HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-08-06 City Council (5)City of Palo Alto
City Manager’s Report
TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
ATTENTION: POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE
FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: PLANNING-
AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT
DATE:
SUBJECT:
AUGUST 6, 2001 CMR: 330:01
TIMELINE FOR ADDITIONAL HOUSING ASSIGNMENTS
FOR THE PLANNING DIVISION
This is an informational report and no Council action is required. The purpose of this
report is to inform the Council of the timeline on which Planning Division staff will be
able to respond to a number of new assignments and priorities originating in the Policy
and Services Committee.
BACKGROUND
The Policy and Services (P&S) Committee has requested that the Planning Division
begin either new work assignments or accelerate existing work assignments related to
affordable housing. The work assignments that the P&S Committee has identified
include:
¯"legalizing" existing illegal accessory living units;
¯immediate implementation, through the Zoning Ordinance Update effort, of existing
policies and programs in the Housing Element that directly address affordable
housing;
¯creation of a rental housing inspection program; and
¯reevaluation of and revisions to the existing Below Market Rate (BMR) housing
program.
DISCUSSION
Three of the four assignments identified above are not currently included in the
Division’s work program ("legalizing" illegal accessory units, creating a rental inspection
program and reevaluating the existing BMR program). The fourth item (implementing
existing affordable housing policies and programs through the Zoning Ordinance Update)
is included in the Zoning Ordinance Update issues list, as are all Comprehensive Plan
programs identified to be implemented as part of the comprehensive Zoning Ordinance
Update. However, these issues are scheduled to be addressed later in the update effort.
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Planning staff has significant concerns about the Division’s ability to take on and
successfully complete new work assignments at this time. Presently the Planning
Division has a full workload, including: long-term planning studies such as the E1
Camino Real corridor study; housing program implementation including the South of
Forest Area (SOFA) affordable housing project: Community Development Block Gr~int
administration; Housing Element Update required to be completed this calendar year;
Phase 2 of the SOFA coordinated area plan; major revisions to the single-family review
process and municipal code requirements; the Zoning Ordinance Update; geographic
information system development and computer applications; data management including
the 2000 census data; historic preservation; and development review activities.
The Planning Division also has concerns about the content of the assignments in addition
to the existing full workload.
Legalizing Existing Accessory Living Units:
The effectiveness of "legalizing" existing illegal accessory living units would need to be
evaluated carefully. The City wouldn’t want to "legalize" the units without bringing them
into compliance with the building code for health and safety reasons. Legalizing these
units, however, would not result in an increased housing stock since the units are already
existing and could result in property owners spending money to bring the units up to
building code standards and raising rents to cover the costs of the upgrades, thereby
reducing their affordability. Furthermore, in some cases the units may not be capable of
meeting the code requirements, resulting in a loss of units. Evaluating the effectiveness
of such an effort needs to be discussed in more detail prior to beginning the assignment.
Rental Housing Inspection Program:
The City estimates that there are between 7,000 and 9,000 rental units citywide. There is
a current rental housing inspection program that is conducted on an as-requested basis.
When a resident or property owner requests an inspection of a rental unit, a building
inspector conducts the inspection and informs the owner or tenant of changes that are
required to bring the unit into compliance with the Uniform Building Code (UBC).
Currently the City receives approximately five to six requests a year for such inspections.
Although expanding the rental housing inspection program has been broached a number
of times recently, the need has not been established for such an expansion.
Modifying and expanding the rental housing inspection program would require a
significant amount of existing staff time and resources and would require additional
housing inspectors and staff support. Depending upon the frequency of inspections, an
individual inspector could be inspecting up to 3,000 units yearly or on some other regular
basis. The inspections would be cost recovery, but an appropriate fee would need to be
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ascertained. This fee could then be incorporated into the housing registry fee (the subject
of a separate staff report from the City Attorney in this Council packet). The appropriate
Department to administer such a program would also need to be established. These
variables would all need to be addressed in a detailed effort to evaluate the need and
effectiveness of such a program.
Revising the Existing BMR Program:
A suggestion has been made that the mechanics of the existing Below Market Rate
(BMR) program need to be reevaluated and changed. Staff anticipates making
modifications to the BMR program as part of the Housing Element update that will be
completed by the end of this calendar year. As part of that update, the percentage of the
total number of housing units in a project that are required to be below market rate would
be evaluated and could be increased. Staff is not anticipating making major changes to
the rest of the program because, as stated above regarding the rental housing program,
there is no demonstrated need for a revised BMR program. The City’s existing BMR
program has been effective and is a model for many other cities. Furthermore, there are
no staff resources available to complete a reevaluation of the Program.
Accelerating Implementation of Existing Affordable Housing Policies through the Zoning
Ordinance Update process:
Staff does not recommend accelerating the implementation of affordable housing policies
as part of the Zoning Ordinance Update. A work program and timeline for the Zoning
Ordinance Update has been developed and approved by the Planning and Transportation
Commission and the City Council that addresses housing issues after the broader
questions of land use categgries and use definitions have been addressed. The Zoning
Ordinance Update is intended to bring the entire ordinance into compliance with goals,
policies and programs in the Comprehensive Plan. Many of the housing policies and
programs, such as Program H-12,. which states that development fee waivers could be
allowed as a means of promoting development of affordable housing wouldn’t ordinarily
be addressed in a zoning ordinance. Similarly, Policy H-6, which calls for the reduction
of governmental and regulatory constraints to the production of affordable housing is a
much larger topic than zoning constraints. Those goals, programs and policies that do
relate to the zoning ordinance, such as Program H-11, which calls for the elimination of
site and design review for mixed use projects, will be handled through the Zoning
Ordinance Update and will be presented to the community and decision-makers as a
comprehensive package so that all trade-offs can be identified and weighed against one
another before final decisions about zoning ordinance changes are made. Staff believes
this will result in a more balanced and informed approach to the zoning ordinance update
and will enable the consequences of all the changes taken together to be identified prior
to making decisions.
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Timeframe:
A realistic timeframe for undertaking these assignments would be to begin such analys.is
approximately ten to twelve months from now. This modified timeframe would allow
time for a new Director Of Planning and Community Environment to be recruited and the
new Director time to become familiar with the overall City goals and Department work
program as well as with specific housing issues. It would also give executive staff
sufficient time to determine the appropriate department responsible for the assignments.
Planning staff further suggests that implementing the policies and programs in the
Housing Element that specifically address affordable housing and are identified as issues
for the Zoning Ordinance Update should remain as currently scheduled and should not be
accelerated for the reasons mentioned above.
PREPARED BY:
LISA GROTE
Chief Planning Official
DEPARTMENT HEAD REVIEW:
Director of Planning and Community Environment
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
Assistant City Manager
cc:Human Relations Commissioners
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