Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutReso. 1984 - 247 - Amending the general plan of the city of redding • • RESOLUTION NO. q41.--,;W A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF REDDING AMENDING THE GENERAL PLAN OF THE CITY OF REDDING BY ADOPTING GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT GPA-8-84 . WHEREAS , following the required public hearings therefor, the Planning Commission of the City of Redding has recommended to the City Council that the Land Use Element of the City ' s General Plan be amended by incorporating therein the changes contained in General Plan Amendment GPA-7-84; and WHEREAS, following the required notices in accordance with law, the City Council has held public hearings on said recommen- dations and has carefully considered the evidence at said hear- ings; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED as follows : 1 . The City Council has reviewed and approved the Negative Declaration on the plan, finding that potential environmental impacts can be mitigated to a point of no significance. 2. The City Council does hereby amend the Land Use Element of the General Plan of the City of Redding by incorporating therein the changes contained in GPA-8-84 as shown in Exhibit "A" attached hereto. I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was intro- duced and read at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Redding on the 5th day of November , 1984 , and N4 0 0 was duly adopted at said meeting by the following vote: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Demsher, Fulton, Gard, & Pugh NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Kirkpatrick ABSTAIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None a4L 'ARBARA ALLEN GARD, Vice Mayor City of Redding ATTEST: ETHEL A. N qHOLS, City Clerk FORM APPROVED: W(y42_ RANDA A. HAYS, City ttorney -2- • • • =----- EXHIBIT A QUARTZ HILL AREA PLAN GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT GPA-7-82 GPA-8-84 Resolution No. 83-176 September 6, 1983 Resolution No. 84- November 5, 1984 City Council City of Redding • • TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Introduction 1 A. Background 1 B. Regulatory Status 4 C. Nature of Area Plan 4 D. Summary of Environmental Impacts 5 E. Objectives 6 F. Assumptions 6 II. Area Plan Description and Policies 8 A. Land Use 8 B. Circulation 15 • I. INTRODUCTION A. BACKGROUND A planned development application and General Plan amendment application was received in the summer of 1982, for 114 acres located generally south of the intersection of Quartz Hill and Keswick Dam Roads. The location is in an area that has not received general-plan review since the 1970 City of Redding General Plan. To form a cohesive planning unit, the boundary of the General Plan area initially was expanded to include all the area south of Keswick Dam Road and Lake Boulevard between Keswick Dam and the railroad tracks During the preliminary study phase on the plan amendment, work was commenced on the Lake Keswick Sewer Assessment District, which includes a substantial area outside the initial plan amendment boundary. The plan amendment area was, therefore, enlarged to encompass the Lake Keswick Sewer Assessment District and other adjoining lands in the Redding General Plan area. The area being considered as part of this Quartz Hill General Plan Amendment is bounded on the west and south by the Sacramento River, on the north by a section line near Walker Mine, and on the east by developed land adjacent to Lake Boulevard and the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. This area contains 8.89 square miles and is depicted on Figure 1. A substantial portion of the Quartz Hill area is outside the current corporate limits of the City of Redding. All the area is, however, within the General Plan area for Redding. Since the adoption of the 1970 General Plan, there have been two major plan amendments that have been adopted in this area. The Lake Redding Estates Plan Amendment (GPA-1-77) and the Sulphur Creek Area Plan Amendment (GPA-5-77) . Both of these projects required environmental impact reports which were certified in 1978 and 1979, respectively. The two general plan amendments included 1,620 acres within the Quartz Hill study area. In addition to these projects, two other major environmental impact reports concerning portions of the Quartz Hill Plan Area have been recently pre- pared and circulated. Shasta County prepared an EIR for the Quartz Hill Water Assessment District, which was certified in 1980. Bonanza Hills Subdivision also required the preparation of an EIR. Although the Bonanza Hills EIR was circulated, was the subject of two public hearings, and revised after the public hearings, the EIR was not certified because the developer did not pursue the project. Over one-half the Quartz Hill plan area has been reviewed by relatively recent environmental impact reports. 1984 SUPPLEMENT GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT GPA-8-84 In the summer of 1984, two general plan amendments were received for area within or immediately adjacent to the Quart Hill Area Plan boundary. At their meeting of July 24, 1984, the Redding_PlanningjCommissionconsoli- dated and expanded the two general plan amendments. The expanded area, processed as GPA-8-84, adds to the Quartz Hill Area Plan 114 acres along Lake Boulevard north of Keswick Dam Road and adds two square miles of mostly undeveloped territor to the north. A location ma. de•ictin• the Quartz Hill Area Plan and the added area is on t e o owing page. Ai 0 ._ V x 1 � f - .i ::1 7 -si' i : i' 1 X15 :. :Y �'o O i t,. ...6,1,/,,..,t' �\ <- - •.cciiicc:::::icc- i h ,.,<, Q 001W//./TcWV ,c-'&on/c/G ril LOCAT/OdC./ /iA P /,E':'-,2- 8.2 61, 7'A•7 B. x F/G lJ.2E .S'CA L /= 5000 , ;. DD/4-1161 • Area plans allow specific, local application of jurisdiction-wide policies and create a local forum for resolving conflicts among competing interests . They are extremely useful because they can be used to involve the residents of an area directly in shaping their own community. Area plans can be used to further the goals and policies of the General Plan. Essentially, area plans are a further refinement of the General Plan and the implementation of its goals, objectives and standards from a general context to a more precise development context. At a minimum, area plans should include the following elements. 