DATE:
December 12, 2022
TO:
Adam Politzer, Interim Executive Director
FROM:
Charles Bryant, Community Development Director
SUBJECT:
Resolution Of The City Council Of The City Of Emeryville Adopting The 2023–2031 Housing Element Of The City Of Emeryville General Plan And Approving It For Submittal To The California Department Of Housing And Community Development For Certification And Approving An Addendum To The General Plan EIR Recommendation
Staff recommends that the City Council review the 2023-2031 Housing Element, adopt the document, and approve it for submittal to the California Housing and Community Development Department (HCD) for certification.
Background
Since 1969, California has required that all cities and counties adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community. This is accomplished through the adoption of a Housing Element, which is a required component of a local government’s General Plan. The General Plan is a long-term planning document that helps craft the vision of the City. The purpose of a Housing Element is to identify current and projected housing needs, and to set goals, policies, and programs to address those needs.
Unlike other Elements of the General Plan, which may be updated at the discretion of each jurisdiction, California Government Code Sections 65580-65589.8 requires local jurisdictions to update the Housing Element of their General Plans every eight years, subject to the review and approval of the California Housing and Community Development Department (HCD). The City's current Housing Element (“5th Cycle”) was adopted by the City Council in 2014 and covers the period from 2015 to 2023.
For this next cycle (“6th Cycle”), an updated Housing Element covering the period from 2023 to 2031 must be adopted by January 31, 2023. The City hired the firm PlaceWorks to prepare the updated Housing Element; they have been working with staff to conduct public outreach and prepare the Housing Element.
Required Components of a Housing Element
Pursuant to Government Code Section 65583, local governments are required to include the following seven items as components within their Housing Elements. The third item (Chapter 5 of the attached Housing Element), Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), is a new required component introduced as part of the 6th Cycle.
Housing Needs Assessment (Chapter 3 of the attached Housing Element): Examine demographic, employment and housing trends and conditions and identify existing and projected housing needs of the community, with attention paid to special housing needs (e.g., large families, persons with disabilities). This Section includes a community’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) as determined by a community’s regional planning body in partnership with HCD.
Constraints Analysis (Chapter 4 of the attached Housing Element): Analyze and recommend remedies for existing and potential governmental and nongovernmental barriers to housing development.
AFFH (Chapter 5 of the attached Housing Element): Analyze and address significant disparities in housing needs and access to opportunity by proposing housing goals, objectives, and policies that aid in replacing segregated living patterns with truly integrated and balanced living patterns, transforming racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty into areas of opportunity. This Chapter includes maps and charts with extensive data required for the Housing Element.
Housing Sites Inventory (Chapter 6 of the attached Housing Element): Identify locations of available sites for housing development or redevelopment to demonstrate that there is enough land zoned for housing to meet future need at all income levels.
Evaluation of Past Performance (Chapter 7 of the attached Housing Element): Review the prior Housing Element to measure progress in implementing policies and programs.
Policies and Programs (Chapter 8 of the attached Housing Element): Establish policies and programs to be carried out during the 2023-2031 planning period to fulfill the identified housing needs.
Community Engagement (Appendix B of the attached Housing Element): Implement a robust community engagement program that includes reaching out to individuals and families at all economic levels of the community plus historically underrepresented groups.
Discussion
Regional Housing Needs Allocation
The foundation of the Housing Element is the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). The City’s RHNA is based in part on a determination of the region’s housing need issued by HCD (Regional Housing Needs Determination, or RHND). HCD released the RHND for the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) planning area (the nine Bay Area counties) in June 2020; it determined that the ABAG region needs to provide capacity for 441,176 total new housing units during the 2023-2031 planning period. ABAG prepared and adopted a methodology, which, in turn, allocated those units to each member jurisdiction for the next planning cycle.
