DATE: November 17, 2015
SUBJECT:
Title
PRESENTATION AND DIRECTION TO STAFF ON THE DRAFT INTEGRATED PLANNING FRAMEWORK REPORT
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
In 2013, the Board of Port Commissioners (Board) directed staff to initiate the Integrated Planning Port Master Plan Update effort. The Port Master Plan Update is intended to proactively and constructively address land use compatibility issues within the District and adjacent jurisdictions, and requires a multi-disciplinary, multi-phased work effort.
At the August 12, 2014 meeting, the Board accepted the final draft of the Integrated Planning Vision, which included a Vision Statement, Guiding Principles, and Assessment Report. The Integrated Planning Vision represented a culmination of an open and meaningful civic engagement process and an effort to achieve a balance of all baywide interests.
The current step of the Integrated Planning process involves the refinement of the vision in the form of a Framework Report that, when coupled with the Integrated Planning Vision, will provide a bridge between the visioning conducted for Integrated Planning to the drafting of the Port Master Plan Update document. This Framework Report completes the final portion of the visioning effort.
The Framework Report is intended to inform the preparation of the updated Port Master Plan by describing a set of potential comprehensive ideas covering a broad range of issues that may provide the basic foundation for goals, objectives and policies to be further evaluated as the process progresses.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the Board accept the Integrated Planning Framework Report and direct staff to use the report to inform the preparation of the Port Master Plan Update.
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FISCAL IMPACT:
The approved FY15/16 budget has $776,000 of funds dedicated to Integrated Planning. Preliminary estimates for future fiscal years (FY16/17 through FY18/19) range from $1.8 million to $3 million for external costs associated with overall, multi-year Integrated Planning program, including preparation of the Port Master Plan Update document, environmental review, coastal planning, on-going visioning support, and public engagement. These preliminary estimates are subject to further refinement and will be considered by the Board on an annual basis as part of the fiscal year budgeting process.
A key objective of the Integrated Planning Port Master Plan Update effort is to enhance the District’s financial sustainability by increasing the revenue potential on District tidelands through the creation of economic opportunities with a market-ready approach for development, and by streamlining the permitting process to increase the potential to implement development projects.
Compass Strategic Goals:
This agenda item supports the Strategic Goals adopted by the Board in 2012. The Integrated Planning efforts, including the Port Master Plan Update, will bring the District’s current practices into conformance with best management practices with considerations of sustainable fiscal growth for the District and environmental stewardship while proactively addressing future impacts to assets on tidelands.
This agenda item supports the following Strategic Goal(s).
• A Port the public understands and trusts.
• A thriving and modern maritime seaport.
• A vibrant waterfront destination where residents and visitors converge.
• A Port with a healthy and sustainable bay and its environment.
• A Port with a comprehensive vision for Port land and water uses integrated to regional plans.
• A financially sustainable Port that drives job creation and regional economic vitality.
DISCUSSION:
Background
At the Board’s February 4, 2013, Special Meeting, District staff gave a presentation entitled “Long-Range/Integrated Planning,” which included a definition for the term Integrated Planning: “The link of vision, priorities, people and the physical institution in a flexible system of evaluation, decision-making, and action.” The working definition continues to be applied as the Integrated Planning process evolves.
At that meeting, the Board articulated specific goals for a coherent overall vision for the future development and uses of tidelands. The Board consensus was that a comprehensive update to the Port Master Plan would be one of the mechanisms for achieving a coherent overall vision for the District. The Board acknowledged that the Integrated Planning process would result in a Port Master Plan Update and would require a multi-disciplinary, multi-phased work effort in order to complete the entire process (see Attachment A, Integrated Planning Port Master Plan Update Background for additional background on the earlier work on Integrated Planning).
