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Home My WebLink About2023-12-07; Housing Element Implementation Status Update (Districts All); Barberio, GaryTo the members of the: CITY COUNCIL Date l:2l1l2:s cALcc ✓ CM __L72°M ~DCM (3) ..JL Council Memorandum December 7, 2023 To: From: Via: Re: Honorable Mayor Hall and Members of the City Council Gary Barberio, Deputy City Manager, Community Services Jeff Murphy, Community Development Director Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager/Ai Housing Element Implementation St~ Update (Districts -All) {city of Carlsbad Memo ID# 2023124 This memorandum provides information on the status of the implementation of the 2021-2029 Housing Element and is an update to the Council Memorandum provided on July 6, 2023 (Attachment A). Background Jurisdictions throughout the state of California are required by law to develop and maintain a Housing Element, a mandatory part of the General Plan. The Housing Element provides the city with a coordinated and comprehensive strategy for promoting the production of safe, decent, and affordable housing for varying income-levels within the community. The City Council adopted the current Housing Element, which covers the 2021-2029 housing cycle, on April 6, 2021, and subsequently received state certification from the California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) in July 2021. The Housing Element includes approximately 40 programs broken down into nearly 160 objectives, with each objective having an identified implementation timeframe and/or requiring ongoing implementation throughout the 2021-2029 housing cycle. The actions range from rezoning sites to permit additional housing units to developing streamlined procedures for discretionary and ministerial permit review. Discussion Many program objectives obligate the city to ongoing implementation throughout the housing cycle. Often, these are reflective of staff's day-to-day work, such as enforcing building codes or administering the city's Housing Trust Fund. Other ongoing objectives require regular implementation, but on a less frequent or periodic basis, such as to prepare the Housing Element Annual Progress Report or to respond as necessary to new state housing legislation. Of the nearly 160 project objectives, most are ongoing; however, 58 have identified implementation timeframes. Of these, staff have completed 39 objectives so far, 16 of which were completed this past year alone and include the following notable milestones: • Program 1.11-Objective Design Standards: On August 29, 2023, the City Council approved standards for both the Village and Barrio and city-wide application. Community Services Branch Community Development Department 1635 Faraday Avenue I Carlsbad, CA 92008-7314 I 442-339-2710 t Council Memo -Housing Element Implementation Status Update (Districts -All) December 7, 2023 Page 2 • Program 1.12 -Smoke-free Ordinance for Multi-Family Housing: On August 22, 2023, the City Council considered an ordinance, as the program requires, and directed staff to prepare an ordinance for future consideration, as an action not required under the program. • Programs 1.1 (objective "n"), 1.3 (objectives "c-e"), 1.8 (objective "d") and 2.13 (objective "j") -Provide Adequate Housing Sites, Alternative Housing, Mixed Use Housing and Housing for Homeless: On April 19, 2023, the Planning Commission received and considered a memorandum prepared by staff related to six different program objectives. The presentation to the Planning Commission satisfied the program objectives and no further action was requested. Probably the most visible, time demanding, and controversial program in the Housing Element involves the proposed rezoning of certain properties located throughout the city, which is necessary to accommodate the city's share of forecasted regional population growth. The Housing Element established a due date of April 2024 for these changes, which will be accomplished by a suite of individual program objectives as listed below: • Program 1.1 (objectives "b," "c," and "d") -Provide Adequate Sites to Accommodate the RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Assessment). • Program 1.3 (objective "b") -Alternative Housing. • Program 1. 7 (objective "a") -Site from Prior Elements. As reported in the Council Memorandum dated July 6, 2023, the environmental report and analysis for the city's Housing Element rezone program was made available for a 45-day public review period. Following the public review period, staff and the consulting team reviewed all the submitted comments. In summary, most of the comments focused on the following items: • Advocacy for/against individual rezone sites or between the Map 1 and Map 2 group of rezone sites. • Concerns related to changes in community character, traffic, public safety, open space, and pubiic services. • Requests for clarification on technical aspects of the EIR such as density assumptions and the sufficiency of CEQA analysis for a range of future projects. Following public review, staff prepared responses to submitted comments, revised SEIR sections as appropriate and completed the Final SEIR documentation, including a statement of overriding considerations and a mitigation monitoring and reporting program. On October 18, 2023, staff presented the two map options; corresponding General Plan, zoning, and master plan/specific plan amendments; and environmental analysis to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission recommended the Map 1 scenario including all 18 sites (Attachment B). Council Memo -Housing Element Implementation Status Update (Districts -All) December 7, 2023 Page 3 Next Steps Staff will next present the objectives from Programs 1.1, 1.3 and 1.7 