CITY OF SAN MATEO
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CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 9 Section Name: {{section.name}} Account Number: 25-3112 File ID: {{item.tracking_number}} TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Community Development Department
MEETING DATE: March 18, 2024
SUBJECT:
General Plan, Housing Element, and Housing Successor Agency – 2023 Annual Progress Reports RECOMMENDATION:
Accept the 2023 Annual Progress Reports for the General Plan, Housing Element, and Housing Successor Agency, and direct the Community Development Director to file the reports with the State.
BACKGROUND:
Government Code Sections 65400 and 65700 require local planning agencies to submit an Annual Progress Report (APR) on the status of their General Plan and Housing Element implementation to the local legislative body. The APR is then required to be submitted to California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and Office of Planning and Research (OPR) by April 1st of each year. Hence, the Community Development Department (CDD) is seeking acceptance of the General Plan and Housing Element Annual Progress Reports (Attachments 1 and 2) by City Council, prior to submittal to OPR and HCD. This report also includes information related to Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) development within the City since adoption of the updated ADU Ordinance on March 21, 2022, which allowed for greater flexibility beyond the minimums required by state law.
The City’s annual Housing Successor Report, as required by California Health and Safety Code Section 34176.1(f), is included as Attachment 3. This report provides details of the housing funds, assets, and activities of the City of San Mateo, which is acting as the Housing Successor Agency of the former Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Mateo.
General Plan Annual Progress Report Summary
The General Plan is a State-mandated document that sets the framework for the City’s physical, social, and economic development into the future. In 2018, California Government Code Section 65700(b) was amended to make the General Plan Annual Progress Report (APR) requirement applicable to charter cities. In prior years, charter cities were only required to submit an APR that documented progress made toward implementing their certified Housing Element. The City submitted its first General Plan APR in 2020.
The City’s General Plan APR (Attachment 1) highlights the accomplishments in 2023 in implementing land use related goals, policies, and actions. Through the accomplishments highlighted in the APR, the City continues to work to achieve a healthy economic, social, and physical environment to serve the San Mateo community. The APR includes the following key information:
Planning activities initiated or completed by the City in 2023; Highlights of major planning applications approved in 2023; Building permit and construction status of major development projects; and Implementation summary of General Plan goals, policies and actions pertaining to land use.
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This will be the last APR that is submitted for the current General Plan 2030, with next year’s APR focused on General Plan 2040, which is scheduled for adoption at this meeting (March 18, 2024).
Housing Element Annual Progress Report Summary
While the Housing Element is a part of the General Plan, the Housing Element APR is subject to additional and specific requirements not applicable to other elements of the General Plan. The Housing Element APR has been prepared pursuant to California Government Code Section 65400 and includes a detailed accounting of all housing projects submitted, reviewed, entitled, and constructed in the City in 2023. The APR also provides an update on the implementation on each of the Housing Element’s policies and programs to achieve the City’s housing vision.
This is the first APR on the City’s 2023-2031 Housing Element for the sixth housing cycle, and it includes the following information:
Progress report on implementation of the Housing Element programs 1 (Attachment 2 - Table D):
Progress in meeting the City’s share of regional housing needs assessment (RHNA) by income level; Information on the types of housing units that were issued building permits, as well as those that were completed; and
Information on number of planning applications submitted, as well as those that were approved.
During the 2023 reporting period, the City’s primary focus was on preparing a Housing Element that could achieve certification by HCD, and on January 19, 2024, HCD notified the City that its updated Housing Element was in substantial compliance with state law. Staff is now preparing to bring the updated Housing Element before the Planning Commission in April and City Council in May for adoption. However, in addition to the work on the Housing Element itself, there has been meaningful progress on Housing Element implementation, including the following achievements:
Waters Park, a 190-unit housing project is nearing completion of construction. Of those 190 units, 31 units completed construction in 2023;
406 E. 3 rd Avenue, a 25-unit mixed-use housing project was constructed; The Planning Application for Nazareth Vista (616 S. B Street), a 48-unit mixed-use housing project received entitlement approvals;
Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) production saw 83 permits issued and 50 units completed, which is above the City’s annual production target of 55 permits issued;
Objective Design Standards (ODS) was adopted in 2023 and provides streamlined review for qualifying multi-family and mixed-use housing projects; and
The administrative approval threshold for new housing development increased from 5 to 25 units, which will allow for a more streamlined planning approval process for smaller housing projects.
Table 1 below summarizes some of the key data contained in Table A-2 regarding housing units and their affordability levels, included in planning applications submitted and approved in 2023; as well as building permits issued and completed/constructed (certificate of occupancy). Per HCD definition, applications submitted are applications that have been determined complete by the jurisdiction.
Table 1 - 2023 Housing
Units Summary Table Very Low Low Moderate
Above
Moderate Total Report Table
Planning Applications
Units Submitted 19 3 2 160 184 Table A
Units Disapproved 0 0 0 0 0 Table A
Total Units Approved 7 3 2 52 64 Table A
Building Permits
1 This report covers the latest Housing Element programs that HCD determined to be in substantial compliance with State housing laws on January 19, 2024.
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Permit Issued 24 24 20 24 92 Table A-2
Certificate of Occupancy 23 24 19 56 122 Table A-2
Tables A and A-2 in the attached APR also indicate what type of housing units are approved and built. In addition to regular housing units, the production of ADUs is also included in the housing numbers outlined in Table 1. In 2023, 83 ADU building permits were issued and 50 ADU permits were constructed. For comparison, in 2022, 84 ADU permits were issued and 53 ADU permits were constructed. The City’s annual ADU target is 55 building permits issued per year.
