City of Santa Paula General Plan Safety Element Table of Contents Page No. I. Purpose and Authority .................................................................................................... S-1 II. Existing Conditions and Issues ...................................................................................... S-3 A. Seismic and Geologic Hazards ............................................................................. S-6 B. .. Flood Hazards ....................................................................................................... S-12 C... Fire Hazards .......................................................................................................... S-15 D. Hazardous Materials and Emergency Preparedness ...................................... S-17 E. .. Aircraft Hazards ................................................................................................... S-21 F. .. Police Protection ................................................................................................... S-24 G. Other Public Safety Hazards............................................................................... S-25 III. Goals, Objectives, and Policies ..................................................................................... S-32 IV. Implementation Measures ............................................................................................ S-43 V. Technical Appendices................................................................................................... S-A1 Existing Conditions and Issues ................................................................................ S-A1 Seismic Hazards ......................................................................................................... S-A3 Geologic Hazards ..................................................................................................... S-A10 Soil Hazards .............................................................................................................. S-A14 Flood Hazards .......................................................................................................... S-A15 Fire Hazards ............................................................................................................. S-A17 Hazardous Materials ............................................................................................... S-A22 Aircraft Hazards ...................................................................................................... S-A24 Oil Wells and Oil Sumps ......................................................................................... S-A25 Critical Facilities ....................................................................................................... S-A27 Lifeline Facilities ...................................................................................................... S-A27 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. S-A29 List of Figures S-1 Select Faults in the Santa Paula Planning Area ..................................................... S-5 S-2 Seismic and Geologic Hazard Areas ....................................................................... S-9 S-3 Geotechnical Hazards ............................................................................................. S-11 S-4 Flood Hazards .......................................................................................................... S-13 S-5 Fire Hazard Zones ................................................................................................... S-19 i S-6 Evacuation Routes ................................................................................................... S-20 S-7 Air Safety and Height Restriction Zones ............................................................. S-22 S-8 Crude Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines ................................................................... S-26 S-9 Critical Facilities....................................................................................................... S-29 S-10 Lifeline Facilities ...................................................................................................... S-31 List of Tables S-1 Estimated Ground Accelerations and Intensities ................................................. S-6 S-2 Dams in the Santa Paula Area ............................................................................... S-14 S-3 Land Use Guidelines for Airport Safety Compatibility ..................................... S-23 ii I. PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY The City of Santa Paula has prepared this revised Safety Element of the General Plan in compliance with California State law. This document supersedes the Seismic Safety Element prepared for the City in 1974 by the Ventura County Environmental Resources Agency, Planning Division. It complements and is consistent with the goals and policies and other elements that make up the City of Santa Paula General Plan. The adoption or amendment of a general plan is a legislative act. The Safety Element, and all elements of the General Plan, have equal legal status. City staff determined that an updated Safety Element was necessary to expand and localize safety issues specifically for Santa Paula. The updated Safety Element should assist the City in planning for hazards and responding to disasters by serving the following functions: Providing an accurate and updated assessment of the natural and human-related hazards in the City, including, but not limited to, earthquakes, landslides, subsidence/settlement, expansive soils, liquefaction, seiche, dam inundation, fire, flood, and release of hazardous materials; Providing a framework by which safety considerations are introduced into the land use planning process; Recommending revisions in the development review process, by facilitating the identification and mitigation of hazards; Providing policies directed at identifying and reducing hazards; and Strengthening earthquake, inundation, fire, flood, and hazardous materials preparedness specific to Santa Paula. The Safety Element became a mandatory part of the general plan in 1975 when the State Legislature adopted SB 271 (Chapter 1104). The initial legislation focused on the adoption of policies relating to fire safety, flooding, and geologic hazards. In 1984 the State revised the Legislation (AB 2038; Chapter 1009) expanding the list of safety element issues and combining the Safety Element and Seismic Safety Element into a single document. The focus of the Safety Element is to adopt policies that will .. “reduce death, injuries, property damage, and the economic and social dislocation resulting from natural hazards.” Although the emphasis is on fire, flooding, geologic, and seismic hazards, other relevant safety issues include hazardous materials, aircraft safety, police protection, crude oil operations within the planning area, and critical and lifeline facilities. Section 65302 (g) of the Government Code Section specifies that: The general plan shall include a safety element for the protection of the community from any unreasonable risks associated with the effects of seismically induced surface rupture, ground shaking, ground failure, tsunami, seiche, and dam failure; slope instability leading to mudslides and landslides; subsidence and other geologic hazards known to the legislative body; flooding; and wild land and urban fires. The safety element shall include mapping of known seismic and other geologic hazards. It shall also address evacuation routes, peakload water supply S-1 requirements, and minimum road widths and clearances around structures, as those items relate to identified fire and geologic hazards. Other pertinent sections of the California code pertaining to geologic and seismic hazards include (Government Code Section 65302.5 and Public Resources Code 2697, 2699 and 4102). Sections pertaining to Fire include Public Resources Code 4125 and 4128.5. Copies of these applicable Code sections are included as an Appendix to this document. The Safety Element is consistent with the other elements of the General Plan, supporting and complementing the Plan’s goals and policies and the related elements. The Land Use Element establishes use and density designations, and controls zoning for all land Citywide. Therefore, the Safety Element considers use and density based upon the degree of hazard that may be present. Similarly, the Housing and Conservation and Open Space Elements address land that may be set aside for certain specific purposes. Decisions regarding the location of multi-family housing, for example, will be better informed when framed within data related to the City’s safety hazards and emergency service provision. Open space designations are commonly linked to areas of geologic or flood hazard. The Circulation Element emphasizes transportation issues, which relates to the provision of emergency response in the event of a disaster. This Safety Element is designed to provide the input necessary to assist the City of Santa Paula in achieving balanced planning decisions. It recognizes the importance of the public safety, and the need to integrate safety concerns with other local issues. S-2 II. EXISTING CONDITIONS AND ISSUES The City of Santa Paula is situated in the Santa Clara River Valley of central Ventura County. The City boundaries cover about 4.5 square miles. The City’s planning area, which includes adjacent unincorporated areas