[BATN] Walnut Creek City Council may remove housing cap Date: 06 Apr 2006 12:31:08 -0700 Published Monday, April 3, 2006, in the Contra Contra Times Walnut Creek City Council may remove housing cap By Theresa Harrington With housing construction booming in Walnut Creek, some residents are afraid their charming city will soon become cluttered with tall buildings and clogged with cars. [BATN: When exactly is "charming" Walnut Creek _not_ "clogged with cars"?] Slow-growth proponents are pressuring the City Council to keep a lid on the amount of housing allowed in Walnut Creek as part of the general plan, a blueprint for growth. The council on Tuesday will discuss removing a previous cap on housing, to satisfy the state's requirements that each city must do its "fair share" to help provide housing for the 1.5 million people who will come to the Bay Area in the next 25 years. "Every city has a responsibility to plan for its own children, it's own growth," said state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch. "If one or two communities decide they're not going to grow, then it shifts a greater burden on other areas." The council is trying to appease residents worried about growth, while also satisfying the state's demands that the city provide housing for its community. Council members worry that they could lose out on county and state funding, face lawsuits and get hammered with stricter state housing laws if they don't toe the line. California mandates that each region of the state must provide housing for the growing population. The state has averaged about 110,000 housing units per year over the past 10 years, Torlakson said, but it should have averaged 150,000 to keep up with population growth. A shortage of homes, he said, drives prices up, drives businesses out of state, and creates homelessness. Locally, the Association of Bay Area Governments, or ABAG, works with cities to divide the region's allocation up among all its jurisdictions. Between 1999 and 2007, Contra Costa County and its 19 cities are required to provide 34,710 residential units. Of that, Walnut Creek has committed to 1,653, or nearly 5 percent, while Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda combined are on the hook for 629, or about 2 percent. ABAG will begin working with cities later this year to come up with housing allocations to go into effect in 2008. Some residents worry that their city, which is seen as a regional leader, will be expected to pick up the slack for neighboring cities that don't want to grow. They are asking the city to cap housing at 1,250 units in a decade, based on past construction. "We're going to fight the good fight," said resident Al Loosli, who helped organize a group of about 100 others called HELP -- Homeowners Engaged in Local Planning -- to oppose growth increases. The city's previous housing cap allowed 2,550 units in 10 years, but only 1,750 units have been built in Walnut Creek during the past 14 years. Recently, however, housing construction has picked up. About 350 residential units are under construction downtown, with hundreds more in the works. In its draft general plan, the city has designated 11 areas downtown for mixed residential and commercial projects, to encourage smart growth housing projects near transit. This will help provide housing for workers, so they don't have to commute, and will cut down on traffic and air pollution, city planners say. Without a cap, nearly 5,400 residential units could be built in Walnut Creek by 2025, according to the general plan. Councilman Charlie Abrams said a housing cap isn't necessary, because the city's current growth rate of 0.5 percent a year will likely continue. At this rate, the city's population of 66,500 would grow to about 72,000 by 2025, with an anticipated development rate of 0.6 percent a year. But some residents aren't convinced by such rosy forecasts. They want assurances that the city won't become an urban metropolis overnight. In response, the city is scrambling to see if the state would allow it to put a "reasonable" housing limit in its general plan, as long as it wouldn't prevent the city from meeting its mandates. A February letter from the state's Department of Housing and Community Development warned that the city must adopt its general plan without a housing cap by April 30, or else the housing element of the plan would be jeopardized. This could mean the state would "decertify" the document, causing Walnut Creek to lose out on about $800,000 a year in Measure C and Measure J county transportation funding, along with about $175,000 a year in state affordable housing grants. The state decertified Pleasanton's housing element after it failed to follow through on a promise to rezone about 35 acres for high-density housing in 2004, said planner Janice Stern. Pleasanton is working to accomplish the rezoning as part of its general plan update. If Walnut Creek doesn't provide enough affordable projects, housing advocates could sue the city, like they did Benicia and Pittsburg. And the state Legislature might be inclined to pass laws taking away local government's power over development if cities ignore mandates. Torlakson said the state is considering legislation that would reward cities for providing housing, as well as put "teeth" into housing mandates. Theresa Harrington covers the Walnut Creek area. Reach her at 925-945-4764 or tharrington@cctimes.com IF YOU GO: HOUSING MANDATE What: Walnut Creek City Council meeting regarding general plan When: 7 p.m. Tuesday Where: City Council Chamber, 1666 N. Main St., Walnut Creek Information: 925-943-5818 or http://www.walnut-creek.org Walnut Creek's 1999-2007 state housing mandate: Units Constructed or required approved by 9/05 Very low income: 289 102 Low income: 195 94 Moderate income: 418 205 Above-moderate: 751 751+ Total: 1,653 1,152, nearly 70 percent of goal. For a complete list of Contra Costa County housing allocations, visit http://www.abag.ca.gov/cgi-bin/rhnd_allocation.pl Email article texts/URLs for posting to . Manage your subscription by sending a blank email message to: BATN-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe, BATN-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com to unsubscribe, BATN-digest@yahoogroups.com to switch email to digest mode, BATN-normal@yahoogroups.com to switch email to normal mode, BATN-nomail@yahoogroups.com to switch email delivery off. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN for web access & archives.