General Plan, Rezone, Ordinance Amendment, Objective Design Standards, 6th Cycle Housing Element Implementation

General Plan, Rezone, Ordinance Amendment, Objective Design Standards, 6th Cycle Housing Element Implementation

Project to implement various programs and actions included in Stanislaus County’s 6th cycle Housing Element. The project includes amendments to the County’s zoning ordinance chapters ordinance to meet state law requirements and allow for greater flexibility in the siting of housing, general plan amendment and rezones of specific properties to assist the County in meeting its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) for unincorporated Stanislaus County, and adoption of objective design standards for multi-family and mixed use residential development. The project includes proposed amendments to the following Stanislaus County Zoning Ordinance Chapters: • 21.08 General Provisions – Clarified building site area for existing residential lots • 21.12 Definitions – Added a new definition of “dwelling”, “agricultural employee housing”, “mixed use”, “single-room occupancy housing” and made a few minor edits to existing definitions for clarity purposes and to be consistent with State law. • 21.20 General Agriculture District (A-2) – Clarified allowances for accessory and junior accessory dwellings, and update permitted uses for family day care homes and farmworker housing to comply with State law requirements. • 21.24 Rural Residential District (R-A) and 21.28 Single-Family Residential District (R-1) - Updated permitted uses for family day care homes to comply with State law requirements, specified lot width requirements shall meet subdivision ordinance standards, added section regarding HOME Act provisions (SB9), increased lot coverage limit in the R-1 to fifty percent. • 21.32 Medium Density Residential District (R-2) – Added two-family dwellings to the permitted uses up to 14 units per acre, updated permitted uses for family day care homes to comply with State law requirements, specified lot width requirements shall meet subdivision ordinance standards, increased lot coverage limits to sixty percent. • 21.36 Multiple-Family Residential District (R-3) – Cleaned up terminology of permitted uses, added single room occupancy housing as a permitted uses subject to a staff approval permit, decreased minimum lot size from six-thousand square feet to four-thousand square feet, specified lot width requirements shall meet subdivision ordinance standards, added objective design standards and rezone site requirements. • 21.44 Historical Site District (H-S) – Added mobile homes as a permitted use, subject to historical design and mobile home standards. • 21.52 Neighborhood Commercial District (C-1) - Cleaned up terminology of permitted residential uses, clarified allowances for emergency shelters subject to issuance of a staff approval permit. • 21.48 Highway Frontage District (H-1), 21.56 General Commercial District (C-2), and 21.60 Industrial District (M) - Clarified allowances for emergency shelters subject to issuance of a staff approval permit. • 21.72 Mobile Homes – Modified existing ordinance for clarity purposes and to specify historical district standards. • 21.74 Accessory Dwelling Units - Modifies existing ordinance to be consistent with State law. • 21.76 Off-Street Parking, 21.82 Density Bonus for Affordable Housing – Modifies existing ordinance to be consistent with State law. • 21.100 Staff Approval Permits – Modified to include permit standards for farmworker housing in the A-2, single room occupancy housing developments, emergency shelters, temporary housing permits while building a new home, and for developments subject to density bonus permissions. • Addition of a new Chapter 21.58 Mixed Use District (MU) – Creates a new zoning district for rezone sites which combines the C-2 and the R-3 zoning districts. The general plan amendment and rezoning portion of the project proposes to amend the general plan land use designation of 101 parcels to Medium High-Density Residential (MHDR) and zoning designation to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3), and proposes to amend the zoning designation of 38 parcels from General Commercial (C-2) to Mixed Use (MU), and an amendment to the Commercial land use designation in the General Plan to assist the County. Out of a total of 139 parcels proposed to be rezoned, 48 of them are included in order to allow the County to meet its RHNA and must be adopted by the Board of Supervisors before the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) will certify County’s 6th cycle Housing Element. A detailed description of the proposed general plan amendments and zoning amendments by area is provided below: Bret Harte (South Modesto – Fairview Park): The project proposes to amend the general plan land use and zoning designations of five parcels (24.37 total acres) in the Bret Harte neighborhood in the South Modesto area surrounding Fairview Park from Low-Density Residential (R-1) to Medium High-Density Residential and Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). All five of the sites are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA. Bret Harte (South Modesto – Crows Landing Road): The project proposes to amend the zoning designation of 20 parcels (13.96 total acres) on Crows Landing Road in the Bret Harte/South Modesto area from General Commercial (C-2) to Mixed Use (MU). All three sites have a general plan land use designation of Commercial, which will remain unchanged. However, the Commercial land use designation in the County’s General Plan will be updated to include Mixed Use as a compatible zoning designation. Five of the sites (5.3 acres in size) are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and 15 sites (8.66 acres) were added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. Denair: The project proposes to amend the general plan land use and Denair Community Plan designations of 23 parcels in Denair (21.49 total acres) from Low-Density Residential to Medium High-Density Residential and to rezone the parcels from Rural Residential (R-A) to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). Four of the sites (12.41 acres in size) are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and 19 sites (9.08 acres) were added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. Empire: The project proposes to amend the general plan land use