HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-19 - OC Airport Land UseRESOLUTION NO. 2022-19
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
COSTA MESA RELATED TO THE INTENT TO OVERRULE
THE ORANGE COUNTY AIRPORT LAND USE
COMMISSION'S DETERMINATION THAT THE CITY OF
COSTA MESA'S 2021-2029 SIXTH CYCLE HOUSING
ELEMENT IS INCONSISTENT WITH THE JOHN WAYNE
AIRPORT ENVIRONS LAND USE PLAN
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COSTA MESA HEREBY FINDS AND
DECLARES AS FOLLOWS:
WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 65358(a) authorizes the City
Council to amend the General Plan if it is deemed to be in the public interest;
WHEREAS, the General Plan is a long-range, comprehensive document that
serves as a guide for the orderly development of the City of Costa Mesa;
WHEREAS, by its very nature, the General Plan is subject to update and revision
to account for current and future community needs;
WHEREAS, the Housing Element is one of the seven State -mandated General
Plan chapters or "elements" and is a component of the City of Costa Mesa 2015-2035
General Plan;
WHEREAS, California State Housing Element Law establishes the requirements
for Housing Elements, and California Government Code Section 65588 requires that local
governments review and revise the Housing Element of their comprehensive General
Plans not less than once every eight years. Additionally, the California Legislature
identifies overall housing goals for the State with the goal of ensuring every resident has
access to housing and a suitable living environment;
WHEREAS, after the City of Costa Mesa completed extensive public outreach that
included conducting two City-wide Townhall meetings on November 18, 2020 and
September 2, 2021, hosting outreach meetings for each of the City's six voting districts
on February 17, 2021 and February 18, 2021, a special study session with the Planning
Commission was held on March 1, 2021 and with the City Council on March 23, 2021,
and on April 27, 2021 and September 13, 2021, the City Council and Planning
Commission held joint public study sessions;
Resolution No. 2022-19 Page 1 of 6
WHEREAS, the Planning Commission reviewed and considered the 2021-2029
Sixth Cycle Housing Element at its regular meetings on November 8, 2021, November
22, 2021 and December 13, 2021 and, following consideration of public comments,
recommended City Council approval by a 7-0 vote;
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Costa Mesa reviewed and considered
the 2021-2029 Sixth Cycle Housing Element on January 18, 2022 and February 1, 2022,
and following consideration of public comments, adopted the Housing Element on a 6-1
vote on February 1, 2022;
WHEREAS, California Public Utilities Code Section 21676(b) requires the City of
Costa Mesa to refer an amendment of the City's general plan or specific plan, or the
adoption or approval of a zoning ordinance or building regulation within the planning
boundary established by the Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) pursuant to Section
21675 to the ALUC for their consideration.
WHEREAS, at a duly -noticed public hearing on March 17, 2022, the ALUC
reviewed City of Costa Mesa's 2021-2029 Sixth Cycle Housing Element and found the
proposed General Plan Housing Element Amendment to be inconsistent with the AELUP
on a 4-0 vote;
WHEREAS, the City of Costa Mesa does not waive any objection to and/or right
to challenge any failure by the ALUC to proceed in the manner required by law, including
but not limited to, Public Utilities Code Sections 21670 through 21679.5, related to its
above referenced March 17, 2022, finding of inconsistency.
WHEREAS, pursuant to Public Utilities Code Sections 21670 and 21676, the City
of Costa Mesa may, after a public hearing, propose to overrule the ALUC by a two-thirds
vote of the City Council, if the City of Costa Mesa makes specific findings that the
proposed project is consistent with the purposes of Section 21670;
WHEREAS, at a duly -noticed public hearing on April 5, 2022, the Costa Mesa City
Council took action to notify the ALUC of the City's intent to overrule ALUC's
Determination of Inconsistency for the 2021-2029 Sixth Cycle Housing Element;
Resolution No. 2022-19 Page 2 of 6
NOW, THEREFORE, the Costa Mesa City Council DOES HEREBY RESOLVE to
notify the Orange County Airport Land Use Commission of the City's intent to overrule the
ALUC Determination that the 2021-2029 Sixth Cycle Housing Element is inconsistent with
the John Wayne Airport Environs Land Use Plan.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council DOES HEREBY APPROVE
to be forwarded to ALUC the proposed findings in support of the City's intent to overrule
the ALUC Determination, as shown in Exhibit "A", FINDINGS.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council directs staff to forward a letter
to ALUC indicating the City of Costa Mesa's intent to override ALUC's Determination that
the City's 2021-2029 Sixth Cycle Housing Element is inconsistent with the Airport
Environs Land Use Plan. The letter shall include the proposed findings in support of the
City's intended action.
Resolution No. 2022-19 Page 3 of 6
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 5th day of April, 2022.
ATTEST:
11
renda Green, City Clerk
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE )
CITY OF COSTA MESA )
ss
John Stephens, Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
dow, City Attorney
I, BRENDA GREEN, City Clerk of the City of Costa Mesa, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that
the above and foregoing Resolution No. 2022-19 was duly adopted at a regular meeting
of the City Council of the City of Costa Mesa held on the 5th day of April, 2022, by the
following roll call vote, to wit:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: CHAVEZ, GAMEROS, HARLAN, MARR, HARPER,
AND STEPHENS
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE.
