Foster City discusses housing increases

The city held a Sept. 28 community workshop to update the public on its Housing Element update and to get community feedback on what it wanted. A housing element is state-mandated and lays out how Foster City will grow and develop and requires certification by the state. The city will have a draft housing element ready for public review in the spring, with final adoption in January 2023. It includes a review of housing policies, housing goals for the city and analysis of sites that can accommodate new housing at various income levels to meet the city’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment, or RHNA.

Some commenters were enthusiastict a new housing element plan could bring more affordable housing into the city and access for workers. For first-time property owners to build equity, they wanted aesthetically pleasing housing units, like townhomes and condominiums. Other residents wanted to ensure marginalized communities and people with disabilities also had access to housing.

Others were concerned about the potential quality of life issue related to parks and open spaces, transportation, infrastructure and access to city areas. If housing is built, some residents want to maintain open spaces like the Mariners Point Golf Course. Others noted the small geographic area of Foster City makes finding housing sites difficult, with suggestions for development near transit areas.

Some suggested turning offices into housing and renovating old apartments to hold higher density. Others wanted cost-sharing and suggestions of additional development fees to address additional infrastructure.

State laws like the neely signed Senate Bill 9 will affect the landscape of housing in California. The law would allow owners of some single-family lots to build up to four housing units on their property by splitting lots into two and building two units on each new lot. SB 9 takes effect in 2022.

“So, a lot of sweeping changes to the state housing legislation, which is really going to impact how we plan and approve housing,” Subhashini said.

RHNA housing allocations are mandated by the Association of Bay Area Governments, or ABAG, to meet state housing law. Cities must plan for the development of additional housing units and lessen constraints, increasing opportunities for housing development. The current RHNA cycle of 2023-2031 calls for 1,896 units to Foster City, a 341% increase from the city’s last cycle of 430. The increase is in part due to Foster City being near high opportunity areas with proximity to jobs, Subhashini said. The city also did not make as much progress in building low-income and moderate housing in the last cycle.

“Our jobs have tremendously increased from 2002 to 2018. We have seen an increase [of] 1.37 to 1.76 jobs per household in 2018,” Subhashini said.

The increase has frustrated the Foster City Council and some community members and led to calls to try and fight its RHNA housing allocation. City staff have said that if the city did not have a compliant housing element by agreeing to meet its RHNA numbers, state laws could give more control to California over deciding how developers could build housing in Foster City.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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