The proposed project involves adoption of a citywide General Plan Amendment, Specific Plan amendments (Green Valley and Downtown Specific Plans), and Zoning and Subdivision Code amendments to implement the policies of the City’s certified 6th Cycle Housing Element and comply with State Housing Law. The project creates an overlay zone across 12 Housing Opportunity Areas that would continue to permit development under current zoning or allow activation of overlay zoning supporting up to 5,419 high-density multifamily residential units citywide.
Ganddini Group prepared a transportation study, a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) impact analysis, a noise impact analysis, and a combined air quality, greenhouse gas, health risk assessment, and energy impact analysis in support of the program’s citywide CEQA review. The transportation study evaluated roadway segment levels of service at full buildout of the Housing Opportunity Areas against the City’s General Plan Circulation Element forecasts. The VMT analysis screened each Housing Opportunity Area against transit-priority-area and citywide low-VMT criteria using the City’s baseline VMT per service population. The noise study assessed both the project’s contribution to roadway noise citywide and future noise exposure to housing built within the Opportunity Areas. The air quality study compared the proposed overlay’s construction and operational emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy demand directly against the previously-approved General Plan buildout scenario for the same sites.
The transportation study found that buildout would not require any roadway classification changes or widening beyond what the General Plan Circulation Element already contemplates. The VMT analysis found a less-than-significant citywide impact, with several Housing Opportunity Areas potentially eligible for transit-priority-area screening at the project-specific level. The noise study found impacts to surrounding uses less than significant, while future housing within the Opportunity Areas would require project-level noise studies to meet the state’s interior noise standard. The air quality analysis found operational emissions would exceed regional SCAQMD thresholds in absolute terms, but remain below those of the previously-approved General Plan buildout — so the project introduces no new significant impact — with greenhouse gas and energy impacts both less than significant.
A Mitigated Negative Declaration was adopted and a Notice of Determination was filed by the City of Perris in January 2025, formally approving the Housing Element implementation measures.