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Chair Kastrop said the City needs to move in the direction of making housing a priority. She said, "We've done a good job of bringing in employment, but not as effective as bringing in the kinds of places that new police officers, for example, can live. We want to hire them, where will they live? We want to have wonderful teachers in the Redwood City School District. Can they live in Redwood City on their salary? That is what we are talking about when we talk about affordable housing. We are not talking about people who are down and out. We are talking about people who have jobs, but... the market forces are such that prices of housing are out of reach of many of our professional and working people. I would urge you to adopt the Housing Element as giving us an extra tool, additional funding which creates flexibility to do different kinds of things in Redwood City.... It simply gives us more options, and that is what we have to look at for the future. It doesn't tie us to any particular course of action. By having a Housing Element. .. funds would becorne available to us." Mayor Hartnett recognized San Carlos Councilman Don Eaton who was sitting in the audience. Paul Sanfilipo, Planning Commissioner, said we should do as much as we can to provide more housing for people here in Redwood City. He said the Planning Commission had tried many years ago to get the Housing Element approved by the State, but eventually gave up as the State's approval process became a constantly moving target. Commissioner Sanfilipo said the State's figures included the South Shores area, which made the bar so high. He said if that land mass was removed, "we'd be far beyond the actual goals that we have to achieve." Commissioner Sanfilipo said he supported inclusion of the proposed "R-l MD" zoning district. He said he was concerned that increasing the size of accessory dwellings might end up creating a second unit almost as large as the original one. Michael Hitchcock, 1508 Redwood A venue, said he wrote the Hillsborough Housing Element which also was not approved. He said that his experience with Housing Elements have proven that "many concerns that people have get displaced into other issues..." He said Hillsborough didn't want apartment buildings, but as he drove through Hillsborough, he saw "a large number of apartment buildings. It's just that in Hillsborough, those are restricted to one-family use." Mr. Hitchcock said if a City is concemed with height, then height should be regulated. If the concern is lot coverage, then that should be regulated. He asked, if a 3,600 square foot, two-story dwelling is acceptable, does it really matter if it is one or two units? He said there would be a small increase in use of sewerage, perhaps more children in the schools, "but the basic physical presence of that building in the neighborhood is still the same, whether it is one unit or two." He said cities are trying to house 1990s populations in 1950 housing stock. Mr. Hitchcock asked Council to focus on "what modifications can we make that don't change the physical characteristics but change only the social characteristics." Mayor Hartnett asked if anyone else wished to address this issue. No one came forward. REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 OCTOBER 27,1997 MINUTES Page No. 626 PAGE 10