Under the ABAG RHNA methodology, the City of Emeryville must accommodate 1,815 housing units to meet its “fair share” of the State’s housing need, which includes 710 lower income units. State housing law does not require the City to construct the allocated units within the planning period, but does require the Housing Element to demonstrate site development capacity to facilitate the construction of a variety of housing for all income levels consistent with the City’s RHNA.
State law (Government Code Sections 65583 and 65583.2) requires a parcel-specific inventory of suitable and appropriately zoned sites for the provision of housing for all income categories. Program JJ commits the City to maintaining and updating this inventory throughout the planning period to ensure that adequate sites to meet the RHNA remain available.
Figure 6-1 (Site Inventory Map) in the Housing Element, shown below as Figure 1, demonstrates that Emeryville has adequate sites to accommodate housing development that meets Emeryville’s RHNA. The Site Inventory Map includes 19 sites that provide a total capacity for 3,687 units and opportunities for the development of a variety of housing suitable for a range of household types and income levels. The inventory includes six approved projects (sites 1-6) in various stages of planning and construction, 2 vacant, and 11 nonvacant sites (sites 7-19) that are appropriate for housing development. This map does not include the 30 Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) that are included in Table 1, as they are considered non-site specific development opportunities.
Table 1 below demonstrates the unit breakdown for the 19 identified sites, showing that the City has the capacity to develop units at all income units required to meet the RHNA, for a total of 3,657 units. Table 1 does not include 30 anticipated ADUs to be developed during the 6th Cycle, as the anticipated ADU units are not linked to site-specific development opportunities.
Chapter 6 of the Housing Element provides site-specific details and tables that include information on each site, as well as more information on non-site specific development opportunities.
Figure 1: Site Inventory Map
Table 1: Emeryville’s 2023-2031 Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Income category
Maximum Income, Two Person Household
Units needed
% of total
Units Provided in Housing Element
Extremely Low and Very Low Income
< 50% AMI*
< $54,800
451
25%
770
Low Income
51 – 80% AMI
$54,801 - $87,700
259
14%
399
Moderate Income
81 – 120% AMI
$87,701 - $120,550
308
17%
620
Above Moderate Income
121% + AMI
> $120,551
797
44%
1,868
TOTAL
1,815
100%
3,657
*AMI = Area Median Income, Two-Person Household: $100,500; Four-Person Household: $125,600 Source: California Department of Housing and Community Development, State Income Limits for Alameda County, 2021; ABAG Final Regional Housing Needs Allocation 2023-2031 Goals, Policies, and Programs
Chapter 8 of the Housing Element includes:
5 Goals: to establishing the purpose of the Housing Element, 19 Policies: statements to guide decision making that relate to each goal, and 47 Programs: actions that the City will take to implement the policies to achieve the goals.
The five goals of the Housing Element are:
Goal H-1. New Housing Development: Facilitate the construction of a wide variety of housing types, for various income levels, in a manner that promotes environmental responsibility and long-term sustainability.
Goal H-2. Preservation: Conserve and improve the condition of the existing housing stock to enhance the livability of neighborhood(s) for all residents.
Goal H-3. Housing Needs: Ensure housing is accessible and affordable to very-low, low, and moderate income residents, with a priority for those with special needs.
Goal H-4. Fair Housing: Ensure community members have equitable access to safe, sanitary and affordable housing as protected under State and Federal Fair Housing Laws.
Goal H-5. Address Constraints: Reduce or remove governmental and nongovernmental constraints to the development, improvement, and maintenance of housing, where feasible.
Each program is designed to address and implement one or more goals and policies, and identifies who is responsible for implementation, the timeframe for implementation, and the funding source. For example, Program SS is as follows:
SS. Pro-Housing Designation. The City will seek a Prohousing Designation from the California Housing and Community Development for enacting favorable zoning and land use policies, policies to accelerate the production of housing, reduction of construction and development policies, and providing financial subsidies. The Prohousing designation will provide incentives, in the form of additional points or preferences in the scoring of competitive applications for housing and infrastructure.
