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Home My WebLink About00 - Non-Agenda Items - HandoutsMY PA) October 22, 2019 Mayor Dixon and Members of the City Council Subject: Updated philosophy and development of an offensive strategy to counter State mandates Mayor Dixon, I think many residents don't realize the hard work this Council and prior Councils have spent to do what they feel is in the best interest of the City. Our City has a history of confronting significant challenges head-on and making difficult decisions. Our City leaders often face criticism and disrespect from those with differing views. I for one would like to thank this Council and our City staff for their hard work and dedication in running an organization which protects our health and safety and provides our residents and visitors with a high quality of life, one that many of us have learned to take for granted. The citizens of Newport Beach are again facing a new set of significant challenges. Perhaps their greatest yet. These challenges are changing the fundamental goals and objectives established in our City General Plan and reshaping what the City will look like in the coming decades. To meet these challenges, we need to act now and take decisive steps. We have started the process of updating our General Plan. This is a misnomer. In reality, the State is in control of our process. The City is incorporating State mandates into the General Plan, many of which have taken away land use authority from the City. The updated General Plan will no longer be dominated by the resident's values and vision. The State has changed the rules. Our General Plan will be dominated by the State's values and vision. The number of state mandates is increasing with no signs of letting up. The core of these mandates centers around accommodating projected state- wide population growth in urban in -fill areas, such as Newport Beach and mandating housing affordability levels and pricing. While this City Council and prior City Councils have taken prudent steps to make Newport Beach the great City we experience today, the State has rewarded cities like Newport Beach by forcibly taking away many of their land use controls, weakening their environmental protections and adopting mandates residents don't want in an effort to achieve the State's goals and objectives. If we don't take proactive steps now, our quality of life will suffer greatly. A case in point: The Council recently received an update on its Regional Housing Needs Assessment or RHNA number. The RHNA number also includes housing affordability mandates. As the Council learned, the RHNA number is no longer a target, it is now a mandate. The California Department of Housing and Community Development issued its RHNA Determination to the Southern California Association of Governments in August, concluding that the region needs to construct 1,344,740 housing units over the next decade. The Determination further called for 557,336, or 41.4 percent of the units, to be low-income or very low-income housing. This is more than triple the RHNA for the SCAG region during the 2014-2021 compliance period, which called for zoning for the potential construction of 438,030 housing units. Page 1 of 3 David J. Tanner, 223 62 Street, Newport Beach 92663 10-22-19 dave@earsi.com The number of housing units the State is mandating the City must build is an extremely bitter pill to swallow and is not what the majority of residents want. The State knows this and has put in place penalties to ensure the City's housing allocation is met. If we don't meet the RHNA housing allocation within the allotted timeframe, penalties can include cut-off of State funding, fines, more frequent Housing Element updates, measures to streamline approval and construction of housing projects, removal of environmental protections, as well as the threat of litigation. Just look at Huntington Beach. The State RHNA allocation process is not arbitrary. The State and SCAG are using a methodology, a formula. The City of Newport Beach's RHNA allocation is 2,764 housing units or approximately 7,000 new residents. In contrast, the City of Laguna Beach's RHNA allocation is 55 housing units or approximately 138 new residents. If I were grading Laguna Beach's performance based on what the majority of its residents want, I would give Laguna Beach an "A" or 9.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm not saying Newport Beach is the same as Laguna Beach or that Newport Beach should become Laguna Beach. However, consider these questions: Is Laguna Beach going bankrupt? Are they no longer a tourist destination? Has their quality of life plummeted? Is Laguna Beach no longer a desirable place to live and work? I will let you grade our City's performance. The dramatic increase in Newport's RHNA number should have come as no surprise, and yet it was! What I am advocating is that we update our philosophy and develop an offensive strategy to counter the metrics used by the State to better protect our quality of life. The State is using our good intentions and our success against us. I can provide my recommendations on how to do this, but until you understand these metrics and how the pieces of the puzzle fit together, my words are meaningless. One way to learn for yourself is to ask SCAG the following question: If a city wanted to get a high RHNA number, what would it have to do? If Newport Beach follows SCAGS recommendations, Newport Beach will continue to be allocated a high RHNA number. If on the contrary, Newport Beach wanted to lower its