DATE: March 25, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: 2024 General Plan Annual Progress Report
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Consider and Adopt Resolution accepting the 2024 General Plan Annual Progress Report (APR) and authorize the Department of Public Works and Planning to submit the 2024 APR to the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and the California Department of Housing and Community Development; and
2. Authorize the Department of Public Works and Planning to make specified corrections to the General Plan Administration and Implementation Tables, and authorize staff to pursue other amendments to the General Plan.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action will accept the 2024 General Plan Annual Progress Report (APR) and will authorize staff with the Department of Public Works and Planning (Department) to submit the 2024 APR to the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI) and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The 2024 APR informs your Board regarding implementation of the policies and programs of all elements, including the Housing Element, of the General Plan during the 2024 calendar year. The 2024 APR is due to LCI and HCD by April 1, 2025.
This item comes to your Board with a unanimous recommendation for acceptance by the Planning Commission (Commission), including the request for modification to the Administration and Implementation Tables, the corrections noted in the staff presentation, and the recommendation to authorize staff to pursue other amendments to the General Plan as described in the Commission’s staff report. The summary of the Commission’s March 13, 2025, action is included as Attachment A, and the Commission’s staff report is included in Attachment B.
This is a countywide item.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may determine not to accept the APR and direct Department staff to modify the report with specific direction regarding those modifications and return to the Board for reconsideration. As stated above, the APR is due to LCI and HCD by April 1, 2025.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended action.
DISCUSSION:
Government Code section 65300 et. Seq. requires that cities and counties prepare and adopt a comprehensive, long-term General Plan to guide the physical development of their jurisdictions. The Fresno County Board of Supervisors, on February 20, 2024, by Resolution No. 24-053, adopted a comprehensive review of the General Plan. The comprehensive review and the update to the Zoning Ordinance was to achieve full consistency between General Plan policies and County development regulations and to bring the General Plan into compliance with California legislation. The comprehensive review included a Background Report, Policy Document, Economic Development Strategy, and Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The Policy Document includes goals, policies, implementation programs, and land use and circulation diagrams that collectively constitute the County’s primary policy for land use, development, and resource management. During the comprehensive review the County added an Environmental Justice Theme and Element to the County’s General Plan.
Corrections to Time Periods for Administration and Implementation Tables and Anticipated Future Document Amendments:
As reported in the Planning Commission staff report in Attachment B, the Department intends to make updates to the General Plan, including updating Implementation tables, Responsible Departments, Policies, and anticipated time periods. Department staff anticipates bringing additional amendments to the Planning Commission and your Board to make minor corrections and clarifications.
The 2024 APR meets the statutory requirements of Government Code Section 654000 and those of Fresno County General Plan Program LU-H.A.
Planning Commission Hearing and Action
The 2024 APR was presented to the Planning Commission on March 13, 2025. Prior to the Planning Commission hearing, Department staff discovered the following errors in the 2024 APR:
• Update “California Government Code Section 65400(b)(1)” to “California Government Code Section 65400(a)(2)”.
• Reporting on Discretionary Development Applications states “As shown in Table 1, PWP received 149 new discretionary development applications during the 2024 calendar year” whereas this reporting should state “As shown in Table 1, PWP received 234 new discretionary development applications during the 2024 calendar year”.
• Table 1 on page 15 of the APR has been updated to accurately reflect Applications received in 2024.
These items have been corrected in the revised 2024 APR, which is included with this agenda item as Attachment C.
During the March 13, 2025, Planning Commission hearing, a member of the public addressed the Commission on four items; (1) the speaker requested the method in which the County plans to implement its recommended revisions. (2), the speaker questioning whether the APR is compliant with Government Code 65400 (a)(1)(F) and recommended that the 2024 APR include a statement relating to compliance. (3), the speaker questioned why the reporting format changed from reporting all implementation programs to just certain implementation programs, and (4) the speaker questioned the completeness of the County’s responses contained in the APR.
In response to item No.1, the County will utilize the general plan amendment process for all proposed edits to the County’s General Plan. This process and approval of the edits requires noticed public hearings before the Planning Commission and your Board.
In response to item No. 2 and as required by Government Code 65400 (a)(1)(F), staff has determined that the County’s General Plan substantially complies with the State’s 2017 General Plan Guidelines which includes information on the construction of a general plan, what mandatory elements need to be included in a general plan, and various recommendations of community engagement. The County’s General Plan includes all mandatory elements, and the County’s engaged in a multi-year community engagement effort.
As it related to item No. 3, the APR is in compliance with the 2024 LCI Annual Progress Report Guidance Memo, which provides cities and counties broad discretion on the information contained in an APR. The APR includes progress information on all Elements, highlighting those Programs for which there has been recent activity. Staff notes there will be years in which some programs will not have implementation activities thus requiring no reporting.
As it relates to item No. 4, the speaker cited, as an example, the apparent lack of implementing Program OS-G.A, which requires the County to work cooperatively with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (Air District) to review their published Guide for Assessing and Mitigation Air Quality Impacts and consider the feasibility to adopt procedures for performing air quality impact analysis and mitigation measures with any modifications deemed appropriate. As it relates to Program OS-G.A, the County has reviewed the Air District’s Guide for Assessing and Mitigation Air Quality Impacts and has determined the most effective why to determine the need for air quality impact analys and mitigation is to coordinate with the Air District by routing all projects to the Air District and providing them the opportunity to provide project specific comments as appropriate.
Following the speaker’s statements, the Commission asked for some clarification, including but not limited to how the County addresses the disposal of solar batteries, the expenditures and availability of HOME funds, an explanation of what constitutes an affordable housing unit in Table A and A2, and water availability reporting. Department staff provided details on the HOME funding and how the data was determined to complete Tables A and A2. The Commissioners were informed that water availability reporting is not included in the APR and that staff would follow up on the disposal of solar batteries.
Following the Commission’s discussion, the Planning Commission unanimously voted, nine to zero, to approve a resolution recommending that your Board accept the 2024 APR, including the proposed modifications to the Administration and Implementation Tables, the corrections noted in the staff report, and recommending authorization for staff to pursue other amendments to the General Plan as described in the Planning Commission report. The Planning Commission also recommended that the comments from the public be relayed to the Board.
SUMMARY
Staff has determined that the 2024 APR satisfies the requirements of Government Code, Section 65400 regarding APR preparation and Fresno County General Plan Program LU-H.A to serve as mitigation monitoring under Public Resources Code Section 21081.6. The 2024 APR details the continued implementation of General Plan programs and Housing Element programs.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #11, March 19, 2024
BAI #6, February 20, 2024
BAI #15, March 28, 2023
BAI #16, March 22, 2022
BAI #10, March 23, 2021
BAI #15, November 24, 2020
BAI #16, June 4, 2019
BAI #39, May 8, 2018
BAI #49, June 6, 2017
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Attachments A - C
On file with Clerk - Resolution
CAO ANALYST:
Salvador Espino