Legal changes to boost housing in city make it past commission

City planners approve comprehensive housing plan

Low-income idea tabled

By Oakley Brooks

The Saratoga Planning Commission recently approved a plan to ease the city's housing crunch, but the commission stopped short of adding components that commissioners said might have made the plan too much for Saratogans to swallow.

The commission did approve proposed changes to the city's laws and a broadening city role in housing support programs. The changes mark an update of the housing section of the city's General Plan, which city officials are revising this year to match local needs and those determined by the regional governmental body, the Association of Bay Area Governments. The General Plan guides the city on growth decisions.

The housing plan next heads to the city council for approval. By the end of the calendar year, it must land in the state's housing department for its stamp of approval.

The plan will not mandate that all new housing developments in the city include dwellings for low-income families. Community Development Director Tom Sullivan suggested the addition during the planning commission's Aug. 22 meeting. But Commissioner Jill Hunter said Saratoga was not ready for such a step. Fellow commissioners agreed not to add it to the plan.

"Let's take it slow here," said Hunter.

At Sullivan's urging, the commission also took a pass on a suggestion from Commissioner Lisa Kurasch that the city designate individual properties for mixed housing and commercial development to increase Saratoga's housing stock.

Instead, the housing plan will encourage more mixed-use development by proposing city code amendments to allow such building throughout Saratoga's commercial areas and some publicly owned spaces, such as school and community college land. For example, teacher housing could be built on school district land if such an amendment is adopted.

The plan also proposes law changes that allow developers to increase the density of houses in a development if they set aside a portion of the units for low-income or senior residents.

Last month, city officials assured an anxious crowd at a planning workshop that none of the proposed legal changes would conflict with two recent voter-approved Measure G initiatives to preserve the physical character of the city.

Any changes in city law would require further public hearings before a city council vote, according to Sullivan.

In addition to changes in city law, the housing plan outlines increased city involvement in fair housing programs and further housing rehabilitation loans to protect existing housing.

The city would also participate in regional first-time homebuyer programs, such as the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, to which Saratoga recently contributed $25,000.

Sullivan said Aug. 22 that he's confident that construction of new homes--at the Saratoga Retirement Community and the artist-in-residence cottages at Montalvo--will give Saratoga a jump on the Association of Bay Area Governments' recommendation that the city build 539 housing units by 2006. Roughly 40 percent must be affordable to residents at or below the county median income.

The city is hoping the rest of the ABAG-assigned units will be filled in by new mixed-use development and a program to put more second, or "granny," units on city records. An amnesty program would allow residents to obtain permits without further city penalty for second units already used illegally. Another initiative would encourage more second units to be built each year.

Before any housing programs get under way, Planning Commissioner Erna Jackman and a small contingent of the League of Women Voters members noted that the city will need to thoroughly educate the neighborhoods about accepting low-income housing.

"It's not going to turn neighborhoods into a slum," said Jackman. "If I came to the city now, I wouldn't be able to afford something in the current housing market."

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