Riverbank planning commission opens 30-day review for housing element; recommends draft to council

Riverbank 's Planning Commission on Oct. 15 opened a 30-day public review period for the city's draft sixth-cycle housing element and voted to recommend the draft to the City Council so staff can submit it to the California Department of Housing and Community Development for review.

Miguel Galvez, a contract planner with JB Anderson Land Use Planning, told the commission the draft will be available for public comment from Oct. 15 through Nov. 14 and said staff will ask the City Council on Nov. 12 to authorize submittal to HCD. "After the public comment period, staff will be submitting the draft housing element to the state for their review," Galvez said, describing the state's roughly 90-day review process and subsequent HCD letter identifying items that must be addressed.

The presentation summarized the draft's components and the city's approach to meeting its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). Staff said the city currently shows capacity for roughly 3,384 housing units but faces shortfalls in the low- and very-low-income categories; to address those gaps the draft identifies candidate parcels that could be rezoned or reclassified and recommends a minimum multifamily density of 20 units per net acre to qualify sites for low-income RHNA categories.

During public comment, resident Karen Conrado urged commissioners to scrutinize the separate Riverwalk project, saying the proposed site is "prime agricultural land" with a high water table and located on a flood plain next to the Stanislaus River. Galvez responded that the Riverwalk property is outside city limits and is not being counted toward the city's RHNA numbers, but he said anyone may comment on the housing element during the review period.

Vivian Lopez, a Roselle Avenue resident, pressed staff on whether the city can require developers to reserve units for lower-income households and whether the state would penalize the city if RHNA goals were not achieved. Galvez said federal and state subsidy programs and financing agreements can require long-term affordability covenants, and reiterated the distinction between the city's duties and the role of private builders: "The city is not required to build the units. The cities are required to identify land where the units can be built by the private side," he said, adding that the city can pursue funding and partnerships with nonprofit developers and use monitoring agreements to enforce affordability where subsidy conditions apply.

Commissioners asked how rezones would be initiated and the extent of regional coordination for proposed outreach; staff said rezoning actions would involve additional public hearings and that the city envisions the proposed housing summit as a regional collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions and housing stakeholders.

After discussion, a commissioner moved and the commission seconded a recommendation that City Council authorize staff to submit the draft housing element, as revised by any public comments, to HCD. The commission's motion was approved on a roll-call vote.

The draft housing element and details on how to comment are posted online at riverbankhousingriverbank.org and comments are due by Nov. 14. The City Council will consider whether to authorize submittal on Nov. 12; HCD's review and required revisions are expected to continue into spring 2025.