HomeMy WebLinkAbout3/5/2024 Item 8a, Goswick
Jessica Goswick <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:City Council Meeting 3/5/2024: Agenda Item 8a Comments
This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond.
Hi Council,
My name is Jessica Goswick, I'm an affordable housing architect, building technology instructor at Cal
Poly, and renter and resident of San Luis Obispo for the last 10 years. I am excited to see the city
continue its work to provide quality, affordable housing through this study and key work efforts. I'm
writing today in support of many of the Housing Work Program projects already underway as well as to
suggest potential nuances that could be explored as a result of the city's pro-housing designation funds.
Based on my experience as a renter for the last decade and someone looking for a window into SLO's
housing ownership market, I am particularly excited about the efforts to increase middle housing in our
city, especially since we have so many great older examples of it already! Below are some of the efforts I
support in order to encourage and accelerate the development of market rate middle housing types:
Clearly define middle housing for San Luis Obispo. AARP's guide, Re-Legalizing Middle
Housing has options for defining this in our city based on the outcomes we'd like to see. I believe
that a clear definition will both help to encourage development of desirable typologies as well as
speed up design and permitting decisions.
Issue a survey to find which processes are holding up developers and design
teams. Portland, OR recently issued a survey like this to developers, architects, and engineers in
the area to understand which code adjustments would have the greatest impact on housing
production. We could do the same here to focus city efforts on where they will be felt most.
Create Objective Design Standards for middle housing. Objective Standards help to speed up
the permitting process, keep pre-development costs lower, and get housing built faster while
maintaining the architectural character of the city.
Create pre-approved plans for middle housing typologies such as duplexes, triplexes, and
quadplexes. We've seen the success of pre-approved ADU plans throughout California in getting
housing units built. Pre-approved plans for higher unit count plans could help to expedite these
typologies as well. The plans could have multiple architectural style options complying with the
Objective Design Standards to maintain variety, interest, and beauty of our city. Additionally,
there are grants available through AARP to help cities hire architects to develop these plans.
As an architect who works in affordable housing, I find that high pre-development costs (including land)
and extended timelines are often the largest barriers to our projects being built. Below are some
initiatives I support as well as additional ideas that could remove barriers to affordable, below-market
housing:
1
Establish streamlined timelines for permitting affordable housing projects, and stick to
them. Delayed timelines can stall and even cancel projects. Non-profit housing developers are
on very rigid funding timelines, and wherever the city can help to meet these timelines can help
ensure the project receives the funding it needs to be built.
Leverage the Surplus Land Act and SB 4 legislation to designate land for affordable housing.
City staff reports that the city has 41 parcels that could qualify for SB 4. Land costs can be
prohibitive for affordable housing developers, so providing land to non-profit developers would be
a great way to both increase affordable housing and decrease the time it takes to see it built.
Assist affordable housing developers with pre-development dollars. Non-profit affordable
housing developers rely often on federal or private lenders to build their projects, however, these
funds are often earmarked primarily for construction, and cannot be used for pre-development
like design team contracts, permitting, and other fees before construction. If there was a city fund
and/or program to help affordable housing developers bridge the gap during pre-development,
this could be incredibly helpful.
Finally, I would support the following for all housing types across the housing continuum:
Provide tax break and fee reduction incentives for developers. Other cities like Bellingham,
WA, have implemented tax break incentives for the types of development they need most,
including Affordable Housing and Urban Villages. Waiving a portion of city fees can save a
developer thousands of dollars and help make a project feasible.
Eliminate parking minimums, especially in denser, downtown neighborhoods. Parking takes up
valuable land and reserves it for vehicles instead of people. In the context of housing, parking
minimums can greatly limit the number of homes feasible both by occupying land that could
otherwise house people and by limiting the number of units that can be built if there is not enough
space for the required parking. Removing parking minimums allows developers to figure out what
is feasible based on demand and market conditions, rather than requiring an arbitrary amount of
parking based on the zoning code.
Thank you again for your dedication to providing more housing in San Luis Obispo and for taking the time
to read this comment.
Kind regards,
Jessica Goswick
2