REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Forward a recommendation to the City Council to adopt an Urgency Interim Ordinance and to introduce an Ordinance to Amend Title 19 (Zoning) and Title 10 (Vehicles and Traffic) of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code related to Senate Bill 1069 and Assembly Bill 2299, and Find that the Action is Exempt from CEQA.
Report
BACKGROUND
On September 27, 2016, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 1069 and Assembly Bill 2299 ("Bills"), amending multiple Government Code Sections related to land use, in an effort to alleviate the current housing crisis in California and to increase the rental housing supply by encouraging production of Accessory Dwelling Units ("ADUs"). The Bills require local jurisdictions to adopt local ADU ordinances consistent with the State legislation by January 1, 2017. The Sunnyvale Municipal Code currently refers to ADUs as Accessory Living Units; staff recommends amending the Code to change the term to reflect the terminology of the new state legislation as well as other amendments discussed below.
Staff has performed a consistency review of the zoning code relating to ADUs (Section 19.68.040) in comparison to the new legislation and has identified necessary modifications to bring the zoning code into conformance. The appreciable inconsistencies are related to parking requirements and the conversion of space totally contained within the interior of an existing single-family house (or one its accessory structures) to an ADU. The Sunnyvale Municipal Code must be amended by January 1, 2017 to meet the State requirements or City regulations could be deemed null and void and no local regulations would then apply to ADUs in Sunnyvale. Because a regular ordinance will not go into effect until 30 days after the second reading, an urgency interim ordinance must also be adopted that will go into effect immediately and expire when the regular ordinance becomes effective.
The City Council is scheduled to consider this ite...
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