Port Master Plan Update Objectives
As we look back on the work completed to date and fast forward to the potential approval of a Port Master Plan Update, the District has engaged in a planning process that will serve to meet the following objectives for the District:
Advance a “Market Ready” approach for development. Modernizing and prioritizing key planning components in the Port Master Plan will serve to facilitate development, as opposed to being an anachronistic obstacle, which requires a perpetual continuum of amendments to try to play catch up with market demands. The current Port Master Plan was first approved and certified in 1980. Since then, there have been 35 amendments to the Plan, a reflection of the evolving demands within the District’s jurisdiction brought on by changes in the global and regional economy, shifts in development patterns in adjoining areas, and updates to regulatory processes.
Eliminate the need for Port Master Plan Amendments for individual proposed projects by eliminating the unnecessary level of detail in the plan while still complying with the Port Act and California Coastal Act. The current Port Master Plan contains a level of detail that is arguably unnecessary under the Port Act and California Coastal Act, constricting the District’s ability to allow a variety of different types of development in any given area. While still complying with the Port Act and California Coastal Act, the Port Master Plan Update may remove the unnecessary details, but also provide for a comprehensive access program, identify development parcels with a broad range of Public Trust compliant uses, and describe “appealable” projects in a manner that allows for built-in flexibility when issuing entitlements for the same. Fragmented amendments to the Port Master Plan would then be avoided.
Provide for certainty for a variety of stakeholders, as well as flexibility, to allow the District to explore a variety of Public Trust development in the future. The Port Master Plan Update will provide applicants, the public, other governmental-stakeholders and the District certainty by asserting a clear understanding of what needs to be done in order to develop within the District without a prolonged entitlement process. At the same time, the update will also provide flexibility in its goals, policies, and defined land and water uses, which will allow the District and applicants to quickly adjust to market conditions. It will also level the playing field for small- to medium-sized developments and provide modern vision and planning for more intense and extensive development projects.
Streamline the entitlement process by potentially eliminating the need for fragmented (i.e., piecemeal) amendments to the Port Master Plan. Drafting the Port Master Plan Update in a manner that provides for a range of flexible uses will eliminate the need for amendments to the plan, which are costly, can take several months and may not receive approval from the California Coastal Commission. The update will also reduce processing times for projects by modernizing and systematizing the review process, with specific guidance on regulatory permitting process included in the Port Master Plan.
Enhance the District’s fiscal sustainability, commerce, navigation and fisheries, public access, and environmental stewardship, as well as create integrated land and water uses within and adjacent to tidelands, resulting in a synergistic relationship between development and natural resources while strengthening the District’s financial future. The Port Master Plan Update will build upon the guiding principles, as well as the Framework Report, if accepted by the Board, and establish a comprehensive blueprint for the future and will link previously isolated planning initiatives, as well as initiatives from adjacent local and regional agencies.
Proactively and constructively address land use compatibility issues within the District, as well as with adjacent jurisdictions. The Port Master Plan will clearly communicate the District’s goals and policies in a consistent manner, improve transparency in the planning process, and provide a clearer explanation of the planning and entitlement process.
In totality, the Port Master Plan Update is a value-added effort that will allow the District to react nimbly to market demands, create an expedited path forward for development, enhance conservation and access within the District, and comply with the District’s obligations under the Port Act and California Coastal Act. It will allow the District to move away from ad-hoc, project-specific planning and instead, move toward a more holistic approach to longer-term planning that incorporates an economically driven objective.
Through a comprehensive update to the Port Master Plan, the District has an opportunity to engage in a planning process that will ultimately serve to balance the many interests and demands within the tidelands, while reinforcing a sense of place for the District’s waterfront. By implementing the objectives, outlined above, through an updated plan, the District will achieve the best economic and market opportunities and the development of iconic destinations, while guaranteeing public access, mobility, and preservation of environmental resources.
The Port Master Plan Update is intended to proactively and constructively address land use compatibility issues within the District, as well as with adjacent jurisdictions; and be based on a set of long-range, planning principles that form a framework for implementing a 50-year vision.
Integrated Planning Process Overview
The Port Master Plan Update will be based on a long-range integrated planning framework that consists of several components as depicted in Attachment B: Integrated Planning Port Master Plan Update Timeline. The list below summarizes the component steps in this process:
• Vision Process: Guiding Principles (Completed). The initial step in the process was to define and conduct a “Vision Process: Guiding Principles” involving a high-level assessment of District-wide assets and extensive public engagement resulting in a Vision Statement and Guiding Principles for the entire Integrated Planning framework.
