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Council introduces zoning text amendments and adopts urgency ordinance applying CEQA screening; staff to provide state bill analysis
Summary
The council introduced ordinance 25-2514 and adopted urgency ordinance 25-2515U to amend zoning review and community development director approval procedures and made a CEQA applicability finding under Guidelines §15061(b)(3). Council members asked staff to analyze a new state housing law enacted the same day.
The City Council on July 1 moved to introduce a zoning code amendment and adopt a related urgency ordinance intended to change staff approval procedures and council review pathways for certain planning decisions, and it made a CEQA applicability finding under state guidelines.
City Manager JR introduced the ordinances as part of item 24 and read staff’s recommendation to introduce and conduct a first reading of ordinance number 25‑2514 and to adopt urgency ordinance number 25‑2515U. The urgency ordinance, staff said, included a finding of applicability of the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines section 15061(b)(3), which allows a determination that review is not required when the activity will not result in a significant effect on the environment.
Councilman Jim Dear spoke in favor of the change, saying the amendments should improve communication and ensure residents are informed about projects affecting their neighborhoods. “I’m in full support to move this forward tonight,” he said.
Mayor Pro Tem Cedric Hicks raised a separate, timely issue: a state bill that he said had been approved by the governor the same day. Hicks summarized the bill on the record and asked staff for a detailed analysis. “My understanding just on a first impression…is that it exempts infill housing development projects from CEQA,” he said; staff responded that they would provide a full legal and policy analysis for the council.
The motion to introduce the ordinance and adopt the urgency ordinance passed unanimously. Staff said the record will include the council’s CEQA‑screening finding and that the city attorney and staff will prepare the final materials and follow‑up analyses, including a more complete review of the newly enacted state law.
No changes to the zoning code were effective immediately beyond the urgency ordinance adoption; staff will return with the ordinance for the required subsequent readings and any necessary implementing steps.
