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San Francisco Bay Area Draft Regional Housing Needs Allocation, 4th Revision regional policies in Projecrions assume that relatively more job growth will occur in existing urbanized communities and near transit, while less growth is projected in outlying communities with no transit infrastructure, including those with agricultural areas and open space. In addition, regional assumptions would promote greater use of public transportation through increased job development near transit. C. Household Growth near Transit, 10 Percent; Employment Growth near Transit, 10 Percent Each local jurisdiction with an existing or planned transit station should plan for more housing near such stations. As a factor, "household growth near transit" allocates 10 percent of the regional housing need to jurisdictions based on their forecasted household growth near existing or planned transit stations. As a factor, "employment growth near transit" allocates 10 percent of the regional housing need to jurisdictions based on their forecasted employment growth near existing or planned transit stations. Transit is defined as areas with fixed-alignment public transit, both existing and planned. The transit services included are: Altamont Commuter Express (ACE), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Caltrain, San Francisco MUNI light rail, and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail, and ferries. Planned transit stations include all fixed transit stations in the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Regional Transportation Plan, Track One. Growth near transit is defined as household or employment growth within one-half mile of an existing or planned transit station, but eliminating any overlap between stations located within one mile of each other. Incorporating a transit factor directly into the methodology would, in effect, give extra weight to this state and regional objective. This is because a transit-based policy is already incorporated into ABAG's policy-based Projections. Current regional policy places incrementally more growth along major transportation corridors and at transit stations. Therefore, a housing need allocation that uses regional housing growth and employment as factors would indirectly include "transit" as a policy issue in the allocation methodology. Using transit as a direct factor in the methodology would give transit a greater degree of policy weight. Those jurisdictions with transit stations, existing and planned, would receive a relatively higher proportion of the housing needs allocation than those jurisdictions without existing or planned transit stations. Despite some objections, the HMC recommends that transit be used as a direct factor. This was due, in part, to the expectation that impacts of the policy assumptions in Projections will not begin to take effect until 20 I O. Directing growth to areas with public transit in the allocation methodology would ensure that this regional policy influences development patterns during the 2007-2014 RHNA period. Use of these factors would address the state RHNA objectives and regional goals of encouraging the use of public transit and the efficient use of transportation infrastructure. Directing housing need to areas near transit would also promote infill development, as existing transit stations are primarily in existing urbanized areas in the region. The effect of the addition of planned transit stations in the allocation methodology is that a relatively higher share of the regional allocation is given to jurisdictions that will receive November 2006, Page 10