HomeMy WebLinkAboutIV(b)_Additional Materials Received_Mosherzoning percentage at the time of review which resulted in a rejected request along with other
General Plan elements that were grouped together on the Consent Calendar.” [This response
would be particularly unintelligible without knowing what the question was.]
Page 3, Item IV.d, paragraph 1, sentence 3: “It is comprised of 10 elements with six required by
state law for land use, safety, noise and natural resources, and housing and circulation, and for
four optional elements addressing the harbor and bay, historical resources, recreations
recreation, and arts and cultural culture.” [The name is “Arts and Cultural Element” but it
addresses arts and culture.]
Page 3, Item IV.d, paragraph 2, sentence 2: “He further explained that the Land Use Element
and Rezoning section describes how the City will implement the Housing Element, and that
density penned planned for mixed use property must be consistent with the density in the
General Plan and Rezoning and requires a Charter Section 423 vote on the March 2024 ballot
which is consistent with the Housing Element timeline.”
Page 4, first full paragraph: “Jim Mosher questioned if the ballot measure vote could take place
during the normal municipal election in November 2024 and the missing 45-day time gap
between the land use commission Airport Land Use Commission override notice and
approval date.”
Item IV.b. Update on the Schedule for Adoption of the Housing and
Circulation Elements
If we are trying to achieve a General Plan consisting of citizen-driven elements working
harmoniously together, I continue to be unclear why the Circulation Element is being pushed
forward ahead of the others – especially ahead of the Land Use Element it is supposed to
support.
And although a draft Circulation Element has been posted online1 for some time, it doesn’t seem
to me it’s had much real public review or that anyone has actually read it.
Based on a very cursory examination, prompted by a hope to learn something about expected
future traffic volumes on the arterial road above which I live, I would guess the few who have
read the document must be puzzled by its references to “Figure CE1” and “Figure CE2,”
purportedly showing the “Newport Beach Circulation Element - Master Plan of Streets and
Highways” and “cross-section” – when no such figures are (as best I can tell) provided.
The Figure CE1 of the existing Circulation Element adopted in 2006 is a Master Plan of Streets
and Highways last updated in 1999. It shows roads through Banning Ranch and the 19th Street
bridge connecting that area to Huntington Beach. Are any changes to that being proposed
through adoption of a new 2022 Circulation Element? It would seem important to know.
1 There may even be a printed copy near the Planning Division counter at City Hall. I don’t know. But I
can find none listed in our library catalog. Nor do I see any copies of the draft Housing Element listed. Or
of any parts of our current General Plan.
General Plan Update Steering Committee - August 8, 2022 Item No. IV(b) - Additional Materials Received Update on the Schedule for Adoption of the Housing and Circulation Elements
Similarly, the existing Circulation Element from 2006 has a Figure CE3 of “Recommended
Intersection Improvements” needed to accommodate the then-expected growth.
The new draft Circulation Element has no such figure. All I see (on page 7-16) is:
“CE 2.1.4 Roadway Improvements
Pursue construction of intersection improvements (subject to findings of the most recent
General Plan update traffic study) or alternate improvements that achieve an acceptable
level of service. (Imp 16.3)”
Isn’t it disturbing that, unlike in 2006, the public has no idea what “improvements” might be
needed to make the new General Plan feasible? And hence what the City Council would be
signing on to by approving it? In other words, that we don’t really have any concrete plan at this
point?
And what is “Imp 16.3”? That appears to be a reference to the current General Plan
Implementation Program. Is the idea that the new “comprehensive” General Plan Update can
be accomplished without modifying the existing one’s Implementation Program?
Again, how can the Circulation Element be drafted in isolation, and why would one want to do
that?
Shouldn’t the GPAC review and provide input on the Circulation Element before it is adopted?
As to my initial curiosity about what the current traffic volumes are along the stretch of Irvine
Avenue above which I live, and the levels I might expect on it over the course of the new
General Plan, is there technical data supporting this new Circulation Element? If so, where is it?
Has the public seen it?
Item IV.c. Draft Revised Scope of Work for Kimley-Horn & Associates
It would have been helpful for the staff report to provide a link to the existing agreement that it
proposes to revise.
That would appear to be C-8635-1 (PSA for Housing, Land Use and Circulation Elements to the
General Plan Consulting Services). And the revisions would appear to be to the 20-page “Work
Plan” starting on page 15.
While the staff report proposes a replacement for Task 3, what is the proposed status of the
other tasks? Will they also be modified? Have they been completed?
How much of the original $1,217,461 contract limit has been spent? Will the proposed work be
accomplished within the original contact expenditure limit?
Where are we on the Anticipated Work Schedule on page 35? Since the contract runs through
June 30, 2023, but the Schedule only through October 2021, is it missing a page or two?
In particular, what is the status of the EIR they are preparing (with a Scoping Meeting that was,
curiously, to come in August 2021, after the public review of the final draft began in June 2021?
When the City Council approved the new Housing Element as Item 8 at its February 8, 2022,
meeting, I found quite confusing the statements (Item 8, page 9, with Kimley-Horn’s report
General Plan Update Steering Committee - August 8, 2022 Item No. IV(b) - Additional Materials Received Update on the Schedule for Adoption of the Housing and Circulation Elements