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ALUC-24-16 (Solano County’s Public Health and Safety Chapter Amendments)
Determine that Application No. ALUC-24-16 (Solano County’s Public Health and Safety Chapter Amendments) is consistent with the Travis Air Force Base (AFB), Nut Tree and Rio Vista Airport Land Use Compatibility Plans (LUCP)
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RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a Resolution Determining Application No. ALUC-24-16 (Solano County’s Public Health and Safety Chapter Amendments) is consistent with the Travis Air Force Base (AFB), Nut Tree and Rio Vista Airport Land Use Compatibility Plans (LUCP).
DISCUSSION:
Section 21676 (d) of the State Aeronautics Act requires Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) review of any general plan amendment within an Airport Influence Area.
This update was triggered by California Government Code section 65302(g)(6), which requires that planning agencies “review and, if necessary, revise the safety element upon each revision of the housing element or local hazard mitigation plan, but not less than once every eight years, to identify new information relating to flood and fire hazards and climate adaptation and resiliency strategies applicable to the city or county that was not available during the previous revision of the safety element”.
The County adopted its updated Housing Element in February of 2024, necessitating a review and update to the Chapter. The County last updated this Chapter in 2015.
The majority of the proposed revisions to the Chapter are to add or update technical information. In many cases, updates to State law require the Chapter to include information that was not required when the existing Chapter was adopted in 2015. In other instances, relevant information has changed as a result of new studies or analyses, and so there are proposed edits to the Chapter that incorporate this revised information.
The most significant proposed edit to the Chapter is to include information about how climate change may affect natural hazards in Solano County, as mandated by California Government Code section 65302(g)(4). The proposed revised Chapter includes a section at the beginning that discusses how climate change is expected to make future hazards more frequent and intense, including floods and rising sea levels, droughts, severe weather, extreme heat, wildfire, and human health issues. The revised Chapter includes a Vulnerability Assessment, which identifies the people and assets in Solano County who are most at risk of harm from climate change. There are also new sections in the Chapter on agriculture and ecosystem hazards, drought, extreme heat, and severe weather, to include background and policies on hazards identified by the vulnerability assessment not covered in other sections.
The updated Chapter contains proposed revisions to many of the descriptions of hazards, in most cases expanding these descriptions to include more background information and other relevant context. These edits include new and revised information about hazard threats, recent programs to address hazardous conditions, and language that integrates the results of the vulnerability assessment to discuss the likelihood of future threats. These proposed edits also include revised hazard mapping as required by State law and to reflect updates to mapped hazard zones. In addition to these edits to the hazard descriptions, the proposed edits include information about the County’s updated Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan and Emergency Operations Plan, and how these documents integrate with the Chapter to provide a unified approach to addressing natural hazards in Solano County. These proposed edits do not include updates to the background information in the Public Health, Air Quality, or Noise sections of the Chapter, beyond minor edits for data accuracy and grammar.
The proposed changes to the revised Chapter include edits to the policies and implementation programs. A number of policies have been added or revised relating to flooding. These edits reflect commitments by the County and partner agencies to adopt the One Water framework, a holistic, multi-benefit approach to water management activities, including topics relevant to this Chapter such as drought and flooding. These proposed edits include revised and expanded language to promote coordination efforts between the County and partner agencies on flooding issues.
In response to recommendations from CAL FIRE staff, the proposed Chapter includes new and revised policies for wildfire prevention, mitigation, preparation, and recovery. These policies are based on standard CAL FIRE recommendations and are consistent with wildfire policies in the safety elements of many other communities in California. As a part of the recommendations from CAL FIRE on wildfire and other emergency topics, additional policies are proposed relating to evacuation planning.
CEQA
The proposed revisions to the PH&S Chapter are exempt under the “common sense” exemption pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3). This exemption applies because the proposed revisions do not have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. The proposed project involves policies and implementation programs to meet California Government Code Section 65302(g) requirements, protecting the community from any unreasonable risk associated with the effects of various hazards. The proposed revisions solely update the County’s policy document and do not provide entitlements to any specific development projects and would not result in any direct or indirect physical changes to the environment.
The County is not changing any land uses or zoning standards or making any physical improvements to adopt the proposed project. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility the proposed project would have a significant effect on the environment and is exempt from CEQA review.
AIRPORT PLANNING CONTEXT & ANALYSIS
General Plan amendments must undergo review by the ALUC for consistency with the applicable LUCPs (State Aeronautics Act section 21676). The proposed policies, as adopted will apply to the unincorporated areas and staff evaluated the proposal using the Compatibility Zone criteria for Travis AFB, Nut Tree, and Rio Vista Airport Land Use Compatibility Plans as it applies to the unincorporated area. Certain compatibility zones lie within the respective City Limits; therefore, criteria evaluation is not applicable and consistency findings for those situations are not required.
Staff evaluated the County’s project using the Compatibility Zone criteria as applied to the unincorporated area. Staff analysis of the project is summarized in Attachment A.
Analysis Finding
Based on the review, staff finds that the proposed changes comply with the requirements of the zones to protect flight and are consistent with the Travis AFB, Nut Tree, and Rio Vista Airport Land Use Compatibility Plans.
Attachments
Attachment A: Airport Compatibility Zones Criteria
Attachment B: Compatibility Zones Map
Attachment C: Proposed Policies (Redline)
Attachment D: Draft Resolution