3 - CEQA GUIDELINES_CITYWIDE - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Local Guidelines for Implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (2019) AFFORDABLE HOUSING 2019 City of Santa Ana Local Guidelines 9-11 ©Best Best & Krieger LLP (4) “Locality” or “local government” means a city, including a charter city, a county, including a charter county, or a city and county, including a charter city and county. (5) “Production report” means the information reported pursuant to subparagraph (D) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Government Code Section 65400. (6) “Subsidized” means units that are price or rent restricted such that the units are permanently affordable to households meeting the definitions of very low and lower income, as defined in Sections 50079.5 and 50105 of the Health and Safety Code. (7) “Reporting period” means either of the following: (A) The first half of the regional housing needs assessment cycle. (B) The last half of the regional housing needs assessment cycle. (8) “Urban uses” means any current or former residential, commercial, public institutional, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use, or any combination of those uses. 9.02 HOUSING SUSTAINABILITY DISTRICTS. The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries. The general plan must contain seven mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law provides for various reforms and incentives intended to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing. Senate Bill 73 authorizes a city, county, or city and county, including a charter agency, to establish by ordinance a housing sustainability district that meets specified requirements, including authorizing residential use within the district through the ministerial issuance of a permit. The agency is authorized to apply to the Department of Housing and Community Development for approval of a zoning incentive payment and requires the agency to provide specified information about the proposed housing sustainability district ordinance. The department is required to approve a zoning incentive payment if the ordinance meets the above-described requirements and the agency’s housing element is in compliance with specified law. A city, county, or city and county with a housing sustainability district would be entitled to a zoning incentive payment, subject to appropriation of funds for that purpose, and require that one-half of the amount be paid when the department approves the zone and one-half of the amount be paid when the department verifies that permits for the construction of the units have issued within the zone, provided that the city, county, or city and county has received a certificate of compliance for the applicable year. If the agency reduces the density of sites within the district from specified levels set forth in the Senate Bill 73, the agency would be required to return the full amount of zoning incentive payments it has received to the department. The bill also authorizes a developer to develop a project in a housing sustainability district in accordance with the already existing land use approval procedures that would otherwise apply to the parcel in the absence of the establishment of the housing sustainability district pursuant to its provisions, as provided.