Agenda Item: 3
CITY OF SANTA CLARITA
AGENDA REPORT
PUBLIC HEARINGS
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
DATE: June 27, 2023
SUBJECT: AMENDMENT TO HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE AND FIRST
READING - UDC AMENDMENT - SITES IDENTIFIED IN
MULTIPLE PLANNING PERIODS
DEPARTMENT: Community Development
PRESENTER: Erika Iverson
RECOMMENDED ACTION
City Council:
1. Conduct the public hearing;
2. Make a finding the previously adopted Negative Declaration adopted is sufficient and no further analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act is required for the proposed Amended Housing Element Update for the 6th Housing Element cycle;
3. Adopt a resolution, approving an amendment to Master Case 21-088 (General Plan Amendment 21-001), amending the previously adopted Housing Element Update for the 6th Housing Element cycle;
4. Make a finding the proposed ordinance is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under Article 5 Section 15061(b)(3), the Common-sense Exemption; and
5. Introduce an ordinance entitled “AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA CLARITA, CALIFORNIA, TO ESTABLISH REGULATIONS FOR
SITES IDENTIFIED IN MULTIPLE PLANNING PERIODS, AMENDING THE UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE AS SHOWN IN EXHIBIT A; WAIVE READING OF THE TEXT
AND CONSENT TO READ BY THE TITLE ONLY, AS LISTED ON THE AGENDA, AND PASS TO SECOND READING;” waive reading of the text and consent to ready by title only, as listed on the agenda, and pass to second reading.
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BACKGROUND
All cities in California are required by state law to produce, update, and certify their Housing Elements every eight years. On May 10, 2022, the City Council adopted an update to its Housing Element (hereafter “Housing Element Update”) covering the planning period between 2021 and 2029, also referred to as the 6th Housing Element cycle (agenda report attached in the City Clerk’s Reading File). The Housing Element is one of seven mandated elements that comprise a city’s General Plan. It is the only element of the General Plan that must be certified by a state agency. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is the certifying agency that evaluates each city’s Housing Element.
Recent changes to state law, which were outlined in the agenda report for the May 10, 2022, public hearing have imposed new requirements for the 6th Housing Element cycle, leading to added scrutiny and multiple rounds of review by HCD through the certification process. At the time of writing this agenda report, only forty-nine percent of jurisdictions in Los Angeles County have received certification for their 6th Housing Element cycle.
HCD Review
Prior to adoption of the City’s Housing Element Update in May of 2022, a draft of the proposed Housing Element update was submitted to HCD for preliminary review. Staff received comments from HCD to be incorporated into the proposed Housing Element Update. Revisions were made to address all HCD comments in the proposed Housing Element Update for consideration by the City Council.
Following adoption of the City’s Housing Element Update in May of 2022, it was submitted to HCD on May 11, 2022, for certification. The California Department of Housing and Community Development issued a letter to the City on July 7, 2022, following it’s 60-day review of the Housing Element Update revisions, asking for further analysis to be incorporated into the Housing Element in order to receive HCD certification.
Since receipt of the July letter, staff and the consultant team have coordinated with HCD to prepare necessary revisions to the adopted Housing Element Update to ensure compliance with State Housing Element Law. Revisions to the adopted Housing Element were published on the City’s website on December 9, 2022, and submitted to HCD on December 16, 2022. During the HCD review period, staff met with and addressed all questions of HCD staff. City staff did not receive substantive questions at that time and expected to receive a letter of conditional approval from HCD following completion of their review. However, following HCD’s 60-day review of the revisions to the Housing Element Update, another comment letter was issued to the City on February 14, 2023, finding that further revisions were necessary in order to receive certification.
Subsequent to the receipt of the February letter, staff and the consultant team have met two additional times with the HCD staff to clarify the requests for additional revisions. The comments from HCD continue to request additional analysis and justification to support the findings of the Housing Element Update, and further revisions to ensure compliance with state law as changes to state law continue to be made. The requested revisions have not resulted in substantive changes to the Housing Element Update or required programs. A summary of the key
amendments to the Housing Element Update are outlined under the Amendments to the Housing Element Update section of this agenda report.
State law requires the City Council to consider HCD’s comments and make appropriate findings as part of the Housing Element adoption process. If approved by the City Council, City staff will forward the final response matrix and amendments to the Housing Element Update to HCD for certification review.
AMENDMENTS TO THE HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE
As noted above, staff has submitted the Housing Element Update to HCD for review on three separate occasions, each time receiving comments for additional information and analysis. The HCD comments have focused on sites inventory analysis, constraints to housing development, and fair housing issues. The HCD comments required text edits to expand the analysis discussion surrounding these topics. These comments resulted in adjustments to the sites inventory assumptions, as well as a number of updates to the City’s housing programs to address areas where HCD has perceived the City’s local controls and processes pose a constraint to housing development, and updates the housing programs to ensure our zoning policies and procedures are consistent with state law and affirmatively further fair housing. Key amendments to the Housing Element Update are summarized below. A response matrix summarizing HCD’s comments and how each of the comments are addressed in the Amendment to the Housing Element Update is attached in the City Clerk’s Reading File.
