MILL VALLEY] 1 r 2 3 STAFF REPORT 4 5 TO: Mayor and City Council 6 FROM: Danielle Staude, Senior Plann~ 7 VIA: Yin Smith, Director ofPlanning and Building 8 SUBJECT: Review and Adoption ofthe 2015-2023 Housing Element and 9 Finding ofExemption under the California Environmental Quality Act 10 DATE: May 4, 2015 11 12 Approved for Forwarding: 13 14 15 Ja es C. McCann, City Manager 16 ote: The 2015-2023 Housing Element can be downloaded online at 17 www.cityofmillvalley.org/generalplan. Hard copies are available for review at City Hall 18 (26 Corte Madera Avenue) and the Public Library (375 Throckmorton) during normal 19 business hours. 20 21 ISSUE: 22 Consideration of a Resolution to adopt the Draft 2015-2023 Housing Element ("Housing 23 Element"). 24 25 RECOMMENDATION: 26 Receive presentation, conduct public hearing, review proposed modifications to the Draft 27 Housing Element and consider a Resolution to adopt the 2015-2023 Housing Element. 28 29 BACKGROUND: 30 The update to the current Housing Element began in October 2014 with a public release of 31 the draft document. The Planning Commission reviewed the Element on October zs", then 32 the document was sent to State office of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to 33 receive their review and letter of support. On January 27,2015, the Planning Commission 34 reviewed and recommended approval ofthe final draft Element to the City Council. 35 There has been a significant increase in community interest since the Planning 36 Commission's review and recommendation ofthe Draft Housing Element in January 2015. 37 On April 20, 2015 City Council conducted a public hearing on the Draft Housing Element. 38 Council considered over sixty written comments received prior to the hearing and over 40 39 verbal comments received at the public hearing including nine e-comments. 40 ITEM 5 Staff Report: Review and Adoption of the 2015-2023 Housing Element May 4, 2015 City Council Meeting Page 2 of 6 41 Many residents have expressed that certain components recommended in the Element are 42 inconsistent with the community's desires and expectations. Specifically, most comments 43 have focused on the Capacity Analysis contained in Appendix C of the Element, raising 44 concerns about the relationship of the Analysis with the need to satisfy State-established 45 housing numbers. The comments have focused mostly on the following topics, requesting 46 changes as follows: 47 • Establish a housing capacity number that is less than the current capacity of363 and 48 closer to the 129 units required by the State. 49 • Do not identify capacity on critical, local sites. 50 • Do not identify capacity in critically congested traffic areas. 51 • Eliminate the "supplemental" list of housing sites in Appendix C (Appendix C, 52 pages C-7 and C-8) 53 Other comments focused on: 54 • The Housing Advisory Committee (Housing Program #37, page II-31), both in 55 favor and opposed to establishing the Committee. 56 • Environmental and resource constraints to housing, such as schools, infrastructure 57 and water supply. 58 • Maintaining and preserving the existing rental and affordable housing stock within 59 the City and exploring creative options for affordable housing in Mill Valley for 60 residents, including seniors and local workforce. 61 • The importance ofthe City's two primary General Plan goals, which are to 62 1. Protect and enhance the natural beauty and small town character of Mill 63 Valley; and 64 2. Encourage continued diversity of housing, income levels and lifestyles in 65 the community. 66 After receiving information presented by staff and considering the abundant public 67 comment, Council indicated their support for the Housing Element policy document with 68 some revisions primarily to Appendix C detailed in the "discussion" section below. 69 70 DISCUSSION: 71 At the conclusion of the April 20th Council meeting, Staff was directed to revise the Draft 72 Housing Element pursuant to Option 2 contained in the supplemental memo provided with 73 the Council Report, and to further reduce the Capacity Analysis results to equal 150% of 74 the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) number for a total of 194 units. City 75 Council established a Council subcommittee, consisting of Mayor Ken Wachtel and 76 Councilmember John McCauley to provide input into the modifications to the Capacity 77 Analysis. 78 Staff Report: Review and Adoption of the 2015-2023 Housing Element May 4, 2015 City Council Meeting Page 3 of 6 79 Proposed Revisions: Direction Received at the April 20, 2015 City Council Meeting 80 Council directed staffto revise the Draft Housing Element as follows: 81 1. Start with "Option 2" as described in a supplemental memo dated April 20, 2015 by 82 Yin Smith, Director of Planning and Building Director, amending the Housing 83 Element's Capacity Analysis to add to the approved set of criteria established as 84 part ofthe Capacity Analysis to include: 85 • Commercial sites located along the East Blithedale Corridor from Ryan Avenue 86 up to Highway 101. (Council modified this criterion at the April 20th meeting 87 changing Ryan Avenue to Park School). 