1 Kristie Ramos, CMC
From:Jessika Pollard
Sent:Thursday, July 20, 2023 9:57 AM
To:Kristie Ramos, CMC
Cc:Ian Gabriel
Subject:Public comment for agenda item 8
Attachments:RM Mixed Use Support - Item 8B.pdf
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Hello Kristie,
Please find attached a comment for agenda item 8 for today's city council meeting.
Best,
Jessika Pollard
Senior Policy Analyst
O: +760.239.7160
C: +760.898.9995
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RE: Agenda Item 8. B. Consider Adopting Resolution No. 2023-(Next-in-Order), Approving General Plan Zoning Map Amendment (GPZMA22-0001 ), to Change the Underlying Zoning Designation of the Approximately 35-Acre Subject Property from Community Commercial to a Combination of Mixed Use and Community Commercial.
Dear Mayor Kite, Mayor Pro Tem Downs, and distinguished council members, Lift to Rise would like to express our strong support for the City of Rancho Mirage adopting a resolution to change the zoning designation of the 35-acre plot in question from community commercial to a mixed-use designation. We also encourage the city to require that a percentage of the 400 residential units proposed for the site be affordable to households earning at or below 80% of Area Median Income. This project offers an opportunity for the city to make progress towards reaching its 6th Cycle Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) goals.
As outlined in the city’s recently certified Housing Element Update, the State of California has assigned the city 1,746 new housing units for its RHNA, 748 of which are to be affordable to extremely low-, very low-, and low-income households. A sizeable (at least 25%) affordable unit requirement on the 400 residential units proposed would help the city make progress on meeting its goal and offer stable, affordable, and dignified housing for low-income households including the workforce that is the economic engine of Rancho Mirage’s thriving tourism and hospitality industry. Even a modest 10% requirement would yield 40 units of affordable housing, which is more than the City of Rancho Mirage has seen in one development in decades.
Combined with the proposed Affordable Housing Overlay also being debated by Council, this zoning change, and our proposed affordable requirement for the 400 residential units would affirm the city’s commitment to facilitating the production of enough affordable housing to meet the needs of its residents. These changes would offer great benefit to community residents as well as developers. Residents benefit from the proximity to amenities such as commercial services, retail, transit, and nearby parks while developers have the potential to score higher when competing for funding from the state. Additionally, this approach to streamlining affordable housing will aid in the city attaining a prohousing designation, further opening additional funding sources.
With a compliant housing element, Lift to Rise is excited to see the city of Rancho Mirage take into consideration one of the many ways to increase housing for all and we urge the council members to support this resolution.
Lift to Rise was formed to transform the systems that generate the supply of affordable housing, recognizing that the combination of low wages and high housing costs are the root causes of financial precarity among Coachella Valley residents.
That is why Lift to Rise and over 70 cross-sector partners, including the City of Rancho Mirage, have coordinated around a shared goal of reducing the regional housing cost burden at a population level through the production of 10,000 units of affordable housing in the Coachella Valley by 2028.
Together, we are operating off a shared Action Plan which spans 5 key strategy areas:
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1. Aggregating a pipeline of community-prioritized projects across the valley,
2. Growing a regional Housing Catalyst fund to spur production,
3. Advocating at the local, state, and federal level for policies and regulatory changes that Support housing production in our region,
4. Engaging and mobilizing residents and elected officials in support of affordable housing, and
5. Keeping residents housed through a coordinated eviction prevention strategy.
We stand ready as a collaborative to support the city to increase affordability. We thank the City of Rancho Mirage for joining us in this work thus far and urge the city council to continue to prioritize the production of affordable housing to ensure that all residents are healthy, stable, and thriving and urge you again prioritize affordability with this recommendation.
Thank you for your time.
Lift to Rise