City Council

B. GENERAL PLAN UPDATE DISCUSSION\nUnder the provisions of Government Code Section 65300, each City and\nCounty shall prepare and adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan\nfor the physical development of a City and County. The general plan shall\nconsist of a statement of development policies and include the following\neight mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation,\nopen space, noise, safety, and environmental justice. The City of San Gabriel\nadopted it general plan in January 1990 and a comprehensive update in\n2004. There is no fiscal impact at this time.\nCalifornia Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Determination: Not a Project as\ndefined in Section 15378 of the State CEQA Guidelines.\nRecommended Action:\nStaff recommends that the City Council discuss a potential general plan\nupdate and provide direction to staff to initiate a comprehensive update of\nthe 2004 General Plan. This will allow the City to update all the mandated\nelements in the General Plan as well as add newly required elements. A\ncomprehensive update will allow all the elements to be consistently current.\nA comprehensive update will be a multi-year project with associated costs.\nIf the City Council provides direction to proceed with a comprehensive or\nfocus update, and Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued to select a\nqualified consulting firm to work on the project and to work with staff to\nfacilitate the process. Either concurrent or subsequent to selecting a\nqualified consulting firm, the City Council can also initiate the process to\nform an advisory committee.\nAlternative 1: Initiate a focus update and update elected elements in the\nGeneral Plan. This can potentially be accomplished within a year’s time and\nthe costs would be less than a comprehensive update. This City Council can\nprioritize which elements, such as adding an Environmental Justice Element\nto identify objectives and policies to reduce health risks to disadvantaged\ncommunities and promote food access, safe and sanitary homes, and\nphysical activity, or updating the Safety Element to address risks associated\nwith earthquakes, flooding, wildland, and urban fires.\nAlternative 2: Maintain the General Plan. This means all the policies and\ngoals identified in the existing 2004 General Plan will remain the same with\nno changes until a future time.