HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/24/2019 Item 1, Cooper
Goodwin, Heather
From:Allan Cooper <saveourdowntownslo@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, April
To:Advisory Bodies; Cohen, Rachel
Subject:Housing Programs Update
Attachments:104_23_19...lettertopconhousing.pdf
Dear Rachel -
Would you kindly insure that the Planning Commission sees this letter before their April 24, 2019 meeting? Thanks!
- Allan
Allan Cooper, Secretary - Save Our Downtown, San Luis Obispo, CA
Website: www.SaveOurDowntownSLO.com
1
Save Our Downtown
______________________________________________________________________________
Seeking to protect and promote the historical character, design, livability and economic
success of downtown San Luis Obispo.
To:San Luis Obispo Planning Commission and Rachel Cohen
Re:Housing Programs Update
From:Allan Cooper, Secretary Save Our Downtown
Date:April 23, 2019
Staff has again failed, in your Wednesday April 24, 2019 staff report, to alert you to compliance
concerns with our growth management plan. Staff is not tasking you to address either the
historical or future growth rates in housing (i.e., in percentages) this Wednesday. Not even
mentioned in your staff report on "Housing Production” are the housing numbers the RHNA will
be mandating (3,354 units) between 2020 and 2028 which will clearly result in a 2% per year
growth rate (not the mandated 1%) in housing over this eight year time period.
Permit me to revisit with you San Luis Obispo’s historical growth rate in housing. The City
publishes a list of projects currently under construction on its website. This list is titled “Current
Development Projects in San Luis Obispo, California”. 1
This list is not comprehensive. The list does not include projects smaller than 5 units (currently
averaging 180 units per year). This list includes 35 projects (2,346 units) currently under
construction , 6 projects (413 units) under planning review, 3 projects (221 units) under building
review and 2 projects (630 units) included on this list under the category “specific plans”. Of the
35 projects under construction, 7 downtown projects (169 units) are exempted.
Taking into account an additional category of units exempted from the growth cap, we will
assume that 5% of the 2,177 housing units currently under construction have been set aside for
low income. Subtracting out the low income units leaves 2,068 units. Excluding all phases of
construction after phase one for Avila Ranch and Righetti Ranch and excluding San Luis Ranch
altogether we are left with 1,280 non-exempted, phase 1 units. We are excluding San Luis Ranch
and the subsequent phases of the two other projects because we are concentrating on those
housing units that will presumably be completed sometime between 06/30/19 and 12/21/20.
Adding the 1,011 units reportedly built (between 01/01/14 through 06/30/19) to the 1,280 non-
exempted, phase 1 units currently under construction will, at a minimum, average 1.8% growth
in housing per year over the seven year period between January 1, 2014 and December 31,
2020.
see: https://www.slocity.org/doing-business/doing-business-in-slo/what-development-is-happening-1
in-the-city
In the spirit of government transparency, don’t the citizens of San Luis Obispo (far less the
Planning Commission) deserve to know that, regardless of what the General Plan stipulates, we
were, currently are, and will be departing from the 1% per year housing growth rate? Thank
you!