Santa Clara County Grand Jury
• 2017-2018
• Agency Response
Response to:
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Planning & Community Environment*
⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 3 findings
F6
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. City of Palo Alto Partially agree. It may be that some municipalities would benefit from re- Response evaluating in lieu housing fees. The City of Palo Alto has recently conducted a study and held public hearings to ensure that in-lieu fees are appropriately set. Civil Grand Jury Cities with an in-lieu option should raise the fee to at least 30% higher than the
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
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. City of Palo Alto This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. The Response City of Palo Alto's recently updated its inclusionary housing ordinance to clearly prioritize the production of affordable units over payment of fees. The City will accept in-lieu fees only if a developer can show that all higher priority options that would result in the immediate production of BMR units are infeasible. Civil Grand Jury NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) opposition adversely affects the supply of BMR
F7
housing units. Agencies to respond are all 15 cities and the County. City of Palo Alto Partially disagree. Opposition to development may constrain housing Response development generally and BMR housing units specifically. However, opposition to development may or may not be specifically related to BMR housing units. There may be other concerns related to traffic, neighborhood character, construction-related impacts or other issues that generate opposition to projects. Civil Grand Jury A task force to communicate the value and importance of each city meeting its
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
RHNA objectives for BMR housing should be created and funded by the County and all 15 cities, by June 30, 2019. City of Palo Alto The recommendation will not be implemented because it is unwarranted and Response vague. Through adoption of the City's Housing Element, the City engaged in a community dialogue about the importance of housing and identifying potential redevelopment sites to meet housing goal objectives. The City continued a community dialogue about housing with its recent Comprehensive Plan adoption. Through active implementation programs, the continues to support and is actively crafting ordinances to increase housing production. The City's local decision-makers, board and commission members are aware of the value and importance of housing generally and more specifically, the State mandated RHNA requirements. Forming a task force for the stated purpose stretches government resources, is unnecessary and can likely be handled by other governmental entities such as the County's Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee. Civil Grand Jury It is unnecessarily difficult to confirm how many BMR units are constructed in a
F8
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 Palo Alto Partially agree. While there continues to be opportunities to improve access to Response information and enhance transparency, the City of Palo Alto annually reports the number of housing units generated each year to the State Housing and Community Development departments in compliance with mandated requirements. Civil Grand Jury All 15 cities and the County should annually publish the number of constructed
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
BMR units, starting in April 2019. City of Palo Alto The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented Response in the future, no later than March 31, 2019. Should you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact me at 650-329-2679 or [email protected]. Sincerely, onathan l Interim Director
* 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.