Under state law, before a redevelopment effort can be initiated within an area, the Board of Supervisors must adopt a resolution designating the area as a "survey area." This provides a legal framework by which the Agency can determine and document the nature of the economic and physical problems in the area, to work with the community to develop a plan aimed at eliminating these problems and determine whether redevelopment should be one of the methods of addressing such problems.
In many cases, a concept plan is prepared with the involvement of the Agency, the Planning Department and other City departments that will be involved in an area's revitalization. A concept plan addresses a broad range of issues that are important to an area's revitalization. Among them may be redevelopment.
Should it be determined that redevelopment is appropriate, there are several basic steps required to move a project from the survey area stage to the full implementation stage. After the Board of Supervisors has declared a survey area and determined the boundary for the area, the Agency must conduct the necessary surveys and analyses to assist in development of a preliminary plan. This plan must be approved by the Planning Commission. The development of this preliminary plan is a collaborative effort with the community and its citizen advisory committee.
Once the preliminary plan is approved, this plan and alternatives to it must then be subjected to the required environmental review process. Simultaneously, the preliminary plan is refined and further detailed in an effort to move toward approval of a final plan. Since the Planning Commission must approve the final plan with respect to its conformity with the City's General Plan, it maybe necessary to process General Plan amendments while the final plan is being developed and the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) performed.
After the final plan has been developed, the General Plan conformity finding made by the Planning Commission and the EIR completed, the plan can be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors for its consideration. It can accept, modify or reject the plan. The final plan may have boundaries smaller than the original survey area, but may not be larger.
The entire process of moving from survey area designation to final plan adoption takes from 20 to 36 months, depending on the complexity of the effort proposed in the area and the degree of consensus which can be achieved around the plan.
