Title
A Public Hearing to Review and Comment on 2022 Annual Reports. Review and Comment on the Annual Reports on the General Plan, Transportation Choices Plan, Vision Zero Action Plan, and the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan. CEQA Determination: Endorsement of the annual reports is statutorily exempt from environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3).
Body
To: Honorable President and Members of the Planning Board
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report includes four annual reports. The reports reflect a multi-departmental effort by the City Manager’s Office, the Public Works Department, and the Planning, Building and Transportation Department. These reports include:
• General Plan and Housing Element Annual Report (Exhibit 1)
• Transportation 2022 Annual Report & 2023 Work Plan Draft (Exhibit 2)
• Vision Zero 2022 Annual Report Draft (Exhibit 3)
• Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) 2022 Annual Report & 2023 Work Plan Draft (Exhibit 4)
These documents show City progress towards its goals as well as priority actions for the coming year. The General Plan, CARP, Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan, Vision Zero Action Plan, and the Transportation Choices Plan all require the preparation and presentation of annual reports that the City Council accepts each year. These documents serve as the annual report for all of these plans.
Staff provides these annual reports early in the spring of each year so that the community and City Council is able to use the annual reports to inform citywide budget and Capital Improvement Program (“CIP”) decisions.
Planning Board comments on these Annual Reports and associated priorities for the upcoming years will be transmitted to the City Council in March, in time for the City Council’s June public hearings and adoption of the next two year City Budget.
BACKGROUND
Every city and county in the State of California is required to adopt and maintain an up-to-date General Plan, which establishes the local development and conservation policies necessary to guide physical development and protect the general health, safety and welfare of the community. The General Plan should be an “integrated, internally consistent and compatible statement of policies for the adopting agency.” (Gov. Code, § 65300.5.) Government Code section 65400 et seq. requires that the City of Alameda (City) annually review the adequacy of the General Plan and progress made toward meeting the City’s regional housing needs allocation (RHNA).
The Annual Report on the General Plan describes the current status of the General Plan and progress towards meeting the City’s RHNA over the past year. The report identifies priorities for the upcoming year to better achieve General Plan and Housing Element objectives and regional housing obligations.
The Annual Report on Transportation provides performance metrics about transportation in Alameda, a summary of 2022 accomplishments, and a work plan to move transportation forward in 2023. This report fulfills the Transportation Choices Plan (2018) and Vision Zero Action Plan (2021) requirements for an annual review of progress made toward meeting the City’s transportation and traffic safety improvement goals.
The Vision Zero Annual Report uses performance metrics from the Vision Zero Action Plan. This is the first annual report since adoption of the Vision Zero Action Plan in December 2021. Next year the Vision Zero Annual Report will also include a report on the Active Transportation Plan, which the City Council adopted in December 2022.
The CARP Annual Report presents the CARP’s vision and goals, 2023 work plan objectives, 2022 accomplishments and next steps, partnerships and staffing updates, and funding needs. This report also fulfills the annual reporting requirement for the Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan (2022).
DISCUSSION
The following provides a summary of the Annual Reports:
General Plan Annual Report. The attached annual report on the status of the General Plan provides an assessment of the City’s General Plan and progress made toward meeting the city’s regional housing need in 2022, the final year of the previous 2015-2022 Housing Element planning period. As described in the Annual Report, Alameda’s housing production for the planning period is projected to meet the housing need for total housing units (1,725), but not the need for housing for lower income households. Priorities for the upcoming years focus on the development of additional affordable housing in Alameda.
Transportation and Vision Zero Annual Report. Transportation goals set by the General Plan Mobility Element (2021), Active Transportation Plan (2022), Vision Zero Action Plan (2021), and Transportation Choices Plan (2018) include: eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries by 2035; providing for the mobility needs of the full diversity of Alameda community members; expanding and improving alternatives to low occupancy automobile trips to incentivize mode shift; and reducing the transportation system’s impacts on the environment.
Climate Action and Resiliency Plan Annual Report. The goals of the CARP are reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 through transportation, building energy, carbon sequestration and waste reduction actions; increasing resiliency to flooding, drought, extreme heat, hazardous air quality and earthquakes; and building social resilience and local government capacity. In addition to the numerical GHG reduction goal, the CARP aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions as soon as possible in accordance with Alameda’s Climate Emergency Declaration, which was passed in March 2019 by the City Council.
The City Council is slated to consider accepting the final reports in March 2023. Staff invites the Board and the community to review and comment on all Annual Reports.
ALTERNATIVES
The Planning Board may:
• Review and comment on all the reports and associated priorities.
• Recommend revisions to one or more of the reports and associated priorities.
• Request more time to review the reports before commenting.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Endorsement of the annual reports will have no impact on the General Fund. The recommended priority actions are designed to be accomplished within existing (or anticipated) approved budgets and with existing (or anticipated) funding sources, where the City is the lead agency. Final budget decisions on specific programs and capital projects will be made by the City Council when it approves the Biennial Budget and Capital Improvement Program. Endorsement of a work priority in the Annual Report does not predetermine or obligate the City Council to make a particular funding decision when it adopts the citywide Budget and Capital Improvement Program.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action does not affect the Alameda Municipal Code. An annual review of the General Plan, Transportation Choices Plan, Vision Zero Action Plan, Climate Adaptation and Hazard Mitigation Plan, and the CARP are required by the respective plans. Undertaking the annual reports is consistent with the City's General Plan.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Endorsement of the annual reports is statutorily exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), the general rule that CEQA only applies to actions that have the potential to cause a significant impact on the environment.
CLIMATE IMPACT
These planning documents will improve transportation operations, energy and water efficiencies, sequester carbon and reduce waste to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and also will improve the resiliency to the impacts of climate change.
RECOMMENDATION
Review and comment on the General Plan Annual Report, Transportation 2022 Annual Report & 2023 Work Plan Draft, Vision Zero 2022 Annual Report Draft, as well as the CARP 2022 Annual Report & 2023 Work Plan Draft.
Respectfully submitted,
Allen Tai, City Planner
Annual Reports prepared by,
Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
Lisa Foster, Senior Transportation Coordinator
Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager
Exhibits:
1. General Plan Annual Report 2022
2. Transportation 2022 Annual Report and 2023 Work Plan Draft
3. Vision Zero 2022 Annual Report Draft (Appendix I of the Transportation Report)
4. CARP 2022 Annual Report and 2023 Work Plan Draft