Consider adopting Resolution 2023-06, approving the Northeast Industrial Area Reorganization to the City of Woodland (annexation to the City and concurrent detachment from the Springlake Fire Protection District) and determining no further environmental review is needed under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (LAFCo No. 23-06).

Government Code Section 56375 provides LAFCo with the power to review and approve proposals for "changes in organization" consistent with policies adopted by the Commission. Government Code Section 56021 defines "changes of organization" to include annexation to a city and detaching from a special district, among other actions. The City of Woodland approved a tax sharing agreement (Agreement No. 18-01) with the Yolo County Board of Supervisors (Agreement No. 18-44) filed on March 14, 2018. The subject territory is included within the Sphere of Influence for the City of Woodland as approved by Yolo LAFCo in December 2018 to match the City's Urban Limit Line (ULL) previously approved by its voters.

California Compass Logistics Center, LLC (one of the landowners) initiated this proposal application via landowner petition and submitted it to Yolo LAFCo for processing and consideration. The City of Woodland approved pre-zoning for the subject territory consistent with its 2035 General Plan on November 7, 2023, and supports the reorganization proposal. The project was routed to all subject, affected, and interested agencies on September 8, 2023, and public notices were mailed to all landowners and registered voters within 300 feet and published in the Woodland Daily Democrat on November 15, 2023. Therefore, annexation of the subject territory has been contemplated for many years and meets the requirements set forth in the Cortese Knox Hertzberg Act and local Yolo LAFCo policies. 

Because there are 13 parcels affected, LAFCo approval of the proposed reorganization is subject to Protest Proceedings and the protest hearing is anticipated to occur at the January 2024 LAFCo meeting. 

The subject territory consists of approximately 632+/- acres located in the northeast portion of, and adjacent to, the City of Woodland within it's Sphere of Influence (SOI). The proposed reorganization includes: (1) annexation to the City of Woodland; and (2) concurrent detachment from the Springlake Fire Protection District (FPD). The Springlake FPD contracts with the City of Woodland for fire protection services already, and the current service agreement passes through all its revenue to the City for services. Therefore, although the reorganization will change the path by which the City receives this fire protection funding, it ends up in the City's hands either way. 

The territory is currently zoned by the County as Heavy Industrial, Public/Quasi-Public, and Agricultural Intensive. The parcels are mostly undeveloped, except for just under 40 acres of industrial development on the northwest corner of East Main Street and County Road 102. There are no immediate plans for development, although annexation will allow for a more streamlined process when future development occurs. The City and several of the key landowners have agreed to enter into development agreements to ensure the parcels help fund a future flood control project, a transportation demand management assessment to reduce vehicle miles traveled, and construct gateway monument signage and landscaping. At buildout, it is anticipated that the annexation area will accommodate over 6 million square feet of industrial development as well as supporting commercial and retail uses. Additional land inventory is needed to support both existing Woodland-based companies looking to expand operations, and for new companies looking to locate in the City. The availability of land and/or building square footage for industrial use is historically low, ranging from zero to three percent vacancy over the last several years. Industrial vacancy rates have hovered around one percent since 2021 and remain one of the lowest in the region. 

Factors to be Considered

In accordance with Government Code Section 56668, the factors to be considered in the review of a proposal shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following:

Yolo LAFCo's local standards of evaluation for proposals (Section 2.0) elaborates on these state-mandated factors with the following additional standards:

The proposed annexation area is within the City's sphere of influence (SOI) and is a logical and orderly extension of the City’s urban area. The proposed development will need urban services and the City has the capacity and is the appropriate agency to provide services. The subject territory is mostly surrounded by existing city jurisdiction and the proposal does not create any "islands" or corridors of unincorporated territory. The project is consistent with the regional growth projections prepared by SACOG and is consistent with the City's 2035 General Plan land use designations. The City of Woodland has pre-zoned the territory mostly as Industrial (I) with the eastern perimeter as a Flood Study Area (FSA) consistent with its General Plan and the existing surrounding uses.

