AGENDA ITEM
TO:
HONORABLE CHAIR
AND MEMBERS OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION
FROM:
SUSANA MARTINEZ
ASSOCIATE PLANNER
SUBJECT:
title
2025 GENERAL PLAN ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT
summary
Summary:
California Government Code Section 65400 mandates that cities prepare, and submit to their legislative bodies, a General Plan Annual Progress Report (GPAPR) for the previous calendar year. The GPAPR tracks the progress of the City’s implementation of the General Plan programs with an emphasis on the implementation of the Housing Element. Cities must submit the GPAPR to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) and the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) by April 1st of each year, along with the Housing Successor Annual Report (SB 341 report) regarding the low and moderate-income housing asset fund, which must be submitted to HCD annually.
Strategic Plan Goal(s):
Goal No. 1 Financial Stability: Ensure the City’s long-term financial stability and resilience.
Goal No. 2 Community Safety: Maintain community safety by supporting public safety services and increasing emergency preparedness.
Goal No. 3 Economic & Downtown Development: Improve the local economy, support local businesses, and create a vibrant downtown core.
Goal No. 4 Infrastructure: Maintain and improve the City’s physical infrastructure, water system, and recreational spaces.
Goal No. 5 High-Functioning Government: Strengthen internal communication, recruitment, retention, systems, and processes to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of City services.
recommendation
Recommendation:
Recommend approval to the City Council to authorize staff to submit the Signal Hill GPAPR for calendar year 2025, the Housing Successor Annual Report (SB 341 report) to OPR and HCD.
body
Background:
California Government Code Section 65400 mandates that cities prepare and submit to their legislative bodies a GPAPR for the previous calendar year. California State law requires that each city adopt a General Plan to include a comprehensive long-term plan guiding its future, covering its entire planning area. The General Plan must address a broad range of issues associated with development, including seven mandatory elements: Land Use, Circulation (Mobility), Housing, Conservation, Open Space, Safety, and Noise. For some jurisdictions, including Signal Hill, there is an additional element related to Environmental Justice. The Signal Hill General Plan currently contains six separate elements as the Environmental Resources Element combines the mandated elements of Conservation and Open Space, and includes the Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
State law requires the City to update the General Plan periodically. While there is no specific requirement regarding how often to update the General Plan, the planning period has traditionally been 15 to 20 years. The Housing Element is the only portion of the General Plan with a mandated schedule. The OPR guidance documents consider a General Plan to be current if the local jurisdiction has updated at least five of the seven required elements within the last eight years. The last comprehensive revision of the Signal Hill General Plan occurred in 1986; however, the City has updated various elements over time.
HCD certified the City’s 6th Cycle Housing element in October of 2022. The Housing Element certification required the City to prepare and adopt an Environmental Justice Element to the General Plan. The City executed a contract with Moore, Iacofano & Goltsman Incorporated (MIG) in 2023, which completed the public outreach campaign, and, in 2024, a draft of the element was presented to staff for comments. In addition, MIG prepared a draft update to the Environmental Resources Element. City staff reviewed and provided comments to MIG on both drafts. In 2025, staff continued to work with MIG on completion of the final documents. Previously planned updates to the Land Use and Circulation Elements have been put on hold in order to complete a broad economic and land use analysis of three key areas across the City, known as Opportunity Study Areas.
Opportunity Study Areas
In 2024, the City selected the firm PlaceWorks to conduct a comprehensive economic and land use analysis for three large areas of the City, called Opportunity Study Areas (OSAs). Broadly defined, the purpose of the analysis is to assess future land use opportunities that will allow the City to grow economically, create jobs, and diversify the City’s tax base for several years. The OSA analysis was estimated to be substantially completed by the end of the 2026 calendar year with follow up actions in 2027.
In 2025, PlaceWorks completed the OSA Economic Analysis Report to identify potential market demand within the OSA areas and support redevelopment and the creation of a central business district. PlaceWorks presented the Economic Analysis Report to the City Council at the March 25, 2025, City Council meeting. PlaceWorks also provided the City Council with an update on the overall project during the October 25, 2025, Council meeting and received further direction to continue moving the project forward. Staff continues to work with PlaceWorks on drafting overlay zoning standards for the project. The City is also in the process of initiating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process.
The OSA analysis would create an important foundation for the next anticipated General Plan Element updates to the Land Use and Circulation Elements by ensuring consistency with the zoning code.
