Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Element topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Plumas County planning staff lays out tight schedule, state requirements and RHNA in housing element workshop
Summary
Planning staff told the commission at a March workshop that Plumas County must update its 2024–2029 housing element to meet state HCD requirements, accommodate the county's RHNA allocation, and complete a public‑review and HCD review process that will likely extend from April into late summer; commissioners pressed staff on ADU counts, construction costs and local implementation.
Plumas County planning staff opened a public workshop on the county’s 2024–2029 housing element and told the Planning Commission on March 6 that the county is behind the schedule it had given the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
Planning staff said the housing element must address a state HCD checklist — including an affirmatively furthering fair housing analysis, a sites inventory and specific goals, policies and programs — and then be circulated for a 30‑day public review before the county has 10 days to revise and submit to HCD for a 90‑day review. “The state has sent us a letter. We responded with a schedule. We are late on that schedule now too,” staff said, describing a revised plan to complete workshops in March and April, circulate a draft and engage HCD during its review.
Why it matters: The housing element establishes where and how Plumas County will accommodate the state’s assigned regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) and documents programs — such as accessory dwelling units, vacant‑land inventories and inclusionary mechanisms — that affect future zoning, infrastructure planning and eligibility for some state grants.
At the workshop staff reviewed the county’s goals, roughly four broad objectives, six policies and about 20 implementation programs. Staff said a crosswalk with Sierra County’s recently revised element is being used as an example to meet new fair‑housing requirements. “This is one of a few housing element workshops that we will be doing,” the planning director said, noting a strikeout draft would be ready for a March 20 workshop and posted on the general plan website for public review.
On RHNA and recovery: Staff summarized how the state computed the county’s RHNA number for the 2024–2029 cycle and said wildfire recovery factors were incorporated using CAL FIRE damage datasets. Staff also noted that accessory dwelling units built during the prior cycle (21 ADUs reported for 2019–2024) can be counted toward the county’s ability to accommodate very low and low income units under state rules.
Commissioners sought concrete figures and feasibility analysis. Several asked for clearer, locally grounded numbers on costs and what buyers or renters could actually afford. Staff recommended further analysis — a countywide housing study and third‑party construction takeoffs — to establish realistic construction costs for preapproved ADU plans and to determine whether developers could be incentivized to build multiple units at once to lower per‑unit costs.
Next steps and timeline: Staff said it will revise the letter to HCD to reflect the updated schedule, circulate a public review draft in April, and continue workshops through May while HCD completes its 90‑day review. The planning director said staff will post materials on the general plan website, brief the Board of Supervisors and engage the Plumas County Housing Council and other stakeholders during the public‑review period.
The commission closed the workshop portion with a request that staff provide the March 20 strikeout draft one week in advance, produce clearer construction‑cost estimates for the commission’s review, and circulate the vacant and underutilized land inventory with assessor parcel crosswalks for commissioners to examine ahead of the next meeting.
