Council hires Dudek to lead housing-element rezoning and EIR, aims for HCD certification by Nov. 2026

The City Council voted 7-0 on Feb. 18 to award a professional services agreement to Dudek to prepare a rezoning program and environmental review aimed at obtaining certification of Costa Mesa’s 6th-cycle housing element.

Advanced Planning Manager Anna McGill told the council the city adopted its 6th-cycle housing element in November 2022 and received a May 2023 letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development saying the element “meets the statutory requirements of state housing law” but that rezoning was required to accommodate the element’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 11,760 units. “In order to attain certification, a major effort needs to take place to amend our existing commercial corridors and other parcels to allow for residential development,” McGill said.

Dudek will lead planning, urban design and environmental compliance; subcontractors include Kearns & West for community outreach and Pro Forma Advisors for market and fiscal analysis. The proposed contract term is three years with two optional one-year extensions. The staff packet identifies approximately $2.4 million set aside for the rezone program; Dudek’s proposal, including a 10% contingency, is just over $2 million.

Staff and consultants described the scope as broad: updating specific plans and overlays, writing new zoning and objective design standards, evaluating parking and permitting reforms, running market-feasibility “prototypes,” and producing an environmental impact report (EIR) that other projects could tier from. McGill said the rezoning work will focus first on properties and corridors already identified as housing opportunity sites in the adopted housing element and on commercial corridors where housing would be added as a permitted or mixed-use option.

Catherine Tang Saiz of Dudek said the firm has worked on similar rezoning efforts for other jurisdictions and emphasized a multi-pronged, multilingual engagement plan that will include online tools, pop-up events and targeted outreach to businesses and neighborhood organizations. Councilmembers pressed staff on the level and timing of public involvement; several members “urged the team to meet people where they are,” and asked for regular updates to council during the multi-phase effort.

On schedule discussed in the staff report, Dudek and staff expect to bring rezoning, zoning-code amendments, updates to applicable specific plans and a draft EIR back to the Planning Commission and City Council for hearings in mid to late 2026 with a goal of submitting to HCD for certification in November 2026. McGill warned the timeline is aggressive and depends on focused decision-making and coordinated outreach.

During the discussion councilmembers raised related implementation questions including how the rezoning work would align with the city’s Climate Action Plan update and transportation policy, whether Newport Boulevard and other specific plans would be revised or replaced, and whether a citizen advisory committee should be formed. Staff and the consultant said the outreach strategy is intended to be broad and inclusive and that they would coordinate with the city’s CAP process, but they opposed creating a small advisory panel at this stage because much of the housing-element policy and site selection is already established.

The vote to approve the agreement was unanimous. Councilmembers and staff said the contract is intended to accelerate the city’s path to HCD certification while preserving local decision-making on specific project approvals.