• Framework Report (Proposed for Board Acceptance). The Vision Process is further refined by consideration of a core set of comprehensive ideas that will likely shape the updated Port Master Plan document.
• Draft the Port Master Plan Update. The next step in the process will be to create a “Draft the Port Master Plan Update” document that incorporates a form of the vision statement, guiding principles and the principles set forth within the Framework Report.
• California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Environmental Review. Creation of the Draft Port Master Plan Update will be followed by conducting the requisite “CEQA Environmental Review.”
• California Coastal Commission Certification. If the Board certifies the Environmental Impact Report and adopts the Port Master Plan Update, it will be processed for “California Coastal Commission Certification” as the final step.
All of these components have or will require public input, stakeholder outreach, and agency coordination throughout.
In order to ensure each of the components described properly inform each other, the work efforts for each are being conducted in a progressive and concurrent manner so that the multi-disciplinary team of consultants are working in harmony and providing momentum-building feedback in real-time through collaborative and synchronized working relationships. This concurrent approach supports an expedited work effort for the overall framework.
Vision Process
To date, Integrated Planning has led to the formulation of an “Integrated Planning Vision.” The public engagement process involved a broad spectrum of stakeholders including government agencies, organizations, long-serving waterfront stakeholders, and many first-time participants.
At the August 12, 2014 meeting, the Board accepted the final draft of the Integrated Planning Vision, which included a Vision Statement, Guiding Principles, and Assessment Report. The Integrated Planning Vision represented a culmination of an open and meaningful civic engagement process and an effort to achieve a balance of all baywide interests. It is reflective of an approach that is holistic and comprehensive, that describes the need to incorporate input from adjacent jurisdictions and interested stakeholders, environmental concerns, and economic analysis into planning decisions made by the District. While not binding on the District, the Integrated Planning Vision is intended to be applied to the future phases of the Integrated Planning effort, ultimately resulting in, among other things, a draft Port Master Plan Update for the Board’s future consideration. The Board’s acceptance of the Integrated Planning Vision was a significant achievement for the District and will serve as a milestone that will be remembered throughout the region over the next 50 years.
Integrated Planning Framework Report
The current step of the Integrated Planning process involves the refinement of the vision in the form of a Framework Report that, when coupled with the Integrated Planning Vision, will provide a bridge between the visioning conducted for Integrated Planning to the drafting of the Port Master Plan Update document. This Framework Report completes the final portion of the visioning effort that informs the next phase of the Integrated Planning program. The report has emerged from a comprehensive process of analysis and investigation-all informed by extensive public outreach, including over 100 interviews with stakeholders and agencies, public workshops and Board meetings. The Draft Framework Report is presented in Attachment C: Draft Integrated Planning Framework Report and Appendices.
Purpose
The Framework Report is intended to provide guidance and inform the preparation of the updated Port Master Plan by describing a core set of comprehensive ideas that are based upon core principles that cover a broad range of issues that will provide the basic foundation for establishing the goals, objectives and policies of the future Port Master Plan. These comprehensive ideas are not meant to be evaluated individually, but should be considered in a holistic manner. Through this holistic approach, the Port Master Plan Update can optimize the interrelationships among the comprehensive ideas to provide the most effective means for planning and implementing them.
Content and Organization
The Framework Report describes comprehensive planning ideas that are organized according to topical chapters or “elements” in the following key areas: land use, water use, mobility, public access and recreation, natural resources, safety and resilience, environmental justice, and economic development. The Framework Report does not attempt to formulate the goals, objectives or policies for these elements, but rather lay the potential groundwork for their development as part of the Port Master Plan Update process. Based on the input to be solicited during the Port Master Plan Update phase of the Integrated Planning, there may be additions, changes and refinements to these elements as the goals, objectives and policies are drafted.
