Saratoga cries foul when city gets affordable housing numbers
Los Gatos doing a better job says housing advocate
City updating its plans
By Kara Chalmers
Saratoga officials say the Association of Bay Area Governments, the organization that has made housing allocations for all cities and counties under its jurisdiction, is treating them unfairly.
In assessing regional housing needs, the organization assigned Los Gatos 385 units of housing and it assigned Saratoga 539 units, 219 of which are to be below-market-rate units. ABAG said the cities must plan to provide this housing in the next six years.
According to Saratoga resident and affordable housing advocate Betty Feldheym, the difference between the two cities may be that Los Gatos has traditionally provided its fair share of affordable housing for the region while Saratoga has not.
"I'm sorry that ABAG was not very nice to you," Feldheym said to the Saratoga City Council at its meeting on Feb. 7. "Saratoga doesn't have a very good reputation when it comes to affordable housing ... I think it would be nice if we could meet the goals and do our fair share."
Feldheym is the co-chairwoman of the housing subcommittee of the Interfaith Council on Religion, Race, and Economic and Social Justice and is also a member of the Affordable Housing Network. Both groups are countywide.
Housing elements, part of jurisdictions' general plans that show how the they plan to provide their fair share of housing for the region, are required to be certified by the state.
Los Gatos' housing element is in compliance, according to Linda Wheaton, a housing policy specialist with the state's department of housing and community development. Saratoga does not have a certified housing element, she said.
Saratoga is in the middle of updating its housing element now and has a deadline of Dec. 31, 2001, set by the state, to complete the update. According to City Attorney Richard Taylor, consultants the city hired to do the update are working on a draft.
The city council, however, feels Saratoga is getting the short end of the stick. ABAG's appeals committee has denied the city's request to revisit the numbers assigned Saratoga.
Housing allocations break down into the following categories: above moderate income, moderate income, low income and very low income housing. A moderate-income household can afford a $313,000 house, or $1440 per month in rent, according to Taylor.
The city holds it was not given adequate notice to challenge the model ABAG used to assign the numbers and that the model is wrong. The association based its allocations on job growth and household growth--meaning the number of projected new houses built--between 1999 and 2006, according to Kearey Smith, the association's regional planner.
While Saratoga has exhausted its chances of formally appealing the numbers, it hopes to persuade the association's executive committee--scheduled to make the final determination of jurisdictions' housing numbers on March 15--to give Saratoga a break. Otherwise Taylor thinks the city would have the grounds to sue the association.
"From the city's perspective, we were stunned that ABAG wouldn't understand the city's concern with ABAG's data," Taylor said.
According to Taylor, the association's numbers project an increase of 1,200 jobs in Saratoga over the next six years, which is unlikely, considering that there are only 8,500 jobs here today and not much land zoned commercial left, he said.
At their meeting on Feb. 7, council members expressed disappointment and anger at the appeals committee and directed Taylor to write a letter to the association's executive committee, stating their case a final time.
Councilman Evan Baker said he had a problem with the appeals committee since at Saratoga's appeal hearing, the members who represent the South Bay cities recused themselves from the hearing. Baker called this outlandish and further added that the committee should not have rejected the appeal out of hand "without the slightest consideration that staff might have made a mistake."
Councilman Stan Bogosian called the committee's actions frustrating and "the epitome of heavy-handed government." Nick Streit agreed. "The process isn't reasonable and doesn't make sense," Streit said.
"We're not saying that we're not going to do our darndest to get housing at market rate and below market rate," said Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith. "But this is a set up, what they said that we have to try to accomplish, is a set up for failure."
According to Smith, the association's regional planner, the growth numbers were set, reviewed and finalized without the city of Saratoga ever challenging them during the 90-day review and revision period, and now it is too late for Saratoga to question the association's model.
"They were assumed to be reliable based upon not receiving input from the city," Smith said. "[Saratoga] didn't say the job and household numbers were wrong."
Jurisdictions need to do their fair share, Smith said. "That's the large argument, the big picture," he said. "We apply a straightforward approach that treats everyone fairly."
The region has a total number that it has to meet and any amount of units taken away from Saratoga would have to be transferred over to another jurisdiction, Smith said.
According to Smith, if a jurisdiction's housing element is out of compliance with the association's numbers, a resident, a developer or a nonprofit group could sue the city for noncompliance.
Also, the state attorney general could take away the development rights from the jurisdiction, Smith said. Every city has the right to zone and develop, according to their General Plan, Smith explained, but the state could come in and usurp that responsibility. This has never happened before, however.
Third, the city might not be eligible for certain state and federal grants that would go toward housing, Smith said. According to state law, cities have to update their housing elements if they are out of compliance and not meeting the housing allocations that have been assigned.
"Los Gatos has done it in the past," Feldheym said. "They're not behind like we are ... Los Gatos has produced."
In fact, on Feb. 16, Community Housing Developers of San Jose celebrated the grand opening of the Los Gatos Creek Village Apartments at 31 Miles Ave. in Los Gatos. The development consists of 12 low-income housing units. Feldheym noted this at the meeting on Feb. 7.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
