The Dana Point Planning Commission on Sept. 8 voted to recommend City Council adoption of General Plan Amendment GPA22‑0002, approving updates to the city’s public safety element, transportation impact analysis guidelines, amendments to Master Plan of Arterial Highways (MPAH) designations and a CEQA addendum. The commission’s action moves the package to the City Council for final action in October.

The package includes mapping and policy changes required or recommended by recent state laws and technical studies. The public safety element was revised to reflect updated wildfire, landslide and liquefaction mapping and to incorporate an evacuation‑route assessment prepared under AB 747. Transportation changes implement SB 743 guidance by establishing vehicle‑miles‑traveled (VMT) thresholds for development review and by maintaining the city’s level‑of‑service (LOS) standard while allowing case‑by‑case flexibility.

City planning staff and consultants said the evacuation assessment tested three plausible scenarios and identified roadway bottlenecks to inform emergency response and future mitigation. Brian Wolf of Fair and Piers, the consultant that prepared the evacuation modeling, said the study modeled a flood scenario affecting the southeast part of the city (clearance time just under two hours for existing conditions), a scenario with major eastbound closures such as an I‑5 blockage (average clearance about 4 to 4.5 hours) and a northwest wildfire scenario (about three to four hours). The analysis identified recurring bottlenecks at Del Obispo Street and Camino Capistrano northbound for some scenarios, and at Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) southbound toward the Lantern District and Stonehill Drive eastbound in others. Wolf said the study assumes full parking occupancy at beaches and harbors and also assumes evacuation orders are issued citywide at the same time to provide a conservative planning estimate.

Colin Drucker of PlaceWorks summarized the transportation changes and said the city is adopting local VMT thresholds to conform with state CEQA guidance. Under the proposed thresholds, new residential and office/industrial projects would be held to a standard of 15 percent below the citywide VMT per service‑population (residents plus employees); retail, hospitality and other visitor‑serving projects would be compared to a “below existing” threshold used commonly in nearby beach cities; and mixed‑use projects would be evaluated on a sliding scale between 0 and 15 percent depending on the residential share. Drucker said the thresholds follow state recommendations and align with approaches used in neighboring jurisdictions.

The draft transportation impact analysis (TIA) guidelines also retain the city’s LOS D threshold (about 55 seconds average delay at intersections) and require LOS studies for projects that add 50 or more peak‑hour trips. The guidelines allow the city to evaluate LOS mitigation on a project‑by‑project basis and to accept a lower LOS where widening is impractical and other community objectives (for example, walkability in the Lantern District) would be compromised.

On MPAH designations coordinated through the Orange County Transportation Authority, consultants proposed several technical corrections to match current roadway conditions. Notable items include evaluating a restriping opportunity on Del Prado Avenue between Golden Lantern and PCH (to shift from two eastbound lanes to one lane each direction if later pursued) and a possible restripe on Camino de Estrella to reflect on‑the‑ground lane geometry. The consultants also recommended removing Dana Point Harbor Drive west of Golden Lantern from the county arterial classification because the segment does not provide regional connectivity.

Staff said the public safety element changes will be forwarded to CAL FIRE per state law; CAL FIRE has a statutory 90‑day review period for jurisdictions with land in high fire hazard severity zones. The general plan update references the city’s Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP) and the Emergency Operations Plan, and consultants recommended non‑infrastructure measures such as evacuation wayfinding signs, pre‑positioned traffic control measures, use of transit/trolley in high‑tourist areas and coordination with schools and hotels to reduce evacuation delays.

Commissioners asked technical questions about how the VMT threshold is calculated and how common screening criteria (for example, affordable housing, local‑serving uses or low‑VMT areas) would be applied. Drucker and Wolf explained that citywide VMT per service‑population is calculated by summing all vehicle miles attributed to the city and dividing by the service population, then setting the threshold at 15 percent below that average. They said projects consistent with the general plan as adopted do not require separate VMT analysis, while projects that are not consistent or that do not screen out must demonstrate mitigation or face CEQA review up to an EIR and potential statement of overriding considerations.

The commission voted to recommend City Council approval of the General Plan amendments, the TIA guidelines, the MPAH changes and the CEQA addendum. The item will be scheduled for Council consideration in early October, and any MPAH changes will be forwarded to OCTA for its consideration thereafter.