Half Moon Bay officials review Measure D, direct staff to explore fractional ADU allocations and a downtown map amendment

Half Moon Bay officials convened a joint study session to review Measure D, the city's voter-approved growth-management ordinance and its annual unit-allocation process, and gave staff direction to return midyear with options to fractionalize ADU allocations, consider rollovers of unused certificates and place a downtown-map amendment on the November ballot for voter consideration.

The city planner leading the presentation summarized Measure D's four-step annual cycle: unit authorization in December for the following year, an initial application window (Jan. 1'Jan. 31, extendable to Sept. 1 when few applications are filed), scoring and staff verification, and ratification of scoring by April 1. Staff said the base authorization is a 1% growth cap with an optional 0.5% downtown bonus and noted that ADUs have driven demand: "ADUs might be making up anywhere from 50 to 75% of applications, averaging around 60," the presenter said.

Why it matters: Council members and planning commissioners said the allocation system must balance the city's voter-approved limits with the region's housing needs, safety concerns and administrative feasibility. Several members pushed for clearer, more objective scoring, improved tracking of deed-restricted units and incentives for fire-resilient construction.

During the staff briefing, officials and commissioners raised several recurring issues: when an allocation is considered vested (staff…