Solvang Planning Commission votes 5-0 to forward annual general plan and housing element progress report to City Council

The Solvang Planning Commission on March 3 unanimously recommended that the City Council receive and forward the city’s 2024 annual general plan and housing element progress report to the council and to state reviewers.

Rafael, planning manager for the City of Solvang, opened the discussion by saying the report is the city’s annual submission required by the state’s Office of Planning and Research and the Department of Housing and Community Development and must be filed by April 1, 2025. “This report basically is an outline of what activities have been completed by the planning department,” he said, noting the packet also includes building and code compliance statistics.

The commission’s recommendation (motion passed 5-0) directs staff to place the progress report on the City Council agenda; staff said the council review is scheduled for March 24. Chair Williams presided over the meeting.

Why it matters: The annual report is the city’s primary way to show the state that Solvang is implementing the policies, rezones and programs in its adopted general plan and housing element. State reviewers, including HCD, are now auditing local implementation more closely and can impose corrective requirements if prescribed rezones, objective standards or other programs are not completed in the required time frames.

Key staff updates and findings - General plan and zoning changes: Rafael told commissioners the city adopted a comprehensive general plan on July 8, 2024, and completed major zoning ordinance amendments in 2024 to implement the plan. Staff said the general plan effort cost more than $700,000 and included public outreach beginning in 2021.

- Objective design standards and the village: Rafael said the newly adopted zoning ordinance created objective design standards for the Village Admission Design District and that staff continues to refine those standards (for example,…