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R113691 City Council Meeting: October 12, 2021 Santa Monica, California RESOLUTION NUMBER 11369 (CCS) (City Council Series) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA CERTIFYING THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR THE 6TH CYCLE (2021-2029) HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE WHEREAS, the California Environmental Quality Act, California Public Resources Code Section 21000 et seq.(“CEQA”) requires that cities consider the environmental consequences of their actions before approving a “project”; and WHEREAS, State Housing Element Law, California Government Code Sections 65580 et seq., requires the City to review and update the Housing Element of its General Plan every eight years; and WHEREAS, as the City prepares its 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element (the “6th Cycle Housing Element”), the State is experiencing a housing supply crisis, with housing demand far outstripping supply; and WHEREAS, in 2018, California ranked 49th out of the 50 states in housing units per capita; and WHEREAS, the housing crisis has particularly exacerbated the need for affordable homes at prices below market rates; and WHEREAS, the housing crisis has resulted in increased poverty and homelessness, especially first-time homelessness, forced lower income residents into crowded and unsafe housing in urban areas, and forced families into lower cost new DocuSign Envelope ID: 95C9DAC4-4077-4590-9B14-63F7453E561B 2 housing in greenfields at the urban-rural interface with longer commute times and a higher exposure to fire hazard; and WHEREAS, California needs an estimated 180,000 additional homes annually to keep up with population growth, and the Governor has called for 3.5 million new homes to be built over 7 years; and WHEREAS, the City has received a Regional Housing Needs Assessment (“RHNA”) allocation for the 6th Cycle Housing Element of approximately 8,895 housing units, with approximately 70 percent allocated as affordable housing; and WHEREAS, this RHNA allocation will require the City to permit approximately 1,000 housing units annually between 2021 and 2029, 700 of which are required to be affordable housing, representing an increase of approximately five times over the City’s RHNA allocation for the 5th Cycle (2013-2021) Housing Element; and WHEREAS, a Notice of Preparation (“NOP”) of an Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) for the 6th Cycle Housing Element (“Project”) was published and circulated on October 30, 2020; and WHEREAS, a Notice of Completion/Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Report (“Draft EIR”) was published on July 1, 2021 in compliance with CEQA and the CEQA Guidelines, Title 14, Division 6, Chapter 3 of the California Code of Regulations; and WHEREAS, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15105, the Draft EIR was circulated for a 45-day period, which ended on August 16, 2021; and WHEREAS, the Draft EIR analyzed the potential environmental impacts that could result from the proposed 6th Cycle Housing Element and three alternatives; and DocuSign Envelope ID: 95C9DAC4-4077-4590-9B14-63F7453E561B 3 WHEREAS, on September 14, 2021, the Final Environmental Impact Report (“Final EIR”) was published; and WHEREAS, on September 24, 2021, the Planning Commission reviewed and considered the contents of the Final EIR, provided additional revisions to the Final EIR, and recommended that the City Council certify the EIR; and WHEREAS, subsequent revisions were made to the Final EIR in response to Planning Commission direction and to reflect recent revisions that have been made to the programs of the proposed 6th Cycle Housing Element; and WHEREAS, on October 12, 2021 the City Council, as Lead Agency, reviewed the Final EIR, as revised, in its decision-making process. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The City Council hereby certifies that: 1) The Final EIR for the 6th Cycle Housing Element Update (“Project”) was completed in full compliance with State law and the CEQA Guidelines, there was adequate public review of the Draft EIR, and the Final EIR adequately analyzes all potentially significant environmental issues; and 2) The Final EIR was presented to the City Council, and the City Council has reviewed and considered the information contained in the Final EIR, including all comments on the Draft EIR and responses to comments, in its decision-making process prior to acting on the Project; and 3) The Final EIR reflects the independent judgement and analysis of the City. DocuSign Envelope ID: 95C9DAC4-4077-4590-9B14-63F7453E561B 4 SECTION 2. Consistent with CEQA Guidelines Section 15128, Section 4 of the Final EIR and the Initial Study (Appendix A of the Final EIR) determined that the following environmental impacts were not considered potentially significant and were not analyzed in detail in the Final EIR: aesthetics, agriculture and forestry resources, biological resources, mineral resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, and wildfire. SECTION 3. Consistent with CEQA Guidelines Section 15091 and 15092, and as analyzed in