Hayward planning staff presents 2024 general plan annual progress report; report to go to City Council in March and state by April 1

Planning staff presented the City of Hayward's 2024 general plan annual progress report to the Planning Commission and said the report will be forwarded to the City Council in March and submitted to the California Office of Planning and Research and the Department of Housing and Community Development by April 1 in accordance with state law.

The staff presentation said the Hayward 2040 General Plan, adopted in 2014, is organized into elements including land use, mobility, economic development, community safety, natural resources, hazards, education and lifelong learning, health and quality of life, public facilities and services, environmental justice and housing. Staff said updates in 2023 and 2024 'including a 2023 housing element update and 2024 updates to the climate action plan and a new environmental justice element'led to changes in the implementation plan that added dozens of new programs.

Staff reported there are 433 programs across the general plan elements. According to the presentation, roughly 10% of programs are complete, about 50% are partially complete, 24% are ongoing and 35% have not been started. Staff noted many of the programs that show as not started were adopted in the last two years as part of the housing element and climate-action-related updates.

The presentation described efforts to align general plan programs with the City Council's strategic roadmap; staff said about 35% of general plan programs align with the roadmap'which the council updates annually as a 1-to-3-year work plan with measurable metrics.

Planning staff said the city prepared the annual report in consultation with multiple departments'public works, transportation, engineering, utilities, fire, police, library services, housing, code enforcement, maintenance, community services and the city manager'and will return to the commission next February with a 2025 update.

In public comment, Vasco Yorgov, an affordable housing developer with Eden Housing, praised staff for responsiveness and the scale of work required to prepare the report. "I just want to take a moment to shout out city staff," Yorgov said, adding that staff had responded quickly to inquiries about Homekey and other housing matters.

Commissioners asked about timing and format of the council presentation; City Manager Dr. Alvarez said the city has a special City Council meeting planned for a Saturday in March and staff hopes to present the report in a two-part series to the council at that time. No commission vote was taken on the report at the meeting.