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City of San Leandro City Council Meeting Date: May 19, 2025 Agenda Number: 10.c. Agenda Section: ACTION ITEMS File Number: 25-240 File Type: Staff Report First Reading of an Ordinance to Repeal Ordinance No. 2009-001 and Adopt a New Ordinance Relating to Fire Hazard Severity Zones COUNCIL PRIORITY ·Public Safety SUMMARY On February 24, 2025, CAL FIRE released the 2025 Local Responsibility Area (LRA) Fire Hazard Severity Maps. CAL FIRE, in coordination with the Office of the State Fire Marshal, is required to periodically update these maps and severity zones and notify local governments before releasing updated severity zone maps for both the State Responsibility Areas (SRA) and LRA. As a local government, the City is required to adopt, by ordinance, updated Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) within the City’s boundaries within 120 days of being published. As a result of these maps being released, there have been local changes that include the addition of High and Moderate Fire Hazard Severity Zones, and the elimination of the Very High Fire Severity Zones. RECOMMENDATION To effectuate the new FHSZs, repealing Ordinance No. 2009-001, which designates the current Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within the City’s limits, is necessary. Staff recommends that the Council introduce for first reading an ordinance designating Moderate and High Fire Hazard Severity Zones in the City of San Leandro as recommended by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and in accordance with Government Code Section 51178. BACKGROUND In 2009, the City accepted the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CAL FIRE) recommendations as to the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ). City Council passage of an ordinance was required to comply with the requirements of Government Code Section 51179. Other options were not available to the City given that no prior provisions were established prior to 1994 and given that in 1995 the City accepted the Bates Maps (as defined and provided by AB 337). The Bates Bill was prompted after the devastating Oakland Hills Fire of 1991. Adoption of that ordinance was consistent with the City’s past practice, which first adopted such maps in July 1994. The proposed ordinance is therefore a third update to prior actions. It should be noted that in 1994 and again in 2009 the Bates Bill called for CAL FIRE to identify only Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones in the Local Response Area (LRA). In 2021 AB 642 and SB 63 required CAL FIRE to identify Moderate and High FHSZs in the LRA. The 2009 maps established a small Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone in the City. This area was limited to the eastern most streets within the City. The 2025 maps have increased the City’s overall area of coverage, but downgraded the entire area from Very High, to High and Moderate FHSZ. The adoption of this ordinance in and of itself will result in some minimal additional impacts to citizens as a whole. Within both the High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone the impacts to Page 1 City of San Leandro Printed on 9/4/2025