GPA #2022-02: Consideration of a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors to (i) amend the Yolo County 2030 Countywide General Plan to address Environmental Justice and Climate Action policies, as mandated by State law and (ii) find that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The amendments would update the Land Use and Community Character Element, Conservation and Open Space Element, and Health and Safety Element of the General Plan. (Applicant: Yolo County Planning Division) (Planner: JD Trebec/DeNovo Planning Group)

FILE # GPA 2022-02: Environmental Justice and Climate Adaptation policies update
APPLICANT: Yolo County	OWNER: N/A
LOCATION: Countywide GENERAL PLAN: Various ZONING: Various SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT: All	SOILS: Various FLOOD ZONE: Various FIRE SEVERITY ZONE: Various
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: Common sense exemption

As part of the California Housing and Community Development grant provided for the 6^th Cycle Housing Element update of Yolo County’s 2030 Countywide General Plan (“General Plan”), De Novo Consulting Group conducted a broader assessment of the State of California's general plan requirements to ensure the County's compliance with ever changing legal requirements. Recent legislation requires that additional information be provided in a General Plan following revision to the General Plan such as the County's recent Housing Element update. Together with De Novo, staff has prepared the second amendment in calendar year 2022 to the General Plan to address new requirements included in California Senate Bills (SB) 379 and 1000 as discussed below. Further details are provided in the related white paper in Attachment A.

California Senate Bill 379: SB 379 requires all cities and counties to include climate adaptation and resiliency strategies in the Safety Elements of their General Plans upon the next revision to the General Plan beginning January 1, 2017. The bill requires the climate adaptation update to include a set of goals, policies, and objectives as identified in Government Code Section 65302(g)(4). This requires Yolo County’s Health and Safety Element to address climate adaption and resiliency strategies and includes a vulnerability assessment that identifies climate change-related risks, a set of adaptation resiliency goals, policies, and objectives, and a set of implementation measures to avoid or minimize climate change impacts, locate essential public facilities outside of at-risk areas, designate adequate and feasible infrastructure in an at-risk area, guidelines for working cooperatively with relevant agencies, and identification of natural infrastructure that may be used in adaptation projects. Additionally, Government Code Section 65302(g)(1) requires the Safety Element to address evacuation routes, which would include residential development projects in any hazard area identified in the Safety Element that does not have at least two emergency evacuation routes.

Senate Bill 1000: Also known as The Planning for Healthy Communities Act, SB 1000 is a comprehensive state legislation that requires California counties and cities to include an Environmental Justice Element or a set of environmental justice policies into their General Plans when updating two or more elements concurrently on or after January 1, 2018.  The goal of SB 1000 is to improve the health of California communities and address pertinent issues of environmental justice related to community wellness in accordance with Government Code Section 65302(h)(1).  This requires that Yolo County outline strategies to promote the protection of sensitive land uses within the state, and simultaneously mandates that jurisdictions address the needs of disadvantaged communities. Through this bill, environmental justice becomes a mandated consideration in all local land-use planning.

To aid local governments in meeting the requirements of SB 1000, the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA) has created the SB 1000 Implementation Toolkit, which serves as a guide for key stakeholders by clarifying legislation requirements and providing tools, best practices, and resources to support stakeholders as they begin to incorporate the law into local practice. To effectively meet the mandates of the bill, jurisdictions must formally identify disadvantaged communities (DACs) and work to reduce health risks specific to these communities by outlining methods and programs within their plan that address the needs of DACs. Census tract 101.02 is identified as a DAC within Yolo County (see Attachment F). This tract lies in the north part of the City of West Sacramento and continues in a band along the Sacramento River north to just upriver of the Feather River confluence. 

Each General Plan must address the following topics in order to meet the requirements of SB 1000:

• Pollution Exposure and Air Quality
• Public Facilities
• Food Access
• Safe and Sanitary Homes
• Physical Activity
• “Civil” or Community Engagement
• Improvements and Programs (that address the needs of Disadvantaged Communities)

A redlined copy of the amendment is provided in Attachment B.

Affected Elements
An Environmental Justice (EJ) section has been added to the Land Use and Community Character Element that begins with a discussion of the framework on pages LU-6, and LU-12 through LU-15. New goals, policies, and actions are identified on pages LU-29, LU-30, and LU-50 to address equitable decision making with respect to distribution of public facilities and services, as well as provisions for safe and healthy environment, with an emphasis on equity for disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. The EJ section includes a map on page LU-14 showing census tract 101.02 which is identified by the State as a disadvantaged community. The identified area includes a portion of the City of West Sacramento and a sparsely populated region of the unincorporated County between the Sacramento River and Yolo Bypass north of the city (Attachment F). Four new policies and three actions include equitable health considerations, engagement, and promotion of redevelopment without displacement of existing residents.

The Conservation and Open Space Element includes several additions and updates, as follows: Section I. Energy Conservation has four new policies (page CO-84) regarding promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy. An additional action supporting local Clean Energy Programs is proposed on page CO-86. Additionally, Section J. Climate Change has been updated to align with new statewide greenhouse gas reduction goals (pages CO-86 to CO-90).

