THE CITY OF SAUSALITO will hold a special election Nov. 4 on two measures that it says will maintain the city’s compliance with the state housing element law. Opponents argue that one of the measures is not needed.
Measure J will rezone 12 commercial district sites throughout the city for new housing, and there are no opposing views posted on the county election website.
Measure K faces some criticism, however. It changes zoning for two acres of the Martin Luther King Jr. Park to make way for 50 units of affordable housing within the city’s 32-foot height limit. The project site will include what is now the parking lot and adjacent lot. The dog park and other recreational uses will remain.
Opponents argue that Measure K will cause the city to lose a public park, and that the city’s goal of providing housing for older residents is “a guise for a developer-friendly rezoning.”
Proponents argue that only two out of 18 acres at MLK Park will be developed, and that any development is legally required to be approved by the city and comply with local zoning.
The City Council plays a primary role in zoning decisions, but voter approval is needed for significant rezoning related to housing development in Sausalito. A statement on the city’s website said it needs voter approval on local zoning to accommodate 724 new housing units at various income levels by the deadline of Jan. 30 of next year. If the city falls out of housing element compliance, it could face potential fines of between $10,000 to $100,000 per month, litigation and loss of local control over zoning decisions.
According to Sausalito’s Assistant City Manager Brandon Phipps, the MLK Jr. Park site addressed in Measure K has a realistic capacity of 50 units, made-up of 35 very low-income units and 15 low-income units.
A measure K opposition view posted by a group called Build Smart Sausalito argues that the city has identified a surplus, or “buffer,” of 199 housing units that it should use to meet lower income requirements.
“State Law is complex,” said Phipps. “This buffer increases Sausalito’s total housing capacity in the Housing Element to 923 units. As recommended by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, housing at different income levels is still required to maintain compliance, despite the city adhering to the recommended buffer. Measure K addresses the requirement for very low and low income RHNA units specifically.”
Buffers are not mandatory in state housing law, according to HCD spokesperson Alicia Murillo. However, they are recommended to give cities the flexibility of permitting fewer units per site or making other accommodations while still avoiding state penalties.
HCD’s Sites Inventory Guidebook says, “It is recommended the jurisdiction create a buffer in the housing element inventory of at least 15 to 30 percent more capacity than required, especially for capacity to accommodate the lower income RHNA.”
The California Department of Housing and Community Development sets a Regional Housing Needs Allotment, which determines how much housing is needed for each region and breaks that into a variety of affordability types, so a range of home prices are available for people with high to very-low incomes.
The Association of Bay Area Governments determines how many units each city and county needs to plan for in order to comply with state law. The latest determination was completed in 2021, according to ABAG spokesperson John Goodwin, but monitoring and enforcement of state housing element law is HCD’s responsibility.
City lagging on low-income units
Each state housing cycle lasts eight years. The last cycle for Northern California counties and cities began on Jan. 31, 2015, and ended on Jan. 31, 2023. Sausalito met their overall goals but failed to achieve very low-income housing goals in that cycle.
The current cycle began on Feb. 1, 2023, and ends on Jan. 31, 2031. This time around, the HCD set an increase in required housing numbers throughout the state.
According to an HCD tracker, Sausalito has met just 2% of its goals for building very low-income housing to date, but it is only a quarter of the way through the eight-year cycle.
In May, the City Council approved a housing element for the next cycle after it conducted an inventory of sites scattered throughout the city where new housing units might be added. The new housing element also counts the impact of city incentives for homeowners to build accessory dwelling units such as backyard in-law units or garage-to-apartment conversions.
“Many of our inventory sites within our housing element are throughout town,” said Mayor Joan Cox at the May meeting, referring to the fact that the inventory found geographically scattered opportunities. “We are not focusing affordable housing on just one sector.”
To learn more about Measures J and K, please contact the city of Sausalito at (415) 289-4132 or cdd@sausalito.gov.