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The Danville Planning Commission is scheduled to vote this week on what is set to be the final version of the town’s Housing Element for the current cycle, with state officials greenlighting the draft after several rounds of revisions over the past year.
The Town Council approved the initial proposed Housing Element for the town’s eight-year cycle at the end of January 2023, after which it was submitted for review by the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). Since then, town staff have prepared three different rounds of revisions following comments from state officials.
The most recent draft was submitted to HCD on Dec. 22, who notified town officials on Jan. 2 that it was in “substantial compliance” with state law following the three rounds of revisions.
However, HCD senior program manager Paul McDougall noted in the Jan. 2 letter that the clock was ticking to adopt the revised document. With the original Housing Element that was submitted last year failing to comply with state law, he noted that Danville had missed the statutory deadline of Jan. 31, 2023 for adopting a compliant Housing Element.
Without a compliant Housing Element on the books as of 120 days after the statutory deadline, McDougall noted that “any programs to make prior identified sites available or address a shortfall of capacity to accommodate the regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) must be completed no later than one year from the statutory deadline.”
“Otherwise, the local government’s Housing Element will no longer comply with state housing element law, and HCD may revoke its finding of substantial compliance,” McDougall wrote in the Jan. 2 letter to Danville’s chief of planning, David Crompton.
With the one-year anniversary of the statutory deadline approaching on Jan. 31, McDougall further warned that the revised Housing Element can’t be considered compliant unless and until any rezoning required for its implementation is completed.
In addition to the revised Housing Element, the resolution on the table for the Planning Commission at their upcoming meeting includes measures such as rezoning that would be necessary in order to implement it over the course of the current eight-year cycle.
The implementation measures include a General Plan amendment and rezoning for a number of sites on six acres behind Community Presbyterian Church, which owns a majority of the parcels and is seeking to develop multi-family housing on the land.
The amendment and rezoning would allow the area, currently zoned for single-family, low-density use, to host up to 20 to 25 units per acre under a multi-family, medium/high unit density zoning designation.
General Plan amendments and rezoning will also be considered for seven other church sites within the town in order to allow medium to high density multi-family developments.
Other measures in the resolution include allowing for corner lots zoned for single-family development to be subdivided into two lots that could host additional attached or detached units, increased height limits at several sites, an amendment to the downtown business ordinance that would permit emergency shelters housing up to 20 residents in two downtown business districts zoned for multi-family housing, and an amendment to all residential zones allowing for group housing such as transitional and supportive housing.
Staff are also proposing an amendment to the town’s municipal code that would allow multi-family residences with 10 units or fewer to move forward with administrative approval rather than proceeding through Planning Commission and Town Council review, except in the case of appeals to those projects.
The Danville Planning Commission is set for a special meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 17) at 5 p.m. The agenda is available here.