88 • Commercial sites adjacent to jurisdictional wetlands and Highway 101. 89 • Commercial sites that result in 2 or less new units. 90 2. Further review the Capacity Analysis to consider "Walk Scores" as part of the 91 filtering criteria. 92 3. Further review the Capacity Analysis to reduce the ''buffer'' to approximately 50% 93 over the 129 units (or a total ofapproximately 194 units in the Capacity Analysis). 94 4. Remove the "supplemental" list ofproperties (Appendix C, pages C-7 and C-8). 95 5. Maintain Housing Element Program #37, "Housing Advisory Committee" (page II- 96 31), with further review and discussion by City Council later this year. 97 Summary of Revised Capacity Analysis (Appendix C). Based on Council direction and 98 the City Council subcomririttee review, the Capacity Analysis methodology in the Draft 99 Housing Element (Appendix C, page C-3 and C-4) has been revised to include the 100 following new criteria: 101 • Do not include sites on East Blithedale from Park School up to Highway 101 . 102 • Do not include sites adjacent to jurisdictional wetlands and Highway 101 corridor. 103 • Do not include commercial sites that result in 2 or less new units. 104 • Do not include sites located adjacent to the Miller/Montford/La Goma Intersection. 105 • Do not include vacant single family sites that are less than the minimum lot size of 106 6,000 squarefeet (Municipal Code 20.16.040). 107 • Do not include sites with a "Walk Score" less than 50 points. A parcel with a walk 108 score less than 50 points is considered "car-dependent" in which most routine 109 errands require an automobile. 110 • Do not include singlefamily residential sites with average slopes over 70%. 111 • Do not include site #46, which is part ofthe City's right ofway. 112 Staff Report: Review and Adoption ofthe 2015-2023 Housing Element May 4, 2015 City Council Meeting Page 4 of6 113 The resulting sites and units associated with the revised Capacity Analysis methodology 114 are summarized in the table below. Revised Capacity Analysis based on Additional "Criteria" Number of Number Housing Related Sites of Sites Units Remove commercially zoned l,2A,5,8A1A2 parcels located along the East 7 59 Blithedale Corridor from Park Avenue up to Highway 101 Remove commercially zoned 3,6,7 parcels adjacent to 3 17 jurisdictional wetlands and Highway 101 corridor Remove commercially zoned 9,39 (other sites taken off the list based parcels that result in 2 or less on other criteria) 2 4 new units Remove commercially zoned 20,13AO,36,30,15,38 parcels at Miller/LaGoma/ 7 31 Montford Intersection Remove properties with "Walk 61,64,65,67,68,72,73,74,76,78,83,84,85, Scores" less than 50 points 86,87,92,94,103,104,105,106,107,108, 41 41 110,113,114,115,117,118,119,120,121, 122,123,124,125,128,129,130,131,132 Remove single family zoned 54,55,56,57,71,97,98,99,100,101,102, 13 13 parcels less than 6,000 sq ft 112,126 Remove singe family zoned 58,60 (other sites taken off the list parcels with average slope based on other criteria) 2 2 greater than 70% Remove Site #46 (part of the 46 1 3 City's Right of Way) TOTAL 76 170 DRAFT CAPACITY ANALYSIS 132 363 ADDITIONALCRITERIA 76 170 REVISED CAPACITYANALYSIS 56 193 RHNA ALLOCATION N/A 129 " BUFFER" (EXCESS UNITS BEYOND 129 RHNA) N/A +64 units or49% 115 116 Staff Report: Review and Adoption of the 2015-2023 Housing Element May 4, 2015 City Council Meeting Page 5 of 6 117 HCD Feedback. Staff has discussed the City Council's direction with HCD staff. The 118 revised Capacity Analysis results in a number of sites being removed from the Analysis, 119 including a number of larger sites and sites identified for potential lots consolidation that 120 were originally identified to illustrate the ability to accommodate a diverse range in 121 housing affordability. While the revised Capacity Analysis continues to illustrate that the 122 City can accommodate its housing needs, HCD has raised concerns with the proposed 123 revisions in terms of types and size ofparcels and the potential for accommodating lower 124 income housing as part ofpotential housing sites (a larger site can typically accommodate a 125 wider range of income levels including low and moderate income housing). The smaller 126 number of sites included in the Capacity Analysis that result in the ability to yield more 127 than ten units concerns HCD in terms of the City's ability to to illustrate that it can 128 accommodate the various levels ofaffordability.