Update Process

The City of Santa Ana began outreach efforts in the fall of 2015 with a kick-off meeting and one-on-one meetings with City Council. By late 2016, the City had conducted 40 meetings and engaged 485 diverse community members through various in-person workshops and public events.

Community workshops were held with local service organizations, youth representatives, seniors, the business community, and neighborhood leaders. In addition to these focus groups, outreach meetings were held in each of the six City Council Wards.

As part of the City’s commitment to local engagement, over 162 Santa Ana youth participated in a summer outreach effort to gather feedback and encourage youth involvement in the update of the Santa Ana General Plan. Their input resulted in the creation of an easy to understand infographic, the establishment of a social media campaign utilizing a customized hashtag (#SantaAnaGeneralPlan), and a series of pop-up events throughout Santa Ana.

In organizing and reviewing community comments, a number of reoccurring topics or themes were identified. These themes and related comments shared by the community are provided below.

• Arts and Culture
• Housing & Neighborhoods
• Business & Economic Development
• Human Services & Social Justice
• Community Facilities & Programs
• Mobility
• Community Safety
• Visual Character & Design
• Health & Sustainability
• Youth Development

The General Plan Advisory Group (GPAG) was formed in 2017 with the stated goal of having a representative sample of various constituent groups help shape the update effort. The GPAG was comprised of 17 members of the public, bringing perspectives from youth, planning commissioners, business owners, community advocacy leaders, and residents. A total of 14 meetings were held over the course of ten months to review, extrapolate, and incorporate the input into the General Plan update process.

The GPAG reviewed and provided feedback on 39 goals and 299 policies through small group discussions. Workshop meetings also included small group exercises to help develop the framework and outreach components of the General Plan update. The GPAG also participated in an exercise to identify areas suited for future development opportunities.

In total, the GPAG assisted with refining community input to create four vision statements, five core values, and three land use maps.

After initial outreach and GPAG dialogue, the Interagency General Plan Technical Advisory Committee (GPTAC) was formed to refine draft goals, policies, and land use focus areas. The resulting draft General Plan Policy Framework was released in late 2018, including the Vision Statement, Core Values, 37 Goals, 288 Policies and five Focus Areas.

The five Focus Areas (see below) represented areas that could provide new housing options, encourage a range of businesses, promote access and linkages to leisure amenities, preserve industrial land, and concentrate development along transit corridors.

• South Main Street
• Grand/17th Street
• West Santa Ana Boulevard (OC Streetcar)
• 55 Freeway/Dyer Road
• South Bristol Street

The City conducted a series of community workshops (one per Focus Area) and distributed an online survey to introduce potential new land use designations, affirm the Core Values and Vision Statement, and obtain feedback on preferred land use alternatives and the overall direction of the City’s Land Use Plan.

The City developed two scenarios for each Focus Area, generally offering a lower and higher density options. Results of the workshops and land use surveys helped guide the preferred land use option studied for environmental analysis.

Although the core values of health and equity led to a number of policies and actions designed to address the topic of environmental justice, the City conducted additional analysis, roundtables, and public engagement in 2020 to ensure Santa Ana’s disadvantaged communities had opportunities to share their experiences and concerns.

The City released a Draft General Plan and Draft program environmental impact report (PEIR) in August 2020 and a Final EIR shortly after. Based on community input at the Planning Commission public hearing, the City opted to extend outreach efforts on environmental justice and recirculate the Draft PEIR on the topics of open space and air quality.

After additional efforts between Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, the City had conducted a multifaceted environmental justice outreach campaign consisting of two virtual community workshops, 10 community forums (centrally located to affected communities), and a multilingual survey, with flyers and meeting materials provided in multiple languages. The ideas and feedback communicated by residents and stakeholders led directly to revised and new policies and implementation actions.

In August 2021, the City released a revised Draft General Plan and a recirculated Draft PEIR, followed by the Final recirculated PEIR in October 2021. Public hearings were completed in November and December, with the City Council adopting the updated General Plan and certifying the PEIR in December 2021.

While amendments can be made to the General Plan, they should be infrequent and based on significant and permanent changes to the context and assumptions that served as the foundation for this General Plan. Any changes or amendments to the General Plan must be consistent with the City’s Vision and Core Values as well as any relevant goals and policies elsewhere in the General Plan.

There is no set, explicitly, or quantified timeframe for a comprehensive update. The City conducts an annual review of the General Plan to assess the level of implementation and effectiveness of the goals, policies, and actions. This review is formerly reviewed by City Council and submitted to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. A more extensive review of the overall General Plan may be warranted every five years (jurisdictions typically plan for comprehensive updates every 10–15 years).

As Santa Ana is a charter city, updates to individual elements can take place as needed. The most common update is an amendment to the Land Use Map as property owners seek to develop something different from what is currently allowed.

The Housing Element is updated every eight years in connection with regional transportation planning efforts. The topic of safety must be reviewed by jurisdictions upon subsequent updates of the Housing Element. The topic of environmental justice must be reviewed upon the subsequent and concurrent update of any two or more elements. Based on the connection between housing and safety updates, the three topics can be expected to reviewed every eight years.