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: REYNOLDS
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereby set my hand and affixed the seal of the City of
Costa Mesa this 61h day of April 2022.
Brenda Gree , City Clerk
Resolution No. 2022-19 Page 4 of 6
EXHIBIT "A"
FINDINGS
The Costa Mesa City Council makes the following findings pursuant to Section 21670 of
the Public Utilities Code as follows:
A. Findin_g No. 1: It is in the public interest to provide for the orderly development of
each public use airport in this state and the area surrounding these airports so as
to promote the overall goals and objectives of the California airport noise standards
adopted pursuant to Section 21669 and to prevent the creation of new noise and
safety problems.
Justification for finding: The March 17, 2022 ALUC inconsistency
determination did not identify concerns with noise in regard to the City's
Housing Element update. To the contrary, the ALUC determination
indicated that the City's candidate housing sites are appropriately located
outside of airport noise contours of concern and further the City's General
Plan Noise Element addresses potential applicable residential noise
impacts in General Plan Noise Element Policies N-1.1, N-1.5, N-1.6, N-2.4
and N-2.6. Specifically, the ALUC recognized that the City's Noise Element
Policy N-2.6 requires an "interior noise standard of 45 dBA CNEL be
enforced for any new residential project," which is consistent with the ALUC
residential noise standards. Therefore, the City is justified to make the
finding to overrule the ALUC inconsistency determination in regard to PUC
Finding No. 1.
B. Findin_i No. 2: (2) It is the purpose of this article to protect public health, safety,
and welfare by ensuring the orderly expansion of airports and the adoption of land
use measures that minimize the public's exposure to excessive noise and safety
hazards within areas around public airports to the extent that these areas are not
already devoted to incompatible uses.
Justification for finding: As indicated in the above section entitled
"Justification for finding," the City's Noise Element Policies adequately
address the public exposure to excessive noise.
In addition, at the March 17, 2022 ALUC hearing, the ALUC determined that
that the City's existing maximum building height provisions were
inconsistent with the Airport Environs Land Use Plan (AELUP) for nine
candidate housing sites located in two geographic areas of the City.
According to the ALUC staff report, the City's existing North Costa Mesa
Specific Plan provisions permit a maximum building height that could
potentially result in building construction that exceeds the 206-foot John
Wayne Airport Imaginary Horizontal Surface. However, the City's Housing
Resolution No. 2022-19 Page 5 of 6
Element update does not grant any entitlements, change any land use
standards or authorize any development beyond what is allowed under the
City's current General Plan and Zoning Code (including the maximum
building height identified inconsistent by the ALUC). Therefore, the ALUC's
determination of inconsistency is not based on proposed polices of the
Housing Element update but rather existing height standards in the North
Costa Mesa Specific Plan.
In addition, both ALUC staff and at least one of the Commissioners during
the public hearing recognized that the data used for calculating maximum
building height elevation was likely not accurate (Google is the data source
used to establish existing ground topography). Using imprecise and
unreliable data is problematic in this situation as the ALUC determination
for three candidate housing sites is based on discrepancies of only three to
five feet. As such, this identified inconsistency is likely not inconsistent and
can be addressed pending actual topographical data either at the time of
the North Costa Mesa Specific Plan update or when an actual project is
proposed, which will require additional ALUC review.
Lastly, the remaining six candidate housing sites that the ALUC determined
were inconsistent were previously reviewed in 2006 and 2007 by the ALUC.
In 2007, the City submitted a project for ALUC consideration that included
a mixed -use development with both hotel and residential uses (referred to
as the Wyndham Hotel and High Rise Residential Project) in the South
Coast Plaza Town Center area. This area already contains Plaza Tower
and Center Tower which exceed 20 stories. The project included a General
Plan Amendment, a Specific Plan Amendment, an Environmental Impact
Report (EIR), a Final Master Plan and a proposed subdivision. The ALUC
determined that the project and the General Plan/Specific Plan
amendments were inconsistent in regard to the inclusion of height
standards that penetrate the AELUP horizontal imaginary surface, and the
City subsequently overruled the ALUC determination. The City's overrule
finding was based on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) findings
that the then proposed building height of 304 feet Area Mean Sea Level
(AMSL) "would not adversely affect air safety" and the FAA subsequently
issued a "no hazard determination." Additionally, the FAA conditioned that
any future buildings proposed in this area with height proposed above 173
feet above grade level would require a specific determination of "no hazard"
by the FAA in order to move forward. This requirement is included in the
height standards of the North Costa Mesa Specific Plan applicable to the
candidate housing sites in question. Therefore, potential safety risks
associated with future construction on these six candidate housing sites are
addressed by the FAA requirement and the Specific Plan requirements and
the City's Housing Element Update. Therefore, the City is justified to make
the finding to overrule the ALUC inconsistency determination in regard to
PUC Finding No. 2.
Resolution No. 2022-19 Page 6 of 6