Sebastopol

Planning to maximize energy efficiency, the incorporation of energy conservation, and green building features can contribute to reduced housing costs for homeowners and renters while promoting sustainable community design. The City of Sebastopol will continue to promote energy efficiency that exceeds State standards in existing residences and new residential development by providing sustainability and conservation information on the City’s website, supporting Recology’s efforts to educate the community about solid waste reduction, utilizing CDBG and HOME funding to retrofit existing affordable units to increase energy efficiency, and providing information through the City’s Proactive Outreach Program (Program D1.2).

To ensure sufficient residential capacity to accommodate the RHNA for each income category throughout the planning period, staff will develop and implement a formal, ongoing (project-by-project) administrative evaluation procedure pursuant to Government Code section 65863. The evaluation procedure will track the number of lower, moderate-, and above moderate-income units constructed to calculate the remaining unmet RHNA. The evaluation procedure will also track the number of units built on the identified sites to determine the remaining site capacity, by income category, and will be updated as developments are approved. The sites inventory will be updated every year as needed when the Annual Planning Report (APR) is completed, and the APR with the updated inventory will be available on the City’s website.

Despite the volatility of the housing market, numerous studies have demonstrated that homeownership leads to greater wealth accumulation when compared with renting. Lower and moderate-income homebuyers may face significant financial barriers when seeking home ownership. The City will seek to establish a First Time Homebuyer Program in coordination with the Housing Land Trust of Sonoma County (HLT) for the development of permanently affordable homeownership opportunities in the City of Sebastopol. The City will continue to facilitate relationships between the HLT and potential local partners such as school districts and private developers in order to facilitate development and meet local needs. Additionally, The City will publish resources to prospective lower income home buyers on the City website including information about the new First Time Homebuyer Program, Burbank Housing and Habitat for Humanity who provide affordable homeownership through subsidies, and information about CalHOME and CalHFA financing options, and promote resources through the City’s Proactive Outreach Program (Program D-1.2).

Facilitate communication between HLT and two outside organizations per year. Facilitate an average of 1 affordable ownership unit per year once program is initiated Apply at least two times for funding. The program would be eligible city-wide, and would depend on opportunities, sites close to schools and other services will be prioritized.

Demographic analysis revealed the need for affordable housing options that would be suitable for the aging population, persons with disabilities, and younger people looking for entry-level housing choices. Community input indicated robust support for ADU and JADU development as a way to increase the housing supply. Additionally, ADU and JADU development provides a unique opportunity for homeowners to increase their property value. Based on community input, the City expects a significant increase in the rate of ADU and JADU development. In order to facilitate homeowners who are interested in developing the City shall take the following actions: a) Promote ADUs and JADUs: The City anticipates developing ADUs in numbers that exceed what it has built, on average, over the last 4 years. To promote development, the City will make builders, property owners and members of the public aware of opportunities to facilitate ADU construction within the city by creating a dedicated ADU/JADU development website, and by featuring ADUs at the annual Housing Fair/Symposium (Program D-1.2). Additionally, the City will streamline processing of applications for conforming ADUs by eliminating the planning entitlement process and relying instead on planning department review and sign-off of the building permit. b) Legalizing Existing Structures as ADUs: The majority of ADUs within the City to date have been conversions of existing structures into ADUs. Staff have identified a way to facilitate the legalization of existing structures into converted, legal ADUs by reducing the need for qualified conversions to go through the planning commission process for determination of a non-conforming use. Rather, the City would establish a program that would allow this determination to be made at the Staff-level following a site visit, and consultation with the planning and building departments. In certain situations, code enforcement penalties would be reduced or waived. In its 2024 APR, the City will evaluation its progress in achieving its increased production goals for ADUs and JADUs. If it is determined that the new numbers are not likely to be met, the City will put into place an additional action to better promote and facilitate their production, as follows: c) Financial Support for ADUs: If the production of ADUs is falling behind projections by the end of the 2nd year on the planning period, the City will dedicate annual funding to the Napa-Sonoma ADU Center or other qualified nonprofit for the provision of services to facilitate ADU production to utilize their services beyond what is publicly available on their website including the provision of on-site ADU suitability evaluations, development of marketing materials, pre-approved ADU plans and referrals to builders and financing for ADUs.

Average 7.5 ADUs per year for a total of 60 ADUs during the planning period, including 15 VLI units, 15 LI units, and 15 MI units, throughout the community. Legalize 2 unpermitted ADUs within the planning period

Community input indicated strong support for missing middle housing which can help meet the need for more diverse housing types to address shifting demographics in the City. The City will increase opportunities for small lot single-family homes, such as tiny homes and cottage court housing developments. The City will amend the Code to allow up to 4 units on qualifying single-family parcels, subject to objective design standards as allowed by SB 9. If the City is not meeting its prorated RHNA within four years of program implementation, the City will identify at least 20 additional sites for the R-5 zoning designation.

Facilitate the development of 10 new units throughout the planning period, primarily in the higher resource residential areas on the west side of the City.

