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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 4.D 04/18/2011 Late Document 1y , From: David Grabill [dgrabill @gmail.com] Sent: Sunday, April. 17, 2011 11 :24 PM To: - City Clerk Cc: Cathy Creswell; King, Fran Subject: Comment letter re possible repeal of commercial linkage fee by City Council Attachments: HAG to Petaluma re- Repeal of Linkage Fee.pdf Please see attached letter to the City Council re the proposal agendized for Tuesday to repeal the linkage fee on commercial development in the City. Copies have been sent to individual Councilmembers, but please include a copy in any agenda packet for the meeting:if it is riot too late to do so. Copies have also been sent to the City Attorney and the ,California Department of Housing and Community Development. If you have difficulty downloading the attachment, please feel free to contact us. David Grabill Law Office of David. Grabill 1930 Alderbrook Lane Santa Rosa, CA 95405 (707) 528 6839 - voice (707) 780 1585 fax ddgr ab i l l ( d) wn ai l . co m 1 Y '� s �, is c if 7,?. Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group 1930 Alderbrook Lane Santa Rosa, California 95405 voice: (707) 636 -4650 fax (707) 780 1585 e -mail: housingrights(cgmail.com web: www.hagster.org April 17, 2011 Via E -Mail and Mail Hon. David Glass, Mayor and Members of the Petaluma City Council Petaluma City Hall 11 English Street Petaluma, California 94952 Re: Affordable Housing Linkage Fee for Non - Residential Development Dear Mayor Glass and Members of the Petaluma City Council The Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group ( "HAG ") is a voluntary association comprised of residents of Sonoma County which has been advocating since 1998 for affordable housing and housing for persons with special needs including persons with disabilities, farmworkers and the homeless. We write this letter to urge you NOT to repeal or reduce the City's Affordable Housing Linkage Fee for non - residential development. , Petaluma has been a leader in the region and in the state in balancing affordable housing production with employment growth. We have pointed to Petaluma as a model of how a city — utilizing a combination of local, state and federal resources — can meet its regional share of housing need for all income levels. But in stark contrast to your exemplary past record, in the past four years, Petaluma has produced only a very small number of affordable housing units. The City's-Housing Element Progress Report filed with the State Department of Housing and Community Development last month shows that Petaluma has produced only 58.units,of` housing, affordable to lower income households since 2006, which is 816 units short of the 874 lower income units which the City is expected to buil"d'to meet its regional housing needs allocation for the current, 2007 -.2014 Housing Element Planning Period. In other words, we are 60% through the Planning Period, but the City.has met only 6 % of.its regional housing need for the Period. Moreover, I understand that most of the units which have been built recently are restricted to seniors. A major factor in this shortfall has been a lack of local funding for affordable housing construction., Much, of Petaluma's affordable housing funding has come'from fees paid by market rate residential and commercial developers. But very little residential and commercial development has occurred since 2008. But instead of looking for ways to augment the stream of local funding, we understand Mayor David Glass and Members of the Petaluma City Council April 17, 2011 Page 2 that the City Council, at the request of commercial developers, is considering adopting a proposal to reduce or even rescind its linkage fee on commercial development. We respectfully urge you to reject this proposal. The Housing. Advocacy Group worked with all the jurisdictions in Sonoma County to get the housing,linkage fee in,place'in 2004 -2006. The fee was supported by a Nexus Study conducted by Walter Keiser with all the County jurisdictions sharing in the cost of preparing the study. The study found that commercial development has an immediate and lasting impact on housing costs in general, and the impact tends to be greater on the area's housing supply for low and moderate income households. Petaluma was one, of the first jurisdictions to adopt a linkage fee on commercial development, albeit at a considerably lower level than the Keiser study found would be appropriate. Petaluma's General Plan Housing Element, adopted in 2008, includes Program 4.5 which commits: the City to "Continue to implement the Commercial Linkage Fee Program." The HousingElement states that "The Linkage Fee on certain commercial, industrial, and retail development partially offsets the.impact on the need for affordable housing," and commits the City to continue this Program for the duration of the current Housing Element cycle (i.e. through June 30, 2014). Many other jurisdictions throughout the state have adopted commercial linkage fees, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Napa and. San Jose. Funding from these linkage fees has produced thousands of units affordable housing throughout the state. There is not a shred of evidence that any employer has been deterred by these fees from developing commercial property in any jurisdiction in the state. So it is both fatuous and irresponsible for developers to claim that this very modest fee would be a significant disincentive for businesses to locate in or expand in Petaluma. And why would Petaluma want to host a business that cared so little about its impact on the community that this modest fee was a factor in where it would locate? In addition, repeal of the linkage fee without first amending. the City's Housing Element would violate the City's mandatory duty to comply with its General Plan., Government Code §65583(c) requires the City to "undertake and implement the policies" in its Housing Element. See Friends of "B" Street v. City of Hayward, 106 CA3d 988, 998 ( "the Legislature must have intended than the. city would comply with whatever general plan elements it had.adopted. ") Repeal of the linkage fee is'clearly inconsistent with Housing Element Program 4.5. If the City does, in fact, intend to repeal the fee, the state Department of Housing and Community Development will want to know how repeal will impact the City's overall efforts to meet its regional housing needs for new housing affordable to lower income households. Unless the City replaces this funding stream with other equivalent funding, the,Housing Advocacy Group will request HCD to find that the City's Housing Element no longer meets the requirements of state law. Mayor David Glass and Members of the Petaluma City Council April 17, 2011 Page 3 In sum, Petaluma is far behind.in meeting its regional share of housing for lower income households during the current Housing Element cycle. Funding to build affordable housing is shrinking, and the City's modest commercial linkage fee is one of the only remaining sources of local funding. The City promised to maintain and continue its workforce housing linkage fee in its 2008 Housing Element. The City must, in. compliance with state law, amend the City's Housing Element before repealing or reducing this linkage fee, and must replace the fee with another equivalent source of funding to encourage development of affordable housing. We also believe the City-is required by CEQAto'conduct a thorough environmental review of the potential impacts of repealing its linkage fee prior to taking any action on this proposal. Clearly the revenue from, the linkage fee is both appropriate and necessary in order to help offs Iet impacts of new commercial development on the City's affordable housing stock. Failure to maintain a healthy balance of jobs and housing,, including affordable housing, would have a range of impacts on the environment, including increased traffic from workers commuting to jobs in Petaluma from other areas because affordable housing in the City is in short supply. It would likely also impact air quality, and noise, and exacerbate blighting conditions in and around the City. For all these reasons, the Housing Advocacy Group would respectfully urge you to reject the pending proposal to repeal the City's commercial linkage fee. If you have questions, or would like further information, please feel free to contact us at 707 528 6839. Yours truly, David Grabill General Counsel cc: City Attorney City Clerk Cathy Cresswell, HCD Mayor David. Glass - daveglass aO,comcast.net Chris Albertson - councilman.albertson(a,gmail.com Teresa Barrett - teresa4petaluma(a,comcast.net Mike Harris mike4pet(a7aol.com Mike Healy - mthealypsbcglobal.net Tiffany Renee - tiff &,,tiffaiiyrenee.com Gabe Kearney - councilmemberkeamey a,me.com