RHNA number, Newport Beach will have to make changes. Significant changes! A second case in point: For a couple of decades we have implemented the planning concept of "jobs housing balance". The City has realized the benefits from this program including reductions in air quality emissions and traffic. While traffic has gotten significantly worse, it would have been much worse without this program. This program has allowed the City to more efficiently manage growth without a significant decrease in our quality of life. However, in recent years, the State's mandates requiring local governments to do their "fair -share" within "urban in -fill areas" to accommodate state- wide population growth, combined with other mandates and the State's use of local and regional data has exploited the intent of this program. The result is a number of new laws which have the potential to result in significant adverse long-term impacts to our quality of life. The next time the City is asked to approve a new development project think of the effect of this action from the State's perspective: more jobs mean more housing; more housing means more jobs; more jobs and housing mean more transportation improvements. From the State's perspective this unending growth cycle helps achieve their goal, to house and employ an uncapped state-wide population growth. Cities in "urban in -fill areas" such as Newport Beach that comply and do their "fair -share" to accommodate this unending cycle of new jobs, housing and transportation improvements provide data the State uses to justify how it allocates where population growth will occur and its affordability; it justifies the need for increased mass transit requirements; justifies steps to reduce reliance on personal automobiles; and justifies additional fees and taxes to fund its programs. This cycle is also placing Page 2 of 3 David J. Tanner, 223 62 Street, Newport Beach 92663 10-22-19 dave@earsi.com additional stress on city and regional infrastructure which has and will continue to negatively impact our quality of life. Combine these State policies with actions by agencies who are tasked with providing needed services and you get actions that include significant increases in the amount of treated wastewater blended into our drinking water. All this, to accommodate an ever-increasing state- wide population. And while you are considering new project approvals, don't forget to consider the impacts of "Public Safety Power Shutoffs" announced last month by SCE, it's impact on emergency services and evacuations, and then there is the new rent control law signed earlier this month by Governor Newsom. Unfortunately, the list goes on! I ask the Council to have staff identify the metrics used by the State so that we can proactively use this information to adjust our philosophy and develop an offensive strategy to better achieve the vision of the majority of our residents and better protect our quality of life. This will be a tough challenge. Perhaps one of the toughest of any Newport Beach City Council. You will have to make difficult decisions. You will certainly face criticism and disrespect from those with differing views. But it is the right thing to do and now is the right time to act. Page 3 of 3 David J. Tanner, 223 62 Street, Newport Beach 92663 10-22-19 dave@earsi.com Banning Ranch f. _CONSERVANCY 20th A-i-iniversary vvIrS, W> — It'll be a hoot! Banning Ranch Conservancy is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the effort to Save Banning Ranch. Banning Ranch is 401 acres of coastal wetlands, mesas, arroyos, grasslands, vernal pools and coastal bluffs, located between the cities of Newport Beach, Huntington Beach & Costa Mesa, CA. The Banning Ranch Conservancy's mission is "to preserve, acquire, conserve and manage the entire Banning Ranch as permanent public open space, park and coastal nature preserve". The Banning Ranch Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Tax ID #: 26-2803100 When: Saturday, November 2, 2019 Time: 6:00 - 9:30 pm Where: Marina Park 1600 W. Balboa Blvd, Newport Beach Please join us for a delicious dinner, a great program with engaging speakers, honorees, awards, exciting announcements and inspiring music at a lovely waterfront venue. Plus amazing Silent and Live Auctions! Tickets $125 per individual $235 per couple Scholarships are available. Contact Steve at 310-961-7610 To purchase tickets, go to www.banningranchconservancy.org/gala-registration www.banningranchconservancy.org I Sponsorships available. Call Steve at 310/961-7610 Banning Ranch Conservancy 20TH Anniversary G A Join us in celebrating the 20th Anniversary Of the effort to Save Banning Ranch. First Name Last Name Email Phone Address City State Zip Purchase Tickets and Register Name Qty ❑ $125 each individual ❑ $235 per couple ❑ additional donation Total: Payment by check/registration Please complete this page with your Dinner Choices and Dietary Restrictions checked off, enclose a check and send to this address: Banning Ranch Conservancy 883 Production Place Newport Beach, CA 92663 Dinner Choice Dietary Restrictions (check one) (check as required) Stuffed Chicken Breast with Spinach Spiced Maple Non- Non- Sugar- & Ricotta Cheese Glazed Salmon Curry Spiced Orzo Gluten Dairy free 0 0 0 0 0 0 a a o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Payment by check/registration Please complete this page with your Dinner Choices and Dietary Restrictions checked off, enclose a check and send to this address: Banning Ranch Conservancy 883 Production Place Newport Beach, CA 92663