to the Housing Commission on December 14, 2023, for information~! purposes and to seek the Housing Commission's recommendation on establishing a minimum and expanded affordability requirement for residential development on private sites that received a density increase as a result of the rezone, and on city-owned identified housing sites to ensure RHNA requirements are maintained throughout the full housing cycle which ends in 2029. The proposal for private housing sites mirrors that which was established in 2015 with the comprehensive General Plan update and provides a required level of affordability with two discretionary alternatives: Minimum Affordability • A minimum of 20% of the total project housing units affordable to lower income households (low, very-low or extremely low income) Discretionary Alternatives, Subject to City Approval • A minimum of 15% of the total project housing units affordable to very-low income households • A minimum of 15% of the total project housing units affordable to lower income households (low, very-low or extremely low income) and 10% affordable to moderate income households The above standards are also being proposed for the North County Transit District (NCTD) properties at the Carlsbad Village Coaster Station (Site 14) and Poinsettia Coaster Station (Site 17). The NCTD and current applicants have been made aware of this proposed requirement. The proposal for the three city-owned housing sites, which include the parking lots surrounding the Shoppes at Carlsbad (Site 2), a vacant lot that is part of the Crossings Golf Course on College Boulevard (Site 6) and the city's Oak Street Maintenance Yard (Site 15), includes a minimum of 40% of the total project housing units be affordable to lower income households (low, very-low or extremely low income). This higher affordability requirement for the city-owned sites will ensure lower-income housing capacity is retained in future project proposals, will provide 239 more lower-income units than if only 20% were required, and may enable the city to dispose of Sites 2, 6 and 15 for residential development through an exemption provided under the Surplus Lands Act1 . The recommendations of staff and both commissions are anticipated to be presented to the City Council on January 30, 2024, for consideration and ordinance introduction. Actions that require changes to the zoning ordinance or zoning map will be scheduled at the City Council's next meeting for adoption, tentatively on February 6, 2024. Thirty days following adoption of the 1 The Surplus Land Act (SLA) is a state law (Govt. Code §54220-54234) that requires all local agencies to offer surplus land for sale or lease to affordable home developers and certain other entities before selling or leasing the land to any other individual or entity. An SLA exemption allows the city to initiate the property disposition process quicker. Council Memo -Housing Element Implementation Status Update (Districts -All) December 7, 2023 Page 4 ordinance, the amendment to the zoning ordinance and zoning map will become effective for rezone sites outside of the Coastal Zone. The amendment will become effective for rezone sites within the Coastal Zone when the California Coastal Commission approves the Local Coastal Program amendment. Staff will apply to the California Coastal Commission for a Local Coastal Program Amendment following the City Council's adoption of the ordinance. Concurrently, staff are working towards the timely completion of the remaining 19 timeframe specific program objectives. The following are several of the more complex or resource-intensive efforts that lie ahead: •Program 1.1, objective f-Provide Adequate Sites to Accommodate the RHNA (This specific objective requires changes to the city's Real Estate Strategic Plan, which will follow the January 2024 City Council direction on objectives "b," "c," and "d" as reflected in the "Discussion" section of this memorandum) •Program 2.4, objectives c, d, and e -City-Initiated Development •Program 4.2, objectives c and d -Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing •Program 4.3, objectives c and f -Anti-Segregation in Housing Implementation •Program 6.1, objective d -Environmental Justice The final three programs listed above will require staff to conduct analysis and assessments not previously done in the city, which will lead to expanded information regarding barriers to fair housing and environmental justice for marginalized groups within Carlsbad. This information will then inform recommended practices, projects, programs, or regulatory changes to improve housing options for these disenfranchised groups. It is likely that the recommendations needed to implement these programs will require new or reallocated resources to implement. Staff is just starting the analysis and program details are not yet available, but staff will continue to provide updates to the City Council as more information becomes available. Attachment: A. Council Memorandum dated July 6, 2023 https://records.carlsbadca.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=6438026&dbid=0&rep o=CityofCarlsbad B.Planning Commission Staff Report dated October 18, 2023 https://records.carlsbadca.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=7090494&dbid=0&rep o=CityofCa rlsbad Council Memo -Housing Element Implementation Status Update (Districts -All) December 7, 2023 Page 5 cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager Cindie McMahon, City Attorney Ron Kemp, Senior Assistant City Attorney Mandy Mills, Housing and Homeless Services Director Mike Strong, Assistant Community Development Director Eric Lardy, City Planner Robert Efird, Principal Planner Scott Donnell, Senior Planner Nicole Morrow, Assistant Planner