designation of 14 parcels in Empire (13.44 total acres) from Low-Density Residential to Medium High-Density Residential and to rezone 13 parcels from Rural Residential (R-A) and one parcel from Planned Development (P-D)(235) to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). Five of the sites (4.77 acres in size) are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and 9 sites (8.67 acres) were added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. Keyes: The project proposes to amend the general plan land use designation of three parcels in Keyes (4.45 total acres) two from Low-Density Residential and one from Commercial to Medium High-Density Residential and to rezone two parcels from Low Density Residential (R-1) and one parcel from Highway Commercial (H-1) to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). All three sites have a Keyes Community Plan designation of Medium High-Density Residential, which will remain unchanged. All three sites are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA. North Ceres (Bystrom): The project proposes to amend the general plan land use designation of eight parcels (11.19 total acres) in the Bystrom neighborhood of the North Ceres area, also referred to as South Modesto, seven from Low-Density Residential and one from Commercial to Medium High-Density Residential and to rezone six parcels from Rural Residential (R-A) and two parcels from Planned Development (P-D)(83) and (P-D)(89) to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). Three of the sites (6.46 acres in size) are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and five sites (4.73 acres) were added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. North Ceres (Hatch/Stonum): The project proposes to amend the general plan land use designation of six parcels (3.88 total acres) in the Hatch/Stonum neighborhood of the North Ceres area from Low-Density Residential and to Medium High-Density Residential and to rezone the parcels from Rural Residential (R-A) to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). One of the sites (1.51 acres in size) is required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and five sites (2.37 acres) were added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. Salida: The project proposes to amend the zoning designation of 18 parcels (16.16 total acres) in Salida from General Commercial (C-2) to Mixed Use (MU). All three sites have a general plan land use designation and Salida Community Plan designation of Commercial, which will remain unchanged. However, the Commercial land use designation in the County’s General Plan will be updated to include Mixed Use as a compatible zoning designation. Three of the sites (1.4 acres in size) are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and 15 sites (14.76 acres) were added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. South Ceres: The project proposes to amend the general plan land use designation of one parcel (4.18 total acres) in the South Ceres area from Planned Development to Medium High-Density Residential and to rezone the parcel from Planned Development (P-D)(265) to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). The site is required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA. West Modesto (Beverly/Waverly): The project proposes to amend the general plan land use and zoning designations of two parcels (1.05 total acres) in the Beverly/Waverly neighborhood in the West Modesto area from Low-Density Residential (R-1) to Medium High-Density Residential and Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). One parcel, .5 acres in size, is required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and the other site, .055 acres in size, has been added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. West Modesto (Spencer/Marshall): The project proposes to amend the general plan land use designation of 39 parcels (32.37 total acres) in the Spencer/Marshall neighborhood in the West Modesto area from Low-Density Residential (R-1) to Medium High-Density Residential and the zoning designations of 20 parcels from Low-Density Residential (R-1) and 19 parcels from Rural-Residential (R-A) to Multiple-Family Residential (R-3). Seventeen of the parcels (22.94 acres in size) are required to be rezoned to accommodate the County’s RHNA and the other 22 sites (9.43 acres in size) have been added to allow for rezoning of a complete block of land and to prevent spot zoning. The project also includes the adoption of objective design standards (ODS) which will be applied to the rezone sites and to any CEQA exempt housing applications submitted to the County. An Addendum to the certified Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared for the County's 2015 General Plan has been prepared for the project. The draft general plan and ordinance amendments, maps for all rezone sites, the draft objective design standards, and addendum to the 2015 General Plan EIR are all attached for review.

Ceres, Denair, Empire, Keyes, Salida, , Modesto

Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tuolumne

Countywide

California Air Resources Board (ARB), California Department of Conservation (DOC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bay Delta Region 3 (CDFW), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Habitat Conservation Planning (CDFW), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, North Central Region 2 (CDFW), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), California Department of Transportation, District 10 (DOT), California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Energy Commission, California Fish and Game Commission (CDFGC), California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), California Natural Resources Agency, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Fresno Region 5 (RWQCB), California San Joaquin River Conservancy (SJRC), California State Lands Commission (SLC), Central Valley Flood Protection Board, Delta Protection Commission, Delta Stewardship Council, Office of Historic Preservation, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water, District 10, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Quality, State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights, State Water Resources Control Board, Divison of Financial Assistance

Other (6th Cycle Housing Element)

General Plan Amendment, Rezone

N/A