City Council
MEETING DATE: 9/26/2018
TITLE:
Title
General Plan Update
End
FROM:
Pat Milos, Community Development Director
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council and the Planning Commission receive a report on the General Plan Up-date related to the land use map, discuss, and provide direction to City Staff.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The City adopted our current General Plan on July 31, 2002. Although the entire document was reviewed and amended in 2009 and there have been several Amendments and Updates to the plan since its inception nearly 15 years ago it is the City Staff's determination that a comprehensive update of the entire plan is in order.
During the City Council's Strategic Planning Session held on January 28, 2017, Council discussed the importance and timeliness of updating the General Plan and directed Staff to adopt it as a goal for 2017.
During the biennial budgeting process for fiscal year 2017/18 and 2018/19 the General Plan Update was assigned as a Capital Improvement Program Project with total expected funding of $450,000 over a three-year period including Fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The biennial budget was adopted by the City Council on May 5, 2017.
On September 14, 2017 Staff issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Professional Planning Services for a General Plan Update and an associated EIR. The RFP was publicly noticed in the Desert Sun newspaper, circulated among the local American Planning Association periodicals and e-mailed directly to 18 local planning consultant firms as well as placed on the City web-site.
Proposals in response to the RFP were accepted at City Hall on October 16, 2017. The City received a total of 2 responses. The respondents were Terra Nova Planning and Research, Inc., Palm Desert, California and Rincon Consultants, Inc., Redlands, California. Both proposals were reviewed by staff, both were deemed as responsive, thus both proposing firms were interviewed. After interviews with each firm, staff determined that the firm that best understood the project specific needs of the City as related to the scope was Terra Nova Planning and Research, Inc.
On 12/13/2017, The City Council authorized a Professional Services Agreement with Terra Nova Planning and Research, Inc. for the update of the Cathedral City General Plan and associated Environmental Impact Report (EIR) at a cost of $365,000; and development of an Active Transportation and NEV Plan at a cost of $46,800; and completion of an expanded intersection analysis at a cost of $10,000; and authorize the City Manager to sign the Agreement.
DISCUSSION:
Introduction:
The Land Use mapping, in addition to the Circulation Master Plan, is the critical component of community design and development. The distribution of land use in the City should reflect the City's vision of a balanced community, and promote a thoughtful, complementary, equitable and accessible distribution of different land uses, including residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and open space. It is also intended to harmonize the City's land uses with other regional land use plans, including airport land use and resource conservation plans. It directly responds to one of the most essential of legal mandates to regulate land use and establish general and type-specific land use goals, policies and programs that guide land use in the City.
PROPOSED LAND USE MAP - IMAGINE 2040:
The Proposed Land Use Map is not a significant departure from the existing map. The Proposed Land Use Map takes into account and preserves the land use designations assigned to lands north of US I-10 by virtue of the North City Specific Plan (NCSP) and the Extended NCSP, which extend mapping of City lands from Palm Drive on the west to and a bit beyond Bob Hope Drive/Rio del Sol interchange with US I-10.
The maps also reflect the General Plan Amendments that the City has approved over the past few years, all together bringing the General Plan Land Use Map up to date. This has allowed staff to focus on certain areas of the City where additional consideration is appropriate and to discuss issues with the City Council.
City Staff will cover the proposed changes and the anticipated results in depth and provide a platform for discussion.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None with this item.
ATTACHMENTS:
LU - CCGP - Existing Land Use Final 9.18.18
LU-1 - CCGP - Proposed Land Use Map 9.18.18