the Final EIR, the City Council finds that the following Project impacts would be less than significant without mitigation: operational air emissions (specifically those issues related to potential conflicts with applicable air quality plans as well as carbon monoxide hotspots and odors), cultural resources (specifically those issues related to the potential discovery of human remains), energy consumption, land use, construction and operational greenhouse gas emissions, construction-related and operational noise, population and housing, public services (specifically police protection and libraries), operational utilities and service systems (specifically solid waste generation), and operational transportation (specifically those issues related to potential conflicts with transportation plans, policies, or regulations as well as geometric design hazards and emergency access). SECTION 4. Consistent with CEQA Guidelines Sections 15091 and 15092, and as analyzed in the Final EIR, the City Council finds that the following Project impacts could be reduced to a less than significant level with the implementation of mitigation measures established in Section 11 of the Final EIR: exposure of sensitive receptors to toxic air contaminants, disturbance of archaeological resources, operational utilities and service DocuSign Envelope ID: 95C9DAC4-4077-4590-9B14-63F7453E561B 5 systems (specifically wastewater collection services), and disturbance of tribal cultural resources. SECTION 5. Consistent with CEQA Guidelines Sections 15091 and 15092, and as analyzed in the Final EIR, the City Council finds that the following Project impacts cannot feasibly be avoided or mitigated to below a level of significance: construction-related and operational criteria air pollutant emissions, historic cultural resources, ground-borne vibration, public services (specifically fire protection services, increases in enrollment at Santa Monica-Malibu Union School District, and recreational facilities), utilities and service systems (specifically operational water demand), and transportation (specifically total vehicle miles traveled [VMT]). SECTION 6. The Final EIR found that the Quantified Objective Alternative (Alternative 3) is the environmentally superior alternative, as it would reduce construction- related and operational criteria air pollutant emissions, ground-borne vibration, impacts related to domestic water supply, wastewater collection services, and public services. However, this alternative would regenerate a higher total VMT for residents and employees than what would occur under the proposed 6th Cycle Housing Element, due to the reduction in the number of dwelling units, which would not address the City’s existing major jobs- housing imbalance to the same extent as the proposed 6th Cycle Housing Element. Additionally, while this alternative meets many of the objectives described for the proposed 6th Cycle Housing Element, this alternative would not meet the objectives related to the City meeting its obligations under State law to plan for and accommodate the 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation. DocuSign Envelope ID: 95C9DAC4-4077-4590-9B14-63F7453E561B 6 SECTION 7. The preceding findings, although based primarily on conclusions in the Final EIR, have not attempted to describe the full analysis of each environmental impact contained in the Final EIR. Instead, the findings incorporate by reference the discussions and analyses in the Final EIR and supporting reference documents supporting the Final EIR’s determinations regarding the nature and severity of the impacts of the Project and mitigation measures designed to address those impacts. In making these findings, the City Council ratifies, adopts, and incorporates into these findings the analysis and explanation in the Final EIR and ratifies, adopts, and incorporates in these findings the determinations and conclusions of the Final EIR. SECTION 8. Consistent with Public Resources Code Section 21081.6, the documents which constitute the record of proceedings for approving this Project are located in the Community Development Department, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, California. The custodian of these documents is Rachel Kwok, Environmental Planner. SECTION 9. The City Clerk shall certify the adoption of this Resolution, and thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be in full force and effect. APPROVED AS TO FORM: ________________________ JOSEPH LAWRENCE Interim City Attorney DocuSign Envelope ID: 95C9DAC4-4077-4590-9B14-63F7453E561B Adopted and approved this 12th day of October 2021. __________________________ Sue Himmelrich, Mayor I, Denise Anderson-Warren, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that Resolution No. 11369 (CCS) was duly adopted at a meeting of the Santa Monica City Council held on the 12th day of October 2021, by the following vote: AYES: Councilmembers Brock, Davis, De la Torre, Negrete, Parra, Mayor Pro Tem McCowan, Mayor Himmelrich NOES: None ABSENT: None ATTEST: _____________________________________ Denise Anderson-Warren, City Clerk DocuSign Envelope ID: 95C9DAC4-4077-4590-9B14-63F7453E561B