Housing Sites and Inventory
The Housing Element is required to maintain a sites inventory demonstrating that the City has enough suitable sites to accommodate the number of units by each income category included in the City’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation. In response to HCD comments, additional analysis of the realistic development potential of the sites in the sites inventory was required. This resulted in amendments to the sites inventory to remove some very small sites, less than 0.5 acres, and reduce the assumed residential development potential on commercial and mixed-use sites in the inventory. This resulted in a reduction in the surplus inventory for moderate-, low-, and very low-income units. However, the City still maintains adequate sites to meet its RHNA allocation under existing zoning and maintains over 15 percent buffer in all income categories. As a note, the recent annexation of Tesoro del Valle has added 820 above moderate-income units to the City’s RHNA obligation, however, all of these units have already been approved at above moderate and do not impact the City’s sites inventory.
Table 1 provides the City’s 2021-2029 RHNA allocation and a summary of the sites inventory and RHNA surplus by income category. Maps and a corresponding table of the sites can be found in Figures 14 and 15, and Appendix D, respectively in the amendments to the Housing Element Update.
Table 1: RHNA Surplus by Income Group
Very Low-
income
Low-income Moderate-
income
Above
Moderate-
income
Total
RHNA Allocation 3,397 1,734 1,672 3,228 10,031
Approved and Planned
Units
29 155 0 8,358 8,542
ADUs 48 85 22 95 250
Remaining RHNA
Allocation After Credits
3,320 1,494 1,650 0 6,464
Units on Vacant Sites 1,781 839 1,487 -- 4,107
Units on Non-vacant
Sites
2,124 1,000 625 1,566 5,315
Total Units After Credits 3,905 1,839 2,112 1,566 9,422 Total Unit Surplus 585 345 462 6,791 8,183
Buffer above Remaining
RHNA After Credits
18% 23% 28% >100%
The sites inventory must comply with Assembly Bill (AB) 1397, which amended the State Housing Element Law and placed stricter requirements on local jurisdictions when identifying adequate and available sites to meet their RHNA allocations. This amendment resulted in added scrutiny and more eligibility requirements for identifying housing sites, including new requirements for streamlining the permitting of projects on sites included in previous Housing Elements that are reused in the updated sites inventory. Specifically, sites identified in prior Housing Element cycles (non-vacant sites included in one previous Housing Element inventory and vacant sites included in two previous Housing Elements) must allow by-right approval requirements if at least 20 percent of the proposed units are affordable to lower-income households. The City’s sites inventory demonstrates that the City has adequate sites to meet its RHNA allocation under existing zoning; therefore, no re-zoning of sites, and no increase in density to the General Plan was required as part of the 6th Housing Element cycle. However, in order to comply with state law, the City’s 6th Housing Element cycle, adopted by the City Council in May 2022, included a program to amend the Unified Development Code (UDC) to specify the by-right approval requirements for those specific sites in accordance with AB 1397, if at least 20 percent of units are affordable to lower-income households. HCD will not certify the Housing Element Update until this program to amend the UDC is implemented. The proposed UDC amendment is described in detail below, under the UDC Amendment section of this agenda report.
Housing Programs
The Housing Element includes a number of programs that implement the goals and policies that assist the City in meeting its housing needs, address state housing law, support affirmatively furthering fair housing, and track and report requirements for housing sites. A number of amendments were made to the housing programs that were originally adopted with the Housing
Element Update in May of 2022 in response to the comments received from HCD throughout the certification process. The housing program updates includes changes to programs for consistency with state law, to address HCD comments regarding constraints to housing production posed by local controls and processes, as well as converting some existing policies into housing programs.
The following is a summary of the substantive amendments to the implementing programs. The complete list of programs is provided in Section 2.2 of the Amendment to the Housing Element Update.
Zoning Programs
• HP-2.1 - Code Changes for Consistency with State Law - This program has been expanded to address changes in state law as well as to address comments from HCD, where HCD has perceived the City’s local controls and permit processes pose a constraint to housing development. These program revisions include implementation components that may include amendments to the UDC, and would be subject to further consideration by the City Planning Commission and/or City Council at a future date:
• Group Homes: Allow for group homes of seven or more residents as a permitted use in residential zones, as required by state law;
• Objective Design and Development Standards: Establish objective design and development standards for multi-family residential projects; and • Parking: Prepare a parking study to identify any constraint posed by the parking ratio required for multi-family, market-rate development.
