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Housing plan on hold as city waits for public to speak out
By Oakley Brooks
The city's plan for housing growth through 2006 is on hold after officials agreed to hear more from residents on how they felt about affordable housing in their neighborhoods.
City council members made the decision early this month after the state housing department asked the city to identify potential new housing sites that might provide housing affordable to those in the county's moderate-and low-income brackets.
The request from the state came after Saratoga submitted a draft of its housing element--a plan to accommodate regional housing targets and local needs for homes--to the state in September. The housing element is a state-required part of every city's General Plan.
In the housing element, the city proposed zoning changes to allow residential developments to be added in commercial areas. The city would also relax standards on the construction of second or "granny" units. Incentives programs would allow builders to put up denser housing developments than city code allows if some homes were designated affordable.
The programs, along with normal home construction and expansion of low-income units at Saratoga Retirement Community and Montalvo, aimed to show how Saratoga could meet its regional allotment of 539 units for people of all incomes by 2006.
But last month state housing officials told the city it would have to go one step further and map out specific housing sites in order for Saratoga's plan to meet state approval.
This would mean identifying a handful of parcels where developers could build 90 units of housing. Sixty-four units would be for households making $92,640 and less, 10 for those making between $38,601 and $61,760 and 16 for those making up to $38,600.
City officials had been reluctant to create that map in September, fearing residents would protest low-income housing designations near their homes. This, despite the fact the city would only show that the units could feasibly be built on the sites, and make no commitment to actually put homes on those sites.
With the Dec. 31 state deadline for Saratoga's housing element fast approaching, city council members, including then-Mayor John Mehaffey and then-Vice Mayor Nick Streit, were willing Dec. 5 to create the map to avoid any delay. Early in the council meeting that evening, discussion had centered on a possible suspension of state gas tax money for Saratoga and expensive legal challenges from public-interest groups, if the city did not get its housing element approved quickly.
Those penalties could become a more real threat if a bill supporting them passes the state Assembly when it returns to session in January.
But even as time grew short, Councilman Stan Bogosian was uncomfortable with a quick designation of specific properties, given that property owners might not understand exactly what the designation means.
"It becomes like a deed restriction on the house," said Bogosian, reflecting comments from several residents who feared their property values might be reduced by the potential for low-income housing
Bogosian argued that potential sites shouldn't be identified without extensive public hearings on the issue, which he said couldn't realistically happen in the holiday season before Dec. 31.
Mehaffey then considered asking the state for an extension to handle the contentious property designation through public hearings, something that Bogosian agreed to support
Community Development Director Tom Sullivan has since applied for a three-month extension for the city.
Council members said they would like to give a public notice to any household that might be affected by the designation of potential building sites, and they expect to hold hearings early in the new year.
To review a copy of the city's draft housing element, log on to www.saratoga.ca.us/pdf/dhe.pdf.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
