Item 24 - Public Hearing for Amendments to the Transit Zoning Code

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ZOA No. 2024-02 & AA No. 2024-03 (Transit Zoning Code Amendments) June 3, 2025 Page 5 storage depots, and the construction of the Santa Ana Freeway (1-5) between 1947 and 1956. Comprehensive data analysis and mapping tools generated by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and California Environmental Protection Agency (CaIEPA), the Centers for Disease Control/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and California Healthy Places Index (HPI) reveal concerning information regarding environmental conditions impacting residents in the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods. Recent CalEnviroScreen 4.0 data confirms that these neighborhoods rank at 90% or above among California's most pollution -burdened communities, with Environmental Justice (EJ) maps showing higher exposure to Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5, Air Toxics Cancer Risk, Hazardous Waste Proximity, Diesel Particulate Matter, and Toxic Releases to Air. This information is included as Exhibit 4 to this staff report. These multiple sources of environmental exposure and pollution burden communities of color, including the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods, present an alarming set of challenges that affect residents' quality of life and life expectancy with continued heavy industrial uses nearby. Senate Bill (SB) 1000 went into effect in 2016, requiring local governments to address pollution and other hazards that disproportionately impact low-income and communities of color within their jurisdiction to proactively plan for and address environmental concerns when developing and updating components of the General Plan. The City and community worked to ensure that the new General Plan included SIB 1000 requirements of addressing EJ through facilitating transparency and public engagement in the planning and decision -making processes, reducing harmful pollutants and the associated health risks in disadvantaged communities, and promoting equitable access to health -inducing benefits such as healthy housing options. Of note, the City's new General Plan mixed - use land use designations in the TZC area were largely left intact, including those in the Lacy and Logan neighborhoods, when the General Plan Update was adopted in 2022. Environmental Justice/Disadvantaged Communities (DACs) Profile: Logan and Lacy Neighborhood Impacts For the Logan and Lacy neighborhoods, incompatible land uses allowed from past zoning decisions, including the industrial overlay zones, have perpetuated the practices of locating industrial uses or other noxious and unwanted uses near communities of color. The Logan and Lacy neighborhoods have a population of 5,907 within 1,564 households, a median household income of $56,864, average household size of nearly four persons, median age 27 years, and per -capita income of $23,495. Seventy-four percent (74%) are renter -occupied units based on demographic forecasts for 2023. Nearly 25% of the population is under 14 years of age, and 14% are 55 years of age and older. Nearly 3%