CCMIN 05182021 - Laserfiche WebLink

increased statewide for this sixth cycle. She reported the City has produced a substantial excess of above-moderate units over each of the last two housing cycles but is significantly short in all other categories, including the overall totals. She explained this is a common theme and not unique to Pleasanton. Ms. Murillo reported the Area Median Income (AMI) for Alameda County includes thresholds for a family of four with extremely-low income being below $39,150, very-low-income being below $65,250, low income being below $104,400, and moderate-income being below $143,050. She advised housing must cost no more than 30% of these income levels to be considered affordable. Ms. Murillo reported the process is expected to take 18 months ending with the adoption of the City's Housing Element to meet the State's January 2023 deadline. She advised there will be many public meetings around milestones including having a Draft Housing Element available in June 2022. Associate Planner Hagen detailed roles for the City Council, Planning Commission, and Housing Commission as a part of policy creation and public outreach. She advised in addition to City Council and Commission meetings, the City plans to hold smaller general community meetings with smaller groups of residents and stakeholders with a specific shared interest such as non-profits and frequent local housing developers. She advised initial meetings will be held in the next month or two and noted the City has launched a Housing Element-specific website. Associate Planner Hagen reported a discussion of key planning considerations that occurred before the City Council in September 2020 and was presented to the Planning Commission and Housing Commission for the first time this week. She advised a primary focus is in identifying and ultimately rezoning potential building sites noting a preliminary analysis of current carry-over sites indicates there will be a need to identify at least 250 additional acres for potential development. She advised the no net loss provisions of SB 166 are particularly challenging as the City must now identify more sites if a previously identified one is not built to its full density at a specific income category. She advised this will likely require the City to have a list of secondary sites ready and/or buffer zones around determined sites as many projects during the current cycle have been built to less than maximum density. She noted the City Council previously discussed the possibility of allowing for high density in this cycle and allowing for the rezoning of fewer potential sites but noted it also poses potential challenges for neighborhood impact. Associate Planner Hagen advised there needs to be criteria set by the City Council for ranking and selecting sites based on factors such as access to transportation. She explained the City will need to consider creative strategies to encourage more affordable housing production based upon the City's less successful below-market-rate results from the past two housing cycles. Associate Planner Hagen reported both the Housing Commission and Planning Commission provided similar feedback including a consistent desire to deliver affordable housing units using best practices more successfully from other communities. She advised both Commissions were supportive of the Draft PPP for providing flexibility but requested advised emphasis on working closely with key stakeholders on affordable unit strategies. Associate Planner Hagen reported the next step for staff and LWC is to take the feedback from City Council and the commissions to initiate their work with the goal of an introductory community meeting in late June and introductory stakeholder meetings in early summer. She advised staff's recommendation is to receive this report and provide input on both key planning considerations and the Draft PPP. In response to Councilmember Narum's inquiry, Director Clark confirmed staff has begun the process of creating objective design standards with the Planning Commission. She reported they decided it would be best done in steps, first looking at existing design standards and then expanding the City Council Minutes Page 4 of 10 May 18. 2021