Piedmont council adopts framework to develop housing at Moraga Canyon, citing safety requirements and state housing obligations

Piedmont City Council on Monday voted unanimously to adopt an addendum to the city’s 2023–2031 housing element environmental impact report and to introduce an ordinance aligning zoning with the Moraga Canyon Specific Plan, a framework the city says is intended to enable development on city-owned land to help meet the state-required regional housing needs allocation.

The specific plan is a regulatory framework, not building plans. “A specific plan is not a construction project. There are no building plans. There are no site plans. There are no landscape plans,” Planning and Building Director Kevin Jackson told the council, stressing the document provides design and review standards that would guide future proposals by developers.

The plan responds to a legally-binding housing element requirement, Program 1L, and to Piedmont’s RHNA allocation for the sixth cycle. City staff said the Moraga Canyon area was identified to help accommodate the city’s portion of the assignment and that the adopted framework would allow a developer to pursue either a north- or south-side development option and a mix of market-rate and deed-restricted affordable housing.

City staff and consultants framed the plan around three priorities: (1) meeting state housing obligations, (2) providing a clear design and regulatory framework to reduce uncertainty for developers, and (3) strengthening wildfire and evacuation measures for the canyon and Moraga Avenue. The city’s environmental consultant, Rincon, described the action taken as an addendum tiered to the housing-element EIR and said it finds no new or more severe impacts…