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On Dec. 30, Atherton received a letter from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) stating that the town still has to make a couple tweaks to its most recent housing element plans that were adopted on Oct. 16, 2024. Though the town’s housing element is still not certified, the letter was not all bad news, as HCD said that the adopted housing element “addresses most statutory requirements” of state housing law.
In a Jan. 8 staff report for a Planning Commission and City Council study session, town planning staff wrote that the issues raised in HCD’s most recent comment letter do not indicate any issues with the town’s approach to building the 348 housing units required by the state, or to achieving its fair housing goals. At the Jan. 8 meeting, Town Planner Brittany Bendix said that the town is not anticipating any corrective action relating to the sites selected for rezoning back in October.
Atherton has been working toward achieving a state-certified housing element since 2021, and has encountered many challenges along the way as council members tried to preserve the “rural character” of Atherton, while still conforming to state housing requirements.
“HCD recognizes the significant efforts of the town in the housing element update and rezoning,” wrote HCD Senior Program Manager Paul McDougall in the letter to Atherton. “We are committed to assisting the town in addressing all statutory requirements of state housing law.”
HCD asked Atherton to make the following changes in its housing element plans:
- Include an analysis of the redevelopment potential for the school sites (Menlo School and Sacred Heart Schools), which explains what areas of the school sites are available for development and any conditions that might prevent development on the sites.
- Restructure certain tables and figures in the housing element plans.
- Clarify in the town’s new multifamily housing standards that multifamily housing developments with at least 20% of units affordable to lower-income households will not require discretionary approval; HCD asked Atherton to explicitly use the term “ministerial approval” in the relevant section of the town’s codes.
- Revise the town’s Senate Bill 9 lot split program to include evaluation of development trends on split lots, and to identify alternatives to meet the town’s housing goals if too few SB 9 projects have been built by the middle of the current housing element cycle.
In the Jan. 8 staff report, town planning staff wrote that the town currently anticipates that its multifamily overlays on school and open space sites throughout the town will yield 96 units, including 57 very low-income housing units.
Bendix said that since the required revisions to the housing element were fairly minor, she will be presenting the updated housing element to the town’s Planning Commission at its Jan. 29 meeting.
“Ideally, the Planning Commission will be able to review changes next week and make a recommendation so that the item can be introduced to the City Council at their February meeting,” Bendix told this news organization.
Bendix said that since the adjustments to the housing element will require making changes to the town’s zoning ordinances, two council meetings will likely be required before the town’s housing plans can be resubmitted to the state for certification. If the council reviews the plans in February, the housing element could be resubmitted at its regular March meeting.
“That would be the fastest that we could get (council) approval and turn it around and send it back to the state,” she said at the Jan. 8 meeting.
Previously, Atherton has had several housing plan drafts rejected by the state. The housing element update process has involved the City Council going back to the drawing board multiple times after facing pushback from residents on the locations chosen for multifamily housing.
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