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7 CITY OF SAN MATEO
RESOLUTION NO. ____ (2025)
REVISING THE CITY’S BELOW MARKET-RATE HOUSING PROGRAM TO ALLOW FOR ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE
OPTIONS TO ONSITE CONSTRUCTION OF AFFORDABLE UNITS
WHEREAS, the current Below Market-Rate (BMR) Program requires that residential projects consisting of 11 units provide 15 percent of the number of units affordable to lower-income households (for rental) and 15 percent of the number of units affordable to moderate-income households (for for-sale) onsite; and WHEREAS, the BMR Program Guidelines, adopted and amended from time to time via City Council Resolution, allow for certain alternatives to the baseline requirement, including offsite construction of affordable units, but only if the applicant demonstrates via an economic analysis that onsite construction is infeasible; and WHEREAS, the City adopted its 2023-2031 Housing Element on May 20, 2024, and it was subsequently certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development Department on July 23, 2024; and WHEREAS, Policy H.1.3 in the Housing Element requires the City to revise the BMR Program to allow for alternative compliance options for required onsite affordable dwelling units in housing development projects; and WHEREAS, through improvements to its BMR Program, the City wishes to provide greater flexibility to developers to incentivize the production of affordable units; and WHEREAS, on May 13, 2025, the Planning Commission held a duly noticed public hearing, received all written and oral public comments, and recommended that the City Council approve the proposed resolution to update the BMR Program Guidelines to Implement the 2023-2031 San Mateo Housing Element (Sixth Housing Cycle).
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA, HEREBY RESOLVES that:
1. In accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15183, updating the provisions of the BMR Program Guidelines to allow for the alternative compliance options of offsite construction of affordable units or a developer-proposed alternative to allow for alternatives in complying with the inclusionary housing requirements (“Project”) is exempt from further environmental review because the Project is consistent with the anticipated land uses under the land use designations adopted as part of General Plan 2040 for which an EIR was certified by the City Council on March 18, 2024. The Project is also consistent with the implementation policies of the adopted and certified Housing Element and pursuant to certain mandates in state law. There are no project specific effects that are peculiar to the project or the sites; there are no project specific impacts that the General Plan Update EIR failed to analyze as significant effects; there are no potentially significant off-site and cumulative impacts that the general plan EIR failed to evaluate; and there is no substantial new information which results in more severe impacts than anticipated by the general plan EIR.
2. In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), adoption of this Resolution amending the City’s BMR Program is not a project subject to CEQA because it can be seen with certainty that this action will not have a significant impact on the environment.
3. The amendments to the BMR Program Guidelines, as shown in Exhibit A, to allow for the alternative compliance options of offsite construction of affordable units or a developer-proposed alternative, are approved.