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The town of Portola Valley announced that state Department of Housing and Community Development decertified its housing plans for 2023 through 2031 on Tuesday, March 26. HCD will consider recertifying the housing element after the town submits its zoning code amendments, a key next step, according to the town.
“The decertification is extremely frustrating,” said Mayor Sarah Wernikoff in an email to this news organization. “HCD’s one-size-fits-all approach makes compliance nearly impossible for a town the size of Portola Valley.”
The state approved the plan, which every jurisdiction in the state updates under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation program every eight years, to Jan. 30. The town has continued to work on housing element programs and to adopt zoning regulations.
Wernikoff explained that the town was given an “unrealistic deadline” to have their zoning complete two days after their housing element was certified.
“Once the town has adopted required rezones in April or May, and those rezones are submitted to HCD, HCD will consider recertifying the housing element,” according to a Wednesday, March 27, town news bulletin. “HCD will not be reviewing the entire housing element again, just the rezones, so it should be a quick process.”
The Planning Commission met on March 20 to review zoning code amendments, but felt that they needed input from the town’s Architectural and Site Control Commission. The Planning Commission met with the ASCC on March 25 to receive the committee’s input on the zoning amendments.
On April 3, the Planning Commission and ASCC will meet to review the feedback on the zoning draft amendments discussed during the March 20 meeting.
On April 17, the Planning Commission will meet to complete the review of the draft and consider adopting a resolution recommending approval to the town council.
The Town Council tentatively plans to meet on May 8 for the first reading of the zone code amendment. A second reading is expected to follow on May 22.
“I am confident that we will have everything in place by end of May for HCD approval,” said Town Manager Sharif Etman in an email. “It is imperative we take the time to gather feedback from the community and our Planning Commission and ASCC Commissions, ultimately with council approval.”
The state certified neighboring Menlo Park’s housing element in March.
I’m sick of these “heavy handed” tactics that Sacramento continues to assert against our small cities and towns.
Portola Valley and other cities have been making good faith efforts to comply with these new, difficult regulations. Shouldn’t our local officials be responsible for permitting, zoning and development in our cities? That’s what we elected them to do.
Members of Portola Valley’s City Council live here and are far more aware of our local concerns and issues than these faceless bureaucrats in Sacramento who have never been within 50 miles of our town.
Pogo: the bureaucrats in Sacramento are NOT faceless or nameless. Their names are Marc Berman and Josh Becker. They voted YES on almost every single housing bill last year. We need people in Sacramento who work for US, not for developers and investors.
This is ridiculous