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MINUTES Page 8 City of San Leandro City Council and San Leandro Redevelopment Agency Joint Meeting-November 15,2004 that the City has the flexibility to offer financial assistance if the need is demonstrated, as well as other tools. He pointed to projects such as the Greenhouse project on MacArthur and those in other redevelopment areas, where affordable units have been provided by developers 'without a request to provide a subsidy. Councilmember Glaze commented on a speaker's concern that affordable units not be segregated from market rate units. He asked if the City could be defeating the purpose of requiring affordable units of similar size and materials if it also allows the units to be developed on a different site than the n1arket rate units. Mr. J ermanis indicated that it will always be at the discretion of the City where the affordable units will be built, and the preference \vould be to build affordable units onsite whenever possible. Counciln1en1ber Glaze noted that the ordinance does not specify this. Mr. Horn noted that language was added to the ordinance to clarify that offsite options are solely at the discretion of the Approval Authority. Councilmen1ber Santos responded to the comments made by Mr. Caruso, suggesting that, in the exmnple he provided, a density bonus might be allowed. Mr. Horn stated that various options could be considered on a project-by-project basis and noted that Section 6-3018(B) of the ordinance was added to allow greater flexibility in zoning standards. Mr. Jermanis noted that the density bonus is one of the tools that could be employed to achieve the overall goal. Councilmen1ber Grant noted that the introductory language of the ordinance sets the philosophical tone and suggested strengthening the language regarding having inclusionary units integrated with market rate units. Based on the developers' comments, she asked if the City isn't already allowing the types of incentives that developers are requesting. Mr. Horn described the State-mandated density bonus law and commented that the local ordinance would allow the City to grant a density bonus without the achievement of certain goals required by the State law. Counciln1ember Grant stated that she appreciates Councilmember Stephens' earlier COlnments about giving the ordinance a chance to work. She recalled that this has been one of the rare occasions since she has been on the Council that there has been so much public input in developing policy, and she expressed appreciation to the speakers for their COlnments. Councilmember Glaze asked if a developer could get the benefits under the inclusionary zoning as well as a density bonus. Mr. Horn indicated that, as currently written, the ordinance does not allow double counting. A developer wanting to qualify for a density bonus would need to provide affordable units over and above what is required by the inclusionary ordinance. Vice Mayor Badger cOlnmented that the Business Development Committee (Vice Mayor Badger and Councilmembers Grant and Stephens) did not want to create an environment where nothing would be built and tried to ensure that housing requirements would be achieved. He stated his belief that this ordinance is the best there is and thanked everyone for their hard work.