Council adopts 2024 general plan and housing element annual progress report

The City Council adopted a resolution on March 30 approving the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea's 2024 General Plan and Housing Element annual progress report and authorized staff to submit the report to the state.

Planning staff summarized the report as a routine, statutorily required annual filing that documents implementation of general-plan policies and provides the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) with required forms and building-permit data for the housing element. Staff said the report covers calendar-year 2024 and must be uploaded to the state by April 1.

The report's housing section uses HCD's standard forms, which capture building permits, applications and other metrics the state requires. Marnie (planning staff) told the council the spreadsheets supplied in the packet include the HCD forms and that staff will continue to track progress as the city moves forward with housing-element updates this year.

Council members asked follow-up questions about accessory dwelling unit (ADU) counts in the HCD forms and whether the reported units were counted as market-rate or income-restricted units. Staff explained the ADU entries in the HCD form were credited as market-rate (above-moderate) and that the ADU occupancy (owner-occupied versus renter-occupied) was assumed where the permanent occupancy information was not available.

A motion to adopt the resolution and authorize staff to submit the report to the Office of Planning and Research passed on a unanimous roll-call vote.

The report will be posted to the state website and used as an annual record of the city's housing activity; staff said they will return with a more substantive update on housing-element amendments in mid-May as the city progresses through its amendment process.