In general, the comprehensive ideas illustrate concepts that are applicable to the entire Bay. However, in a few instances, the ideas are discussed or illustrated according to their location in one of three overlapping Baywide Subareas: North Bay, Working Waterfront, and South Bay. The three Baywide Subareas are arranged geographically from north to south and differ by their topography, intensity of activity, and level of development. The Baywide Subareas were developed for illustrative purposes only to assist with discussion of the visioning for around the Bay. The Baywide Subareas are intentionally meant to overlap and do not represent regulatory boundaries.
Many of the comprehensive ideas set forth in this report cut across more than one topical category. These cross-connecting themes create a holistic approach to planning that incorporates the District’s overall vision for the future of the Bay, with specific strategies and actions that will be identified in the updated Port Master Plan. The goals, objectives and policies to be developed as part of the Port Master Plan Update will be based upon the principles that form the basis of these cross-connecting themes so as to provide guidance that fully integrates different planning issue areas and establishes sound planning principles.
Appendices
District staff performed a great deal of research to better understand the opportunities, issues, and constraints that should be considered during development of the Framework Report. The results of this research can be found in the Appendices. While the Appendices include creative ideas, staff is not requesting any direction from the Board on whether these concepts should be included in the Port Master Plan Update, and none of the information should be interpreted as such or binding on the District.
Appendix A contains Planning District Concepts that were developed based upon information gathered during the Visioning Process. Extensive public engagement, including multiple meetings and workshops, explored the public realm, public access, and leasable and developable lands. The result was a series of preliminary concepts incorporating planning principles that integrate water, streets, pathways, parks, open space areas, view corridors and development considerations into the future goals, objectives and policies of the Port Master Plan. These concepts provide a greater level of granularity through illustration and discussion of more location- and topic-specific planning principles. These location- and topic-specific concepts within the Planning Districts should be considered not as projects or proposals, but as illustrations of planning concepts that will inform future development opportunities in and around the Bay. No particular concept is being proposed at this time and the Board’s acceptance of the Framework Report is not intended to indicate support or approval for any of the concepts.
The “Parking Strategy” articulated in one of the Working Waterfront Planning District Concepts is an example of how an illustrative concept in Appendix A can embody a larger planning principle presented in the Framework Report. This concept could be considered as part of future planning policies that would strive toward the provision of adequate parking, depending on the associated land use.
Appendix B contains the Economic Framework, which outlines an integrated value management approach for the District that balances the needs of multiple constituents while continuing to enhance the region, both economically and environmentally. The Economic Framework will provide a set of principles that will allow the District to respond to economic concerns related to the implementation of the Port Master Plan Update. It is anticipated that the Economic Framework will be further refined during the Port Master Plan Update process.
The comprehensive ideas and location-specific concepts discussed and illustrated in this Framework Report may change over time during the drafting of the Port Master Plan Update, and are not intended to be binding on the District. Therefore, these concepts should be viewed only as possible options to explore as the District develops the Port Master Plan Update. This is consistent with the District’s Board Policy No. 752: Guidelines for Conducting Project Consistency Review Related to the Integrated Port Master Plan Update, which states:
“It is the policy of the District to ensure that project development proposals be reviewed and/or implemented consistent with the Port Master Plan and other guiding documents and policies while the Port Master Plan undergoes periodic updates. As the Port Master Plan Update is under development, the District shall manage current and future development initiatives in a manner that allows ongoing project review, environmental compliance, and/or entitlement approvals.”
The Framework Report, including its appendices, is intended to provide guidance as the Integrated Planning Port Master Plan Update process progresses and to inform the preparation of the Port Master Plan Update.
Next Steps
Draft Port Master Plan Update
Once considered by the Board, the Framework Report may inform the drafting of the updated Port Master Plan, including the development of elements, goals and policies as presented in the proposed format and content outline endorsed by the Board at the July 22, 2015 Integrated Planning Study Session. Staff estimates 18 to 24 months to produce a draft updated Port Master Plan document. With the implementation of a corresponding public outreach effort, there will be future opportunities for input by the public, stakeholders, agencies, and the Board at key stages in the development of the Port Master Plan Update.
