Alameda planning board recommends updated inclusionary housing ordinance, asks staff to pursue in-lieu fee study

The Alameda Planning Board voted to recommend that City Council approve a revised inclusionary housing ordinance that gives developers multiple ways to meet affordable-housing obligations, exempts projects of 11 units or fewer, and asks staff to pursue an in-lieu fee for larger projects pending a required nexus study.

Steve Buckley, Planning Services Manager, opened the discussion by summarizing two years of work with consultants and subcommittees and reviewing the city’s housing-element goals. Buckley said staff is proposing alternatives to on-site units — including in-lieu fees, land dedication, clustered off-site projects and fee-based approaches — and noted the ordinance would authorize a fee to be set later by resolution once the required studies are complete. “We have committed to doing all of these things as a sort of all-of-the-above…