The Health and Safety Element includes updates to address climate adaptation and resiliency requirements in response to SB1000, located on pages HS-3 and HS-4. Section 2. Flood Hazards includes updates to a Policy and Action on page HS-27 to emphasize reduction of risks associated with climate-related flood events. The Wildlands Fires section has several updates addressing evacuation and fire protection planning. Background information is included on pages HS-33 and HS-34, with two new maps showing fire history for the County on pages HS-37 and HS-38, and updated policies and actions are identified on pages HS-39 and HS-40.  

A new section was added to the Health and Safety Element to address Climate Adaptation and Resiliency on pages HS-49 to HS-51 that includes a new goal with six new policies and four new actions. Goals and policies include minimizing risk through climate adaptation strategies that enhance and promote community resilience. Actions identify planning for climate change resiliency and provision of cooling centers for combating heat emergencies.

Citizens Advisory Committees Review
The proposed General Plan Amendments were reviewed by the Capay Valley, Clarksburg, Dunnigan, and Esparto Citizen Advisory Committees (CAC). A summary of each CAC's review follows, with a response by staff as necessary:

• Capay Valley Citizen Advisory Committee expressed concern that the amendment would impose additional review requirements on the Fire Prevention Districts. Staff notes, however, that the proposed actions address planning entitlements which already offer fire officials the chance to comment, but don’t require additional review.
• The Clarksburg Citizen Advisory Committee (CCAC) formed an ad hoc committee which provided an email with suggested edits to the amendment (Attachment E). The edits and concerns of the ad-hoc committee were discussed at a special meeting of the CCAC on October 12, 2022. The ad-hoc committee  expressed concerns about Action HS-A5, regarding flood protection requirements, and Action CO-A118, Clean Energy Program participation. Staff notes that Action HS-A5, which requires 200-year flood protection in urbanizing areas, would only apply to areas with over 10,000 residents and would not include Clarksburg or any other area within the unincorporated County, unless a growth area was projected to grow up to 10,000 people. With that clarification, the CCAC recommended Action HS-A5 as written.  Action CO-A118 would require all future public parks to participate in local clean energy programs (such as Valley Clean Energy) and recommended the Action be revised from 'public facilities, parks, and streetlights' to 'County-owned and maintained facilities' so that public participation is not constrained.  The ad-hoc subcommittee also expressed concern about Action HS-A6 that states all structures (not just habitable structures) shall continue to be designed and constructed so that they do not significantly contribute to flooding that would pose a hazard to surrounding landowners and/or the public in alignment with current policy. The concern centered largely around whether agricultural accessory structures could no longer be built to support Clarksburg's agricultural industry. However, FEMA and the County's Flood Protection Ordinance provide for limited relief in certain circumstances through the flood variance process, so long as non-habitable structures are wetproofed and constructed to standards that protect the public's health, safety and welfare. The variance process is customarily used for building agricultural storage structures within the floodplain so long as the structure is not used as a place of employment. With that clarification, the CCAC recommended Action HS-A6 as proposed. Finally, the ad hoc committee suggested and CCAC recommended amending Goal LU-8 and Policy LU-8.2 of the proposed Environmental Justice (EJ) section to include provisions for agricultural worker housing.  As discussed above, State statute identifies EJ issues as those concerning the disproportionate impacts of pollution on disadvantaged populations within a specific census block. In this case, Census Tract 101.02, which covers part of West Sacramento and a region of the unincorporated County north of the city along the Sacramento River. Existing development lies almost entirely within the City of West Sacramento's jurisdiction and development within the County is limited given the Agriculture land use designation and is severely restricted due to flood hazards.  The expansion of farm worker housing is a policy (HO-4.9) in the recently adopted 6th Cycle Housing Element. Staff believes that  the Housing Element is the appropriate location for policies regarding agricultural worker housing and is concerned that CCAC's proposed modification to the EJ section might imply there is existing (or proposed) farm worker housing in locations that the State has identified as having pollution concerns. 
• The Dunnigan Citizen Advisory Committee did not see that the proposed amendments were relevant to the community and all six members present voted to abstain on a recommendation. 
• The Esparto Citizens Advisory Committee did not have any specific edits to the various updated Elements, but expressed concern that the documentation should have been more specific in nature.  For reference, the CAC referred to new policy LU-8.2 in the Environmental Justice section (page LU-30) that seeks to ensure land use decisions are conducted through an open and engaging process inclusive of community residents - they would prefer the policy be more 'Yolo-centric' in that it should describe a more realistic process for engaging with residents. Overall, the Esparto CAC recommended that the sections be revised to be more succinct and more meaningful, i.e., easier to read with less verbiage.

Staff respects the thought and time to review that went into each of the CAC's recommendations, which are provided for the Planning Commission's consideration.

Staff also coordinated with the County Sustainability Manager and interested staff at the County Health and Human Services Agency with particular interest in Environmental Justice issues. Although no specific recommendations were provided at this time, it was agreed that Planning staff would continue to work with interested parties to develop additional Environmental Justice and climate adaptation policies for future updates of the General Plan.
 

County staff worked with De Novo Planning Group as a consultant through a Local Early Action Planning (LEAP) Grant provided by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The review of State requirements and necessary amendments were included as part of the 6th Cycle Housing Element update. Additionally, staff consulted with the County Sustainability Manager and interested staff at the County Health and Human Services Agency with particular interest in Environmental Justice issues.

N/A