Council delays decision on low-barrier navigation centers; staff had identified four vacant candidate sites

City planning staff presented options for complying with state law requiring cities to allow low-barrier navigation centers (LBNCs) by right in zones that permit mixed use or multi-family residential. The item grew from a housing-element implementation requirement tied to state certification.

Principal Planner Thomas Gorham told council that Assembly Bill 101 (the 2019 law that requires cities to allow low-barrier navigation centers in specified zones) means the city must identify at least one zone where LBNCs are allowed by right; staff identified the city's Commercial Neighborhood (CN) zone as meeting the statutory characteristic because it allows mixed use. To meet the requirement and to create candidate sites that could accommodate future LBNCs, staff identified four vacant parcels that could be changed to the CN designation through a general plan amendment and zone…