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8.A. - Page 13 of 21 3. On-call planning services - At the same meeting, City Council also approved contracts with three professional planning firms to provide on-call assistance for the Gatekeeper projects. The Planning Division anticipates using these on-call services to help process some of these projects. 4. Grants - On November 25, 2019 and May 18, 2020, City Council approved resolutions for non- competitive grants (SB2 funds and LEAP grant respectively), totaling $610,000 in financial assistance for long range planning activities that plan for additional housing or accelerate the production of housing. The S132 grant has been awarded and staff awaits response on the LEAP grant, which is anticipated to be awarded in 2021. The City committed to using these funds, if granted, toward the community visioning process for the Central Redwood City Plan and future updates to the Housing Element, following the upcoming cycle 6 of the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). While these funds will go towards efforts to increase housing production within the city, these funds will not be used towards processing the Gatekeeper projects 5. Sequoia Station Update: On February 24, 2020, City Council considered an initiation for the Sequoia Station project within the Transit District. The Council declined to initiate the project at that time and instead instructed staff to lead a Transit District community engagement process and consider issues of height and jobs -housing balance, as well as other community priorities. Since that time, staff has worked on a community engagement plan, which was temporarily halted due to Covid-19. Community outreach is scheduled to start in October and the applicant has continued to work on project revisions that address concerns with height and housing, and staff has continued technical work. This item is scheduled to return to Council in January 2021. Staff will be able to provide an update on workforce capacity and financial impacts at the anticipated October 12, 2020 City Council meeting when the City Council determines whether to proceed with any of the Gatekeeper projects. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Projects that move forward under the Gatekeeper process would have to undergo environmental and project review. Structuring multiple environmental review processes will be challenging, as multiple project -specific Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) at one time could be highly complex and inefficient. If General Plan Amendment projects in the DTPP are directed to proceed, staff recommend some options for more efficient CEQA processing. Amendments to the DTPP caps could be considered with a program - level EIR with streamlining options for individual project review and the same development standards as outlined in the existing DTPP. Environmental review under the existing DTPP could likely be completed within 15-18 months from the General Plan initiation date. However, some other key considerations include: • Cost Sharing: It could be difficult to determine a fair share contribution for all of the projects involved in the supplemental EIR analysis. Page 13 of 15 . MMIM . City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore 94