REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Adopt a Resolution Authorizing Participation in the Santa Clara County Planning Collaborative and Authorize the City Manager to Execute Any Formal Funding Agreements
Report
BACKGROUND
In March 2016, a subcommittee was formed by the Cities Association of Santa Clara County (Cities Association) to develop the framework and processes necessary to form and implement a subregion within Santa Clara County for the next Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) cycle. The RHNA is the state-required process that seeks to ensure cities and counties are planning for enough housing to accommodate their fair share of housing for all economic segments of the community. This calculation is completed by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) for the nine bay area counties; however, a Subregion would allow participating cities to collaborate more on their final housing allocations. In October 2018, the Cities Association Board of Directors adopted the framework and voted to begin formation of the RHNA subregion. To participate, the County and any interested cities were required to adopt a resolution; Sunnyvale adopted the resolution (Resolution No. 921-18) in December 2018.
Throughout 2019, the Cities Association Board worked to create a Memorandum of Understanding for the County and all participating Santa Clara County cities with an estimated total budget of $50,000, or $3,125 per jurisdiction. However, after several conversations with ABAG, the subregion process envisioned by the Cities Association Subregion Task Force and agreed upon by the sixteen jurisdictions was no longer possible.
Due to this change, the Cities Association Board is now requesting all sixteen Santa Clara County jurisdictions participate in a “Planning Collaborative.”
EXISTING POLICY
Goal HE-1: Adequate Housing. Assist in the provision of adequate housing to meet the diverse needs of Sunnyvale’s households of all income levels.
Policy HE-1.1: Encourage diversity in the type, size, price, and tenure of residential development in Sunnyvale, including single family homes, townhomes, apartments, mixed use housing, transit oriented development and live work housing.
Policy HE-1.3: Utilize the Below Market Rate housing requirements as a tool to integrate affordable units within market rate developments, and increase the availability of affordable housing throughout the community.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Choosing to participate in the Santa Clara County Planning Collaborative does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(a) as it has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
DISCUSSION
With the change in direction of the Cities Association Board and Subregion Task Force, the staff is now recommending participation in the Planning Collaborative (“Collaborative”). Through this Collaborative, each jurisdiction would:
• Embrace the goals of working as a region without forming the RHNA subregion and instead form a planning collaborative to further positive outcomes to the housing and homelessness challenges faced in Santa Clara County.
• Use the previously anticipated RHNA subregion budget towards the new Collaborative.
• Partake in collaboration opportunities such as: planning, housing element assistance, creative housing opportunities, housing partnerships, homelessness prevention, legislative guidance by consultants, and more.
Various planning officials throughout Santa Clara County currently participate in monthly roundtable meetings where they can collaborate on pressing land-use topics. This Collaborative will offer a structured approach for housing and planning officials to meet and discuss potential solutions towards these key housing and homelessness related challenges.
FISCAL IMPACT
The total cost for establishing the Collaborative is Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00). Each city that participates in the Collaborative shall agree to pay an equal share of the cost to participate in the Collaborative. If all jurisdictions in the county participate, the direct cost to the City will be Three Thousand One Hundred Thirty-Five Dollars ($3,125.00). A minimum of ten jurisdictions must participate for the Collaborative to be established, at that participation rate the cost per jurisdiction would be Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00). Initial funding for the Collaborative, in an amount not to exceed $5,000, can be absorbed in the Office of the City Manager’s operating budget and included in the FY 2020/21 Recommended Budget.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center and Department of Public Safety; and by making the agenda and report available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Approve a Resolution authorizing participation in the Santa Clara County Planning Collaborative, and authorize the City Manager to execute any formal funding agreements or contracts, in an amount not to exceed $5,000.
Staff
Prepared by: Jenny Carloni, Housing Officer
Reviewed by: Trudi Ryan, Community Development Director
Reviewed by: Teri Silva, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Kent Steffens, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Draft Resolution authorizing participation in Santa Clara County Planning Collaborative