HomeMy WebLinkAbout42-Public Works
('I
I )
o
o
I
\.
,
WHAT IS A GENERAL PLAN?
I. General Comments about General Plans
II. The General Plan Revision Program
III. Content of the General Plan
IV. Implementing the General Plan
JULY 5, 1988 ..J
""l
l~c2 )
(
n
\ )
o
o
WHAT IS A GENERAL PLAN?
I. GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT GENERAL PLANS
California State law requires that all cities and
counties adopt a General Plan for their physical
development. At one time the local General Plan was
looked upon as a set of broad policies that has little
actual role in development decisions. We've seen many
General Plans that consist mainly of brightly colored
maps and booklets that were carefully prepared and then
set aside so as not to interfere with the job of
decision making.
After two decades of significant changes to the law,
vast improvements have been made to boost the importance
of the plan's relationship to decision making. According
to the State guidelines for preparing a General Plan, a
.plan may no longer be merely a 'wish list' or a vague
view of the future of the community, it must now provide
concrete direction for decision making..
A Plan must be .comprehensive. in scope in that it
covers the City's entire planning area and it addresses
physical, social and economic concerns associated with
development.
A General Plan must be internally consistent, that is,
it requires equal status among the various elements,
consistency among the elements, and consistency within
each element. All local ordinances must be consistent
with the plan. In most cases, a finding of consistency
must be made before approval of a land use application.
Similarly, all redevelopment plans must be consistent
with the General Plan rather than vice-versa. All maps
in the plan including the land use map must be
consistent with the text. A plan with written policies
and programs which conflict with its corresponding
diagrams and maps is internally inconsistent and must be
reconciled. Without consistency in all these areas the
General Plan cannot effectively serve as a clear guide
to future development.
The General Plan is a long term document which looks 10,
15, or 20 years into the future.
The Plan must also be readily available to the public.
Each councilmember should possess or have ready access
to a copy of the entire document including all technical
appendices. Hopefully, every department and certainly
each staff planner and Planning Commissioner should have
a complete copy. It must be available to members of the
1
,
,
n
I )
o
o
each staff planner and Planning Commissioner should have
a complete copy. It must be available to members of the
public who request it. Although we may charge a fee for
copies of the final plan, the Council should anticipate
that the maps and other printing costs will raise the
fee for each copy into the thirty to fifty dollar range.
For this reasons, staff proposes to provide executive
summaries of the plan. Since keeping the plan as up-to-
date as possible is very important, all copies should be
placed in a three-ring binder for easy updating.
2
n
)
o
o
II. THE GENERAL PLAN REVISION PROGRAM
There are several acceptable ways to amend the General
Plan. Certainly a minor amendment will differ greatly
from a complete overhaul such as the one we in San
Bernardino are doing. The complete revision program we
are undertaking and the process we are using has been
carefully reviewed and approved by OPR as part of our
General Plan Extension request.
Since the State General Plan Guidelines advise
locality to select the process which best suits
needs, we have designed a five phase program which
give us a completely new and updated plan. The
phases are:
each
its
will
five
PHASE 1: COr,J;.!:C_'~'J~G, ,J\.!J~, ^-~Ju..1ZING INFORMATION
Data cOllection, mapping and analysis. Several studies
will be completed culminating in a report which
documents existing conditions regarding land use,
traffic, public facilities, demographics, environmental
hazards and other physical, social and economic
concerns.
pHASE 2: ID,ENTI"ING, ,I,sS1;JJ!l~_L-ESTABLISJilNG GOALS
A Citizen Advisory Committee will identify the main
issues affecting the City of San Bernardino now and for
the next 10 to 20 years and establish the major goals to
be achieved.
~HASE 3: DEVEI,OPING AND ,TEST_I.tHLAUJ:.J::~.NATIVES
Several land use alternatives will be prepared based on
all available information. A general impact assessment
will be made of the alternatives. A preferred
alternative will be selected.
pHA,S~..iL Jlt:~J\:tLni~ _'rUE PLAN
This step involves the preparation of the General Plan
and completion of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
PHASE5:..,~~t:~I!J~ND ADOPTING THE PLAN
Once completed, the General Plan and EIR will go through
public hearings at both the Planning Commission and City
Council levels.
The schedule we are following is shown on Figure 1. It
shows that Phases 1 and 2 were completed in 1987, and
3
"
I
o
z
-
Cl
a:
<
z
a:
w
CO
Z
<
en
u.
o
>
!=
()
..L
...
..
..
Q
~ :J2T
~ ~I<c
2
<
a:
o
o
a:
a.
Z
o
c;;
-
>
w
a:
z
<
...J
a.
...J
<
a:
w
z
w
o
...
ell
al
-h
l""l
!:::I
114.
