RES 12574 - Laserfiche WebLink

The Housing Element includes Program 29.2 to amend and update the Growth Management Ordinance to reflect infrastructure conditions and housing needs. The intent of the amendment is to provide a system that, in addition to acknowledging infrastructure limitations on growth, (a) incorporates the City's RHNA obligations, (b) is more efficient for the applicant and the City to implement, and (c) includes flexible unit phasing to accommodate the anticipated increase in . higher density (30 units per acre or more) multi-family development that is less conducive to unit phasing than low-density subdivisions of detached homes. Urban Growth Boundary The City's Urban Growth Boundary has been incorporated into Pleasanton's General Plan as an expression of the practical limits to the City's physical boundaries. The northern and parts of the eastern boundary lines represent other City limits, Dublin and Livermore, respectively, beyond which Pleasanton cannot extend. The western and southern boundaries, comprised of steep slopes and ridgelands, reflect the joint policies of the City, Alameda County, and the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to avoid development in topographically and environmentally constrained lands and encourage development within in-fill areas of existing City limits. Its intent is not to limit growth but to promote"smart growth" by focusing new housing in areas which can be readily serviced and which avoid major environmental issues. The City's analysis of approved and potential new units shows that the City can meet its share of the regional housing needs within its Urban Growth Boundary. East Pleasanton is the only area where the Urban Growth Boundary limits the extent of development in an area where development is feasible. In this area, approximately 100 acres of incorporated land lies outside the Urban Growth Boundary, approximately 75 acres of which is potentially developable as residential uses. (The other 25 acres is located within the Livermore Airport Protection Area which prohibits residential development.) However, the East Pleasanton Specific Plan area also includes approximately 100 acres of vacant land remediated from previous mining operations that are within the City limits and within the Urban Growth Boundary. As such, the boundary serves to discourage sprawl but still provides sufficient land within its borders to accommodate several decades of growth without impact to cost, supply, timing, and affordability of housing. The City can also be pro-active in the attainment of housing affordability. Sending positive signals to non-profit and for-profit developers interested in building affordable housing through incentives can attract such development to the City. Creating educational programs to inform the public what"affordable housing" developments can look like and that they are intended to house people who may already live and work in the community are positive steps which government can take to overcome perceptions and to facilitate housing to meet the community's needs. Evaluation of Inclusionary Zoning as a Constraint In 2000, the City's Housing Commission developed an Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance (IZO) which modified the City's requirements for the provision of affordable housing by the builders of new residential projects. With the increasing cost of housing in recent years and the diminishing availability of land, the Commission found it critical to increase the City's efforts to acquire City of Pleasanton Housing Element BACKGROUND—February 2012 101