Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
City officials are beginning to look at Saratoga's many secondary units, such as this one, as a way to meet the state's requirement for additional below-market-rate housing in the housing element of the city's General Plan. Legalizing secondary units might also help in providing housing for the increasing number of people vital to the community who can no longer afford to live here.
City begins updating its housing element
By Kara Chalmers
Saratoga is grappling with how to comply with a state requirement to provide below-market-rate housing in the city. As required by law, the city has started updating its housing element, the part of the city's General Plan that outlines the city's goals for providing housing. The process began on Nov. 8, when consultant Jeffrey M. Goldman from Parsons, who was hired by the city for $33,500 to develop the plan, met with planning commissioners.
But the city has another reason, besides the state mandate, to discuss how to provide housing in the city--the plight of the people who come here to work. There is a lack of affordable housing for the teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers and city staff that keep the city up and running.
"I think what's important to remember about all of this is there's still this popular conception that when you throw out the term "low income" you're talking about families on welfare, seniors on social security," said Goldman at the Nov. 8 meeting. "And, sure, those are low-income people, for sure, but that's not the majority of the low-income population anymore, particularly in a very high-cost area, like Santa Clara County."
One possible solution the city council has discussed so far is to use existing second dwellings to qualify as new construction in the city. Second dwellings are also called granny, or in-law, units and are smaller homes located on lots that have a larger single-family homes that the owners of the properties rent out. Today, the city has restrictions on second dwellings that would have to be relaxed, if the city decides to have granny units apply toward the requirements of the housing element.
In its update of the housing element, the city is basically starting from scratch, according to the city's community development director James Walgren, but Saratoga's goals from past elements are still relevant.
When the original 1974 housing element was updated in the 1980s, providing affordable housing was only a guideline. The 1990 state law requires that each jurisdiction in the state must plan to provide below-market-rate--or low and moderate income--housing, and update that plan every five years.
Since 1990, the city has tried to update its plan, but, throughout the years, extensions have been granted and deadlines relaxed, Walgren said. But now, a December 2001, deadline for the city to submit its completed plan to the state looms. If the element is judged to be noncompliant with state law, it would leave the city open to lawsuits.
There could also be a threat of lawsuits if Saratoga doesn't implement its plan--mainly suits filed by housing advocacy groups or developers, Walgren said. If the city tries to regulate a developer's housing plan based on density, the developer could challenge that decision based on the premise that the city's General Plan is not valid, if the developer could prove the city wasn't implementing its housing element, Walgren said.
Almost a year ago, the Association of Bay Area Governments had assessed what the housing goals should be for Saratoga. The original number was 590, but ABAG reduced the number to 539. The city believed those numbers to be too high and appealed the allocation to ABAG's executive board, but the board turned the city down.
Walgren said that, because more than half of the required units are at-market rate and can include teardowns and reconstructed houses as new units, he doesn't see a problem for the city to comply with that part of the housing element. The rest of the requirement--for 219 below-market units--is likely to be more challenging.
Relaxing the ordinances on second dwellings might help the city with the numbers it has been allocated. Second dwellings are not permitted in Saratoga on hillside lots, which includes any lots with an average slope of 10 percent or greater. This eliminates almost half of Saratoga, Walgren said. Second dwellings are permitted on the valley floor, on lots of a certain size, but either dwelling has to be inhabited by a senior or a handicapped person and the owner has to live in one of the homes.
The ordinances are deliberately restrictive, Walgren said, since the city decided long ago that it would not encourage second units. He said that now the city is considering relaxing these requirements, in the hope of getting credit for these existing small homes.
In discussions with city officials about the housing element, the lack of affordable housing for those who work in the service sector in Saratoga always returns as a concern. During the recent city council election, the candidates were often asked how they would help the teachers and other workers with housing.
Saratoga contracts with the Santa Clara County sheriff's office for police protection. According to Captain Jeff Miles of the Westside Substation, the cost of housing around Saratoga is so high that people getting a start in law enforcement can't afford to live in the area. Many of his deputies commute to Saratoga from as far away as Salinas, Hollister, Los Banos, Tracy and Stockton, adding several hours of commute time to their days, Miles said. Most of these officers have found nearby relatives and friends to spend the weekdays with, which is both a burden to the people with whom they stay and for the officers' families, Miles said.
"It's come down to, if you're not a dot-commer, you're going to have a real problem in this area," said Deputy Sheriff Ron Breuss, who is the school resource officer. He said he expects that attracting people to work for the sheriff's will be a problem in the future.
"Every agency is scrambling for the qualified candidate in law enforcement," Breuss said. "If we don't start thinking way out of the box and offering incentives, the already strapped candidate pool is going to get even more strapped."
Breuss, who lives outside the county himself and commutes one hour and 15 minutes to work from home, said he realized he couldn't afford to buy a house and start a family in Santa Clara County, unless he was willing to live in some of the worst neighborhoods. He said the safety of his four children and the good schools they attend make his commute to Saratoga well worth it.
Breuss said he never considered not working in Santa Clara County, since this county's law enforcement officers are some of the highest paid. As a 20-year veteran of the department, to start all over again somewhere else has no appeal for Breuss. Before his current housing situation, Breuss commuted more than two hours from his home in Fresno County.
Breuss said his monthly gasoline bill is about $700, but he said he doesn't mind the commute since it gives him an opportunity to relax, listen to the radio and think. He works four 10-hour days a week, rather than five shorter ones, which he says also helps.
The teachers who work in Saratoga have problems with the lack of housing in the city, as well. Kevin Skelly, principal at Saratoga High School, said he's lost teachers whom he has wanted to hire because of lack of housing. He also noted that teachers who commute from afar sometimes do not want to get involved in after-school activities, such as coaching sports, since it makes their commutes longer. Skelly said about 95 percent of the teachers at SHS live outside the city, and that some commute from as far as Salinas and Half Moon Bay.
At the start of this school year at Foothill Elementary School, there were nine new teachers, some of whom took over positions not of retired teachers, but of young teachers who had to move, said Foothill fifth-grade teacher Joshua Marks, at an Oct. 12 rally at Saratoga High School on the teacher housing crisis in the Silicon Valley.
Brian Safine, who teaches seventh grade at Redwood Middle School, said that at Redwood this year, there were 14 new teachers, and only two replaced retirees. At least five left for more secure financial means.
The firefighters who serve the city, both from the Saratoga Fire District and the Santa Clara County Fire Department, also are impacted by the affordable housing shortage, as they start to live farther and farther away from Saratoga. The SFD has firefighters who live in Hollister, Tracy and Santa Cruz, said SFD Capt. Bill Morrison.
The SFD relies heavily on volunteer and off-duty firefighters in emergencies, according to Morrison. He said that the inability of firefighters to afford nearby housing could affect the number of firefighters available to work on a moment's notice, if they were ever needed in an emergency.
Chief of the county department, Douglas Sporleder, said it is difficult to hire firefighters since trying to live in this housing market is very difficult. He said that people who have worked in the county department for a while are moving to Vacaville, Modesto and Hollister. Sporleder also said that many firefighters couldn't qualify for loans for the houses on the market in this area.
In the city of Saratoga, Walgren recently lost two experienced associate planners from his staff of three. Both left for housing reason, he said. One planner and her husband gave up trying to find an affordable house here and moved out of the area. The other bought a house in the East Bay, so he took a closer job.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