1. Location of and standards for land uses and facilities. 2. Locations and standards for streets or other transportation facilities. 3. Standards for population density and intensity, and any necessary supporting services. 4. Standards for the conservation, development and use of resources. 5. Provision for implementing the nine mandated General Plan elements. 6. Other appropriate measures. D. SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Mitigation measures to lessen significant impacts of the Quartz Hill plan are summarized below. In all cases, the mitigation measures are adequate to reduce the impacts to a level that they would not be considered signifi- cant from an environmental-impact perspective. The greatest overall impact is the cumulative cost of constructing new public facilities to serve increased densities. For complete review of these factors, the reader is referred to EIR-2-82. 1. At build-out of the plan area, 55,000 vehicle trips will be generated, which will impact the existing street network. Mitigation measures include establishing a fee system to fund necessary road improvements inside and outside the plan area and encouraging alternate transporta- tion. The alternative would be to retain the existing General Plan densities which reduces traffic volumes such that many major traffic improvements may not be warranted. 2. The Buckeye School District will have 1,950 additional students and Redding Elementary School District will have 410 additional students at plan build out. Mitigation for significantly higher enrollment may include requirements for fees paid by new development to cover capital costs of expansion if the State's ability to finance new schools remains minimal . 3. Water and sewer facilities will need expansion to provide additional capacity. The main mitigation measure is to establish benefit dis- tricts fee system or other funding mechanisms to assure financing construction of needed facilities. 5 • • extension of sewers. It is not anticipated that the sewer-service area will be expanded during the next 20 years to include areas outside the present sewer-service area. The Area Plan will require sewers in most or all the Sulphur Creek watershed and the watersheds north of Lake Redding Estates if the uses and densities proposed are to be fully developed. The cost for this service will be borne by development through formation of one or more assessment districts. Lack of sewers and the economy may slow development in the years immediately ahead, but once sewers are available growth will be rapid because similarly served land elsewhere in the Redding General Plan area likely will be scarce and the burden of sewer assessments on undeveloped land will increase. Development at densities proposed in the Plan will generate significant increases in traffic volumes and will impact major arterials outside the Area Plan boundary. Unless alternate routes and/or major improvements are made for the Market Street corridor, congestion levels will be severe on Market Street. The Area Plan designates development of a new north-south arterial (Buenaventura Boulevard) and Sacramento River crossing to relieve traffic congestion. As discussed for sewers above, a major portion of the cost of the new street improvements will be borne by development in the plan area. Failure to establish a method to finance the needed street improvements outside the plan area would make the proposed plan infeasible since the City of Redding does not have the financial resources to fund the required improvements to allow development of the area at the densities proposed. In summary, the major assumptions made as part of the preparation of this plan are as follows: 1. The plan area will grow and gradually become more urban. 2. About two-thirds of the area will be served by sanitary sewers. 3. There is a desire for land for urban-density, residential development. 4. The steep canyon areas near the Sacramento River and Keswick Lake should be protected. 5. The Regional Sewer Service area boundary will not be changed during the life of this plan. 6. Impacts from urbanization of the area can be mitigated to a reasonable level . 7 • • II AREA PLAN DESCRIPTION AND POLICIES . A. LAND USE The area plan designates a parcel-specific, land-use pattern for the planning area. Each use designation is intended to be translated to existing or new zoning district regulations. Table A summarizes the land use allocations of the Area Plan and the following sections list policies relevant to each land-use category. 