General Plan Amendment 20-003 and Environmental Impact Report 22-002 (City of Palmdale 2045 General Plan Update)

General Plan Amendment 20-003 and Environmental Impact Report 22-002 (City of Palmdale 2045 General Plan Update)

Palmdale 2045 is intended to function as a policy document to guide land use decisions in the City’s Planning Area over 23 years (2022-2045). According to State law, General Plans are required to cover nine topics: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, air quality, safety, and environmental justice. Jurisdictions may address these topics across different chapters, or elements, of their general plan, and include any other topic that is relevant to planning its future. The updated City of Palmdale General Plan will include the State required topics plus economic development, urban design, infrastructure, military readiness, community facilities, sustainability and resilience, and climate change. Palmdale 2045’s vision for the city was developed with extensive community input and in recognition of the state’s planning priorities. Palmdale 2045 focuses on enhancing community identity, building on planned infrastructure investments, improving multi-modal active transportation and connectivity, integrating health and equity, and capitalizing on the City's unique location in the region. Palmdale 2045’s vision for the future includes the following vision themes. ? Unified and welcoming community. The Palmdale community values opportunity, diversity, and unity, and seeks to promote Palmdale’s positive reputation while boosting community beautification ? Active and vibrant downtown. Palmdale residents desire a future downtown that fosters a sense of place, promotes local businesses, provides gathering spaces, and events, and improves the overall appearance of Palmdale ? Diverse and high-quality job options. Palmdale seeks to retain and expand its employment base through training for key industries, connecting residents to local jobs, and promoting telecommuting within the city ? Diverse and resilient local economy. Palmdale values its existing aerospace presence and aims to leverage and diversify new economic opportunities from expanded transportation connections ? Safe, healthy place to live and work. Palmdale residents want to address crime and safety, increase access to parks and open space, and support marginalized communities like foster youth and those experiencing homelessness ? High quality medical and mental healthcare. As a medical provider shortage area, Palmdale seeks to improve access to quality medical and mental healthcare services and facilities by attracting physicians, maintaining the Palmdale Regional Medical Center, and expanding services ? Housing options for residents at different stages of life and ability. The residents of Palmdale desire to preserve and expand affordable housing and diversify housing types across the city that support residents of all abilities through different stages of life ? High quality and accessible educational opportunities. Citizens of Palmdale seek to promote and expand educational opportunities in the City including higher education, trade school, and formal and informal training programs ? Beautiful natural setting. The Palmdale community values its natural setting and seeks to improve connectivity to trails and open space, maintain mountain views, healthy air quality, and dark night sky ? Forefront of transportation innovations. On the cusp of major regional transportation improvements, Palmdale seeks to leverage planned investments and improve local transit opportunities ? General Plan implementation. Residents of Palmdale value the long-term vision of the General Plan Update and desire regular review and update of the Plan including metrics for tracking implementation Palmdale 2045 identifies major strategies and physical improvements for the City over the next 23 years. These strategies include creating a vibrant downtown near the future multimodal transit station, establishing three health and wellness districts and two education districts, transforming Palmdale Boulevard into a mixed-use corridor, promoting a diversity of housing types in the City, forming village centers that offer a mix of residential choices and daily goods and services near existing neighborhoods, and building off existing industrial and aerospace business opportunities. These strategies will support existing and future employees, businesses, and residents by improving quality of life in Palmdale. The following actions will also be taken by the City of Palmdale in connection with the General Plan Update and are also considered part of the proposed project to be analyzed in the forthcoming EIR: ? Adoption and implementation of the General Plan Update (Palmdale 2045 Plan) ? Adoption and implementation of the Climate Action Plan ? Adoption and implementation of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Amendment ? A slight expansion of the boundary of the Palmdale Transit Area Specific Plan. Currently, many of the parcels along the external boundary of this Specific Plan area have split zoning because they are partly inside and partly outside the Specific Plan area. This proposed expansion would fully include these parcels within the Specific Plan area. Because the Specific Plan area is in the core of the city, this action would not affect the Planning Area of the proposed General Plan Update or require annexations. Palmdale 2045 also includes an update of the City’s Housing Element, in compliance with the requirements of State Housing Element law, which required the City to adopt an updated Housing Element by October 2021. A description of City actions taken to date in connection with the Housing Element Update is included in Section 2.3.2 of this EIR. While an Addendum was prepared for the Housing Element Update, the Housing Element Update is also analyzed in this EIR, as necessary, in the context of the overall Plan. The Housing Element Update will be readopted as part of the Plan after certification by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

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