I...
Ic
Iz
Ie
<
'..1
-0.
...
o .
. .
o .
olH
__u.
o t
"0 f
("
~.! J
~. -:;3
3il'.i;
i l~ - :: u
il~~t;;
;1 ;;;-:
-Ivl!::
0-
.0
-.
1.0
oj
-I
~.
0-
0-
..
if
0-
"
c!;'
o
't
!~li
n
.
~i: i
Joo
~U
n
)
r
r--
:: ~M
~:: u!.
~: J:
u. 50.:
i ,:
a i !i~
~. '......t
'~! ~t:
9:1 11~
~. 0
.0 0
I'i! :-!J
,j~~ II.J
= 0 .
!2"'''' .
:'ci'. t:
... I ....
liE Jj
o
ol!~l ~~! ~il ;Jl ;]!i
:-1)":1 I j'
.;.; ... _.. ~_ :J.
to.::.. :;~ ~-;.: Q, ."1
'.lA1 .~i : u '~ ~_40':
1--' '0 o~_. c
~:;:! -1-:" ~!1. i. ~......
i:=: $.: :11.;;: li;j~
~:~:~ . 4 ... U 1.
.. ~._ ~:: . _ .'., . 0 .
...... GllI>.... , , I' ~ u "
9:!i:j ;ii~ ~J:I j..! ~lo1j
~;;i". ~;:i a>>i ~.! .:...:
'0 11 ~.- 'i-t ~.I =1-....
...OJ ..... CI....... .......
.- - .... ........ = ....
i jl;lN~ !1!: i 5!-:i. II~ "lflJ
... ....... .. t .. ........
.Jill i~ij j~ii j~~ .!:Jl
4
o
.--
-
-
'::!:.:
~..:..
100
Ut::
11"
o I
-111 '
t.I:~
I. ;loU
0_' 1
..-
. Ii
'':'':!
~:r:
...': :11
i ii~ o~
i::i !
i.3 ;
_l _
(
i~
n
( )
o
o
Phase 3 was to finish in April, 1988. In fact, Phase 3
officially ended on June 9, 1988 when OPR approved our
Interim Policy Document and the Preferred Land Use
Alternative. At this pOint we are actually about 60
days behind schedule, which is quite good considering
that the City has compressed into 18 months, a project
which should normally take two and one-half to three
years for a community this size to complete.
However, the Council should be aware that Phase 4 is the
most difficult segment of all and, with the strong
emphasis the Council has now placed on the public
participation aspect of the program, may require
additional time to complete. All together, Phase 4 will
add another 60 days to the schedule. At this time, the
consultant and staff estimate that the General Plan text
and the Environmental Impact Report will be ready to
print in January 1989. At that point, staff would
strongly recommend that the draft plan and EIR be
presented to the public and be made available for review
for 60 to 90 days before formal public hearings are
conducted by the Planning Commission and the Council.
Citizen participation plays a very important role in
formulating a General Plan. Although State law requires
only two public hearings to adopt a General Plan, we
have gone well beyond these minimums. People usually
participate in the General Plan review process only to
the extent that they feel they will be affected. In
larger cities such as San Bernardino, participation
should be geared to smaller geographic areas, as well as
to the entire jurisdiction.
Our 30-member Citizen Advisory Committee has been
instrumental throughout the revision program. The vast
majority of the membership has been attending diligently
for one entire year. Incidently, July 20th marks the
one year anniversary of the CAC's first meeting.
The State General Plan Guidelines give several examples
of techniques for involving the public. Although we
have used several of them, there are many others we can
still utilize, especially during Phase 5, the adoption
portion of the program. Specifically, staff would
recommend that the CAC be actively involved in making
sure that the draft General Plan and draft EIR be
presented to the public in a series of community
meetings designed to acquaint citizens with the new
plan. Once the CAC completes these community meetings,
it will be well prepared to make a final recommendation
and send it on to the Planning Commission and City
Council. The effect of this CAC review period should be
to fine-tune the draft documents and the land use map,
leaving the commission and Council to deal with major
land use and policy decisions, based on recommendations
from the CAC.
5
LId
/
I
n
\ )
o
o
III. CONTENT OF THE GENERAL PLAN
A. Format
While state law specifies tbe basic content of
General Plans, it leaves tbe format to local
discretion. Tbe General Plan may be adopted in any
format wbich the City considers convenient or
appropriate.
