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Report regarding a resolution finding that the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 Capital Improvement Program is consistent with the City’s General Plan in accordance with Government Code Section 65401. (Eunejune Kim, Public Works Director/City Engineer and Matthew Ruble, Principal Engineer)
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MOTION TO ADOPT STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Move to adopt the resolution finding that the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 Capital Improvement Program is consistent with the City’s General Plan.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution finding that the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 Capital Improvement Program is consistent with the City’s General Plan in accordance with Government Code Section 65401.
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BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
State law (California Government Code Section 65401) requires that the Planning Commission review the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) and make a finding that the CIP conforms to the City’s adopted General Plan.
The CIP is developed through a collaborative process involving various city departments, elected officials, community stakeholders, and residents and is reviewed and adopted on an annual basis to ensure alignment with changing needs and priorities. The CIP provides the public with a comprehensive list of public works projects to construct or improve infrastructure including, but not limited to, streets, storm drainage systems, sanitary sewer systems (including the water quality control plant), traffic management, public facilities, and park improvements.
Maintenance, equipment, and operation projects continue to be part of the operating budgets of each department. The CIP includes projects that are more complex and larger in scale. Individual detailed project descriptions, funding, and expenditure information is included in Attachment 1. The City’s CIP adoption process has been streamlined into one Planning Commission meeting to include both a presentation of new projects, as well as a determination of the CIP’s consistency with the City’s General Plan.
The General Plan (ShapeSSF 2040) is a recently adopted, comprehensive and long-term plan for the development of the City and is used as a blueprint and guide in the formulation of the CIP. The General Plan provides a roadmap to implement policies and actions that create a resilient community, improve the quality of life of its residents, and expand economic development opportunities guided by an overarching vision, a set of community values, and guiding principles shaped through community input. The Public Works Department has completed preparation of the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 CIP, and Planning staff has reviewed the CIP, the City’s adopted General Plan, and related supporting documents, including the following eight mandatory elements of the General Plan and recent major amendments:
1. Land Use and Community Design Element, last updated 2023
2. Mobility and Access Element, last updated 2023
3. Abundant and Accessible Parks and Recreation Element, last updated 2023
4. A Prosperous Economy for All Element, adopted 2022
5. Environmental and Cultural Stewardship Element, adopted 2022
6. Community Health and Environmental Justice Element, last updated 2023
7. Noise Element, adopted 2022
8. Housing Element, adopted 2023
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
Overall, since the proposed projects included in the CIP are appropriately classified as capital improvements (e.g. street resurfacing/reconstruction, sewer rehabilitation, etc.), the projects conform to the intent of the adopted General Plan’s elements and will support creating a resilient community, improving the quality of life of its residents, and expanding economic development opportunities.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 states that a proposed action is not considered a “project” requiring environmental review under CEQA if it is “the creation of government funding mechanisms or other government fiscal activities which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment” or if the proposed action constitutes “organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.” The consistency determination under Government section 65401 does not commit funding to any specific project or commences a project that would result in direct or indirect physical impact on the environment. Thus, it is not a “project” based on these CEQA Guidelines and it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant physical effect on the environment. (CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3).) In addition, all of the projects contained in the CIP are subject to compliance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Each CIP item will go through project-level review to ensure CEQA consistency-most projects will be categorically exempt as existing facilities. Thus, no CEQA action is required by the Planning Commission at this time.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution finding that the CIP for fiscal year 2025-26 is consistent with the City’s General Plan in accordance with Government Code Section 65401.
Attachments:
1. Proposed FY 2025-26 Budget Book
Associated Documents:
1. Resolution 25-201