The project site is mostly undeveloped and has been previously used for agricultural uses. The loss of agricultural land was determined to be significant and unavoidable because much of Yolo County has fertile agricultural soils, it is difficult to expand the City’s footprint without impacting agricultural land. However, the City’s ULL preempts any uncontrolled sprawl. Chapter 15.33 of the City of Woodland Municipal Code requires that, for every acre converted to urban development, one acre of mitigation will be required (1:1 ratio); agricultural mitigation land must be of the same quality of land or higher than the land being converted; and specified agricultural mitigation lands must be located wholly within Yolo County. In addition, City General Plan Policy 7.C.5 requires new development that occurs at the edge of the ULL (i.e., eastern portion of the Northeast Annexation Area) to accommodate an agricultural buffer. This policy would be implemented as a Condition of Approval of future proposed development within the annexation areas, as applicable. Therefore, the proposal mitigates the loss of agricultural land to the extent feasible and is consistent with Yolo LAFCo's Agricultural Conservation Policy.

The City's 2035 General Plan and CAP EIR analyzed the capacity and availability of public services and utilities and concluded that the City has the capacity to serve the project. Because the territory will be zoned Industrial, it will not affect the City in achieving its regional housing needs. The proposal boundary completes the City's boundary in the northeast portion of the City and does not exclude any existing communities that should be provided equal access to municipal services. The proposal area is not identified as a "very high fire hazard zone".

Much of the Northeast Industrial Area is located within a 100 and 200-year flood plain. Portions of the northeastern edge are identified for potential flooding and consequently, the City has zoned those areas as FSA. Any future development would be subject to offsite flood impact analysis and would likely require elevated building pads above the floodplain. It is beneficial for the Northeast Industrial Annexation Area to be located within the City’s municipal boundary to prevent underutilization or inefficient use of land and conflicting uses with a future flood control project. Development is not permitted within the FSA until the boundaries of the property to be developed receives adequate flood protection as required by the General Plan through the development of a future flood project are determined or other means that are reviewed and determined to be satisfactory by the City Engineer. The City and County have approved a property tax exchange agreement. For all these reasons, staff recommends that the annexation proposal complies with required state factors and local standards of evaluation.

CEQA

The Woodland City Council approved pre-zoning for the subject territory on November 7, 2023, and determined the Project was not subject to further CEQA environmental review pursuant to Guidelines Section 15183. Yolo LAFCo’s CEQA review as a Responsible Agency is more limited than a Lead Agency. Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15096, Yolo LAFCo has considered the determination by the City of Woodland and has determined that it is acceptable and legally adequate for use by Yolo LAFCo. The proposed annexations are consistent with the development type and density established by existing land use designations under the City of Woodland General Plan policies for which an EIR was certified in 2017 (“2035 General Plan and CAP EIR”).

When Yolo LAFCo prepared a Municipal Service Review and expanded the City’s Sphere of Influence to match the Urban Limit Line (ULL), LAFCo disclosed that future annexation would result in the loss of prime agricultural land. The City’s 2035 General Plan EIR mitigates for this loss consistent with LAFCo policies and LAFCo concluded that this loss was significant and unavoidable (Yolo LAFCo Resolution No. 2018-10 adopted on January 24, 2019). Annexation does not result in any additional impacts that were not already disclosed.

No new significant impacts specifically related to the proposed annexations or annexation areas are anticipated that were not otherwise identified under the 2035 General Plan and CAP EIR. There would not be potentially significant off-site and/or cumulative impacts that the 2035 General Plan and CAP EIR failed to evaluate. There is no substantial new information that would result in more severe impacts than anticipated by the 2035 General Plan and CAP EIR.

The proposed annexations would be subject to uniformly applied policies, regulations, and development standards that implement the 2035 General Plan, as applicable to any future development located within the annexation areas. Where the 2035 General Plan includes policies and implementation programs developed for the purposes of minimizing and avoiding environmental impacts and that would not be otherwise enforced through existing regulations, the City would enforce implementation of such policies and implementation programs through Conditions of Approval or requirements incorporated within the respective Development Agreements. Therefore, no further review is required for the project pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15183.