Althougb several different formats bave been used
by different communities, tbe two most prevalent
are: 1) adopting elements individually, and 2)
combining elements by primary issue topics. Tbe
format proposed by Envicom, tbe General Plan
consultant, is to combine tbe seven mandatory
elements and seven optional elements into four
issue topics. Tbis format makes internal
consistency between elements easier to maintain and
reduces needless duplication and redundancy. Tbe
four issue topics the San Bernardino General Plan
will be divided into are: 1) Community Develop-
ment, 2) Infrastructure and Community services, 3)
Natural Resources, and 4) Hazards.
B. Required Elements
Government Code Section 65302 lists seven elements
which must be addressed in a General Plan. They
are:
1. Land Use
2. Circulation
3. Housing
4. Conservation
5. Open Space
6. Noise
7. Safety
We in San Bernardino are also including seven
optional elements. They are:
1. Economic Development
2. Redevelopment
3. Infrastructure
4. Public Facilities and Services
6
( "
n
( )
o
o
5. Historical/Cultural Resources
6. Urban Design
7. Quality of Life
Let's review these elements.
J.J\~J;l__ USE ELEMENT
The Land Use Element has the most comprehensive
scope of any of the seven mandatory elements. It
plays a central role in the General Plan and its
goals, objectives, pOlicies and programs.
The Land Use Element designates the general
distribution of uses of the land for housing,
business, industry, open space, education, public
buildings and other categories of public and
private uses of land. It also identifies areas in
the city which are subject to flooding and locates
airports, solid and liquid waste facilities,
recreation facilities and mineral resource areas.
The land use element also contains a diagram called
a General Plan map showing the land use designation'
for every parcel within the planning area. Although
the scale of the map to be used in the final plan
will not permit showing each and everyone of the
60,000+ parcels in the planning area, the Planning
Department will maintain more detailed maps showing
the exact land use designation on each parcel.
Population density will be expressed as the
relationship between two factors: the number of
buildings per acre and the number of residents per
dwelling. The building intensity standard defines
the concentration of use in non-residential
designations. Whereas maximum dwelling units per
acre is a good residential standard, in commercial
and industrial designations the floor area ratio
(the ratio of building floor area to total site
area) is a more useful measure.
~UL.M'J'pN ELEMENT
The Circulation Element is not simply a transpor-
tation plan, it is actually an infrastructure plan
that deals with the circulation of people, goods,
energy, water, sewage, storm drainage and communi-
cations. Since San Bernardino is not an island
within its regional setting, the consultants will
make sure that the Circulation Element is coordin-
ated with regional transportation plans.
7
/
I
n
)
o
o
This element deals with, streets and highways,
public transit routes, transit terminals,
pedestrian, bicycle and equestrian routes and
facilities, truck routes, railroads and depots, car
pooling, taxi service and dial-a-ride, airports,
parking facilities, and the whole issue of air
pollution from motor vehicles.
aQ~~IN~_ELEMENT
The Housing Element identifies and analyzes
existing and projected housing needs and lists
scheduled programs for the preservation,
improvement and development of housing.
It identifies adequate areas for all types of
housing including factory-built housing and mobile
homes. Two important issues which must be
addressed are 1) the provision of density bonuses
or other incentives to developers who include low
or moderate income units, and 2) the development of
secondary units on existing lots.
The Housing Element is the only one of the seven
mandatory elements which is not under the juris-
diction of OPR. Instead, it is regulated by the
State Department of Housing and Community Develop-
ment.
CQ~~~~~T~Q~-ELEMENT
The Conservation Element provides for the
conservation, development and utilization of
natural resources including water, forests, soils,
rivers, creeks and other waters, wildlife, minerals
and other natural resources. The element may also
cover:
1. The reclamation of land and waters,
2.
Prevention
pollution,
and
control
of
water
3. Prevention and control of soil erosion,
4. Protection of watersheds,
5. Surface mining operations,
6. Flood control,
7. Plant and animal habitats including rare
and endangered species,
8
r '
I
n
)
o
o
8. Geothermal resources.
9?~.!f .l?rl&~ ELEMENT
The Open Space Element deals with the designation
of essentially unimproved land as open space forI
1. the preservation of natural resources,
2. the managed production of resources,
3.
outdoor recreation
outstanding scenic,
value,
including areas of
historic and cultural
4. public health and safety.
The open space plan required to be in this element
must contain an action program consisting of
specific programs which the City Council intends to
pursue in implementing its open space plan. State
law requires that no building permit may be issued,
no subdivision map approved, and no open space
zoning ordinance adopted unless the proposed
construction, subdivision or ordinance is
consistent with the City's open space plan.
HQrSE ELEMENT
The purpose of Noise Element is to identify and
appraise noise problems in the City. It must
analyze and quantify current and projected noise
levels from All of the following sources:
1. Highways and freeways
2. Primary arterials and major local streets
3. Railroad operations
4.
Commercial
heliports
Industrial plants including
classification yards
and military airports and
5.
railroad
6.