• HP-2.2 - Updates to Administrative Procedures - This program has been expanded to ensure City processes follow state law and do not pose a constraint to the development of housing. Similar to the discussion above, these program revisions may require amendments to the UDC, and would require further consideration by the City Planning Commission and/or City Council at a future date:
• Fee Deferral: Defer payment of development fees for residential development until final building inspection as required by state law; • Design Review Process: Amend the requirements for the Design Review process for residential projects to ensure the requirements are objective.
• HP-2.10 - Proactive Outreach Program - This program has been added to the Housing Element to address comments from HCD regarding fair housing to ensure that the City is actively promoting affordable and fair housing programs. This will require outreach on an annual basis to developers, landlords, and tenants, as well as continued coordination with local community-based organizations and the Los Angeles County Development Authority to promote availability of applicable housing programs.
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
The Housing Element must analyze fair housing issues in order to affirmatively further fair housing and create programs that remove barriers to housing access for all persons. In response to comments from HCD, amendments were made to the Housing Element Update to prioritize the contributing factors that are limiting or denying fair housing choice or access to opportunity or negatively impact fair housing and establish meaningful actions to address the contributing
factor. A full assessment of fair housing can be found in Section 4.5 of the Housing Element Update, and Table 34 of the Housing Element Update identifies the contributing factors associated with each priority issue and the programs that address them.
UDC AMENDMENT
Summary
The intent of the proposed code amendment is to comply with state law and, if approved, implement Program HP-1.14 of the Amended Housing Element. The proposed UDC amendment consists of text amendments only; no changes to the City’s General Plan Land Use Map or Zoning Map are proposed.
The proposed code language is attached as Exhibit A of the UDC ordinance and addresses six specific sites (36 parcels) that were identified as suitable sites in the two previous housing element cycles that have yet to develop. Multifamily development on one of these sites shown in the attached sites map proposing at least 20 percent of the proposed units as affordable to lower- income households would be considered a permitted use, subject to objective development standards. It should be noted, that while a use permit (conditional or minor) would not be required, new development proposals would still be subject to the Development Review application process to ensure compliance with the applicable objective development regulations of the UDC and Community Character and Design Guidelines and are required to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). To facilitate these changes, the portions of the UDC that will be affected include Section 17.11.020 (Definitions) to establish a definition for lower-income households in the UDC and amendments to Sections 17.42.010 (Residential Use Types), 17.37.010 (Corridor Plan (CP) Zone), and 17.35.010 (Mixed-Use Corridor (MXC) Zone) as shown in Exhibit A.
Planning Commission Action
At their meeting on February 21, 2023, the Planning Commission conducted a Public Hearing and adopted Resolution P23-02, recommending the City Council: a) find the project is exempt from CEQA under Section 15061(b)(3), the common-sense exemption; and b) approve Master Case 23-006 (Unified Development Code Amendment 23-001). The Planning Commission Resolution and staff report are attached in the City Council Reading File.
ENVIRONMENTAL
The City Council adopted the Final Negative Declaration and Initial Study for the Housing Element Update in May of 2022. The revisions in response to HCD comments do not create any new or more significant impacts and do not require additional mitigation; therefore, no further environmental analysis is required.
The proposed UDC Amendment is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under Article 5 Section 15061(b)(3), the common-sense exemption. The activity is covered by the general rule that CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is
no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. Future development under this UDC language would be subject to CEQA regulations in place at the time of application for development. A Notice of Exemption has been prepared for the proposed UDC Amendment.
NOTICING
All noticing requirements for a public hearing have been completed as required by Section
17.06.110 of the Unified Development Code. A one-eighth page advertisement was placed in The Signal newspaper on June 6, 2023.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION
Other actions as determined by the City Council.
FISCAL IMPACT
Approval of the proposed Unified Development Code Amendments would eliminate the requirement for a use permit (conditional or minor) for qualifying affordable housing projects on those specific parcels (shown in the attached Sites Map) and thus eliminate the collection of a fee for the use permit in these instances. Any new development would still be subject to the Development Review (DR) application process and applicable DR application fees would be collected.
ATTACHMENTS
Public Notice - Housing Element Update
Public Notice - UDC Amendment
Housing Element Update Resolution
UDC Amendment Ordinance
UDC Amendment - Sites Map
UDC Amendment - Notice of Exemption
HCD Comments and Responses (available in the City Clerk's Reading File) City Council Agenda Report - May 10, 2022 (available in the City Clerk's Reading File) Resolution 22-21 - May 10, 2022 (available in the City Clerk’s Reading File) Planning Commission Agenda Report - February 21, 2023 (available in the City Clerk's Reading File)
Resolution P23-02 (available in the City Clerk’s Reading File)