Foster City concerned about potential new housing law

Senate Bill 9, authored by state Senate President Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, would give developers greater flexibility and autonomy in adding housing units in single-family resident zones and make it easier to change single-family residential units. SB 9 would require cities to ministerially approve two residential units in single-family residential zones, allow developers to convert a home into a duplex and then add an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, to the same parcel and allow a single-family lot split, creating two lots, a staff report said.

Froomin wanted to send an opposition letter against SB 9 after receiving an email from the League of California Cities, an advocacy organization representing cities’ interests, requesting support. The League of California Cities has requested that SB 9 have significant amendments to close loopholes, limit developer influence, limit exploitation of SB 9 provisions and give city governments more autonomy.

Froomin believes expressing opposition is important, as the law would significantly densify single-family neighborhoods. He thinks the best way to change bills is by letting state legislators know about Foster City’s interests. Froomin asked for the item to be included on the City Council’s March 1 agenda.

“If we sit back or we are not involved in that process, then they don’t know that we want changes made, and those could sail through much more smoothly than we would like them to,” Froomin said.

Councilman Sam Hindi concurred in sending a letter requesting changes to the language.

“I think those are reasonable requests to be added to the bill. I wouldn’t mind supporting that language,” Hindi said.

Housing density remains an important issue in Foster City, particularly as state policies are increasing the number of housing units required in cities. Foster City has expressed concern about meeting its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA, a quota determining how many housing units each city should build in an eight-year-cycle from the Association of Bay Area Governments. Foster City officials are worried about meeting their numbers of 2,028 housing units in the 2023-2031 RHNA cycle, a 471% increase from the previous cycle. Foster City’s Vision and Policy Summit February highlighted its RHNA numbers as something to address further.

SB 9 will be heard by the Senate Committee on Housing in the coming weeks, with its next meeting date scheduled for March 18. The bill is likely to undergo amendments before its final form receives a vote.

“This is not the final version of the bill that we are seeing right now. The league and all the cities are sending in the comments. All those comments will be considered. The bill would be fine-tuned, and it would come back to us in a final version at a later stage,” Community Development Director Marlene Subhashini said.

City staff will prepare a draft letter and bring it back to City Council March 15 for final review. The City Council unanimously approved moving forward with a letter, voting 5-0 at its Monday meeting.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102