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. I I . I . - to put a little more pressure on the political leaders in Sacramento, and we can always not take the federal grant monies, folks. That's an option. Keep that in mind." - Mayor Hartnett said, "That's an option I'm not interested in. I'm less concerned about trying to meet the ABAG goals, and more concerned about us simply keeping our eyes open to changes we can make that are positive in our neighborhoods, yet provide for more housing opportunities, whether it's in rezoning underutilized "IR" sites or other of the suggested possibilities. I think we should do it irrespective of what the State requirements may be, simply because we need to do it. As to whether or not at some point it is an issue of technical compliance because of the number of units that the State seems to think we ought to facilitate. I think we can look at that and make sure we don't get ourselves in trouble. I don't think we should overdevelop simply to meet those goals. I think the quality of our community balanced with doing what we can reasonably to create more housing units is what we need to focus on rather than their particular numbers.... I think we should undertake reasonable negotiations to try and change the numbers." Mayor Hartnett called on mernbers of the Planning Commission, Housing and Human Concerns Committee (HHCC), and Architectural Advisory Committee who wished to address this issue. Planning Commissioner McCoy discussed the tools which the City had to work with to achieve appropriate housing. He said the "R-l MD" zoning was a very important potential tool that should be researched. He said Redwood City is on the fringe of a true urban - zone, not a suburb, but part of the vibrant urban transportation corridor. "It is not the same as it was in the 1950s and 60s when the zoning laws were laid out. What we have now is a rather sudden transition from traditional "R-l", single family, 6,000 square foot lots into the higher density "R-l, R-2, -3, -4" apartment type locations. It might have been appropriate in 1960, but there are changes in the way people want to live. In a lot of cities we looked at.... people are willing to trade land for travel time. The younger two wage earning couples are quite willing to live in much smaller houses to be close to transportation." He said the "R-! MD" district should have been considered apart ITom a specific project, such as 2150 Roosevelt. He said there are areas where that zoning would be appropriate, perhaps near retail areas. Commissioner McCoy said houses are built differently now. "There are no more 1,800 square foot ranch houses on 6,000 square foot lots. An "R-l" lot now is built out to a two-story, 3,600 square foot Emerald Hills style house. Recognize that the definitions are changing.... You are not going to preserve the same kind of neighborhood, the same density, the same affordability that we are used to around here. As times change, economic uses shift, we ought to have a tool bag to work with." Loriana Kastrop, Vice Chair of the HHCC, said the options presented tonight are the result of a brainstorming session with the Planning Commission and staff. She said they were trying to show the State that the City was making a good faith effort to meet the very large numbers the State was imposing on Redwood City. She asked the Council to focus - on the concept of adopting the Housing Element rather than individual proposals. Vice REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 OCTOBER 27,1997 MINUTES Page No. 625 PAGE 9