1. Residential The highest densities permitted in most of the study area by the existing Redding General Plan is one unit per five acres. The draft County General Plan, which has been the subject of hearings before the County Planning Commission, proposes "suburban residential ," which allows up to three units per acre, for nearly all the land in the Quartz Hill area under County jurisdiction. The exception to this is land near the river and government-owned land. County zoning in the area is predominantly "U" Unclassified although there are several areas with two and one-half acre zoning. Developed areas in the City are predominantly three units per acre on the existing plan. No sewers exist outside the City limits, so the effective minimum lot size for development has been determined by septic system needs. Under the current County septic disposal standards, it is doubtful that two and one-half acre parcels will meet County standards due to poor soils for leaching sewage. The most recently approved subdivision in the area (Tract 1644) averaged about three acre lots with water available. Without water available, a more reasonable estimate of minimum permis- sible lot size under optimum conditions for the area is five acres. The plan assumes that most new-residential development will have sewers. The Area Plan provides five residential density classifications ranging from one unit per five acres to three units per acre. At full develop- ment 59 percent of the homes will be at a density of three units per acre and 31 percent will be at a density of two units per acre. The total of 5,950 units will accommodate 16,065 persons at an average of 2.7 persons per unit. The residential land-use classifications are described as follows: a. 1.0 unit Per 5 Acres; 1.0 Unit Per 2 Acres These single-family densities are used where neither public sewer not water are avail- able and on certain hillside areas. Development at these densities is not considered an urban reserve category because land fragmenta- tion will make future expansion of utilities difficult. It is not anticipated that sewers would be available in these areas during the life of this plan. b. 1.0 DwellingUnit Per Gross Acre This is essentially a large single- famiy lot, urban density. 8 • This is +Single=family category c. 2.0 Dwelling Units Per Gross Acre with full urban services available. Typical lots range from 15,000 to 22,000 square feet in area. Planned-unit developments may be constructed in this classification as discussed later in this section. This density is suitable for areas of flat to moderate slopes and in areas where this lot-size pattern is predominantly suitable for conventional single-family subdivisions, cluster subdivisions or planned developments. d. 3.0 Dwelling Units Per Acre This is a single-family residential density with lots ranging from 9,000 to 12,000 square feet in area. This classification cluster ls suitle for subdivisions or plannedlonal developmentsfamily subdivisions , ubdivisio , e. 6.0 Dwelling Units Per Acre This is a transition classification , that can be developed as small --- �-- -- lot ingle-famil residential , 4 plexesLEland-unit development,tlow-densitym1t?pleili - apartments , and mobilehomeparks in apprgpi ate areas. The minimum . �!�_ �6 X006 square feet and for lot size for sin-'le-fam �l homes would �be _._—.-.---- p exes or multiplfamily developments, 11,0 s uare ee f. 12.0 Dwelling Units Per Acre This is a multiple-family density for apartments , _dwelling groups, planned developments, and condo- miniums. Full urban services would beavailable, and_there would be reasonable proximity to a major arterial . Policies In addition to the basic density designations, the following residential policies apply within the plan area: la. Apply existing City and County Zoning regulations appropriate to designated Area Plan density. ercent lb. Greenway areaconsistingshould of be deducted when computing es in excess of 20 allowable rdensi- ties. e s - year-flood plains sho ties. ic. For determining the amount of developable land and calculating allow- able densities, areas of developable land must be two acres in size or larger to apply the General Plan density designated on the map. Isolated areas of developable ground less than two acres in size and surrounded by steep slopes or flood plain shall be credited for no greater density then one unit per acre regardless of adjoining density on the General Plan map. North of Quartz Hill Road isolated areas of developable ground shall be cre ite wit a density no_areater than 0.5 or 0.2 unit per acre. 1d. Adopt a Hillside Ordinance to establish development standards for terrainlwith trictedlonexcess terrain with slopes in excercent. ess of ten perlehome cent. should be restricted le. Parcels developing without sewer service must meet Shasta County Health standardse for septic-tank meetsewage-disposal standrds dlater than five acres may required 10 r^r r �` f '1} d- 5,J w=w.s��vY-.r'x'�...r "' 'v�a v"` >�`—`n t. 7 a"' t„txy "ttfl ,U.;..�Ar'F4.ceyi�� {,�, r' ., ✓ al s ; s i^< f� F • 3. Open Space Conservation and Recreation a. Parks and Recreation The Lake Redding-Caldwell. Park complex at the southeast corner of the study area is a major community park that serves the Quartz Hill area and the entire Redding Community. This facility ade- quately meets major community recreational needs in the Quartz Hill plan area. As the area develops, provision should be made for neighborhood parks to serve new development. As indicated in Table 6, three neighborhood parks would be desirable to serve the potential 5,600 units after full development of the area. No new park areas have been designated on the map. As the area is subdivided, land should be dedicatedfor neighborhood parks or fees used to obtain Federally owned land. Joint development of recreational facilities with new schools would also be a desirable option. Park land or improved open space consists of both private and public open space. These areas are intended to provide urban locations for both active and passive recreation activities. Parks, as described in the Recreation Element, include neighbor- hood, community and regional parks. School playgrounds, although depicted as institutional uses, are also considered as improved open space. Examples of private parks are golf courses, tennis clubs, country clubs, etc. Policies 3a. For areas in County jurisdiction, enact a County ordinance requiring land dedication or in-lieu payments to provide neighborhood park sites in accord with standards similar to those applied to subdivisions within the City of Redding as a condition of residential-development approval . 