Analysis:
The GPAPR is an opportunity to reflect upon the City’s progress to implement the City’s General Plan. The GPAPR provides an analysis of implementation achievements and the connection the achievements have to relevant General Plan policies (Attachment A). The following sections identify the key accomplishments for each General Plan element for 2025:
Land Use Element
The Land Use Element provides an overview of Signal Hill’s vision for the future, setting forth the means to protect the land use philosophy of the community, character of existing neighborhoods, and quality of the physical environment. This element contains criteria and appropriate locations for various land use types. Within each land use type there are guidelines for the intensity of development, design concepts, and standards for measuring the appropriateness of development. Key achievements in 2025 for Land Use, by neighborhood, include completed projects, projects under construction, projects in plan check review and projects under entitlement review, and citywide long-range projects including the OSAs and Civic Center Master Plan. Key achievements are included and outlined in the GPAPR (Attachment A).
2021 - 2029 6th Cycle Housing Element
Housing policy has been a long-standing priority in California. Over the past half-century, the California State Legislature has approved and passed numerous measures requiring local governments to adequately plan for housing needs within their communities. As part of these measures, municipalities are required to prepare and update local General Plan’s which have mandated elements, including a Housing Element. The Housing Element is the only element in the General Plan required to be certified by the State. To obtain State certification, the Housing Element must include a plan to accommodate each municipality mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation, divided into four income categories. The income levels of “extremely low,” “very low,” and “low” are typically noted as affordable or workforce housing. The “moderate” and “above moderate” categories are noted as market rate housing. The State closely monitors and tracks housing production annually through the GPAPR.
The Housing Element identifies both constraints and opportunities in creating affordable housing in the City. The Housing Element serves as a comprehensive strategy outlining goals, policies, and programs to preserve, upgrade, and create housing in general. California HCD requires the GPAPR to include housing data in a prescribed format based on the number of project entitlements and permits issued to track the actual production of housing annually. The format has expanded to incorporate new reporting requirements associated with numerous housing-related laws aimed at addressing the statewide housing supply and affordability crisis.
Signal Hill’s RHNA allocation for the 2021-2029 Housing Element cycle is 517 units total for all income levels. This RHNA number is more than three times the previous cycle number of 169 units. It is worth noting that during the previous Housing Element Cycle, the City facilitated construction of 100% of its affordable housing allocation. The table below illustrates the percentage of units required in each income category.
In 2025, grading activities commenced on a new housing project for eight (8) small-lot single family dwelling units on an existing vacant lot. Additionally, the City issued permits for nine (9) Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in 2025. Of the nine (9) permits issued for ADU’s, two (2) completed construction.
Since the start of the current housing cycle in 2021, the City has finalized building permits for 51 dwelling units categorized by the following income levels:
|
Income Level |
RHNA Allocation |
% of RHNA Allocation |
Units Finaled 2021 |
Units Finaled 2022 |
Units Finaled 2023 |
Units Finaled 2024 |
Units Finaled 2025 |
Total to Date |
|
Very Low |
161 |
31.1% |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Low |
78 |
15.1% |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Moderate |
90 |
17.4% |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Above Moderate |
188 |
36.4% |
12 |
24 |
11 |
4 |
2 |
53 |
|
Combined |
517 |
100% |
12 |
24 |
11 |
4 |
2 |
53 |
Implementation of the 6th Cycle Housing Element: 2021 - 2029
As part of the certification activities for the 6th Cycle Housing Element, the City identified four housing sites with the capacity to accommodate the required RHNA, plus an approximate 15% surplus. The City prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and rezoned the sites for the development of two mixed-use commercial/residential projects and two affordable/workforce housing projects. In 2023, the City selected the workforce housing developer, National Community Renaissance (National CORE), to assist the City with development of two workforce housing projects. The City and National CORE entered into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement and in 2024 National CORE proposed a conceptual design for one of the affordable housing sites known as Walnut Bluff to obtain feedback from the City Council and the public. In 2025, the City continued to work with National CORE on the final design. Additionally, the City has been actively working on completing all the programs in the Housing Element. The GPAPR (Attachment A) shows the housing programs completed thus far.
Workforce Housing Grants, Funding, and Financing
Historically, the City utilized redevelopment funding to facilitate the development of workforce housing. The funding aided in purchasing, rezoning, and remediating sites to market them to developers. Prior to 2012, the City successfully used redevelopment funding to develop 291 affordable units. With the dissolution of the redevelopment agency, this funding resource is no longer available.
In 2023, the City issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) requesting qualified workforce housing developers to apply. The NOFA identified approximately $10 million of City funds which, subject to formal approval by the City and the Housing Authority, could be available from multiple sources including: the Low- and Moderate- Income Housing Asset Fund, affordable housing in-lieu fees, and the ongoing Permanent Local Housing Allocation grant program. The City funds would be used toward the development of the two workforce housing projects, which would provide a total of 380 units, 90 of which would be for moderate-income housing. As noted above, after a competitive selection process, the City selected National CORE, a nationally recognized workforce housing developer. The City entered into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) with National CORE in 2024 regarding the projects. National CORE commenced its due diligence of the housing sites, began negotiations with the property owner to execute a Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) and began preparation of numerous applications for available funding sources to complete the projects. National CORE has initially focused on the smaller Walnut Bluff site for securing site control, and a PSA for the Walnut Bluff site was executed in February 2025.
