Pacifica Planning Commission recommends rezoning program, removes Sanchez Art Center site from immediate rezoning

The Pacifica Planning Commission voted unanimously on July 7 to recommend that the City Council certify the final Environmental Impact Report and adopt a citywide rezoning program and objective development standards intended to implement the citys recently updated housing element and meet the regions housing need allocation (RHNA). The recommendation, moved by Vice Chair Berman and seconded by Commissioner Ferguson, forwards the amended general-plan text, zoning ordinance changes and updated maps to council, and explicitly removes Site 23 (the Sanchez Art Center campus) from the immediate rezoning program while keeping it in the housing-element site inventory.

City staff told the commission the changes are intended to secure certification by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and to provide the regulatory framework needed to meet the citys RHNA obligations. Staff explained the housing element was revised earlier this year and that HCD had said certification would follow once the rezoning program is completed. Staff also said the rezoning package includes new land-use definitions, minimum floor-area-ratios for certain mixed-use districts, revised height measurements for sloped sites, updated rules for rooftop projections and elevator enclosures, and changes to…