Implements Policies: H-1-1; H-1-2; H-3-1
Responsible department/review authority: Economic Development and Housing Division, Planning Division, Planning Commission, City Council Timeframe: Implement required policies (Short Term)
Funding source: General Fund
Policies H-1-1 and H-1-2 are tied to Goal H-1 (new housing development), and Policy H-3-1 is tied to Goal H-3 (housing needs):
Policy H-1-1. Provide monetary and regulatory incentives for residential projects constructed specifically for lower- and moderate-income households.
Policy H-1-2. Explore innovative and creative housing options that provide greater flexibility in development and/or use, facilitate affordability, and meet the housing needs of all residents in the City.
Policy H-3-1. Utilize available federal, state, and local financing sources and subsidies to assist in making housing more affordable to very low-, low-, and moderate-income households.
Each program may include multiple items. For example, Program B lists three separate items to implement Policies H-1-2 and H-5-1, which work towards Goals 1 and 5:
B. Streamlining Planning Processes. The City will enact the following streamlined processes to accelerate the production of housing:
1. Streamlined and Ministerial Review for Eligible Affordable Housing Projects: The City will establish a written policy or procedure and other guidance, as appropriate, to ensure that eligible multifamily projects with an affordable component are provided streamlined review as outlined in Government Code, Section 65913.4 (SB 35).
2. Streamlined Process to Convert Single-Unit Homes to Two-Unit Homes: The City will seek opportunities to streamline the permitting process of converting single unit homes to two-unit homes, including the possibility of waiving the requirement for Planning Commission approval for projects that will exceed base FAR. (See also Program LL.)
3. Appeal Hearing Modification: The City will investigate the ability to eliminate the need for a Public Meeting to determine if a case warrants an Appeal Hearing. The elimination of this Public Meeting will accelerate the time for a project to be approved.
The City is required to report annually to the State on progress on housing development and all goals, policies, and programs to insure implementation. The Housing Committee, Planning Commission and City Council review these annual reports prior to submittal.
Process and Public Participation
The Housing Element meeting schedule (shown below in Table 1) includes seven Housing Committee Meetings, two community workshops, three Planning Commission meetings, and three City Council meetings.
Table 2: Housing Element Meeting Schedule
Meeting Type
Meeting Date
Topic
Housing Committee
April 7, 2021
Housing Element Overview
Community Workshop
June 29, 2021
Housing Element Overview
Housing Committee
July 7, 2021
Accomplishments, Goals, Programs & Policies
Housing Committee
October 6, 2021
Housing Needs Assessment & Assessment of Fair Housing
Planning Commission
October 28, 2021
Housing Element Overview
City Council
November 16, 2021
Housing Element Overview
Housing Committee
December 1, 2021
Site Inventory & Strategies for meeting RHNA
Housing Committee
February 2, 2022
Housing Constraints & Resources and Opportunities
Community Workshop
February 23, 2022
Accomplishments, Goals, Programs & Policies
Planning Commission
May 26, 2022
Draft Report
Housing Committee
June 1, 2022
Draft Report
City Council
June 7, 2022
Draft Report
Housing Committee
December 7, 2022
Recommend Approval to City Council
Planning Commission
December 8, 2022
Recommend Approval to City Council
City Council
December 12, 2022
Approval Hearing
Table 3: Housing Element Submittal and Review Schedule
2022 Dates
Housing Element Document Review
May 19
Draft Report Published: 30-Day Public Review Period
June 1, 2022
Housing Committee Review of Draft Report
May 26, 2022
Planning Commission Review of Draft Report
June 7, 2022
City Council Review of Draft Report
June 18
Draft Report 30-Day Public Review Period Ends
June 19
Revised Draft (incorporating comments): 30-Day Public Review Period August 1
Revised Draft Report 30-Day Public Review Period Ends
August 1
First Submittal Draft Submitted to HCD and Posted for Public Review October 11
City Staff and HCD Staff Discuss Submittal
October 17
City Staff and HCD Staff Discuss Submittal
October 18
City Staff and HCD Staff Discuss Submittal
October 19
Revised Draft Housing Element Submitted it to HCD: Posted for 7-Day Public Review October 31
HCD Provides a Letter of Compliance to the City of Emeryville December 7
