4A Public Hearing 2015 0120 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

City of San Leandro Housing Element Update (2015-2023) Project Initial Studv and Environmental Checklist 5. General Plan Consistency In accordance with State law, the Housing Element must be consistent and compatible with other General Plan elements. The Draft Housing Element builds upon the other elements in the current San Leandro Gen- eral Plan and is consistent with its goals and policies. A comprehensive update to the City's General Plan is currently in progress and is expected to be adopted in 2016. However, because State housing law requires that cities and counties update their housing elements on a fixed cycle, San Leandro's Housing Element must be completed before the General Plan update. The City will continue to maintain consistency between the Gen- eral Plan elements by ensuring that proposed changes in one element are reflected in the other elements through amendments of the General Plan. 6. Existing Zoning and General Plan While the housing inventory sites, as listed in Appendix A of the Draft Housing Element, fall within a variety of zones and General Plan land use designations, all of the sites are currently zoned to allow residential devel- opment. E. POTENTIAL PHYSICAL CHANGES Altogether, the proposed Project does not include actions that could directly or indirectly result in substantial physical changes to the environment. The proposed Project would enable the City of San Leandro to meet its housing needs, including the facilitation of future development to meet the needs of at -risk populations by providing housing types designed for these groups. New policies and programs in the Housing Element are operational in nature and would not result in physical changes. For example, programs added to the Element include completion of a nexus study to justify a potential affordable housing impact fee, convening focus groups on market -rate housing development, monitoring housing production, identifying the appropriate use of "boomerang" funds, creating a Homeless Task Force, reducing displacement, and encouraging healthier homes. Implementation of these programs would have no physical impacts. Environmental factors, such as topography, soils, landslides and seismic hazards, and noise, as well as the lack of infrastructure, such as roads, water, and sewer lines, are potential constraints to housing development in the City. However, most of the housing sites identified by the City are not affected by such constraints. The 2002 General Plan has taken these factors into account in establishing policies and land use designations for residential and mixed use development. Where development is planned, any site constraints that remain can be mitigated through appropriate design and environmental planning. The potential future housing that could occur under the proposed Project would not increase development potential in San Leandro. Instead, the Housing Element identifies sites that can accommodate housing under existing zoning and land use regula- tions at development intensities that have already been analyzed and approved in the General Plan Environ- mental Impact Report (EIR). The Housing Element is a policy -level regulatory document that establishes goals and policies that guide de- velopment. It does not include any site-specific designs or proposals nor does it grant any entitlements for development; therefore, the proposed Project does not directly result in development in and of itself. When specific implementing programs and development projects are identified, the program and/or development applications for such individual projects, as required, would be submitted separately to the City for review. All such development is required to be analyzed for conformance with the General Plan, Zoning Code, and other applicable federal, State, and local requirements; comply with the applicable requirements of CEQA; and ob- tain all necessary clearances and permits. Page113