City reviews health and safety element updates and evacuation study, directs staff to catalog council suggestions

Mayor Moore convened a special study session on May 19 to review proposed updates to Certino’s Health and Safety Element, a mandatory component of the city’s General Plan that staff and consultants said has been revised to reflect recent state laws and new hazard mapping.

Consultants from PlaceWorks and Fair & Piers outlined changes that include updated wildfire and flood mapping, expanded climate‑vulnerability analysis and resilience measures, new geotechnical review triggers for landslide hazard zones, strengthened hazardous‑materials coordination, and expanded emergency‑communication and continuity‑of‑government policies. "We have greatly expanded the discussion of climate adaptation and climate vulnerability," Eli Krispy of PlaceWorks told the council, noting the city’s alignment with state requirements such as Senate Bill 379.

Franciscoca Church of Fair & Piers presented the city’s 2025 evacuation route assessment, prepared to meet Assembly Bill requirements. The analysis modeled three scenarios — a daytime wildfire, an early‑morning earthquake that blocks a route, and a daytime wildfire with access restrictions — and estimated an evacuation demand between roughly 8,000 and 9,000 vehicles depending on the scenario. "Each route generally had some segments that were capacity‑constrained under each of the evacuation scenarios," Church said, pointing to recurring bottlenecks near Foothill Boulevard as residents attempt to reach Highways 85 and 280.

Consultants emphasized a three‑part response strategy. Supply‑side measures include targeted capacity improvements and adjusted traffic control during evacuations; demand‑side measures could include household vehicle‑reduction pledges and phased evacuations; and information‑side options include early hazard detection, real‑time signage and traffic management, and expanded community preparedness and alerting in multiple languages.

Council members raised procedural and policy questions over which planning‑commission suggestions had already been incorporated, the appropriate level of specificity for a general plan versus implementing ordinances, and how to manage additional public input. Staff confirmed the draft presented was not the version that incorporated the March planning‑commission comments and said those comments will be addressed in the next draft.

Mayor Moore moved — and the council approved — a direction to staff to compile council and planning‑commission suggestions into a table that lists each proposed change, whether it was incorporated, and a staff recommendation. The council set a deadline for additional council input of 5:00 p.m. on the coming Friday and asked staff to return the item as a study session; staff noted the Health and Safety Element will also be submitted to CalFire for a mandatory 90‑day review before any adoption hearings and that an environmental (CEQA) review will follow.

Why it matters: The Health and Safety Element sets city policy on wildfire risk, evacuation planning, flood protection for critical facilities, and heat‑response measures. Updating the element to reflect new state laws and the county’s multi‑jurisdictional hazard plan can affect grant eligibility, disaster relief funding, and local standards for development and emergency preparedness.

Next steps: Staff will compile a comment table reflecting planning‑commission and council suggestions, accept final council input by the stated Friday deadline, return the item for a study session, and then submit the draft to CalFire for a 90‑day review before formal hearings.