Housing Element Program 10&11 General Plan Amendment and Rezone

The City has identified six areas of the City constituting approximately 89.9 acres for potential rezoning and a General Plan Amendment. These properties are described as part of the six areas in the City that relate to the Program 10/11 Rezone/GPA of the 2021-2029 General Plan Housing Element Update. Under Program 10/11, rezoned sites will comply with the requirements of Government Code Section 65583.2(h), which states that cities must have a program to facilitate by-right approval for projects that include at least 20 percent of the units for lower-income housing on rezoned low-income sites. Pursuant to Housing Element law, a housing element must identify potential sites suitable for redesignation and/or rezoning to accommodate housing needs for all segments of the community. The potential sites for rezoning were developed consistent with provisions of Government Code Section 65583.1. Program 10/11 of the Housing Element Update provides that to accommodate for a shortfall of sites and provide for adequate sites, the City will also up-zone its Mixed-Use Downtown zoning designations to allow up to 40 dwelling units per acre (du/acre) and its R3/R4 zone to allow up to 30 du/acre. The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is the process established in State law by which future housing needs are determined for each city. On March 4, 2021, SCAG adopted the final RHNA Plan, which assigns Colton’s housing needs. According to the RHNA, housing needs for the City of Colton include 1,318 very low income units, 668 low income units, 906 moderate income units, and 2,542 above moderate income units, which is a total of 5,434 housing units in order for the City to have enough housing at all price levels to fully accommodate its assigned share of the region’s housing need. Jurisdictions are not required to build housing or issue permits to achieve their RHNA allocations, but the Housing Element must provide an evaluation of potential capacity for additional housing based on land use designations, development regulations, other development constraints (such as infrastructure availability and environmental conditions) and real estate market trends. The analysis must be prepared at a parcel-specific level of detail and identify properties (or “sites”) where additional housing could be built consistent with City regulations. This evaluation is referred to as the “sites analysis,” and State law requires the analysis to demonstrate that the City has adequate sites with appropriate zoning to fully accommodate additional housing development commensurate with its RHNA allocation in each income category. APNs include 0163-211-02, 0163-211-05, 0163-211-25, 0163-074-31, 0163-081-06, 0163-081-07, 0163-081-08, 0163-081-09, 0164-182-38, 0164-182-41, 0164-182-43, 0164-182-46, 0164-182-47, 0164-182-48, 0164-182-51, 0164-182-53, 0164-182-55, 0164-182-57, 0164-182-58, 0164-281-01, 0164-281-02, 0164-281-09, 0164-281-11, 0164-181-08, 0164-181-12, 0276-144-30, 0276-144-31, 0163-172-46, 0163-172-47, 0163-172-49, 0163-172-50, 0164-182-52, 0164-182-54, and an unassigned parcel at Hert Street and Congress Street. The Draft Program EIR will identify, evaluate, and disclose the potential environmental impacts related to implementation of the proposed Program 10/11 Rezone/GPA and associated land use and zoning revisions. In accordance with State law, the City proposes to adopt a General Plan Amendment as part of the proposed Program 10/11 Rezone/GPA to update the General Plan’s existing Land Use and Zoning Maps. The City proposes corresponding revisions to the General Plan Land Use Element to ensure consistency between it, the Housing Element, and the changes proposed under the Program 10/11 Rezone/GPA. The revisions include updating the General Plan land use plan to expand the inventory of land available for the development of new housing within the City, and making text amendments to ensure density ranges for Mixed-Use designated projects are consistent with those described in the Land Use Element. In addition to revision of the General Plan Land Use Map pursuant to Programs 10 & 11, the City’s Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 18), would be amended to align the text with the General Plan map changes. The City would also rezone the sites identified in Tables 1 and 2 sufficient to meet the remaining unmet housing need. The Draft Program EIR will consider the reasonably anticipated environmental effects related to the implementation of Program 10 & 11 of the 2021-2029 Housing Element and associated land use and planning revisions. Additional environmental review under CEQA may be required for subsequent projects based on project-specific characteristics. Future analysis may tier from the certified Final Program EIR as provided by CEQA and would be generally based on the subsequent project’s consistency with the Housing Element Update and the analysis in the certified Final Program EIR, as required under CEQA. Tiering refers to a multi-level approach to preparing environmental documents that is codified in Public Resources Code Section 21083.3 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15152. It may also be determined that some future projects or infrastructure improvements may be exempt from additional environmental review. If the project or activity would have no significant effects beyond those disclosed in the certified Final Program EIR, no further CEQA compliance would be required.