Hayward reviews 2024 annual progress report for Hayward 2040 general plan

The Hayward City Council received an informational presentation on the 2024 Hayward 2040 general plan annual progress report at its March 20 meeting. Development Services Director Sarah Bowser presented the report, accompanied by Senior Planner Leah Schmidt, and told the council staff will submit the annual report and the housing-related annual progress report to the Office of Planning and Research and the California Department of Housing and Community Development before the April 1 deadline.

Bowser said the general plan and its implementation plan, adopted in 2014 as the Hayward 2040 general plan, now includes 433 programs across elements and implementation tables. She told the council that roughly 300 of those programs were adopted as part of recent updates to the housing element (2023) and the climate action plan and related amendments (2024). Bowser said about 10% of programs are marked complete, roughly half are listed as partially complete, about 24% are ongoing and about 35% have not yet been started; she explained that some programs have multiple components and that "partially complete" can include projects with parts finished while other parts remain active.

The presentation prompted questions from multiple council members about priorities and implementation. Council Member Roach urged the city to accelerate urban-forest and heat-island mitigation work, citing recent research on heat impacts on older residents. "I would really like to see us try to sort of bump up some of that work," Roach said. Bowser acknowledged the climate action plan measures are a heavy lift for staff and noted many of the new programs from the 2024 updates relate to greenhouse gas reductions and heat mitigation.

Roach also asked how school safety goals in the general plan are affected by the absence of a school-resource-officer program. Hayward Police Chief Brian Matthews responded that the Police Department continues "collaboration with HUSD on safety issues, including a sergeant who we have assigned as a liaison with the school district," and that the department reviews school safety plans and provides training and coordination.

Council members raised housing-related questions. Resident Rose Aguilar addressed the council during public comment and asked whether the housing element’s policies—particularly inclusionary housing measures—are adequate to meet the city’s RHNA allocations for low-income housing. Bowser said the housing element is updated on a state-mandated schedule and that the city is preparing for future housing updates; she also noted that market conditions and financing, not only local regulations, affect housing production.

Other topics during the discussion included crime-prevention-through-environmental-design (CPTED) review practices for development proposals, white-glove services for large commercial or industrial applicants to coordinate permitting across departments, and the absence of a city-wide public-art impact fee in the general plan. Leah Schmidt said the community safety element contains a CPTED checklist program (CS-3) under which planning routes development proposals to police crime-prevention coordinators for written recommendations.

Council members asked how the general plan and the council’s annual strategic roadmap should interact. Bowser and staff said the general plan is a 20-year guiding document while the strategic roadmap sets nearer-term priorities; staff recommended using the roadmap to direct which general-plan programs the council expects staff to prioritize.

No council action was required on the item. Bowser closed by reminding the council that staff will file the annual report and the housing-related progress report with the state before the April 1 deadline.