In November 2025, an amendment to the ENA with National CORE was executed in anticipation of the upcoming expiration of the ENA for the Orange Bluff site. Staff recommended extending the ENA between the City, the Signal Hill Housing Authority, and National CORE for the Orange Bluff site. Since negotiating the original ENA, National CORE has experienced significant impacts from changes in funding availability and is therefore pursuing alternative funding opportunities. In 2026, National CORE will continue to seek funding opportunities.
Circulation Element
The Circulation Element establishes guidelines and policy direction for the development and maintenance of a comprehensive transportation system in the City. The Element works to achieve long-term development, maintenance, and enhancement of the City’s circulation system by recognizing that transportation routes and utility services play an important role in shaping the physical development of the City.
Key achievements in 2025 include:
• East Burnett Street Pedestrian and Bike Project - The Public Works Department (PW) has awarded a contract for the Burnett ATP design services and has initiated the design phase. Proposed improvements include new sidewalks, parkway landscaping, curb ramps, pedestrian-scale lighting, bike lanes between Walnut Avenue and Cherry Avenue, and newly marked crosswalks.
• New Funding for Traffic and Road Safety Projects - PW successfully secured funding for traffic and road safety-related projects in the following amounts:
o $2,719,980 - HSIP Federal funding for signal and traffic-related improvements at 11 intersections.
o $1,082,450 - HSIP State funding for traffic-related improvements along the East Willow Street corridor.
o $1,404,720 - Metro funding (I-710 South Early Action Projects) for traffic-related improvements along the Willow Street corridor.
o $5,207,150 - Total funding secured.
• Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger and Solar Projects - The Community Development Department (CD) continued to provide expedited review for EV chargers and rooftop solar projects for both industrial/commercial and residential projects. The City continues to comply with all applicable State requirements related to energy efficiency.
• Annual Street Report - The Finance Department (Finance), under the California Streets and Highways Code section 2151, is required to file an annual report of expenditures for street or road purposes with the State Controller’s Office on or before October 1 of each year. The report was submitted successfully on time.
• East Willow Street Median Project - PW completed the median project on East Willow Street.
• Alleyway Restoration Project - PW completed Phases 1 and 2 of the restoration of various alleyways in poor condition throughout the City.
• Paving Rehabilitation Project - PW completed the road reconstruction of the California Avenue Paving Rehabilitation Project from East 28th Street to East Spring Street.
• Panorama Promenade Trail - PW completed the Panorama Promenade Trail, which included the enhancement of accessibility, safety, and beauty, featuring new landscapes such as new lowboy shrub plants and strawberry trees to enrich the natural charm. This project successfully mitigated emergency erosion conditions.
Environmental Resources Element
The Environmental Resources Element combines the required Open Space and Conservation categories into one element. Amended in 1989, the Environmental Resources Element includes the Parks and Recreation Master Plan (PRMP) and associated Prioritization and Implementation Plan (PIP) to provide a blueprint for the development of the City’s parks and trails system. The Element guides the management of natural resources and open space within the City by directing the timing, location, amount, and uses of resources related to air, groundwater, soils, wildlife, and minerals.
Key achievements in 2025 include:
• Hillbrook Park - PW completed construction on Hillbrook Park in January 2025. Improvements included new play equipment, new BBQ picnic shelters, stormwater infiltration, and the removal of dry creek bed to increase usable space. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on February 4, 2025.
• Signal Hill Amphitheater - PW completed the Amphitheater design phase and started the kick-off of construction phases. The City held a groundbreaking ceremony in December 2025. The project is expected to be mostly complete by October 2026.
• Gundry Reservoir Roof Replacement Project - PW completed design plans, awarded a construction contract, and initiated long-lead construction procurement items on the Gundry Reservoir Roof Replacement and Sand Basin Rehabilitation Projects.
• New Grant for Tree Installation - PW awarded a contract for the installation of over 500 trees throughout the City. This initiative is funded through the USDA Green Latinos Grant, and construction activities have commenced.
• New Water Well - PW obtained a permit amendment for the addition of a new drinking water well (Well 10) from the Water Resources Control Board following two years of review and water system modifications and resubmittals.
• Rooftop Solar Projects - CD established a platform for automated small residential rooftop solar plan review and permit issuance.
