CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
3/21/2023
1 SUBJECT:
Joint study session of City Council and Planning Commission to consider and provide direction on the Draft 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive a presentation and provide direction regarding the Draft 2023-2031 Housing Element of the General Plan.
STAFF CONTACT:
Christian Murdock, AICP, Planning Director
(650) 738-7341
[email protected]
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
State law requires every city and county to adopt a housing element that is substantially compliant with state housing law as part of its general plan. The requirement to adopt an updated housing element occurs every eight years as part of the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process. Currently, local agencies are adopting housing element updates to address the 6th Cycle RHNA which in the Bay Area region covers the period from 2023-2031.
The Draft Housing Element prepared to meet Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA obligations is available at PlanPacifica.org (direct link to Draft Housing Element). The Draft Housing Element consists of a main chapter and seven appendices covering specific subject matter:
• Appendix A: Community Consultation
• Appendix B: Prior Housing Element Review
• Appendix C: Housing Needs
• Appendix D: Assessment of Fair Housing
• Appendix E: Housing Resources
• Appendix F: Housing Sites
• Appendix G: Housing Constraints
Due to the length and complexity of the Draft Housing Element, this staff report focuses on summarizing two key components of the document: the Housing Sites Inventory and the proposed Policies and Programs.
The City Council-Planning Commission joint study session is intended to provide an opportunity for these decision makers to ask questions and provide direction on how to finalize the Draft Housing Element. It is also intended to provide an additional public input opportunity for the community. The public comment period on the Draft Housing Element is ongoing and started on February 24. The City will accept written public comments at [email protected] through 5 PM on March 27, 2023.
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Following closure of the public comment period, staff will take at least 10 business days to review and consider the public comments that were submitted, will prepare responses to public comments received including any edits of the Draft Housing Element precipitated by the comments, and will also draft any edits in response to City Council and Planning Commission direction at the joint study session. Staff will then transmit the amended Draft Housing Element to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for a 90-day review period. Staff will evaluate appropriate next steps based on any comments received from HCD.
Housing Site Inventory
The 6th Cycle RHNA assigned to the City of Pacifica is 1,892 housing units. These housing units are further segmented by income1to ensure that sufficient housing can be approved and constructed for all income levels, as demonstrated in Table 1, below:
Table 1: Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA
Very Low
Income
<50% of AMI
Low Income
50-80% of AMI
Moderate
Income
80-120% of AMI
Above Moderate
Income
>120% AMI TOTAL
Units 538 310 291 753 1,892
Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA is an increase of 1,479 units, or 358 percent, compared to its 5 th
Cycle RHNA allocation of 413 units. The increased RHNA required extensive evaluation of potential housing sites during preparation of the draft Housing Element. Appendix F of the Draft Housing Element includes a detailed discussion of the City’s plan to satisfy its RHNA, including identification of the sites used to satisfy the City’s RHNA. A summary of the various methods used to satisfy the RHNA is included in Table 2, below (income levels for each method are provided in Appendix F):
Table 2: Methods Used to Satisfy 6th Cycle RHNA
Method Units
Existing General Plan Capacity 552
Amended General Plan Capacity (i.e., “Rezoning”) 1,567
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) 187
Approved Housing Units 148
TOTAL 2,454
The combined effect of the four methods used to satisfy Pacifica’s 6th Cycle RHNA is a buffer of 30 percent above the 1,892-unit requirement, for a total of demonstrated capacity for the approval and construction of 2,454 housing units. The California Department of Housing and Community Development’s (HCD) Housing Element Site Inventory Guidebook2suggests that housing elements include a buffer of “at least 15 to 30 percent more capacity than required, especially for capacity to accommodate the lower income RHNA,” and goes on to indicate that jurisdictions can also create a buffer by “projecting site capacity at less than the maximum density.”
The site inventory in the Draft Housing Element provides a 30 percent buffer (the maximum 1 The income levels in the RHNA refer to Area Median Income, or AMI, for the county in which a local jurisdiction is located. The 2022 AMI thresholds for San Mateo County are published by the San Mateo County Department of Housing and vary by family size. The Department of Housing’s published data also indicate the maximum rents considered to be affordable for each income level. 2 Available at: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housingelement/docs/sites_inventory_memo_final06102020.pdf.
