Committee advances rewrite of gatekeeper policy, narrows streamlined exemptions

The Council Policies and Procedures Committee on March 5 reviewed a staff proposal to update the city's gatekeeper authorization process, the procedure the city uses to screen projects that require legislative actions such as rezoning or general-plan amendments, and voted to forward a revised policy to the City Council.

The committee's action asks the council to adopt a written gatekeeper policy that keeps the draft staff content but changes certain suggested criteria into required criteria for projects seeking to bypass a separate council authorization hearing. Under the committee's recommendation, the first-phase streamlined exemptions would be limited in parcel size and, for residential projects, require a minimum density and other conditions before a project qualifies to move directly into formal processing.

Christian Murdoch, the city's Community Development Director, told the committee the update responds to a council priority placed on the gatekeeper process in 2023 and that the city's housing element (program 1.3 and 1.3.1G) requires the city to hold at least one authorization hearing per year and identify exemptions so the gatekeeper process does not…