Housing Committee Meeting to Recommend Approval to City Council December 8
Planning Commission Meeting to Recommend Approval to City Council December 12
City Council Approval Hearing
The Planning Commission first discussed the 6th Cycle Housing Element at their October 28, 2021 meeting, at which staff and the consultants provided an overview of the process required to develop the plan, including the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), the required components of the Housing Element, the schedule of public meetings, and a summary of recent state legislation that impacts Housing Elements. At that meeting, the Commission asked for clarity on how the document is to be used and asked if programs incentivizing construction of low-income units could be included in the Housing Element. Specific suggestions included providing financing for people to build low income accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and permitting residential units to go over base zoning without Planning Commission approval if the units are made subject to an affordability agreement. There were no public comments. These suggestions are addressed in:
Program A (Housing Development Regulatory Programs)
Program B (Streamlining Planning Processes)
Program D (ADUs)
Program LL (Planning Regulation Amendments)
At their November 16, 2021 meeting, the City Council reviewed the same documents that the Planning Commission had reviewed at their October 28, 2021 meeting. Councilmembers expressed support for increasing residential density if necessary to meet the City’s RHNA. Programs addressing residential density can be found under Program LL (Planning Regulation Amendments).
In addition to the Planning Commission and City Council meetings, the Housing Committee has reviewed and discussed items related to the Housing Element at five of their meetings between April 7, 2021 and February 2, 2022. Two Community Workshops have also been held. On June 29, 2021 about 20 community members attended an online meeting and discussed housing needs and objectives in Emeryville; on February 23, 2022 another Community Workshop was held that was attended by about 10 community members.
A first draft of the Housing Element was published on May 19, 2022 on the City’s Housing Element website (https://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/1403/2023-2031-Housing-Element) and a hard copy of the draft Housing Element was available for review on-site at City Hall. HCD requires a 30 day public review period for comments to be submitted, which concluded on June 18, 2022.
As part of this 30 day public review, study sessions were held for the Draft Housing Element at the May 26, 2022 Planning Commission meeting, the June 1, 2022 Housing Committee meeting, and the June 7, 2022 City Council meeting. Public comments received during the 30-day review period were considered and incorporated into the First Submittal Draft that was submitted to HCD for review on August 1, 2022 and received by HCD on August 2, 2022. HCD had up to 90 days (until October 31, 2022) to provide comments back to the City of Emeryville.
City staff met with staff from HCD on October 11, October 17, and October 18, 2022 to discuss questions and review suggestions for minor modifications to the First Submittal Draft. Based on the discussions with HCD, staff sent HCD a Revised Draft Housing Element on October 19, 2022 and posted it for the required seven days of public review the same day. On October 31, 2022 HCD provided a Letter of Compliance to the City of Emeryville (see Attachment 1) stating that:
“HCD is pleased to find the draft housing element in substantial compliance with State Housing Element Law. The housing element will comply with State Housing Element Law when it is adopted, submitted to and approved by HCD, in accordance with Government Code section 65585.” The final version of the Housing Element to be submitted to HCD for certification is attached. This document will go before the Housing Committee on December 7, 2022. Comments from the Housing Committee meeting will be presented verbally at the Planning Commission meeting on December 8, when the Commission will hold a public hearing and consider whether to recommend approval to the City Council. Recommendations and comments from both the Housing Committee and Planning Commission will be presented to the City Council at their December 12 meeting, when the Council is scheduled to vote on adoption of the Housing Element and approve it for submittal to HCD for certification.