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recommended by HCD). Importantly, the buffer places an emphasis on the lower income RHNA by providing a 52 percent buffer for that category. The buffers for each income level are demonstrated in Table 3, below. Additional buffer is provided across all income levels by assuming only 81 percent of the maximum density on each site based on an average of densities for projects actually approved in Pacifica in recent years.
Table 3: Buffers by RHNA Income Level
Lower
Income
Capacity
Moderate
Income
Capacity
Above Moderate
Income
Capacity TOTAL
RHNA Requirement 848 291 753 1,892
Draft Housing Element 1,286 335 831 2,451
Buffer 52% 15% 10% 30%
The site inventory sought to balance the distribution of new housing throughout the city as shown in Figure 1, below.
Figure 1: Housing Site Inventory Map
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The site inventory also considered factors such as access to transportation and other infrastructure, proximity to public transit and other services, high-opportunity areas near schools and parks, and prior public input including avoidance of hillsides to the maximum extent practicable and prioritizing redevelopment of single-use commercial centers into mixed-use residential/commercial.
Policies and Programs
A housing element is required to address other housing issues in addition to planning for the RHNA. These are commonly described under the category of “policies and programs.” A main focus of the policies and programs in a housing element is to provide support to the housing development identified in the Housing Sites Inventory. For example, by reducing or eliminating barriers that may make housing developments more difficult, expensive, or time consuming to approve or construct. The policies and programs can also implement updates to local regulations necessary to comply with state law, and can also include other policies and programs that address housing production, preservation, and protection.
The Draft Housing Element includes 14 implementation actions (denoted as HE-I-#) and 13 ongoing actions (denoted as HE-O-#) that support the policies and programs component of the Pacifica City Council 5
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Draft Housing Element. These actions are designed to achieve the two high-level goals established in the Draft Housing Element:
• HE-G-1: Maintain, Improve, and Develop Housing: Encourage the development and retention of housing in a variety of types for all income levels with priority given to lowincome households and projects that foster sustainable urban development. • HE-G-2: Affirmatively Further Fair Housing: Ensure community members have equitable access to safe, sanitary, and affordable housing, foster inclusive neighborhoods, remove barriers to housing for vulnerable communities, and protect residents from displacement.
The policies and programs contained in the Draft Housing Element address a range of subject areas, including the major activity to complete the required rezonings to implement the RHNA, and update the zoning regulations to facilitate housing development, assess housing potential for publicly-owned lands (not including protect open space areas and parklands), fund a housing action fund, strengthen the inclusionary zoning ordinance, preserve and rehabilitate existing housing units, strengthen services for persons at-risk of homelessness, and other housing activities.
The policies and programs in the Draft Housing Element, if adopted, comprise a major work program for Planning Department and other City staff during the eight-year planning period of the 6th Cycle RHNA.
Community Engagement
Public input has been an important part of the process to prepare the Draft Housing Element.
The City has provided numerous public input opportunities that have included online and inperson engagements. The community engagement strategy was developed with City Council input and the City Council approved the strategy on August 8, 2022. The City held three community meetings in late-2022 (one online and two in-person) to seek community input for the Housing Element Update (HEU) to address RHNA 6 and guide its work to prepare the Draft Housing Element. A full discussion of the extensive community engagement process undertaken to prepare the Draft Housing Element is included in Appendix A: Community Consultation.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
This is a study session and staff is requesting input from the City Council and Planning Commission. Adoption of the Housing Element will occur at a future public hearing with public notice provided as required by law.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
Adoption of the Housing Element Update is Item No. 10 on the City Council’s Fiscal Year 2022- 2023 City Council priority work plan. Adoption would also support the following Council-adopted goals:
Goals
● “An Engaged Community” includes creating opportunities to expand public participation, increase communication, and build community post-COVID. ● “A Healthy and Compassionate Community” includes addressing affordable housing and mental health services, exploring and implementing strategies that relate to homelessness, and supporting community services for all ages.
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● “Environmental Sustainability” includes stewardship of parks, urban forests and open space, preserving hillsides and beaches, and adaptation to climate change.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact from the joint study session.
ORIGINATED BY:
Planning Department
ATTACHMENT LIST: