Report to Honorable Mayor and City Council

In October 2022, the City approved the development of a self-storage facility on the site consisting of approximately 121,775 square feet (“Self-Storage Project”).  The Applicant now proposes to develop the site with 62 market rate townhomes (“Residential Project”) but also wishes to maintain the option of developing the Self-Storage Project on the site. 

On February 11, 2024, the Planning Commission considered the applicant’s request for the Residential Project and unanimously adopted Resolution No. 25-2881, conditionally approving an Addendum to the Carson 2040 General Plan Update EIR, Site Plan and Design Review No. 20-24, and Vesting Tentative Tract Map No. 3-24, all contingent upon City Council approval of GPA No. 2-24, SPA No. 2-24, and DA No. 2-24.  The Planning Commission further recommended the City Council to approve the associated General Plan Amendment (GPA No. 2-24), Specific Plan Amendment (SPA No. 2-24), and Development Agreement (DA No. 2-24) which are subject of this item. 

The Planning Commission was informed that the applicant has secured initial approvals from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Water Board”) to amend the existing land use covenant for the property to allow residential uses on the site subject to approval and oversight by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (“DTSC”).  Staff has included conditions of approval requiring the applicant to obtain final clearances from the Water Board and DTSC prior to issuance of any permits and occupancy of the units.  These clearances will ensure the homes are safe to be built and occupied.  

      TAKE the following actions:

1. OPEN the Public Hearing, TAKE public testimony, and CLOSE the Public Hearing;

2. WAIVE FURTHER READING AND ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 25-031, “A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CARSON, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING (1) AN ADDENDUM TO THE 2040 GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT WITH RESPECT TO GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 2-24 AND SPECIFIC PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 2-24, (2) GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 2-24 TO AMEND THE CORRIDOR MIXED USE GENERAL PLAN LAND USE DESIGNATION, AND (3) SPECIFIC PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 2-24 TO AMEND THE PERRY STREET SPECIFIC PLAN, RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A 62-UNIT RESIDENTIAL TOWNHOME CONDOMINIUM PROJECT ON A 2.80-ACRE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 21611 STREET (APNS 7327-010-014 & 7327-010-015)”; AND

3. INTRODUCE for first reading, by title only and with full reading waived, ORDINANCE NO. 25-2506, “AN UNCODIFIED ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF CARSON, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING (1) AN ADDENDUM TO THE 2040 GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT WITH RESPECT TO DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT NO. 2-24, AND (2) DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT NO. 2-24, AN AMENDMENT TO DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT NO. 27-21 BETWEEN THE CITY OF CARSON AND 21611 PERRY STREET LLC, FOR A PROPOSED 62-UNIT RESIDENTIAL TOWNHOME CONDOMINIUM DEVELOPMENT AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO A SELF-STORAGE FACILITY AT 21611 PERRY STREET”. 

TAKE another action the City Council deems appropriate. 

Project Description

The Residential Project conditionally approved by the Planning Commission included Site Plan and Design Review No. 20-24, and Vesting Tentative Tract Map No. 3-24, which pave the way for development of a residential condominium townhome development consisting of 62 market-rate townhomes. The project will include eight (8) two-bedroom units, 27 three-bedroom units, and 27 four-bedroom units, ranging from 1,168 square feet to 1,783 square feet.  All townhome structures are three stories, Exhibit No. 1.

The project would provide common amenities such as a barbecue area, pedestrian paseos and courtyard gardens. Each townhome unit will have an average of approximately 76 square feet of private open space in the form of a patio or a balcony. Each townhome will have an attached two-car garage totaling 124 residential parking spaces.  In addition, the project includes 26 off-street guest spaces. 

The approval of the Planning Commission, in addition to being subject to conditions of approval, was contingent on City Council approving (i) GPA No. 2-24, (ii) SPA No. 2-24, and (iii) DA No. 2-24 which are all subjects of this item and further described below, Exhibit No. 2. 

General Plan Amendment 

The site is located in the Corridor Mixed Use General Plan land use designation and the Residential Project is consistent with the requirements of this land use designation, provided the Applicant provides community benefits, which the Applicant has agreed to do in the proposed DA Amendment (discussed below).  The Applicant also has an existing vested right to develop the Self-Storage Project on the site under Development Agreement No. 27-21, regardless of the current land use designation.  However, for the sake of ensuring/clarifying that the Self-Storage Project is a permitted uses of the site that is consistent with the General Plan, and to ensure consistency of the Perry Street Specific Plan with the General Plan, the Applicant has proposed to amend the description of the Corridor Mixed Use land use designation in the General Plan to add the following language to the end of first paragraph of the Corridor Mixed Use (CMU) land use description:

“Notwithstanding any other provision governing the Corridor Mixed Use land use designation, properties located within the Corridor Mixed Use land use designation that are also within the Perry Street Specific Plan area shall be developed in accordance with the permitted land uses in the Perry Street Specific Plan, including any amendments thereto, as well as any other provisions of the Corridor Mixed Use land use designation.”

This amendment would permit any use on the site that is permitted in the Perry Street Specific Plan, which effectively means that both the Self-Storage Project and the Residential Project uses would be permitted on the site.  The self-storage project is consistent with the General Plan since measures have been included in the Specific Plan development standards as well as the design guidelines, design of the project, and conditions of approval of the self-storage facility that have made the self-storage facility compatible with the surrounding areas.

Specific Plan Amendment 

The site is located in the Perry Street Specific Plan (PSSP), which serves as its zoning.  The PSSP, in its current form, allows for development of the Self-Storage Project, but does not permit the development of the Residential Project. The proposed amendment to the PSSP would make the Residential Project a permitted use in the PSSP, giving the applicant the option to develop the Residential Project on the Property as an alternative to developing the Self-Storage Project, Exhibit No. 3. 

Amended and Restated Development Agreement 

The applicant originally entered into a development agreement with the City for the Self-Storage Project.  The development agreement includes the obligations of both the applicant and the City and specifies standards and conditions that will govern the project for the term of the DA.  The term of the development agreement is through 2037, Exhibit No. 4. 

The site is currently subject to Development Agreement No. 27-21, which gives the Applicant a vested right to develop the Self-Storage Project on the site.  The Applicant has requested amendments to the Development Agreement, which would give the Applicant certain vested rights to develop the Residential Project on the property as an alternative to developing the approved Self-Storage Project, in exchange for the provision of community benefits to the City.

The site is located in the Corridor Mixed Use General Plan land use designation. The Applicant is required to provide community benefits to the City under the Corridor Mixed Use General Plan land use designation, as the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of the Residential Project is 1.1 and the Corridor Mixed Use General Plan land use designation provides for a maximum FAR of 1.0 but states that said maximum FAR may be increased by up to 15% with community benefits. The Residential Project also requires community benefits because it does not contain active ground floor commercial uses.        

The Corridor Mixed Use General Plan land use designation also requires residential developments to provide a commercial component creating a mixed-use development.  The General Plan allows purely residential projects only in circumstances where ground floor or commercial use is not desirable or practical, in which case it permits substitution of commercial uses with community benefit.

In exchange for the City granting the Applicant a vested right to develop the Residential Project on the site and allow development of this purely residential project, the Applicant has agreed to provide the following community benefits, for a total of $1,817,327: 

• • Payment of Development Impact Fees of $1,267,327 prior to issuance of any building permits;
  • Payment of $250,000 prior to issuance of any building permits or annexation to the Community Facilities District (CFD) prior to recordation of the map;
  • Payment of $250,000 as a contribution to the Citywide Commercial Façade Improvement Program within 30 days of City’s request;
  • Payment of a $50,000 Development Agreement fee, prior to issuance of any building permits.
  • Developer has expended significant time with the DTSC and the Water Board to address site remediation issues, and has spent over $1,000,000 in foregoing the previously approved redevelopment of the Property with Project A and creating a viable path for residential redevelopment. The Developer’s actions and commitments related to the remediation and productive re-development of the Property for Project B provides a substantial community benefit to the City by (a) remediating a previously contaminated site, and (b) allowing for the removal of the Environmental Covenant and the use of the Property for residential development in the form of Project B, which is both a desirable and much-needed use in the City.