Table B in the attached APR shows the progress of housing unit production by affordability level as defined by issuance of building permits for the first year of the current housing cycle (2023-2031). The City has achieved 141 units or 2% of its allocation for total new housing units, as shown in Table 2 below. For comparison, the City reported 368 units in 2022. Due to increasing interest rates and a more challenging environment for construction financing, multiple development projects with housing units that were previously approved have received and been granted deadline extensions. These projects are expected to get built once there are favorable financial market conditions.
Table 2 – RHNA and Housing Construction
Projection Period
(6/30/22-1/30/23)
2023 Total Units Total RHNA
Total Housing Units 49 92 141 7,015
Very Low Income Units 1 24 25 1,777
Low Income Units 13 24 37 1,023
Moderate Income Units 25 20 45 1,175
Above Moderate-Income Units 10 24 34 3,040
For the 2023 reporting period, a new table (Table K) was added by HCD to report any local tenant preference ordinance, which the City does not have currently. Table I, which previously reported on lot split projects pursuant to Senate Bill 9, was removed and incorporated into Tables A and A-2. No SB 9 applications were received in 2023. However, the City processed one SB 9 application in 2022 that received building permit issuance in 2023. The City reported the status of several activities supported by the Local Early Action Program (LEAP) grant, which includes the 2023-2031 Housing Element update and progress on housing policies and code amendments. Table H provides information on three City owned surplus sites. The City did not have anything to report in the following Tables: C) Sites Identified or Rezoned to Accommodate Shortfall Housing Need and No Net-Loss Law; E) Commercial Development Bonus Projects; F) United Rehabilitated, Preserved and Acquired for Alternative Adequate Sites; F2) Above Moderate Income Units Converted to Moderate Income Units; G) Locally Owned Lands that have been sold, leased or otherwise disposed of; J) Student Housing Development for lower-income students; and K) Tenant Preference Policy.
Accessory Dwelling Units
Following adoption of the City’s ADU Ordinance on March 21, 2022, the City Council directed staff to provide annual updates on the implementation of the Ordinance. ADUs have become an increasingly popular solution to provide additional living units in residential neighborhoods. Any ADU that meets the standards outlined in the City’s adopted ADU Ordinance is approved with a ministerial permit. The majority of ADU proposals in the City of San Mateo conform to these development standards and are processed ministerially. In order to allow for flexibility and creative ADU designs, the City offers a discretionary permit application option through an Accessory Dwelling Unit Discretionary Review (ADUDR) Planning Application process to consider proposals for ADUs that are not in full compliance with the development standards outlined in the adopted ADU Ordinance. ADUDR applications are currently processed at no additional cost to the applicant as a pilot. The City began processing ADUDR applications after adoption of the ADU Ordinance in 2022, and a total of 11 ADUDR applications have been submitted since going into effect. Of the 11 total applications, six proposed the expansion of an existing structure within a legal non-conforming setback of less than four feet from a property line, four proposed a second-story balcony, and one proposed a height exceedance. Five of the 11 submittals have been approved, five are currently incomplete applications under review, and one was withdrawn. For the withdrawn ADUDR application,
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the applicant revised the proposal to conform to ADU development standards and resubmitted for a ministerial permit. An overview of all ADUDR applications received to-date are summarized in Table 3 below.
Table 3 – Accessory Dwelling Unit Design Review (ADUDR) Planning Applications Application # Year Reason for ADUDR Determination
PA22-048 2022 Expansion of existing structure within required setbacks Approved PA22-049 2022 Height exceedance Approved
PA22-082 2022 Expansion of existing structure within required setbacks Approved PA22-084 2022 Expansion of existing structure within required setbacks Approved PA23-023 2023 Second-story balcony Under Review/Incomplete PA23-048 2023 Second-story balcony Withdrawn
PA23-059 2023 Second-story balcony Under Review/Incomplete PA23-086 2023 Expansion of existing structure within required setbacks Approved PA23-091 2023 Expansion of existing structure within required setbacks Under Review/Incomplete PA24-001 2024 Second-story balcony Under Review/Incomplete PA24-006 2024 Expansion of existing structure within required setbacks Under Review/Incomplete Housing Successor Report Summary
The purpose of the Housing Successor Report (Attachment 3) is to provide the governing body of the Housing Successor an annual report on the housing assets and activities of the City of San Mateo acting as the Housing Successor of the former Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Mateo as required by State law for the fiscal year July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.
During the FY 22/23 reporting period the City received $339,193 in new revenues from loan repayments, which contributed to a fund balance of $2,482,334 as of June 30, 2023. $2,560,924 of this fund is reserved for existing housing commitments, including the Kiku Crossing affordable housing project. Although this results in a negative unrestricted fund balance, it is anticipated that the Kiku Crossing project will not utilize all the funds reserved. The project will also repay all remaining funds to the City.
BUDGET IMPACT:
There is no impact on the General Fund for this report.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This Annual Progress Reports on the General Plan, Housing Element and Housing Successor Agency is not a project subject to CEQA, because it is an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5).)
NOTICE PROVIDED
All meeting noticing requirements were met.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – General Plan Annual Progress Report, 2023
Att 2 – Housing Element Annual Progress Report, 2023
Att 3 – Annual Housing Successor Report, FY 2022-2023
STAFF CONTACT
Linda Ly, Associate Planner Nicky Vũ, Housing Specialist II [email protected] [email protected]
(650) 522-7217 (650) 522-7229