CEQA Environmental Review
Prior to consideration by the Board, the updated Port Master Plan will be subject to a comprehensive environmental review pursuant to CEQA guidelines.1 The environmental review will include the evaluation of land use alternatives, summary of technical studies, and input from stakeholder agencies (including regulatory agencies such as the California Coastal Commission). To expedite the overall planning process, the District intends to start the environmental review upon completion of the project description and identification of alternatives. Through strong management of these two parallel efforts, staff believes a draft updated Port Master Plan and the accompanying draft environmental document will be complete by the end of 2017. However, this timeframe will be dependent upon the extent and complexity of public comments requiring preparation of responses.
California Coastal Commission Certification
Subsequent to the completion of the environmental review process and if the Board adopts the Port Master Plan Update, staff will submit the Port Master Plan Update document to the California Coastal Commission for processing. Although advance coordination is assumed, staff anticipates this component of the process will take substantial time to complete as specific issues are addressed with California Coastal Commission staff. The timeframe for the Commission’s consideration and certification of the Port Master Plan Update will be contingent on the issues raised by Coastal staff and the public.
Conclusion
The Integrated Planning Framework Report is intended to inform the next phase related to the drafting of the Port Master Plan, but is not binding as a document. Staff recommends the Board accept the Integrated Planning Framework Report, with revisions if necessary.
General Counsel’s Comments:
The General Counsel has reviewed the information set forth in this agenda sheet, as presented, and approves it as to form and legality. Until the entire Port Master Plan Update process is completed none of the phases described herein are binding and acceptance of the Framework Report will not limit the District's consideration of any alternatives for the Port Master Plan or its content. Moreover, the Framework Report itself is not a binding document and may be subject to further refinement as the Integrated Planning efforts evolve.
Environmental Review:
The Framework Report would not result in any direct or indirect change in the environment. The Framework Report is intended to inform the next phase of the Integrated Planning program. However, “acceptance” of the Framework Report and direction to staff are not a binding actions committing to the implementation of the Framework Report. Moreover, the Framework Report, itself, is not a binding document and may be subject to further refinement as the Integrated Planning efforts evolve. Although it is premature to perform environmental review now because a "project description" of the proposed Port Master Plan Update (or other Integrated Planning items) has not yet been prepared, the District is committed to preparing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review to analyze the potential environmental effects of the Draft Port Master Plan Update and other Integrated Planning projects with independent utility. Acceptance of the Framework Report shall not limit the District's consideration of any alternatives or mitigation measures in connection with Integrated Planning, including, without limitation, the Draft Port Master Plan Update, and the District strictly reserves its discretion to adopt any mitigation measures, alternatives, including the "No Project" alternative, or a Statement of Overriding Consideration, if applicable. Therefore, the proposed Board action to accept the final draft of the Framework Report does not constitute “approval” of a project under the CEQA because the Board’s authorization does not constitute a binding commitment to implement or approve the Framework Report, but instead endorses the findings of broadly-defined concepts to be considered as the Integrated Port Master Plan Update advances. No further action under CEQA is required.
This presentation to the Board does not allow for “development,” as defined in Section 30106 of the California Coastal Act, or “new development,” pursuant to Section 1.a. of the District’s Coastal Development Permit Regulations. Therefore, issuance of a Coastal Development Permit or exclusion is not required.
Equal Opportunity Program:
Not applicable.
PREPARED BY:
Jason H. Giffen
Director
Environmental and Land Use Management
Lesley M. Nishihira
Department Manager
Environmental and Land Use Management
Attachment(s):
Attachment A: Integrated Planning Port Master Plan Update Background
Attachment B: Integrated Planning Port Master Plan Update Timeline
Attachment C: Draft Integrated Planning Framework Report and Appendices
1 Note that until the process is completed, none of the phases are binding and acceptance of the Integrated Planning Vision, as well as the Framework Report, will not limit the District's consideration of any alternatives for the Port Master Plan or its content.