County of Fresno ‘COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE PAUL NERLAND COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER April 21, 2022 The Honorable Rob Bonta, Attorney General Attn: Robert Swanson, Deputy Attorney General State of California, Department of Justice 1300 | Street, Suite 125 ‘Sacramento, CA 94244-2550 ‘Subject: Fresno County Draft General Plan Dear Attorney General Bonta and Deputy Attorney General Swanson: ‘The Gounty of Fresno isin receipt of your Ottice's letter dated March 29, 2022 ("Comment Letter). We look forward to collaboratively working with your Office to ensure the County's General Plan, which is currently in draft form, is in full compliance with all applicable laws, However, the County is quite concerned by the manner in which your Office made its first contact with the County in releasing the Comment Letter. The County received a single telephone cal from your Office a few days before the release of the Comment Letter to let the County know it was coming, with no opportunity for meaningful engagement on issues in a manner that would have allowed the County to respond to the concerns raised by your Ofice. While itis common, in the administrative process, to receive comments, from public agencies in response to the release of draft documents, it is uncommon to hhave such comments released simultaneously with a press release to various media ‘outlets and social media platforms, This approach gives the County the impression that the Comment Letters primary purpose was to place undue political pressure on the County by making conclusions based on broad assertions rather than the provision of ‘meaningful feedback, in an administrative process, that would improve this important draft document for our local community, And it does not build trust, of provide much needed thoughttul technical assistance, that we would expect to receive from your Office. Although the entire draft General Pian has been available for public review for the past eight months, this isthe first written comment that the County received from your Offic. ator Recs 2281 Tae Sweet Rom 304 eso Calf 8372) / 158) 6001710/ FASS 6003230 Ths cem testa eat Epa Opprune Employ‘The Honorable Rob Bonta, Attorney General Attn: Robert Swanson, Deputy Attomey General State of California, Department of Justice Subject: Fresno County Draft General Plan ‘April 24, 2022 Page 2 Itis disappointing that the Comment Letter seizes a single word (i., ‘shall’ ina new sentence," conceming industrial development, within Policy ED-A.7. Building on that, the Comment Letter makes a variety of assertions of an “unequivocal directive” concerning industrial development or redevelopment under the draft General Plan, and thereby draws. Unfair inferences to put the County in a bad light. For example, the Comment letter states that the County is ‘priortizing” or “targeting” Malaga and Calwa.? However, the Comment Letter barely acknowledges, in passing, a key, primary condition that Policy ED-A.7 seeks ‘an “initial focus” in such existing areas, as the logical place given their current planned fr authorized industrial uses, and in doing so, in no way excludes consideration of other areas within the County. In other words, the Comment Letter accuses the County of an intent to cause an unlawiully discriminatory effect, when no such intent is there.? ‘The Comment Letter does not acknowledge the fact that the adopted General Plan, Policy ED-A-7 currently provides, as its introduction: "The County shall encourage the location ‘of new industry within cities, and unincorporated communities.” The proposed revision in the Policy ED-A-7 instead would state: "The County shall encourage the location of new and expanding industry within Fresno County.” The Comment Letter does not acknowledge the fact that this new provision does not refer to “communities' and “cities” and the reference to expanding industry is to promate economic development, In any ‘event, nothing in the draft General Plan proposes any change to these designations ‘The Comment Letter fils to consider the County's real need to diversify its local economic base to create jobs and attract investment for the good of the entire region particularly those disadvantaged communities that are so in need of well-paying jobs. ‘The Comment Letter omits information that significant portions of Malaga and Calwa are ‘currently designated and zoned for commercial and industrial uses. It would have been useful to the County if your Office were to have engaged in discussions with the County prior to issuing the Comment Letter so that your Office could better understand the ‘County's General Plan policies and land uses, + The proposed new sentence in ED-A7 states: Initial focus on potential new or ‘redeveloped industrial areas shall include Malaga, Calwa, and the Golden State Industrial Corridor. The Comment Letter looks past the primary condition, “Intial focus,” and presumes that "shall" is mandatory. ® Comment Letter, Sec. |, pp. 1, Sec. Il, p. 4 8 The Comment Letter begrudgingly recognizes that the County is actively taking the following steps: "On March 22, 2022, the Board of Supervisors approved funding for consultants to prepare the climate vulnerability assessment and revise the