3A Public Hearing 2010 0405 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

What Mr. Miller said is probably the most important part of the updated document is the five-year action program. Without going through all 80 of the actions contained in the Housing Element Update, he highlighted the following: • Revisit San Leandro's Inclusionary Zoning ordinance to enhance its flexibility. • Amend zoning to allow emergency shelters by right (without a conditional use permit) in II. (Light Industrial) Districts (primarily around Alvarado and Williams Streets, west of the downtown BART station); State law requires provision for emergency shelter supported housing and transitional housing without a use permit. • Increase mixed use zoning on Washington Street (between downtown and San Leandro Boulevard) and the northern part of MacArthur Boulevard (from the Oakland border to Dutton Avenue); the General Plan already identifies those corridors as mixed use, but the zoning remains commercial, which has relatively low density and floor area ratios (FAR). • Proceed with TOD planning at Bayfair, similar to what was done around the downtown BART station. • Update condo conversion rules; increase fees to align more closely with other cities in the area. • Consider adjustments to long-term affordability requirements; for instance, perhaps introducing a sliding scale governing terms of rental rehabilitation. • Develop homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing strategy based on federal program enacted in 2009. • Address issues of densities in the north area (currently about half the permitted densities in the south area, along East 14th Street) and FARs with appropriate Zoning Code amendments. __ Since the Planning Commission considered the Housing Element Update Draft that Mr. Miller presented in February 2009, the document .has been strengthened and revised to incorporate public comments, specific input from Urban Habitat, Congregations Organized for Renewal (COR) and HCD, which provided its comments on the draft it received in June. Several of HCD's requirements centered more attention to extremely low income (ELI) households (i.e., those with less than 30% of the area-wide median income). These included quantifying the ELI needs, setting targets and committing funding. HCD also wanted San Leandro to document the existence of sufficient capacity in the IL Districts to meet emergency shelter needs and assurance that any limitations established are reasonable, as well as more documentation on fees charged for apartments and condominiums and (completed in October 2009) adoption of a reasonable accommodation policy for people with disabilities. Mr. Miller concluded by noting that because the Housing Element is considered a project under the California Environmental Quality Act, it required an Initial Study, and once it was determined that the no significant environmental impacts would be associated with adoption of the Housing Element, a Negative Declaration was also prepared. Chair Dlugosh invited questions and comments from Commissioners. Commissioner Fitzsimons requested clarification in terms of the comment period having just closed and the Planning Commission being asked for comments. Secretary Livermore explained that the public review and comment period must end prior to Planning Commission review, comment and action. Tonight, the Planning Commission is being asked to make a reconunendation on the environmental document and the Housing Element itself to forward to the City Council. Chair Dlugosh invited opened the public hearing, inviting speakers from the audience. Vu-Banh Nguyen, again in his capacity a program coordinator at Urban Habitat, said that its involvement in both public hearing matters on tonight's agenda show how important San Leandro is to the Planning Commission Special Meeting Minutes Draft Excerpt March 25, 2010 Agenda No. IO-03 Page S of 7