STAFF REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
DATE: Regular Meeting of September 24, 2024
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Dante Hall, City Manager
SUBMITTED BY: Timothy Rood, AICP, Community Development Director
SUBJECT: Update the City of Hercules Affordable Housing Policy to Reflect the Recent Density Bonus Revisions to the Hercules Municipal Code RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 24-XX (Attachment 1) amending the City of Hercules Affordable Housing Policy (Attachment 2) to reflect the Density Bonus text amendment, approved and adopted by the City Council, via Ordinance 551, on April 9, 2024 (Attachment 3).
BACKGROUND:
The City of Hercules adopted the Affordable Housing Policy (Resolution No. 21-010) on February 23, 2021. At that time, the City had an interest in creating a policy to provide guidance on the administration and monitoring of future affordable units to confirm appropriate management practices and to ensure their continued affordability. On April 9, 2024, the City adopted zoning amendments to adopt State Density Bonus Law by reference in the Municipal Code. As a result, several references within the Policy are no longer correct. This Policy update addresses these inconsistencies, making the Policy consistent with state law and the Municipal Code.
ANALYSIS:
Changes proposed to the Affordable Housing Policy are shown as a strikethrough for removal and bold and underlined for additions. The changes are in response to the adoption of the Density Bonus zoning amendment approved through Ordinance 551. Changes include modifications to the Density Bonus Chapter and Section references, as well as references to the State Government Code. Definitions have also been updated. The guidance that the Policy provides has not been modified, rather the specific references to the Density Bonus standards that no longer exist have been updated.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION
The updated policy is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) – Common Sense Exemption in that the proposed policy update would only establish and clarify administrative processes and would not facilitate new construction or other groundbreaking activities. It can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the policy update would result in either a direct physical change to the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change to the environment. Further, none of the circumstances described in CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2 applies.
FISCAL IMPACT OF RECOMMENDATION:
There are no direct fiscal impacts associated with this item.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – Draft Resolution
Attachment 2 – Amended Hercules Affordable Housing Policy Attachment 3 – Ordinance No. 551 – Density Bonus