draft climate adaptation and resilience goals, policies, objectives, and implementation measures.” (Comment Letter, Seo. V.,p. 8).The Honorable Rob Bonta, Attomey General Attn: Robert Swanson, Deputy Attorney General State of California, Department of Justice Subject: Fresno County Draft General Plan April 21, 2022 Page 3 Also, in addition to Policy ED-A.7 addressing new and expanding industries, it also addresses redevelopment of existing uses. Indeed, the need for potential redevelopment ‘of Malaga’s and Caiwa's existing areas reflects comments directly expressed by residents, ‘of both Malaga and Calwa. This policy facilitates the State's objectives of locating job- generating uses near existing urban centers, as well as the State's requirements and objectives with regard to reducing vehicle miles traveled ("VMT") and associated greenhouse gas emissions. ‘The Comment Letter’s unsupported comments regarding the County's compliance with Government Code section 65302 provided in advance of the County's final decision- making process do not promote the public interest to help the County to improve the ‘County's General Plan. It would have been more constructive if your Office were to have provided examples of acceptable environmental ustice policies from other counties of a simitar demographical and geographical nature, ‘The Comment Letter asks if your Office can be of assistance, that we should contact you (Comment Letter, Sec. V., p. 9). Therefore, we ask that your Office please timely provide specific examples of any acceptable environmental justice policies from any comparable county in the San Joaquin Valley. This would be welcome information that the County Would review as part of its continued endeavor adopt a legally compliant General Plan. In addition, we would appreciate knowing where else in the County does your Office advise that the County should encourage industrial development and redevelopment, and why, Furthermore, we would ike to know what, specifically, would your Office propose as a Solution for overcoming perceived vagueness concerning the County's draft Environmental Justice Element with respect to SB 1000. The Comment Letter seems to say that complying with the current law is not enough.‘ The Comment Letter simply says that these provisions are vague, and therefore unclear as to what, if any, impact these policies would have for disadvantaged communities in the County's planning area. But to simply receive such a comment is vague as well, and does not advance meaningful * The Comment Letter states, for example: “Fist, many of the policies are already required by state law or are so vague as to be unenforceable. For example, the draft General Plan would require development projects to incorporate mitigation for adverse eenvironmentalimpacts, a basic tenet ofthe California Environmental Quality Act. (General Plan Policy Document at p, 2-168,)...” (Comment Letter, Sec. IV, p. 7). We are frankly puzzled by the Comment Letter’s primary example of CEQA, incliding mitigation, as “so vague as to be unenforceable.”‘The Honorable Rob Bonta, Attorney General Attn: Robert Swanson, Deputy Attomey General ‘State of California, Department of Justice ‘Subject: Fresno County Draft General Plan April 21, 2022 Page 4 dialogue. We trust that your Office would have specific suggestions in mind that we could ‘consider. So, we ask that you please advise on that as well Finally, because the Comment Letter focuses on only a limited number of the several required general plan elements, the County would like to take this moment to observe that the Comment Letter brings to light the numerous conflicting requirements that the State has imposed on local jurisdictions, many of which disproportionally impact San Joaquin Valley counties, among them VMT policies and requirements that are directly at ‘odds with the policies you are espousing in the Comment Letter.® Locating the County's, job generating uses in rural areas far distant from residences would displace existing ‘agricultural resources, increase reliance upon groundwater, and require employees to drive extended distances, all of which are contrary to various State mandates, Rather than expending the State's resources asserting positions that are unsupported by ‘existing law or by County’s existing General Plan and zoning designations, we encourage your Office to work with the County and other San Joaquin Valley counties to seek specific Solutions that respond to the many challenges facing this unique region of California, If you would like to further discuss, | can be reached at (559) 600-1221 or via email at PNerland@fresnocountvca.gov. Paul Nerland County Administrative Officer County of Fresno ce: Fresno County Board of Supervisors Steven White, Director of Public Works & Planning Dan Cederborg, County Counsel Sarah Owsowitz, Of Counsel, Best, Best & Krieger Robert Swanson, Deputy Attorney General Mari Mayeda, Deputy Attorney General 5 There are several key State policies related to land use, housing, transportation, air quality, environmental justice, and the management of agricultural lands and water resources that do not align, making the task of preparing compliant General Plan provisions, policies and programs very difficult for local agencies.