Environmental Review

The proposed development constitutes a project within the scope of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the City’s CEQA Guidelines.  Accordingly, the applicant has prepared an Addendum to the Carson 2040 General Plan Update Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) (SCH #2001091120) for the Project.  The EIR included an environmental impact (and/or effects) analysis of the full build out of the residential density allowed in the General Plan.  The proposed project does not exceed the residential density permitted in the General Plan, nor does it include any other project features that would result in impacts not already sufficiently analyzed the EIR.

Section 15164(a) of the CEQA Guidelines (Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations) states that: “The lead agency or responsible agency shall prepare an addendum to a previously certified EIR if some changes or additions are necessary but none of the conditions described in Section 15162 calling for preparation of a subsequent EIR have occurred.”  The conditions in Section 15162 requiring a subsequent EIR are as follows:

(1) Substantial changes are proposed in the project which will require major revisions of the previous EIR or negative declaration due to the involvement of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects; 

(2) Substantial changes occur with respect to the circumstances under which the project is undertaken, which will require major revisions of the previous EIR or negative declaration due to the involvement of new significant environmental effects or a substantial increase in the severity of previously identified significant effects; or

(3) New information of substantial importance, which was not known and could not have been known with the exercise of reasonable diligence at the time the previous EIR was certified as complete or the negative declaration was adopted, shows any of the following:

(A) The project will have one or more significant effects not discussed in the previous EIR or negative declaration;

(B) Significant effects previously examined will be substantially more severe than shown in the previous EIR;

(C) Mitigation measures or alternatives previously found not to be feasible would in fact be feasible, and would substantially reduce one or more significant effects of the project, but the project proponents decline to adopt the mitigation measure or alternative; or

(D) Mitigation measures or alternatives which are considerably different from those analyzed in the previous EIR would substantially reduce one or more significant effects on the environment, but the project proponents decline to adopt the mitigation measure or alternative.

The residential density of the proposed project (22.14 dwelling units/acre) is significantly less than the 40 du/ac analyzed in the EIR.  Also, any potential effects from including any of the higher intensity industrial uses also studied in the EIR are being avoided by the proposed fully-residential project.  As demonstrated by the detailed environmental analysis included in the Addendum, the project would not result in any new significant impacts or effects, nor would it substantially increase the severity of previously identified significant impacts or effects.  Rather, all of the impacts or effects associated with the project are within the envelope of impacts addressed in the EIR and do not constitute a new or substantially increased significant impact or effect. Therefore, the modifications resulting from the project do not meet the criteria for a Supplemental or Subsequent EIR pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21166 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15162 and 15163. 

Through the Development Agreement, the applicant would provide the following community benefits for the Residential Project for a total of $1,817,327:

• • Payment of Development Impact Fees of $1,267,327;
  • Payment of $250,000 or annexation to the Community Facilities District (CFD);
  • Payment of $250,000 a contribution to the Citywide Commercial Façade Improvement Program; and
  • Payment of a $50,000 Development Agreement fee. 

1. Development Plans

https://ci.carson.ca.us/content/files/pdfs/planning/docs/projects/PerrySt/Att%201%20Development%20Plans%20COMBINED%20SET.pdf

2. Planning Commission Resolution No. 25-2881
3. Resolution 25-031 - Addendum, Specific Plan Amendment No. 2-24 and General Plan Amendment No.2-24
   1. Legal Description
   2. Addendum https://ci.carson.ca.us/CommunityDevelopment/PerrySt.aspx
   3. General Plan Amendment
   4. Specific Plan Amendment 00.PERRY STREET SPECIFIC PLAN AMENDMENT (SP-2-24).pdf

4. Ordinance 25-2506 - Addendum and Development Agreement No. 2-24
   1. Legal Description
   2. Addendum https://ci.carson.ca.us/CommunityDevelopment/PerrySt.aspx
   3. Development Agreement

 Prepared by: Leila Carver, Contract Planner/Saied Naaseh, Community Development Director