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Planning Commission <br />City of Pleasanton <br />December 14, 2022 <br />Page 3 <br />II. “PUD Conformance Review” Should Provide for Streamlined Approval <br />Based on Objective Standards that Actually Allow for Development of <br />Units Contemplated in the HEU. <br />In response to the City’s earlier HEU draft, HCD raised concerns regarding a <br />requirement that many HEU sites undergo a secondary, discretionary, and project- <br />specific Planned Unit Development (“PUD”) rezoning process for approval.6 We <br />echo HCD’s concerns that requiring housing development projects to undergo this <br />secondary process introduces substantial extra time, cost, and uncertainty that <br />would act as a constraint to housing development. Such constraints are <br />fundamentally inconsistent with state housing law. (See Gov. Code, § 65583 (c)(3)7, <br />and Gov. Code, § 65589.58 (Housing Accountability Act (“HAA”).) To comply with <br />state housing law, the City should provide for a staff level, streamlined approval <br />process for projects that are consistent with the applicable, objective standards set <br />out in the General Plan. If the City intends to adopt ODS and comprehensive <br />amendments to its IZO, it should only do so after allowing sufficient community input <br />and review to ensure such changes do not impede housing development – it is <br />entirely appropriate for this to occur after the City adopts a substantially compliant <br />HEU. Moreover, it is likely necessary that the City’s new PUD process allow for the <br />same community input and review given that the City already has a PUD ordinance <br />and any changes to that ordinance must follow the rezoning procedures set forth in <br />the state Planning and Zoning Law. <br />A. The City Should Provide for Staff-Level, Streamlined Review of <br />Qualifying Housing Projects. <br />In response to HCD’s concerns regarding the PUD process, City staff propose a <br />new “PUD conformance review” where “sites identified for housing in the Housing <br />Element are reviewed strictly for conformance to applicable objective design <br />standards.” This new “streamlined” PUD process requires review by the Planning <br />Commission, but only to confirm that housing developments proposed on HEU sites <br />conform with Objective Design Standards (“ODS”). Projects unable to comply with <br />the ODS would undergo the City’s traditional and much more time-consuming <br />6 HCD’s November 14, 2022, letter expressed concerns that a discretionary PUD approval <br />process would constrain critically needed housing production by introducing extra time, cost, <br />and uncertainty in the approval process for such projects. And HCD’s letter specifically <br />explained that the HEU “must analyze” the PUD process for impacts on supply, cost, <br />financial feasibility, timing, and approval certainty. It is not clear that the proposed <br />modifications to the Draft HEU, ODS, and IZO include all of this mandatory analysis, <br />7 Government Code section 65583(c)(3) requires a Housing Element to address and, where <br />appropriate, remove governmental constraints to the development of new housing. <br />8 In support of its goals of addressing the state’s acute housing supply crisis, the HAA <br />constrains local agencies’ ability to deny housing development projects that comply with <br />applicable, objective general plan, zoning, and other development standards and criteria. <br />Exhibit D - ODS Public Comments - 01-11-23 PC - Page 3