San Carlos officials will now have until mid-December to implement design guidelines for newly state-permitted lot splits, effectively pausing such splits to facilitate community feedback around how they’d like to see the new law applied in single-family residences.
“No one is saying that we’re not going to comply with SB 9. What we are saying is that we are going to continue to be thoughtful leaders who seek out feedback and listen to our community and then take action where it is needed and the community needs to have an opportunity to weigh in,” Mayor Sara McDowell said during Monday’s City Council meeting.
Councilmembers unanimously supported a staff-requested extension on an urgency ordinance implementing temporary regulations and objective standards to subdivisions permitted under Senate Bill 9, state legislation that could potentially allow for up to four units on formerly single-family-only lots.
The extension gives staff up to 10 months and 15 days to draft the ordinance after gathering community feedback and consulting with subject matter experts. Sajuti Haque, a senior management analyst, said the time is necessary for ensuring adequate community input can be gathered and the varying interpretations of the law can be avoided.
The current timeline anticipates community workshops being held in April followed by design standards being drafted in May and presented to the Planning Commission during a study session in June. Fine-tuning of the draft policy would occur in July and the Planning Commission would be asked to recommend the policy to the council in August so a first and second reading of the ordinance could occur in September and October, respectively.
The city’s Planning Commission was split on how much time staff would actually need to craft the new policy when they discussed the issue a week ago. And Councilmember Laura Parmer-Lohan also expressed some concern over staff’s proposed time frame and requested they work expeditiously.
“We have a housing crisis. We need to act accordingly. While I’m supportive of the work staff is taking, I believe 10 1/2 months is too long,” Parmer-Lohan said.
Parmer-Lohan also shared concerns for controversial language in the urgency ordinance and bill that suggests lot splits could be a “current and immediate threat to public health, safety or welfare.” Staff noted the language is directed toward a lack of design guidelines and not the splits or the residents of any type of housing but acknowledged that the wording could be offensive. Parmer-Lohan requested that staff replace the language in the permanent ordinance.
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Staff intends on completing their work by October but was still requesting the full extension in case additional time is needed, Al Savay, director of Community and Economic Development, said.
“There is a sense of urgency, we heard it for the Planning Commission and a number of folks in the community who would like to get this done quickly,” Savay said. “But we don’t know what will happen.”
The permanent ordinance would take precedence over the urgency ordinance 30 days after its approval, around the middle of or late November, given that work advances as planned, City Attorney Greg Rubens said.
Under the urgency ordinance, the city will limit two primary units on each subdivided lot, prohibiting ADUs or JADUs, and up to four units will be permitted on subdivided lots with ADUs and JADUs. A maximum of 800 square feet will be allowed per new SB 9 unit, meeting the minimum square footage permitted by the state though larger units are also permitted.
Of the city’s 8,100 single-family zoned parcels, about 6,400 would qualify for an SB 9 subdivision, Haque said, citing a study by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley. No official SB 9 lot splits have been requested at this time but 10 people have made inquiries to the city so far, Haque said.
“I think anybody that knows this council knows how much we all pay attention, care about the community and want to make sure we do the right thing,” Councilmember Ron Collins said. “We really have two jobs. One is to listen to the community and the other is to follow the law and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
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(1) comment
Outrageous. Will they delay their millions of square feet of biotech? Doubt it. Therefore not an emergency at all.
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