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Commission recommends City Council adopt housing‑element code amendments, including low‑barrier navigation and emergency‑shelter overlays
Summary
The commission voted to recommend that the City Council approve a package of general‑plan and development‑code amendments implementing the city's certified housing element and state housing laws, including new low‑barrier navigation‑center and emergency‑shelter overlays, supportive‑housing updates, SB9/SB35 implementation, and targeted height increases in multifamily zones.
City staff and consultant Inner West Consulting Group presented a comprehensive set of development‑code amendments intended to implement the city's certified housing element and comply with recent state housing laws. The package includes an overlay to allow low‑barrier navigation centers in specified commercial/mixed‑use areas, an emergency‑shelter overlay in two business‑park sites, updates to supportive and employee housing definitions, and zoning changes necessary to enable streamlining under SB9 and SB35. The consultant identified seven potential low‑barrier sites and two emergency‑shelter overlay properties.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about program timelines, replacement‑housing requirements, parking standards for supportive and congregate care housing, and whether senior housing projects would become nonconforming under certain edits. Staff acknowledged the city is behind schedule on some housing‑element programs that were slated for completion by December 2023 and said the general‑plan progress report would document the timeline and next steps. After extended discussion and public comment, the commission voted to recommend the City Council adopt the proposed general‑plan amendment and development‑code updates.