Other ground stationary
identified by the City as
the noise environment.
noise sources
contributing to
We will need to monitor and map noise contours for
each of the sources listed. These contours must
then be used in the Land Use Element to establish a
pattern of land uses that minimizes the exposure of
City residents to excessive noise.
9
( "
(j
l
o
o
SAFETY ELEMENT
In 1971 the State added two separate elements to
the list of mandatory General Plan requirements.
One was the Safety Element, prompted by several
devastating wildland fires throughout California in
1970. The other was the Seismic Safe~y Element,
prompted by the large San Fernando earthquake. In
1984 these two elements were combined into one
called the Safety Element. In its present form,
the Safety Element aims at reducing death,
injuries, property damage, and the economic and
social dislocation resulting from natural hazards
including:
1. Flooding
2. Mudslides
3. Tsunamies and seiches
4. Landslides and subsidence
5. Earthquakes
6. Avalanches
7. Other geologic phenomena
8. Levee or dam failure
9. Certain types of urban or wildland fires
10. Building collapse
The Safety Element is the primary vehicle for
identifying hazards that the City must consider
when making land use decisions. Within this
element we must map all known seismic and other
known geologic hazards such as liquefaction. It
must also address evacuation routes, peak load water
supply requirements, minimum road widths and
clearance around structures, as those items relate
to fire and geologic hazards. It is within the
Safety Element that we may establish policies for
such things as:
1. The location of sites and facilities for
the production, use, storage and disposal
of hazardous materials
2.
Routes for
materials
transporting
hazardous
10
( ,
n
i )
o
o
3. Emergency preparedness and evacuation in
the event of earthquakes, fires, flooding
and hazardous material accidents
4.
The location
as hospitals,
schools, etc.
of critical facilities such
rest homes, fire stations,
5. The provision of adequate fire protection
services.
The optional elements were selected because of
their relative importance to, and impact on, the
City. There are no state guidelines for the
optional elements so, therefore, the City is free
to tailor the contents of each one to address those
issues which are of prime importance to us. For
example, the Infrastructure Element and the Public
Facilities and Services Element will focus on an
evaluation of major system extensions and addition
required to serve the land use projections and
policies of the selected land use plan. They will
give us policy to guide the City in the provision
of these systems to existing or annexed developed
areas or to annexed undeveloped areas, and to all
future developments.
The Orban Design Element exemplifies the emerging
concern in San Bernardino for a higher quality of
life. The overall quality of life and establish-
ment of an image of San Bernardino as a special
place for its residents, businesses, and visitors
will be largely determined by its urban design.
Finally, the new General Plan will include a
Quality of Life Element. So important is this
element that it should probably be the very first
one discussed in the Plan. Its focus will be on
the definition of the components of the physical,
social and economic environment which contribute to
the City as a special and desirable place to live.
11
( "
n
)
o
o
IV. IMPLEMENTING THE GENERAL PLAN
Our new General Plan will set
development within the City, but
implement the Plan will be the
commitment to the goals, pOlicies
General Plan.
the framework
the way in which
real test of
and programs in
for
we
our
the
Zoning is the primary instrument for implementing the
General Plan. This brings up one of the most important
points about the new plan, that is, the fact that there
will be a combined General Plan and Zoning map. State
law and court decisions require consistency between both
maps. Therefore, having only one map represents, of
course, the ultimate consistency. What this means is
that there will be only one zoning designation for each
General Plan land use designation. This should greatly
simplify things for staff to interpret and for the
public to understand. There will still need to be a
zoning ordinance with specific development standards.
Many of the pOlicies for these standards will be found
in the plan itself.
Other instruments or tools for implementing the General
Plan include:
1. Subdivision regulations
2. Park dedication requirements
3. Review and regulation of public works
4. Housing and building regulations
5. Code enforcement
6. Environmental review procedures
7. Development review procedures
8. Specific Plans
The City's new General Plan will identify existing
capital facilities and project the need for additional
facilities. One of the requirements of State law is
that the Planning Commission -Annually review the
capital improvement program of the City..... for
consistency with the General Plan.- We have emphasized
our interest in public services and facilities by having
an optional Public Services and Facilities Element.
Redevelopment is another one of the tools available to
the City for implementing the General Plan. All aspects
of any redevelopment project, whether it be adoption of
a new project area or the simple funding of a fast food
12
,
,
n
\ )
o
o
. '
restaurant, must be found to be consistent with the
General Plan.
The primary rule for implementing the new General Plan
seems to be the word .Consistency.. The Council is
going to find that virtually any development-related
decision it makes will need to address the issue of
consistency with the new General Plan.
csj/7-5-88
DOC:GP
MCCMTG7588
13