San Mateo’s Planning Commission seeks changes to housing element

At its Jan. 12 meeting, the Planning Commission recommended to the City Council that it not submit the current draft housing element to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for approval. The city is addressing and making revisions before submitting it on Jan. 31 for certification. The City Council has final city authority over the housing element and state submittal, but the Planning Commission can provide advice and recommendations on changes for council consideration. A Planning Commission majority believed that the document failed to follow the state’s statutory requirements around meeting fair housing policy, housing goals and production.

Planning Commissioner Adam Nugent was concerned that there were a number of sites listed in the housing element that did not have a realistic likelihood of becoming housing during the next eight years, jeopardizing the chance the city meets its housing production requirements. He also noted the goals and policies needed to be more detailed to ensure compliance.

“Overall, I doubt that HCD will find this housing element, as it currently stands, is in substantial compliance with state law,” Nugent said.

Commissioner Seema Patel acknowledged a significant amount of time and effort went into producing the document but said she still has significant concerns. Her biggest issues are the city needs to provide more evidence of redevelopment as defined by the state and that the city would not meet its housing production goals. She said an out-of-compliance housing element could result in losing control over land use and potential loss of funding or litigation.

“I will continue to hope for the best, but I think we should start thinking about a plan B of what substantial changes we might begin to investigate and think about in the event HCD comes back and says that the housing element is not in compliance,” Patel said.

Vice Chair John Ebneter felt the city should have tried to be a leader in the Bay Area with its housing element and embrace a more proactive plan to build housing.

“We had a once in an eight-year opportunity to make a meaningful change and address our housing crisis,” Ebneter said.

The city’s second draft includes more detail and information about its methodology and data for how it will further fair housing. The city also reduced its site inventory from around 10,800 to 9,934 new housing units over eight years, which still represents a significant buffer to accommodate the 7,015-unit minimum the state requires of the city. Around 2,000 units were initially called for at the Hillsdale Shopping Center, where property owner Bohannon Companies is interested in redeveloping from a commercial into a mixed-use site with more office and housing. The new site inventory now only calls for 1,200 units. The purpose of the site inventory is to ensure enough land is zoned at appropriate densities to accommodate housing.

The vote passed with a 3-0 majority. Chair Margaret Williams and Commissioner Martin Wiggins were absent from the meeting.