Pacifica council adopts rezoning, EIR and general plan changes; excludes Sanchez Art Center from immediate rezoning

The Pacifica City Council adopted a programmatic environmental impact report (EIR) and approved land-use and zoning changes Aug. 11 that implement the city’s 2023–2031 housing element. The council also accepted the Planning Commission’s recommendation to remove Site 23 (the Sanchez Art Center campus) from the current rezoning program, a decision that satisfied many public speakers who said the arts campus and adjacent athletic fields should be preserved.

Community Development Director Samantha Updegrave led the staff presentation on the rezoning program and the EIR, telling the council the rezoning package is the regulatory step required to align zoning with Pacifica’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 1,892 units. Updegrave said the package rezones 30 of the 31 sites identified in the housing-element sites inventory, creates new high-density and mixed-use general plan categories (R30–R60, MU30–MU60, MUI30–MUI60), and adopts objective development standards and new zoning districts to match those land-use designations.

“Site 23 has been removed from the rezoning program,” Updegrave told the council. She said the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) confirmed that, because the city still retains a buffer of lower-income capacity, removing Site 23 from rezoning would not prevent the housing element from being found in substantial compliance — and would not prevent the city from seeking certification once the rezoning package is adopted.

The Planning Commission conducted multiple study sessions and three public hearings on the ordinance and related standards. Vice Chair Berman summarized the commission’s position and highlighted three issues that arose during the commission review: (1) the planning commission recommended removal of the Sanchez Art Center from the rezoning program; (2) planning commissioners sought to streamline the “by-right” approval provisions while remaining consistent with state law; and (3) the commission recommended reducing residential parking requirements for the rezoned districts. Staff and consultants refined the draft zoning standards, conducted “test-fit” studies to confirm the proposed standards could yield the densities in the housing element, and prepared the EIR.

EIR findings and mitigations

The program EIR evaluated the rezoning program’s broad effects. Most impacts were identified as less than significant once standard regulatory and mitigation measures are applied, the firm retained by the city told council. The EIR identified seven potentially significant effects that could be reduced to less-than-significant levels with mitigation (for example, measures related to biological resources, cultural resources and construction-phase impacts). But three categories — greenhouse gas emissions and transportation (vehicle miles traveled per employee) — were identified as significant and unavoidable even after mitigation.

Lisonbee Moore of the environmental consulting firm (Dietz & Bhatia) summarized the unavoidable conclusions: although the rezoning program reduces population VMT per capita and is expected to meet the state’s 2030 GHG reduction targets, it would be unlikely to achieve the state’s longer-term 2045 carbon neutrality target and would not measurably reduce employment-related VMT below the significance threshold for this analysis.

Public comment and the Sanchez Art Center

More than two dozen members of the public spoke at the hearing. Many urged protection of the Sanchez Art Center campus and adjacent sports fields. Sanchez Arts Center representatives and commissioners from the center told the council the campus is an arts and community hub that draws visitors from across the Bay Area and argued it should be removed from any rezoning that could enable ministerial redevelopment. Artist and Sanchez artistic director Jerry Barish said the center “has become a Northern California art destination” and urged the council to preserve the site.

Several speakers also raised site-specific complaints about short-term rental operations at 1987 Beach Boulevard — reporting trespassing and alleged interference with political signs — and asked staff to pursue revocation or enforcement measures for the property’s STR permit.

Council clarifications and changes

Council members asked staff a series of clarifying questions before deliberation: whether removing Site 23 from rezoning would remove it from the housing element (it would not; removal from the housing element would require a separate, longer public process), how HCD and the Coastal Commission interact on coastal-zone sites (both are state agencies and approvals are separate), and the timeline for HCD certification (HCD has 60 days for review after submittal but had indicated it would attempt to expedite review).

At the council’s direction staff identified a set of conforming amendments to the draft zoning and general-plan text. Councilmembers also asked staff to refine a few technical provisions before final reading, including adding a small clarification on how building height will be measured (measure height from existing or finished grade, whichever is lower), clarifying the stepback requirement so that a 10-foot stepback above the second story applies to street-facing facades, and limiting parking reductions to the newly rezoned high-density and mixed-use districts only (rather than applying reduced residential parking citywide).

Formal actions and votes

Council adopted three formal actions tied to the rezoning program: (1) certification of the program EIR and adoption of the mitigation monitoring and reporting program and statement of overriding considerations for the unavoidable impacts; (2) adoption of the general plan amendments and associated map changes; and (3) introduction (waiver of first reading) of the zoning ordinance amendments and rezoning map changes — each final action to be completed on second reading and ordinance adoption. All three motions passed unanimously.

"HCD confirmed that because we still have a healthy buffer, Site 23 does not need to be rezoned," Updegrave said. "Removing it from the rezoning program means there are no proposed land-use or zoning changes for that site as part of this action tonight." Caitlin Quinn, a neighbor who described multiple trespass incidents connected to an STR at 1987 Beach Boulevard, called for staff to begin STR permit revocation proceedings for that address.

Next steps

By adopting the rezoning package council directed staff to submit the adopted housing element and rezoning program to HCD for certification. Staff said HCD has 60 days for review but may expedite; staff also said the package will require subsequent local coastal program amendments for the four sites partly located in the coastal zone. Any future changes to the Sanchez Art Center’s status in the housing element would require a separate housing-element amendment process and public review.

The city also agreed to bring back a scoped public-sites master-planning process if the council wants a narrower fit-study work plan focused on city-owned parcels, rather than a broader set of public-site analyses.

What the council decided not to change tonight

Council left the Sanchez Art Center in the housing element inventory but removed it from the rezoning program — a distinction staff said preserves the site’s current zoning and prevents ministerial redevelopment under the rezoning while not requiring the lengthy process to remove it entirely from the adopted housing element.

"Removing it from the rezoning program effectively means it cannot be developed at the higher densities contemplated in the rezoning package unless the council later decides to rezone it through the normal public process," Updegrave told the council.