Hillsborough plans for housing

Officials prepared a plan for 605 affordable units, 10% of what the state asked as a buffer. The plan consists of 400 private ADUs, 16 units at Town Hall, 23 units on vacant lot sites, three units at Brooke Court, five units at Hayne Road, six units at Nueva School, five units at Hillsborough Country Club, 100 units at the Tobin Clarke estate, 35 units at Strawberry Hill, and eight units at the Callan property.

The Town Hall site has been discussed for months and was a key discussion point in the special Town Council meeting Feb. 6.

Longtime resident Peter Charts said the Town Hall might be an appropriate solution to the housing needs but feels it would be irresponsible and short-sighted to build affordable housing at the site.

“Further down the road, if we had funds, energy and ideas that would support the development of this property in a more loving and fruitful way for the residents — so landscaping, community buildings, something to bring the town together, for heaven sakes. To put in more housing; you can pick up a local newspaper and see all we are doing is putting up more housing,” Charts said.

If the California Department of Housing and Community Development approves the town’s plan for the Town Hall site, state law says it must follow through with building it. That is a concern for residents like Katie Hagerty, who said it would be an expense for the town.

“If you plan it, it must be built,” Hagerty said.

However, Resident Arlene Rosenburg said she can’t imagine not including housing at the site.

“I think it would frankly be irresponsible for us to redevelop that site and not include housing as part of it, given the housing crisis we are facing here on the Peninsula,” Rosenburg said.

Other sites

Still, the council needed to identify more sites to offset its ADU heavy plan and lofty RHNA goals.

One of those sites is the Callan property, 20 acres at the northeast corner of Crystal Springs Road and Tartan Trail Road. There is already an application to subdivide the property into eight lots, according to the town’s website. The council considered spot zoning the lot to create 24 affordable multifamily housing units, which created a bustle during the discussion.

Councilmember Marie Chuang questioned if spot zoning would open Pandora’s box for developers to request spot zoning similar lots within the town. Councilmember Al Royse said the town is comfortable with its single-family zoning.

“I think there is a desire in the town to not change our zoning if not needed,” Royse said.

Resident Dr. Lionel Foster said spot zoning is done typically for the public good.

“What that means is, a town can select a site and upzone it or spot zone. It’s for the public good, which means the total public good,” Foster said. “But it is not specifically done to meet RHNA numbers.”

However, town consultant Barbara Kautz said spot zoning is case specific, adding RHNA requirements to provide low-income housing is recognized by the HCD as a good reason to upzone one site over similarly situated sites.

“But, it doesn’t give the right to a later developer to come in and say ‘well you zoned this site, you know, multifamily, to meet your RHNA, now you must zone my site,’” Kautz said.

As the town juggled with finding the right properties to add to its housing element, Kautz said the plan to house all 400 ADUs in the low-income to moderate-income housing tier was concerning because it might be rejected by HCD.

“ADUs tend to be rented to friends and family; they are not often offered on the open market or listed and so, in that case, there is a concern that they are not generally available,” Kautz said.

Secondly, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule is there to enable lower-income residents to have the same access to services as higher-income residents: such as school districts, transit and good access to jobs. The HCD will allow some of the town’s RHNA numbers to be adhered to through ADUs, but not all of them, she said.

Next steps

The Town Council voted on the plan to follow through for 605 affordable housing units and is preparing the environmental analysis for the chosen sites. It plans to submit its housing element to the HCD by Feb. 27. HCD will have 60 days to review, revise and send a letter back to the town directing its staff with further direction. The town anticipates receiving the letter and following back up with a public Town Council meeting, tentatively on May 8.