AgdaPkt 2012-02-13 - Laserfiche WebLink

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8. B. - Page 8 The City supports the development of affordable housing in Redwood City as provided in General Plan Housing Element policies that support housing for all income levels consistent with State housing requirements. The City has used the following tools to facilitate the creation of affordable units: • Redevelopment: Private projects within the Redevelopment Area (e.g. Franklin Street Apartments) have provided affordable units consistent with Redevelopment law. In addition, Redevelopment Agency-assisted projects have provided affordable housing (e.g. Rolison Rd. Townhomes, Habitat for Humanity Townhomes, City Center, and Montgomery Villa). • Precise Plans and Development Agreements: Affordable housing has been negotiated in developer-initiated Precise Plans and Development Agreements (e.g. Woodside Villa and One Marina). • Density Bonus: Developer have obtained a density bonus in exchange for providing affordable housing (e.g. 333 Main Street and proposed 640 Veteran Blvd. project). • Creative Collaborative Efforts: Staff has worked with the Canada College School District and the Town of Woodside to create affordable teacher housing on the Canada College campus. However, the City has no basis for conditioning this Project to include affordable housing units. The developer did not request a Density Bonus or other concessions that would give the City a basis to require affordable units, and the City does not have an inclusionary ordinance to require affordable units. As proposed, the Project is consistent with the site's General Plan Mixed Use Corridor land use designation and General Plan policies as further described in Draft EIR Section 3. The Project also meets the City's Zoning Ordinance for Parking (Article 30) standards, Planned Development (Article 46) standards and Mixed Use Corridor (Article 53) standards relevant to allowable density, height, setbacks and open space requirements. In addition, the Project meets the intent of the Mixed-Use Corridor Zoning District which is to provide high density housing near transit, with innovative housing options, sensitivity to lower-intensity adjacent uses, on-site amenities and pedestrian and street-oriented design. Furthermore, the issue of affordable housing is an economic issue unrelated to the City's compliance with CEQA in preparing the Final EIR. The intent of CEQA is to address physical changes in the environmental and, as stated in Section 15064(e) of z Although new legislation has eliminated Redevelopment Agencies, the City has opted to take on the housing functions previously performed by the Redevelopment Agency. 3 Even if the City had an inclusionary ordinance, a requirement to provide any number of affordable units would be invalid in this case because this Project is a rental housing project. See Palmer/Sixth Street Properties L.P. v. City of LosAngeles (2009) 175 Cal.App.4 1396 (invalidating an inclusionary ordinance as it applies to rental housing where there is no independent basis (e.g., a negotiated development agreement, granting of a density bonus, etc.) for the application of the inclusionary requirement).