commissioner Gladson made a motion recommended approving of this item to the City Council and noted that this was a very well thoughtfully prepared element. She indicated she wished that the City could do a little bit more in the area of actually securing affordable units and making sure that there is more opportunity for all facets of income levels in Orange. By losing redevelopment, the City has lost a major financial tool and Council will certainly look at some of that information as they take this item forward. Commissioner Gladson made a motion to approve Planning Commission Resolution PC 43 -13, entitled Resolution of the Planning Commission of the City of Orange recommending City Council make certain findings pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and approve General Plan Amendment No 2013 -0002 adopting the City of Orange 2014 -2021 General Plan Housing Element and also cite the Initial Study 1834 -13 and find that it is adequate for this particular application. Chair Steiner mentioned that he found it fascinating looking at the housing needs and the demographics of this community; it referred to affordability of the City of Orange and when you start looking at the senior citizen population 65 years of age or older is growing; the younger population is declining; and the very significant portion of our housing, 70 %, is over 30 years old and there is concern about the deterioration of those properties. We just find it really interesting, overcrowding issues and senior housing. It would be beneficial if Staff could talk with City Manager Sibley and maybe see whether some of these highlights could be released to the Orange City News to share how this community is changing over the years. Commissioner Gladson stated that Chair Steiner's comments are very beneficial because that is the tool box that gets re -used. There is a tendency to think that apartments are bad; that multi - family is bad; that all these other product types are necessarily not the best thing. We need them all. We need every type of unit type because the young folks are probably challenging us on that single family detached house. Chair Steiner stated that we hope our children and grandchildren are able to buy a house, whatever house that might be. Almost half our households spend more than 30% of their income on housing. It's really interesting information and he appreciated the tremendous work that went into putting this report together. MOTION: Commissioner Gladson SECOND: Commissioner Cathcart AYES: Commissioners Gladson, Cathcart and Steiner NOES: None 6! Planning Commission December 16, 2013 ABSENT: Commissioners Buttress and Correa MOTION CARRIED Planning Commission December 16, 2013 4. ADJOURNMENT: Planning Commission adjourned to the Special Session meeting on Monday, January 13, 2014. There will be no regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, January 6, 2014. MOTION: Commissioner Gladson SECOND: Commissioner Steiner AYES: Commissioners Gladson, Cathcart and Steiner NOES: None ABSENT: Commissioners Buttress and Correa Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m. MOTION CARRIED