Housing Plan Forwarded to Santa Maria City Council

Housing plan forwarded to City Council
 

By Julian J. Ramos/Staff Writer jramos@santamariatimes.com | Posted: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 11:20 pm |

A plan to identify land for affordable housing in Santa Maria is moving forward to the City Council with a favorable nod from the city Planning Commission.

On Wednesday, the planning panel recommended the council submit a preliminary draft Housing Element to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for review and comments. The vote was 3-1 with Chairman Michael Moats and commissioners Tom Lopez and Rodger Brown in favor. Commissioner Adrian Andrade did not explain his dissenting vote.

Etta Waterfield resigned from the commission Oct. 21 and the seat has yet to be filled.

A Negative Declaration, a document stating no substantial evidence that the project may have a significant effect on the environment, identified no potentially significant adverse environmental impacts as a result of the update. The vote was 4-0 to recommend that the council file a Negative Declaration rather than order a full environmental impact report.

The draft version of the Housing Element is expected to reach the council on Dec. 1. After the council sends the document to the state, HCD officials will have 60 days to review it and give comments. It must be certified by the HCD and adopted by the council to be made official in March 2010.

The Housing Element, one of seven required elements of the city's General Plan, is a written guide for meeting the city's housing goals. Its basic principle is to identify land for affordable housing at all income levels - extremely low, very low, moderate and above moderate.

Periodic updates are required by state law - the last housing element was finalized in 2006. In the last go-around with the state, approval of the update took three years as the city was locked in a dispute with the HCD over credit toward its lower-income housing numbers.

To meet a state mandate known as the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), Santa Maria is on the hook to zone land for 3,200 new units by 2014. The allocation had been 4,837 total units.

Under the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) allocation, the city must make sure there is enough vacant land available for 368 units that are affordable for extremely low-income people, 368 very low, 544 low, 800 moderate and 1,120 above-moderate.

In public comment, the executive director of Santa Barbara County Action Network said the draft does not go far enough in meeting the city's affordable housing needs.

"It's not quite ready to forward to the state," Deborah Brasket said

Brasket said there is a large demand for affordable housing as two-thirds of Santa Maria's workforce are in low-income jobs. However, only 24 low-income units have been built in Santa Maria since the 2006 Housing Element.

"It's like there's a disconnect," Brasket said.

She was the only speaker against the item.

City Planner Brian Smith said a lack of financing - not land supply - has been a significant obstacle for affordable housing projects.

Posted in Govt-and-politics on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 11:20 pm