Residents got a crash course this week on how the city prepares its mandated housing element, a document required every eight years that proves that the municipality could, in theory, add a certain number of residences.
The virtual town hall meeting convened Monday by the city focused on the element — one of seven sections of the city’s General Plan — and what it meant for the city to be assigned an additional 399 residential units by 2029 through the Regional Housing Needs Allocation. City officials have begun preparing the new element, which unlike other parts of General Plans must be updated every eight years.
“This is not a building quota,” emphasized Aldo Cervantes, the city’s community development director. “This is a hypothetical scenario that we have to plan for. In reality, we will probably never come close to that number, and that’s fine.”
In short, California’s Department of Housing and Community Development comes up with a figure every eight years for how many residential units the state should collectively be able to offer to developers and property owners. That number is broken up into the regional allocation, the RHNA, and sent to regional government associations that split those numbers among their counties and cities.
The Southern California Association of Governments, which encompasses 191 cities in six counties, determined that San Marino should plan to accommodate a potential 149 units for very low-income residents, 91 each of low-income and moderate-income units and 68 above-moderate-income units.
The key is that these units don’t necessarily need to be built; rather, the city’s goal is to modify its land-use policies merely to accommodate those units, which would attain certification from the state.
“We are required to demonstrate that we are making policies and objectives within our General Plan and housing element to allow this number of [dwellings] to build, given a perfect scenario with no outside constraints,” explained Eva Choi, an associate planner for the city. “The city needs to plan to accommodate that growth that may or may not happen, but we have to have on paper that we have the policies to allow that growth.”
“It’s really up to the market to build these units, not the city,” Cervantes added. “It’s not a problem to solve, per se. We don’t have a housing shortage in San Marino. It’s just a manner of the state coming to us every eight years and saying, ‘This is your goal.’ I would say most cities are not meeting their goals.”
The city’s housing element that ran through this year was actually its first certified such element, according to Cervantes. (He added with some disdain that the state failed to certify a prior element that addressed an RHNA/SCAG allocation of zero units.) What’s more, San Marino actually met (and exceeded) its housing unit projections for that period, which was 17 units.
It accomplished both element certification and meeting the allocation through accessory dwelling units, also referred to as “granny flats” or “in-law suites.”
“As of right now, we have about 80 inquiries since the beginning of the year on ADU projects, and about 50 of those are in the pipeline for permitting for construction,” Cervantes said. “Being that they have been popular, we’ll be using that as our primary focus toward meeting our current RHNA allocation.”
A variety of state laws in recent years have forced cities to allow ADUs as the housing affordability crisis has peaked time and time again. Those cities have had the ability to call a limited number of shots on building code requirements for such units, which can be new, detached buildings or converted garages, for example.
The units count even when they’re built just for family members, who likely aren’t paying rent.
“If they’re not charging anything for rent, that is a low-income unit,” Cervantes said.
Given San Marino’s strident adherence to being a single-family residential community, Cervantes said ADUs became the clear path to element certification. Though the state does not impose penalties for an uncertified element, approval does offer cities certain protections, including a presumption of adequate housing in lawsuits, protection from possible attorney general litigation and, important for local residents, the ability to maintain discretionary review over affordable housing projects.
“We’re not talking about high-density residential projects here,” he said. “We want to take advantage of ADU laws and hopefully we can make that work for the next eight years.”
John Dustin, chair of the city’s Planning Commission, broached the topic of whether bringing in dedicated senior or supportive housing was also a viable option.
“If we are going down a path, as part of our housing policy, to look to building housing that is intended for individuals with some kind of disability, there is that kind of opportunity,” Cervantes said. “Senior housing is another opportunity we can take, and those units count toward our housing quota from the state.”
Though Cervantes said city assessments indicate otherwise, there still was some concern from meeting attendees about utilities being able to accommodate ADUs.
“With additional units that are coming online, the burden on our already antiquated infrastructure that was built in the 1930s is really going to hit a wall,” resident Jennifer Giles said.
The city has retained consultants to help officials navigate the myriad new state laws regarding housing to help ensure compliance with the element. In the meantime, residents are encouraged to voice ideas or concerns that can be factored into the final document.
“It’s our document,” Cervantes said. “It is your document, and whatever policies residents want to see built into that document, now is the time.”
