Loomis planning commission adopts in-lieu fee study for inclusionary housing, asks council to consider broader fee option

The Loomis Planning Commission voted to adopt an in-lieu fee study for the town's inclusionary housing ordinance and sent a separate recommendation to the Town Council asking staff to prepare an amendment to allow in-lieu payments for larger projects.

The study, prepared by AECOM and presented to the commission by consultant Matthew Gurkin, recommends an in-lieu fee calculated by an affordability-gap method: $17 per square foot for for-sale required affordable units and $22 per square foot for rental required affordable units. Christie (last name not provided), Planning Director for the Town of Loomis, told commissioners the fees were developed to apply only to the portion of a development that represents the mandatory affordable units or fractions of units, not to the entire project.

The fee matters because the town's 2021 Housing Element (policy 9) and Ordinance 288 (added as section 11.16 to the municipal code on March 8, 2022) require 10% of units in developments of 10 or more units to be deed-restricted affordable; for projects that create fractional requirements (for example, a 15-unit project requires 1.5 units), the in-lieu fee covers the fractional portion. Christie explained that the ordinance permits payment of an in-lieu fee for projects between five and nine units and for fractional portions above the 10-unit thresholds.

Gurkin said the study used the affordability-gap…