Embracing a controversial state housing law that many Californians are rallying against, San Jose leaders aim to make it as accessible as possible for residents to both build and reside in housing units constructed under Senate Bill 9.
“I think it’s important to expand the affordability or look at ways that more families of lower-income can benefit from this,” said Councilmember Raul Peralez said during Tuesday night’s council meeting. “We can make the intentions of SB 9 a reality in creating neighborhoods throughout San Jose that are inclusive of all of our communities.”
SB 9 — which goes into effect Jan. 1 — allows property owners to split a single-family lot and add a second home or divide the lot into two and place duplexes on each. The state law outlines mandatory design standards such as minimum rear and side setbacks but allows individual jurisdictions to adopt additional design standards that go beyond the state’s requirements.
The San Jose city council adopted an urgency ordinance Tuesday night that implements the new state law using much of the city’s existing single-family home design guidelines and limits the number of new units allowed on a single-family property to four. Councilmember Dev Davis dissented, citing her vehement opposition to state lawmakers overriding local land-use decisions.
“I resent the state basically negating our entire general plan in one fell swoop with SB 9,” Davis said. “We need to regain local control of our land-use decisions so that we can continue to have the kind of community input that we had tonight but not just limited to ‘Just do as much as you can to minimize the damage that the state has already done.’”
As part of the council’s decision, San Jose leaders directed staff to pursue applying the provisions of SB 9 to lots already zoned for duplexes and single-family parcels within historic districts under certain circumstances — elements taken from the city’s “Opportunity Housing” proposal, which considerably overlapped with the new state law and was therefore dropped. San Jose planners will spend the next year gathering public feedback before deciding whether to move forward with this broader application of the law. They will also work to craft more specific design guidelines for SB 9 projects across the board.
Under the ordinance adopted Tuesday night, projects proposed under SB 9 in San Jose will be prohibited from exceeding four dwelling units, including traditional homes, duplexes and ADUs. The projects will be required to adhere to existing height restrictions for single-family homes and ADUs and maintain a garage or carport for single-family residences. Garages are prohibited from exceeding more than half of a home’s front facade, which aligns with an existing city design standard that restricts residents from paving more than half of their front yard.
In terms of considering an expansion of SB 9 principals into historic neighborhoods, Mayor Sam Liccardo instructed city staff to explore policies such as prohibiting the demolition of any structure within a historic area and requiring that property owners who wish to split their home into several units comply with design standards that ensure any changes will minimally impact the existing exterior structure.
Residents opposed to the new law advocated for San Jose leaders to take a strict approach.
“I realize our hands are tied, but whatever limitations we can do, we should make sure we do that,” said San Jose resident Greg Braley.
Meanwhile, others saw the council’s decision on Tuesday night as the start of an opportunity to right the wrongs of decades-old zoning policies that, coupled with racially-explicit exclusionary housing practices, have often perpetuated the exclusion of lower-income people and people of color from high-opportunity neighborhoods.
“Let’s be clear, single-family zoning is functioning here exactly as it was designed to — to maintain racial and social divisions and unequal access to housing in certain neighborhoods and intergenerational wealth accumulation,” said Poncho Guevara, executive director of Sacred Heart Community Service. “The passage of the state law should not be seen as a resolution to these issues but an opportunity for correcting our past failings in the pursuit of equity and social justice.”
Individuals and families would likely need to earn an annual salary of more than $200,000 to afford most units built under SB 9, according to a feasibility analysis commissioned by San Jose’s planning department.
And while that is well below the $456,000 average salary needed to afford a single-family home in Santa Clara County, city leaders implored staff to find additional ways to make new units constructed under SB 9 more attainable to a broader swath of the city’s residents.
The council directed staff to identify ways to incentivize people to incorporate more affordable units within their SB 9 projects and to reduce as many barriers as possible for residents to build such projects on their lots, similar to the approach the city took to promote the construction of granny units — also known as accessory dwelling units or ADUs.
In the case of ADUs, the city created a master ADU program where residents can quickly obtain permits by choosing a pre-approved design, launched an online portal for residents to easily inquire about their eligibility to build a unit and started “ADU Tuesdays,” where homeowners and developers could theoretically obtain a building permit and plan approval within 90 minutes through an express lane at the city’s permit center. Last year, the city also launched a two-year amnesty program giving owners of ADUs the opportunity to bring them up to code without paying the typical fees and fines for violating the permit process.
“Don’t add more burden to people who want to realize the full value of their property,” San Jose resident Steven Geier urged the council. “This is an opportunity to build additional housing across the city, and it will provide more options for renters like me and even more so for those less fortunate than me to hopefully plant more stable roots in the community.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com