Livingston Planning Commission approves 2024 housing element progress report with correction

The Livingston City Planning Commission on March 11 recommended that the City Council accept the City of Livingston Housing Element annual progress report for calendar year 2024, approving a resolution with a correction to add an accessory dwelling unit that had been omitted from one table.

The report, prepared by Contract City Planner Miguel Galvez, documents the city’s progress on housing-element programs, regional housing needs allocations and completed units during calendar year 2024. The commission voted 5-0 to approve Resolution 2025-01 with the correction, and directed staff to submit the corrected report to the State Office of Housing and Community Development and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.

The correction addressed a discrepancy in Table B of the submitted packet. Galvez told the commission the city issued five building permits in 2024 that received certificates of occupancy: one accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and four mobile homes in a Peach Avenue mobile-home park. The ADU had not been placed in the published table; staff will update the report so the table reflects five units and the city’s remaining housing capacity calculation (noted in the packet as 1,088 units after correction).

Galvez summarized other development activity recorded in 2024 and early 2025: a pending application to rezone and amend the general plan for a 20-unit multifamily project on F Street that is on hold while water-service capacity is clarified; a conditional-use permit application to convert a Masonic Lodge near Seventh and Peach streets into a seven-unit community care facility intended to house veterans; and multiple affordable-housing projects either under construction or seeking ministerial approval under Assembly Bill 2011.

He told the commission Self-Help Enterprises sought ministerial approval in 2024 for an 80-unit affordable project at the southeast corner of B Street and West Park Way (referred to in the packet as the B Street or River Glen project). Tierra Santa Villa, an 80-unit project, is under construction and was forecast to be completed by July 2025, Galvez said. The commission was also notified that a larger project called “The Villages,” a multi-phase 480-unit proposal located off South Livingston, is scheduled for a time-extension hearing before the City Council on March 18.

On the 20-unit F Street application, Galvez said the city engineer advised an applicant that, based on current city water capacity, the applicant may need to provide an on-site well to serve the project. He said staff will follow up with public works and the applicant and return with a revised conditions-of-approval letter if the departments’ position changes.

In closing, Galvez said the city is beginning the sixth housing-element cycle (covering July 1, 2024–2032). He told commissioners a consultant, Rincon, is preparing the next housing element and that the city will identify additional multifamily sites and program actions in that process.

The commission’s approval was recorded by roll call: Commissioners Jose Flores, Jasnil Singh and Chair Steve Bassi, and alternate commissioners Diego Castillo and Mohinder Khanda all voted yes. The motion passed 5-0.

The corrected annual progress report will be forwarded to the state and to the City Council for acceptance and transmittal.

The report packet and supporting tables were discussed during the "Other matters" portion of the March 11 meeting and were presented by Miguel Galvez.