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Background
On March 15, 2016, the City Council adopted a General Plan Amendment Screening Policy, which created an initial screening process for General Plan Amendment requests. The policy was refined by the City Council on May 16, 2017.
Projects requiring a General Plan Amendment that would authorize land use map changes to allow additional market rate residential development, including mixed-use and mixed-income developments are subject to this policy. Applications that propose 100% affordable housing or propose a change between non-residential land use designations (e.g., industrial to commercial) are exempt from this policy. The City will consider requests twice each year. All requests received by June 15 of each year will be forwarded to the Planning Commission for their recommendations during August and in turn, to the City Council for authorization or disinterest in September. All applications received by November 15 of each year will be forwarded to the Planning Commission for their recommendations during January and in turn, to the City Council for authorization or disinterest in February. If three or fewer General Plan Amendment Screening Requests are received during a review cycle and the requests meet the criteria below, they would automatically be given authorization to proceed with a formal General Plan Amendment application:
- General Plan Amendment would result in 10 or fewer new market rate housing units; and
- Applicant agrees to exceed the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance requirements through on-site production or payment of affordable housing fees.
The overall process is intended to screen and/or prioritize applications for review and identify applications the City Council has no interest in pursuing. Authorization of a General Plan Amendment Screening Request by the City Council in no way implies project approval; it merely authorizes formal processing of applications deemed worthy of consideration or further exploration. Should a larger number of requests be received, the City Council may also prioritize the order in which staff will review them. Staff does not perform any formal analysis or make a recommendation regarding General Plan Amendment Screening Requests. Subsequent approval of an authorized project is not implied by this process.