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Page 15 of 17 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />EQUITY IMPACT STATEMENT <br />Equity was considered in the development of the proposed Amendments in the following ways: <br />The Amendments would implement Programs in the City’s Housing Element intended to expand <br />housing opportunities for low-income residents and residents with special needs, groups who are <br />particularly disadvantaged in accessing affordable housing in the Bay Area. In drafting the Housing <br />Element, the City assessed the benefits and burdens of its policies on a wide range of its residents, <br />applied a geographic equity index to assess impact on underserved areas, and conducted extensive <br />outreach to engage communities traditionally least likely to be heard in civic processes. <br />The Amendments would expedite the review and approval of affordable housing projects, including <br />100% affordable housing, and remove barriers to housing development in order to foster a wide range <br />of housing opportunities. The Amendments would help advance the City Council’s Strategic Priority <br />on Housing, which seeks to “Meet our unique community housing needs for people at all income <br />levels” by reducing the cost to build and to expedite the development of affordable housing in <br />Redwood City. The Amendments would also advance the City Council Strategic Plan Guiding Principle <br />for Excellence in Government Operations, which seeks to “uphold the highest standards of <br />professionalism within City Operations and encourage fiscal responsibility, innovation, and strategic <br />decision making” by proposing innovative policy to streamline housing development review. <br />The proposed code maintenance updates, which comprise the bulk of the Amendments, implement <br />mostly clerical changes to the code but in some cases include minor changes to City policy. City staff <br />assessed the potential benefits and burdens of the policy changes by race, income, age, gender, and <br />citizenship status. Staff find that in most cases the set of proposed amendments have a neutral equity <br />impact in that they do not exacerbate existing inequities. In some cases, the proposed updates would <br />result in more equitable outcomes by, for example, increasing housing opportunities for lower income <br />residents. <br />FISCAL IMPACT <br />Revisions to the Municipal Code, Zoning Code and Zoning Map, and Engineering Standards were <br />completed with existing resources; no budget modification is required. <br />ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW <br />These proposed amendments are not a “project” as defined by California Environmental Quality Act <br />(CEQA) Guidelines section 15378 because they are administrative actions consistent with adopted plans <br />and policies that do not authorize any new construction or other activities that could result in physical <br />changes to the environment. Even if the amendments are considered to be a project, they are consistent <br />with and within the scope of the activities and programs evaluated in the General Plan EIR (2010, SCH <br />2010052034) and Focused General Plan Update EIR (2022, SCH 2022100449), both of which adequately <br />evaluated and described the potential impacts of activities consistent with the General Plan pursuant to <br />8.B. - Page 15 of 212 <br />330