Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, December 03, 2019
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
HOUSING BILL DISCUSSION AND CONSIDERATION OF A LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR SENATE BILL NO. 50, STREAMLINED APPROVAL OF CERTAIN HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS (CITY COUNCIL)
Body
I. SUMMARY
This item has been placed on the agenda at the request of Mayor Robles. Senate Bill No. 50 (SB 50) is aimed at streamlining the approval process for certain multi-family projects to aid in addressing California's housing crisis, Exhibit No. 1. Currently, multi-family projects require Planning Commission approval of a Conditional Use Permit. SB 50 would authorize a developer to submit an application for a streamlined, ministerial approval process, bypassing the Planning Commission's authority to review these projects, and exempting the projects from the CEQA review.
This bill would require the City to notify the developer within 60 days of the submission of the development application if the development conflicts with any of the requirements provided for streamlined ministerial approval. If the City does not notify the developer within this time period, the development would be deemed to comply with those requirements and presumably approved.
In addition to the above, this bill addresses two topics, new affordable multi-family projects and existing and new "neighborhood multi-family" projects. SB 50 requires cities to grant "concessions" or reliefs from various zoning code requirements for projects that provide a certain percentage of affordable housing such as waivers of maximum density provisions, minimum parking requirements, maximum height requirements, and maximum lot coverage requirements (FAR). The extent of these reliefs depends on the location of the site in relation to transit and jobs.
The same streamlined administrative approval process applies to "neighborhood multi-family". This category of housing includes both conversion of existing structures, including single family homes, to fo...
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