3b. Actively pursue acquisition of Federally owned land for recreation purposes. Priority should be for land adjacent to designated school sites. b. Greenway The intent of the plan is to preserve the natural form of the creeks and the existing riparian vegetation. Drainage plans have not been prepared but the environmental impact report prepared for this plan indicates that no major channel changes will be a product of the plan. Greenway is natural open space and includes slopes in excess of 20 percent and the 100-year flood plains of the Sacramento River and various creeks and streams. Because of the inherent dangers to life and property, and irrevocable damage to the natural environ- ment, these natural land and water areas should not be urbanized or altered in any significant way so as to prevent severe erosion and defacement or loss of life and property. Each of these areas 12 • ; • • These uses and the manner in which they are introduced into the community have a considerable influence on the image of the City and of the entire planning area. Further, such uses in the Quartz Hill area would be in or near residential area; and care needs to be exercised in the siting of building, parking areas, playfields, landscaped areas and the scale of the facility in regard to the context of the area in which they are located. These public and institutional facilities often generate considerable traffic--both vehicular and pedestrian. As such, their siting and methods of providing access and adequate off-street parking need to be given special attention. a. Schools The Buckeye School District currently owns two undeveloped school sites in the plan area and two existing schools immediately to the east of the study area. The Redding School District which has jurisdiction in the southern portion of the plan area has no school • ,`''` facilities north of the Sacramento River. Full development will generate enough students to fill five additional schools. Sites currently owned by Buckeye School District are oversized for elementary-school standards and may provide adequate land'for 2,400 elementary school students. No sites are currently available in in the Redding School District portion of the study area. Policy 4a. Refer development proposals to school districts and amend Area Plan, if necessary, to include one or more additional school sites to be located in accord with Area Plan policies. b. Water The Area Plan does not include specific proposals for water supply and distribution. Policy 4b. Water systems adequate to handle domestic and ISO fire-flow requirements should be installed. 4c. Encourage use of assessment districts and establish special development fees to fund water-supply improvements. c. Wastewater The Area Plan does not include wastewater collection or treatment proposals. The majority of the area is within the service boundary of the Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. New development will occur as connection to the existing regional wastewater systems is accomplished. (See Assumptions.) 14 „ ., ,, s - r c S • = construction. Construction of the Buenaventura connection will improve traffic flows by accomplishing the following: - Reduce traffic on the Market Street bridge by 7,500 daily trips and postpone the need to widen the Market Street bridge. - Improve intersection service level at Quartz Hill Road and Market Street because a significant amount of left-turn movements northbound to westbound would be eliminated. - Relieve congestion and peak-hour delays for intersections in downtown Redding. However, these congestion reductions probably will not - ' eliminate the need for major downtown improvements identified in Appendix "A" of the EIR. - Marginally reduce traffic congestion at the intersection of Lake Boulevard and Market Street. Policies 5a. As a condition of development approval , require right-of-way dedica- tion and construction of full or partial improvements in accord with the schedule in Table B. 5b. Realign Quartz Hill Road west of Lake Boulevard to collector-street standards and allow existing Quartz Hill Road to remain a local street serving existing residential development. The recommended route is a new road from Quartz Hill Road near Counter Lane south to Keswick Dam Road. Further study will be required to determine the most feasible alignment. 5c. Establish a plan line for the Buenaventura extension and require right-of-way dedication where appropriate. 5d. Provide sidewalks on all through streets and all streets having minimum parcel sizes smaller than one acre and allow sidewalk use by bicycles. The intent is that children and recreational bicyclists use the sidewalks where there will be only light pedestrian use, and experienced bicyclists and commuters use the streets. 5e. Limit driveways on major arterial frontage to one per 400 feet or one per parcel with less than 400 feet of frontage. 5f. Complete special studies to determine improvements required on the Market Street corridor based on region-wide-traffic increases. 5g. Establish assessment districts, special benefit districts, reimburse- ment agreements, and development fees to fund major road improvements that will not be constructed as part of adjacent residential development. 16