Title
Adopt a Resolution Amending the Environmental Hazards Element of the 2035 General Plan to Comply with State law
Staffreport
COUNCIL PRIORITY
• Public Safety
SUMMARY
The City’s General Plan Environmental Hazards Element (adopted in 2016) is the City’s foundational policy document for addressing natural and man-made hazards in the City, including earthquakes, floods, and wildfire. Staff has prepared updates to the Environmental Hazards Element to comply with changes in state law requiring additional analysis and documentation related to climate change and evacuation planning. See Attachment A, Exhibit 1, for a clean version of the amended document and Attachment B for the redline-strikethrough version of the amendments.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommend that the City Council adopt a resolution amending the Environmental Hazards Element of the 2035 General Plan to comply with the requirements of State law.
BACKGROUND
In 2016, the City Council adopted a comprehensive update to the General Plan with a horizon year of 2035. The 2035 General Plan includes an Environmental Hazards Element that identifies potential natural and man-made hazards in the community and establishes goals, policies, and programs to reduce those hazards.
Following adoption of the General Plan, the State enacted legislation requiring cities to update their General Plan Safety Element to include documentation related to climate change and evacuation planning. San Leandro’s Environmental Hazards Element is considered the City’s Safety Element under state law. The City contracted with a planning and environmental consulting firm (Rincon Consultants Inc.) to prepare the required updates. Rincon drafted amendments to the Environmental Hazards Element in 2022 concurrently with the 2023-2031 General Plan Housing Element Update and the new Environmental Justice Element; however, Council consideration of the amendments was delayed accommodating required review by the Board of Forestry and subsequent fire map changes.
Planning Commission Review
The Planning Commission considered the draft Environmental Hazards Element amendments on November 17, 2022. The amendments were presented in conjunction with the Housing Element Update and the new Environmental Justice Element. The Planning Commission voted to recommend City Council adoption of all proposed General Plan amendments.
State Board of Forestry Review / Fire Hazard Map Amendments
Following the Planning Commission’s recommendation, staff submitted the updated Environmental Hazards Element to the California Board of Forestry for review and approval. Under State law, the Board of Forestry is required to approve amendments to a Safety Element that includes policies related to Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. On August 20, 2024, the Board of Forestry reviewed and approved San Leandro’s draft amendments.
The Board of Forestry subsequently released new fire hazard maps that downgraded all areas in San Leandro that were classified as being in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones to lower classifications (High or Moderate). The City Council adopted the updated Fire Hazard Maps on June 2, 2025. Staff updated the draft Environmental Hazards Element to reflect that San Leandro no longer contains any Very High Fire Hazard Zones within its boundaries. The amended draft retains the policies and action items that address wildfire hazard risk even though there are no longer any Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones in San Leandro.
Local Hazard Mitigation Plan Update
The adoption of the updated Environmental Hazards Element will enable the City to adopt an updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP). A LHMP builds off the policies in the Environmental Hazards Element by providing actionable strategies for reducing hazard risks. The City is currently working with a consultant to prepare an updated LHMP.
ANALYSIS
The proposed amendments address the requirements of State laws, as discussed below:
Climate Change
Senate Bill (SB) 379 requires cities to update goals and policies in a Safety Element based on a vulnerability assessment, identifying the risks that climate change poses to the local jurisdiction and the geographic areas at risk from climate change impacts.
The updated Environmental Hazards Element documents that climate change increases the City’s vulnerability to regional wildfires, extreme heat, drought, bay shore flooding, and intense precipitation events. New policies are proposed, including:
• Policy EH-7.1 to focus adaptation efforts and engagement for the most vulnerable populations; and
• Policy EF-7.2 to support improvements to critical infrastructure for long-term resilience to climate change affected hazards.
Evacuation Planning
Recent legislation requires cities to evaluate the capacity of emergency evacuation routes (Assembly Bill (AB) 747), identify residential areas with fewer than two evacuation routes (SB 99), and to identify evacuation locations (AB 1409).
In accordance with AB 747 and AB 1409, the City conducted an emergency evacuation analysis (Attachment G) to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios. The analysis evaluated various scenarios in the context of both Citywide and larger-scale regional evacuations. The analysis indicated the need for effective communication tools and active management of the major travel corridors and intersections depending on the area being evacuated, particularly for major arterials and connectors that feed Interstates 880 and 580.
In accordance with SB 99, the Environmental Hazards Element has been updated to identify neighborhoods with single access roads (Figure 7-7), which have potential evacuation complications necessitating added evacuation management. Fortunately, none of the City’s identified single access roads are located within the High and Moderate Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
Policies and action items have been prepared to respond to the analysis, including:
• Action EH-6.2.B and C to review and update the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and any related plans to account for and adapt processes to match the scenarios outlined in the Climate Vulnerability Assessment;
• Policy EH-6.12 to adopt communication tools to reach at-risk communities and coordinate with local service providers to assist vulnerable populations such as the unhoused, elderly, and young children with evacuations; and
• Action EH-6.13.C to increase the ability of the City to manage traffic through structural improvements.
General Plan Conformance
Updating the Environmental Hazards Element is consistent with the City’s intention for amending the General Plan as articulated in Chapter 1, Section F and keeping it “relevant, current, and up to date,” as articulated in Chapter 11, Section C of the 2035 General Plan.
Environmental Review
The City Council certified a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) (SCH #2022010214) for the Environmental Hazards Element amendments on December 5, 2022 in accordance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This SEIR was supplemental to the 2035 General Plan Update EIR (SCH No. 2001092001) and evaluated amendments to the Housing Element and the new Environmental Justice Element in addition to the amendments to the Environmental Hazards Element. The SEIR did not identify any significant unavoidable impacts associated with the Environmental Hazards Element amendments. No further environmental review is required pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15162 as there are no new information and no substantial changes to the project or circumstances would result in new environmental impacts or an increase in severity of identified environmental impacts.
Public Notice and Engagement
A project webpage (<https://www.sanleandro.org/1137/Environmental-Hazards-Element-Update>) was prepared to communicate information about the project to the public, post key documents for public review, and provide staff contact information for questions. A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was formed in 2022 and reviewed existing conditions analyses pertaining to climate vulnerability and evacuation scenarios and administrative draft amendments. Public input was also received in conjunction with the extensive community outreach efforts conducted as part of the 2023-2031 Housing Element Update. A notice of public hearing was published for this project in the East Bay Times Daily Review newspaper and at City Hall.
Financial Impacts
Adoption of the proposed amendments would not result in any financial impacts.
ATTACHMENTS
A: Resolution adopting EH Element amendments
A Ex 1: EH Element amendments (Clean Version)
B: Environmental Hazards Element amendments (Redline-Strikethrough Version)
C: Draft SEIR
D: Final SEIR
E: SEIR Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
F: Resolution 2022-213 Certifying SEIR
G: Evacuation Analysis Memorandum
H: Presentation - Amendment to the Environmental Hazards Element of the General Plan
PREPARED BY: Cindy Lemaire, Senior Planner, Community Development Department