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Entitlements for Town Center |
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- Specific Plan
- A Specific Plan is an implementation document with a special set
of development standards that apply to a particular geographical area.
Like planned unit developments (a precursor to the Specific Plan), the
Specific Plan gives cities and developers flexibility to create zoning
standards appropriate to the site and the project in question. A Specific
Plan is a hybrid and may contain statements of planning policy so long
as they are consistent with the community’s general plan.
Zoning ordinances, subdivisions, public works projects and development agreements
all must be consistent with the adopted specific plan. The Specific Plan
also must include a statement of the relationship between the specific plan
and the general plan. A specific plan may be adopted by ordinance or resolution.
- Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
- An EIR is an informational document, which will inform the public agency
decision-makers and the public generally of:
- The significant environmental impacts of a project,
- possible
ways to minimize significant effects, and
- reasonable alternatives to the
project.
An EIR must be prepared when there is substantial evidence in the
record that supports a fair argument that significant effects may
occur.
- General Plan Amendment
- A general plan, required by California law, provides the blueprint
for development throughout the community, and is the vehicle through
which competing interests and the needs of the citizenry are balanced
and meshed. A general plan contains a set of broad policy statements
about the goals for future development of the city, but usually
does not contain specific implementation procedures. General plan
amendments, which are usually designed to accommodate a particular
development project or tweak the plan in some specific way, are permitted
four times per year under state law.
A general plan is adopted or amended by resolution. If, a city has a
planning commission, the planning commission must conduct at least one
public hearing and then one public hearing by the city council after proper
notice has been given. (Government Code section § 65350 et seq.)
- Zoning Amendment
- Zoning is the division of a city into districts and the application
of different regulations in each district. These regulations often
include restrictions on density, types of use, and building height.
The affect of a zoning ordinance on real property can be changed
by a city’s
adoption of an amending ordinance. There are two types of substantive
amendments to zoning ordinances”
- “Rezoning”; and
- “Text amendments”.
As zone
changes that are inconsistent with the General Plan are legally
vulnerable, zone changes and general plan amendments are typically processed
together. Zone changes are legislative in nature under CA law and
must be approved by a legislative body.
- Tentative Subdivision Map
- Subdivision defined in the statute as: “The division, by any subdivider,
of any unit or units of improved or unimproved land, or any portion thereof,
shown on the latest equalized county assessment roll as a unit or as contiguous
units, for the purpose of sale, lease, or financing whether immediate or
future.” A general rule is that a tentative or final map is required,
for example, for all subdivisions creating five or more parcels,
and, mixed-use developments. The Map Act mandates an initial two-year life
of a Tentative Subdivision Map. By local ordinance, a city can extend that
initial life of the map. Actions under the Subdivision Code are quasi-judicial
and mean that binding map approvals can be granted by a city or county
planning commission.
- Annexation
- It is defined as the annexation, inclusion, attachment, or addition
of territory to a city or district. As condition for annexation,
a city must pre-zone the territory to be annexed or present evidence
satisfactory to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) that either:
the existing development entitlements on the territory to be annexed
are vested; or, the territory is already at a build-out and is consistent
with the city’s
general plan.
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