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City fails to lower the amount of affordable housing it must add
By Oakley Brooks
Attempts by the city of Saratoga to reduce its allotment of affordable housing units fell on deaf ears.
The Association of Bay Area Governments recently held Saratoga to the 539 units originally recommended by its regional housing committee in November. Saratoga's assigned number is part of a 230,000-unit increase the committee proposed over the next six years for the Bay Area's nine counties
Just before the ABAG executive board was set to finalize the regional housing numbers on March 15, the Saratoga City Council made another plea for a reduction with a letter to ABAG. Saratoga City Attorney Richard Taylor delivered a short statement to the board on the night of the vote, but his appeal proved futile.
In January, as part of a formal appeal process ABAG denied Saratoga's request to drop its allotment to 223 units.
Taylor says the city is "built out" and complying with ABAG's allotment will be "very difficult." He and other Saratoga officials also say the housing units assigned to the city are based on inflated job and population projections.
Under state law, the city could still file suit against ABAG in protest. But Mayor John Mehaffey said he doesn't believe that is the correct course of action. ABAG Senior Planner Alex Amoroso said there is no history of cities suing the regional organization over housing allotments.
While the ABAG housing allotment is not a legal mandate, it does have implications for the city. Under state housing law, cities only qualify for several community development grants, if they are in compliance with the ABAG housing allotments. Failure to comply could also be grounds for legal action brought by a citizen or group, according to Amoroso.
Saratoga has not depended on any community development grants in the last four years, according to Saratoga Administrative Services Director Mary Jo Walker. But interim Community Development Director Irwin Kaplan says the city will take ABAG's allotment very seriously as it continues to update the housing section of Saratoga's General Plan this year.
"With or without ABAG, we realize we have housing issues," said Irwin. "We have every intention of meeting our needs."
Local housing advocate Betty Feldheym agrees with Irwin that Saratoga needs more roofs, in particular affordable ones. She thinks compliance with the ABAG allotment would be a step in the right direction. Over half of ABAG's recommended units would be at or below its threshold of affordability: $313,000. Feldheym said that low-cost housing would benefit Saratoga's service workers, who form the backbone of the community.
"We need it just to provide the community with infrastructure," said Feldheym, a member of the countywide Affordable Housing Network. "A lot of these people who work here would also like to live here.
"We should take the attitude that we need to do our fair share," Feldheym added.
But city officials are worried about how and where Saratoga will add the new housing. City Attorney Taylor claims that the only open space to build on is on the city's wooded, steep slopes. He says that high price of land in Saratoga will further complicate affordable housing efforts.
"Even if the city council allows a tear down and more dense building on a lot," Taylor said, "How do we get affordable housing given the economic realities of the city? The land is so expensive."
Officials say that Saratoga was allotted more than its fair share of units by ABAG. In repeated requests over the last year for ABAG to reduce its allotment, the city notes that nearby Los Altos and Los Gatos have higher populations and higher job totals, but were assigned lower housing numbers by ABAG.
City Attorney Taylor claims that ABAG projections for an increase of some 800 jobs over the next six years in Saratoga are flatly wrong. "It's a common sense thing," said Taylor. "Where are those 800 jobs going to go?"
Amoroso maintains that while it's impossible for ABAG's projections to satisfy every city, they are the most reliable for the region.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