Expedited processing moves projects with an affordable component to the front of the line in zoning, planning, and building permit processing. Ideally this can shave months off the entitlement process. Faster processing reduces risk and financing costs while allowing developers to bring projects to market faster. To encourage the development of affordable housing the City will continue to expedite processing for affordable housing projects to support the streamlined approval processing for affordable housing projects, including SB9 and SB35 projects. The City will expand application of processing priority to projects providing housing for seniors and other special needs groups, including persons with physical and developmental disabilities, large families, extremely low-income households, farmworker housing, and homeless. Expedited processing includes one-stop preliminary review, concurrent application review, designation of a primary contact, and prioritizing building permit and grading plan review, permitting and inspection. To ensure that these services are available throughout the planning period, the City shall maintain adequate staffing levels and, if necessary, utilize outside planning or plan review services to facilitate expedited processing.

It is necessary to establish an ongoing monitoring program to ensure the implemented programs and adopted ordinances continue to meet the needs of residents, conform to State laws, and do not pose as barriers to development. The City will continue to monitor the implementation of ordinances, codes, policies, and procedures to ensure that they conform with State laws, promote energy conservation, do not pose an unreasonable barrier to housing access, and that they continue to provide reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities. Program implementation will be tracked and reported annually in conjunction with the Annual Planning Report (APR) and to the City Council as part of the City’s annual Level of Service report.

Negative effects of code enforcement can occur when compliance measures are not economically feasible for property owners. To reduce the risk of displacement, the City will pursue grant opportunities to create a residential rehabilitation program for lower income residents. The City will work with the Community Development Commission to apply for HOME, CalHome, and CDBG funds, as well as promote Section 504 Home Repair Program loans and grants to provide housing rehabilitation loans and weatherization services for income-eligible households to improve living conditions. The City will also work with and support local non-profits, such as Rebuilding Together Sebastopol and Habitat for Humanity, in these efforts. Available resources will be promoted through the Proactive Outreach Program (Program D-1.2)

Apply for 3 grants throughout the planning period and support 2 non-profit applications. Facilitate rehabilitation of 10-12 units throughout the planning period.

Impact fees are levied on new housing to pay for the services needed to support those developments and to mitigate the impacts of growth however, such fees and exactions can affect the cost and feasibility of developing affordable housing. In accordance with new with requirements to the Mitigation Fee Act, the City shall take the following actions: a) Nexus Fee Action: To mitigate the impact of these fees the City currently bases impact fees proportional to the square footage of a new development project per a 2021 nexus study. Per new statutory requirements to Mitigation Fee Act, the City will update its nexus study in 2029. b) Transparency Action: The City will make the following information prominently available on the City’s website: Postings that must be updated within 30 days of any change to the information: • A current schedule of fees, exactions, and affordability requirements that apply to each parcel • All zoning ordinances and development standards that apply to each parcel • A list of all requirements for a development project • The current and five previous annual fee reports covering development impact fees as well as water and sewer connection fees and • An archive of impact fee nexus studies and cost of service studies conducted by the City since January 1, 2018 Postings that must be updated twice a year: • Upon the certificate of occupancy or final inspection of a new housing unit, whichever occurs later, the City must request from the developer the total amount of impact fees levied on the project and display that information on the City’s website c) Public Comment Procedure Action: The City will abide by the new public comment procedure requirements that authorize any member of the public to submit evidence regarding impact fee violations. Additionally, to limit the costs associated with developing housing, the City will defer fee collection for residential developments until final building inspection or issuance of the certificate of occupancy, whichever occurs first, unless the requirements of Government Code 66007(b) have been met.

a) Permanent Supportive Housing and Low Barrier Navigation Centers: Decades of research show providing people with a stable, affordable place to live that does not limit length of stay, along with services that promote housing stability—the combination known as “supportive housing”—ends homelessness among people with the greatest vulnerabilities, including people experiencing chronic homelessness. The City will amend the Code to allow permanent supportive housing and low barrier navigation centers by right in zones where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted, including nonresidential zones permitting multifamily uses in compliance with Government Codes 65660 and 65651 as amended by AB 2162 and SB 48, respectively. b) Large Community Care Facilities: When permitting standards for residential care facilities are not clear, objective, and transparent, it can serve as a constraint to housing for people with disabilities. To address this, The City will amend the Code to allow large residential community care homes for 7 or more individuals, subject to objective criteria, in all residential zones. c) Multifamily Housing: In order to minimize potential constraints, the City will amend the Code to eliminate the 2-story limit and set a height limit of 35 ft for multifamily housing in the R6 and R7 zones. d) Accessory Dwelling Units: The City will update its Code to allow JADUs in the R7 zone. Additionally, in order to implement new State laws, the City will review and update its ADU ordinance. e) Emergency Shelter Parking: The City will update its Code to ensure its parking requirements for emergency shelters comply with the requirements of Government Code 65583(a)(4)(A) as amended by AB 139. f) Design Review Findings: Along with the development of Objective Design Standards (Program A-3.1), changes to the design review findings are needed to mitigate constraints. The City will amend its code to revise findings along with the adoption of ODS in order to remove constraints and emphasis use of design guidelines and standards (finding 5).

Facilitate development of 1 new PSH and 1 new LBNC project during the planning period, near transportation and amenities.