Santa Clara County Grand Jury
• 2017-2018
• Agency Response
Response to:
Los Altos Police Department / City of Los Altos
(endorsed) Sep 05*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F7
Findings and Recommendations 5 findings
F6
Page 6
In-lieu fees, when offered as an option, are too low to produce the needed number of BMR units and delay their creation. Cities to respond are Campbell, Cupertino, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Page 6
Cities with an in-lieu option should raise the fee to at least 30% higher than the inclusionary BMR equivalent where supported by fee studies, Cities to respond are Campbell, Cupertino, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. Vinding 7 NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) opposition adversely affects the supply of BMR housing units. Agencies to respond are all 15 cities and the County. CITY OF LOS ALTOS RESPONSE - Agree
F8
Page 6
It is unnecessarily difficult to confirm how many BMR units are constructed in a particular year or RHNA cycle because cities and the County only report permitted units. Agencies to respond are all 15 cities and the County. CITY OF LOS ALTOS RESPONSE - Agree
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
Page 6
All 15 cities and the County should annually publish the number of constructed BMR units, starting in April 2019. CITY OF LOS ALTOS REPORTS THE FOLLOWING ACTION - The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but the City expects it can publish on an annual basis the number of BMR units_constructed.
F9
Page 7
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) offer a prime opportunity for cities with low housing density and limited developable land to produce more BMR units. Cities to respond are Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga. CITY OF LOS ALTOS RESPONSE - Agree
Related Recommendations (2)
R9a
Page 7
ADU creation should be encouraged by decreasing minimum lot size requirements and increasing the allowed unit maximum square footage to that prescribed by state law, Cities to respond are Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga. CITY OF LOS ALTOS REPORTS THE FOLLOWING ACTION - The recommendation has been implemented. On July 10, 2018, the City Council adopted ordinance 2018-448 that eliminated the minimum lot size requirement for ADUs and allowed for larger units.
R9b
Page 7
Increasing BMR unit creation by incentivizing long-term affordability through deed restrictions for ADUs should be adopted, Cities to respond are Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga. CITY OF LOS ALTOS REPORTS THE FOLLOWING ACTION - The recommendation will not be implemented because it is staff's understanding that changes in State Legislation no longer provide that a City can require such restrictions as ADUs are affordable by design.
F10
Page 7
Lack of funding mechanisms to create BMR housing has restricted BMR achievement by cities with limited commercial development or developable land. Cities to respond are Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno and Saratoga.
Related Recommendations (2)
R10a
Page 7
Residential development impact fees to fund BMR developments should be enacted by the cities of Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno and Saratoga,
R10b
Page 7
Parcel taxes to fund BMR developments should be brought as a ballot measure to the voters of the cities of Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, by the 2020 elections.
F11
Page 7
The VTA is a valuable model for effectively generating BMR housing on publicly owned property. Agencies to respond are the County and the SCVWD. 6
Related Recommendations (2)
R11a
Page 8
The County should identify or create an agency, modeled after the VTA's Joint Development Program, to coordinate partnerships between developers and both the SCVWD and the County, for the development of BMR housing,
R11b
Page 8
Parcels suitable for BMR housing should be offered for development by the SCVWD and the County, 7
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Los Altos
City
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.