CCMIN 11022021 - Laserfiche WebLink

protection adopted by voters. She noted this is an opt-in bill so the City Council would have to choose to move forward with adoption to enact it. SB 478 by Senator Weiner intends to relax development standards to facilitate more housing production, especially small multi-family projects. She advised it states that the City cannot impose a floor area ratio (FAR) standard less than 1.0 for housing development projects of 3 to 7 units or FAR less than 1.25 on housing development projects of 8 to 10 units within mixed-use or multi-family zones. It also prevents the City from using lot coverage as a way to preclude a housing development project from achieving FAR requirements of the law. She advised the FAR limitations in the bill are quite a bit higher than the City's current multi-family FAR ratios and would be more of an impact for some of the multi-family residential zoning districts. Assistant to the City Manager Hopkins reported the State legislative calendar for 2022 has been released and the State Legislature will reconvene on January 3, 2022. February 18, 2022 is the last day for bills to be introduced with the last day for each House to pass bills being August 31, 2022. She anticipates a continued focus on housing legislation, COVID-19 recovery, climate-related issues, especially water, drought, and energy, and transportation. The City will continue to work with the TVC, Townsend Public Affairs, and the League of California Cities for the next legislative session and be prepared to continue moving forward with Pleasanton's advocacy efforts. Mayor Brown opened public comment. There being no speakers, public comment was closed. Councilmember Testa reported she was recently in a meeting with Senator Mike McGuire regarding SB 9 and SB 10 and noted he believes both the Senate and Assembly will be advancing SB-like bills in the coming months. In response to Councilmember Testa, Director Clark explained SB 9 will allow the City to apply owner- occupancy requirements staff is looking to include those in the local ordinance. She confirmed the current draft of the ordinance does not include a deed restriction requirement and noted there is some complexity when you start to think about how it would play out. The City typically exempts smaller projects from its affordable housing inclusionary requirement. Staff could look at doing something different but there would be some practical considerations to think about and work through. She confirmed these projects are subject to the City's in-lieu housing fees so it would be required to contribute towards affordable housing production. Councilmember Testa requested staff explore those options. Director Clark explained unlike Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) the State has not set any limits on the fees that can be applied to SB 9 units. She expects to be able to charge the same range of fees that are charged to any single-family development in terms of water, sewer, traffic, and affordable housing. In response to Councilmember Testa, Director Clark advised the ordinance staff proposes to bring forward incorporates reference to the historic survey that was completed in 2015 that identifies a list of historic properties and to define those in the same manner as a locally designated historic resource which would be exempt from SB 9. An official determination from the State is needed if the units can be counted in the current RHNA cycle. She confirmed they can be counted in the Annual Planning Report. In response to Councilmember Testa, Director Clark advised the State can tighten the HOA exemption as it sees fit. She advised staff intends to send a letter to all of the City's HOA contacts to notify them of this bill so they can take action. She noted she is unsure how many existing CC&Rs might preclude SB 9 units and believes it will depend on the by-laws to make that determination. In response to Councilmember Arkin, Director Clark advised AB 602 could affect any impact fee such as the City's Inclusionary Housing Fee should the City want to increase those fees. She explained the City Council Minutes Page 8 of 19 November 2,2021