• The Parks, Recreation and Library Services Department (PRL) continued to offer the Family Food Distribution program for low-income Signal Hill families. 18 low-income families received assistance in November and December. They received a debit card from the City’s local grocery store to purchase supplemental groceries each month. In addition, 40 seniors aged 55 and older participated in the program and received the above-mentioned assistance. The program has continued to provide access to food resources to community members who need some support to close food insecurity gaps.
• Summer Camp - PRL hosts an annual summer camp for children entering 1st through 6th grades. In 2025, a third camp location was added to expand the program and serve more children.
• Parks and Recreation Commission Communications - PRL provides monthly updates to the Parks and Recreation Commission on projects related to park development, community events, and other community service programs.
• Paperless Transactions - Finance continued to advance paperless transactions by initiating the implementation of an automated accounts payable process, eliminating the need to print invoices, streamlining the approval workflow, and contributing to the City’s sustainable practices.
Safety Element
The Safety Element focuses on policies and programs to mitigate and minimize any unreasonable risks and limit the level of community exposure to a range of hazards. The element includes topics such as public safety, evacuation routes, and potential hazards. Additionally, the Safety Element incorporates the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, which outlines mitigation strategies specific to the city to reduce risk by protecting life and property, enhancing public awareness, preserving natural systems, encouraging partnerships, and/or strengthening emergency services.
Key achievements in 2025 include:
• Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Hazard Mitigation Plan - EOC staff and emergency response personnel worked together to update the EOC Hazard Mitigation Plan.
• City’s Emergency Operations Plan - EOC staff worked with other city department personnel to update the City’s Emergency Operations Plan.
• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program - EOC staff worked with Los Angeles County Fire personnel to bring back the CERT program since pre-COVID.
• Parking Services - Signal Hill Police Department (SHPD) updated the parking services contract to implement new and improved technology for issuing citations.
• Community Events - SHPD continued to prioritize our community events, such as National Night Out and Heroes and Helpers. In addition, Coffee with a Cop event was reestablished.
• Internal Promotions - SHPD focused on succession planning and has three internal promotions, including Chief of Police, Captain, and Operations Lieutenant.
• Wellness Day - SHPD continued to focus on employee wellness. Utilizing a wellness grant, upgrades to the gym equipment were made. SHPD hosted two department family days with the support of the Signal Hill Police Foundation. Additionally, annual wellness check-ins to employees and mental health and peer support training were prioritized.
• Crime Trends - SHPD contracted with a crime analyst to help identify crime trends and areas for directed enforcement to maximize their patrol efforts.
• Document Tracking - SHPD implemented new software to streamline internal documentation, including Use of Force reports, to improve consistency, records tracking, and workload efficiency.
• Measure H Homeless Services - SHPD met regularly with the Measure H Homeless Services Liaison to discuss various available resources for the unhoused population in Signal Hill.
• Communications - Emergency response personnel maintained open mutual aid agreements with law enforcement agencies across all operational areas, including the Long Beach Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the California Highway Patrol.
• Safety Element Routes - Staff continued to follow the 2016 Safety Element, which provides a map identifying designated evacuation routes within the City for transportation of hazardous and toxic materials.
• Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zone - The Building Safety Division required geological investigation reports for all new and existing projects located within Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones. In Signal Hill, the only earthquake fault zone is the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone, which runs diagonally from northwest to southeast across the City.
Noise Element
The Noise Element is intended to limit the community’s exposure to excessive noise levels and ensure that local regulations are consistent with state and federal regulations. The Noise Element identifies noise sources and incorporates measures to effectively reduce excessive noise impacts to residents.
Key achievements in 2025 include:
• Noise Standards - SHPD enforces compliance with noise standards in the current Motor Vehicle Code. The Neighborhood Enhancement Division and the Building Safety Division enforce compliance with the Signal Hill Municipal Code Chapter 9.16 Noise.
• Permitting Process - The City’s building plan check process incorporated noise standards covered in the 2022 California Building Code.
• Noise Impacts - Staff analyzed noise impacts during project review as part of the California Environmental Quality Act review process. Any noise impacts following construction are addressed as part of the City’s code enforcement program.
• Long Beach Airport - Staff maintained communication with Long Beach Airport personnel regarding airport operations. Staff received one noise complaint in the past year. The City provided residents with contact information to the Long Beach Airport Noise Abatement office for official complaints.
• Council of Governments (COG) - Staff maintained membership in the Gateway Cities COG and participated in regional reviews of transportation and airport operations.
Conclusion:
The GPAPR and summary of accomplishments for implementation of the City’s General Plan for 2025 must be submitted to both OPR and to HCD by April 1, 2026, along with the SB 341 housing asset fund. Staff is currently finalizing the housing asset fund report and is working diligently with the City’s consultant on compiling the necessary information. If authorized by the City Council, staff would submit the documents to the State for review.
Attachment:
A. Draft General Plan Annual Progress Report