The following modifications to the Housing Element have been made since the Housing Committee, Planning Commission, and City Council reviewed the Draft Report in May and June of 2022:
Staff has made minor edits to the document to correct typos or provide clarity.
Comments from the public, Housing Committee, Planning Commission, City Council have been addressed. Appendix B (Summary of Public Input) of the Housing Element provides an overview of all public outreach and input. Responses to the Public Review Draft are listed in Sections B.4.2 and B.5.2; Section B.6 provides a Summary of How Input is Incorporated (pages 261 – 264).
HCD comments that were addressed largely included adding clarifying information to Chapters 5 and 6, such as adding additional information for the site inventory. Additional details related to performance measurements were also added to the programs in Chapter 8.
In response to new information provided by project applicants and property owners, Figure 6-1 (Site Inventory Map) and Tables 6-1 (Capacity to Accommodate the 2023–2031 RHNA) and 6-3 (Vacant and Underutilized Residential Sites) have been modified to more accurately reflect the anticipated development potential of the city:
Site 14 (5890, 5900, and 6150 Christie Avenue) has a lowered realistic total capacity of units.
Site 17 (3938 Horton, formerly Decathlon) has a lowered realistic total capacity of units.
Site 19 (5850 Shellmound) has an increased realistic total capacity of units.
Formerly Site 20 (4700 San Pablo Avenue) has been removed from the site inventory.
Formerly Site 21 (1650 65th Street) has been removed from the site inventory.
These changes result in a total reduction of 632 units. This reduction does not negatively impact the City’s capacity to meet the RHNA, as the 19 remaining sites in the Site Inventory (Figure 6-1) and anticipated 30 ADUs exceed 150% of the RHNA at all income levels (Table 6-1).
A redlined version of the Housing Element demonstrating all changes since the most recent submittal to HCD on October 19, 2022, (see Exhibit A) along with a clean version of the Housing Element formatted with pictures and a horizontal orientation to match the General Plan (see Exhibit B), are attached to this staff report and both documents will be submitted to HCD for final approval. The resolution attached to this staff report authorizes staff to make “non-substantive changes to the 2023 – 2031 Housing Element to respond to any comments received during the adoption process or from HCD to achieve certification.” These changes may include documentation of any additional public comments received during the meetings mentioned above.
Environmental Review
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Emeryville General Plan was certified by the City Council by Resolution No. 09-207 on October 13, 2009. An addendum to the General Plan EIR has been prepared that demonstrates that the analysis contained in the EIR adequately addresses the potential physical impacts associated with the implementation of the 2023-2031 Housing Element and that none of the conditions described in California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15162 calling for the preparation of a subsequent EIR or negative declaration have occurred. The EIR Addendum is attached (see Attachment 2).
Fiscal Impact
Adoption of the Housing Element will have no fiscal impact.
Staff Communication with the Public
As noted above, the Housing Element has been presented and reviewed at two community workshops, seven Housing Committee Meetings, three Planning Commission meetings, and three City Council meetings. The document was also posted on the City’s website and a hard copy was made available for review on-site at City Hall.
Conflict of Interest
None.
Conclusion
Staff recommends that the City Council review the 2023-2031 Housing Element, adopt the document, and approve it for submittal to HCD for certification.
PREPARED BY: Navarre Oaks, Associate Planner
Approved and Forwarded to the
City Council of the City of Emeryville:
Adam Politzer, Interim City Manager
Attachments
Draft Resolution including:
Exhibit A – 2023-2031 Housing Element (redline version) Exhibit B – 2023-2031 Housing Element (clean, formatted with pictures and a horizontal orientation) Attachment 1 - Letter of Compliance from HCD, October 31, 2022 Attachment 2 - EIR Addendum
2023-2031 Housing Element Adoption
City Council Meeting | December 12, 2022
City of Emeryville
CALIFORNIA
MEMORANDUM