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

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TZC is found to be inconsistent with, that without such amendments, will continue the path of irreconcilable land use patterns within the TZC area. Specifically, these policies include Policy LU-1.1 (Compatible Uses), Policy LU-2.4 (Cost and Benefit of Development), Policy LU-3.8 (Sensitive Receptors), Policy LU-3.9 (Noxious, Hazardous, Dangerous, and Polluting Uses), Policy LU-3.11 (Air Pollution Buffers), Policy LU-4.3 (Sustainable Land Use Strategies), Policy LU-4.6 (Healthy Living Conditions), Policy CM-3.2 (Healthy Neighborhoods), Policy EP-1.9 (Avoid Conflict of Uses), Policy EP-3.3 (Mitigate Impacts), Policy CN-1.5 (Sensitive Receptor Decisions), Policy CM-3.2 (Healthy Neighborhoods), and Policy HE-5.5 (Community Development), which are targeted at correcting past land use planning practices that have placed an unequitable environmental and health burden on certain neighborhoods now termed disadvantaged communities. The proposed amendments support these goals and policies by: • Fostering the compatibility between residential and nonresidential land uses within the TZC to enhance livability and promote healthier lifestyles. • Resolving the conflict of industrial land uses and sensitive receptors being in close proximity to each other that pose health hazards by eliminating an overlay zone that promulgated continuation of industrial uses without recourse. • Improving the health of the existing and future residents of the TZC by regulating the operations of noxious, hazardous, dangerous, and polluting uses by giving priority to the discontinuance of those uses. • Responding to overarching EJ policies to develop and implement land use and zoning strategies to separate existing sensitive uses from heave industrial facilities and emission sources. • Continuing to support the creation of healthy neighborhoods by addressing land use conflicts and incompatible uses through the elimination of the I-OZ zone and associated industrial land use types from the list of allowable land uses within the TZC. • Developing and adopting new regulations to address facilities that emit high levels increased pollution near sensitive receptors within EJ (Environmental Justice) area boundaries, which includes areas of the TZC. • Avoiding potential land use conflicts in the future by prohibiting the location of noxious land uses in proximity to sensitive receptors • Creating a sustainable land use plan for the area that phases out land uses that are causing a substantial drain on City and other public agency resources in addressing the impacts from irreconcilable land use conflicts in the TZC area. Additionally, the proposed amendments implement and/or contribute to achieving the following specific action programs of the General Plan, most particularly directly addressing LU3.3 through discontinuing nonconforming industrial uses through amortization: LU1.1 - Development Code Update. Prepare a comprehensive update to the zoning code to ensure that the City's zoning regulations align with the General Plan's goals and policies. Update the Metro East Mixed -Use Overlay District to remove the portion within the 17th Street and Grand Avenue Focus Area. Update the Midtown Specific Plan. LU3.3 - Healthy lifestyles. Collaborate with residents and industry stakeholders to create a program to incentivize and amortize the removal of existing heavy industrial uses adjacent to sensitive uses. CN1.4 - Health risk criteria. Establish criteria for requiring health risk assessments for existing and new industries, including the type of business, thresholds, and scope of January 2025 37 Environmental Analysis