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In an ongoing effort to look ahead and assess future housing needs, the San Ramon Planning Commission debated senior housing options in the city Tuesday evening.
The commissioners came together to discuss the issue at the request of vice chair Rick Marks, who stated he was concerned about housing opportunities for a growing group of “ethnically and financially diverse” senior citizens in San Ramon.
These residents, aged 65 and older, make up 8% of San Ramon’s total population, but the housing options geared toward them may fall short of demand, according to Marks, who said there are about 869 total senior-specific housing units available in San Ramon, ranging from senior apartments and market-rate units to assisted living and memory care facilities.
“I’m very complimentary toward the way that the city has built out to this day,” Marks said Tuesday night at San Ramon City Hall.
“I think that there will always be a need for more workforce housing needs, but I think that when a city of this size — and likely to get to 92,000 people — has less than 900 units that are oriented toward seniors, it seems to me that we have both the need and the opportunity,” he added.
The discussion, billed broadly on the agenda as a study session on “housing needs in San Ramon,” focused on senior housing issues with wide-ranging input from the commissioners. No citizens participated in the public debate.
Marks said he hoped to facilitate a conversation about whether other commissioners thought there would be a need for more senior housing opportunities in market-rate single-story units, market-rate apartments, subsidized affordable housing, nursing homes and assisted living including memory care.
He proposed that if the commission or city staff were to approach developers to gauge interest in senior housing developments, there could be options for the city to pursue.
Commissioner Jeanne Benedetti responded by questioning whether the city would need to change its land-use documents to more strongly encourage senior housing.
“I have a problem with trying to impose development kinds of things onto people if our specific plan and general plan allow for other things,” Benedetti said, adding that it could be difficult for developers to obtain project financing if land-use document amendments or zoning changes are needed from the city.
“Unless the city can allow senior housing on that parcel as it’s currently zoned,” Benedetti said, “It’s adding a layer of risk to developers. You’re asking developers to do an awful lot of work to put the plans to a project together, but on the back of that, needing approvals … it doesn’t always pencil out.”
Marks said that in his mind, the city discussing senior housing opportunities with property owners and developers would not have to involve any obligations.
Instead, if a property owner had vacant land and the location made sense for senior housing, all parties could discuss the concept, and if an interest sparked, the property owner could then get in contact with a company that could build some type of senior-living facility, according to Marks.
All commissioners agreed that sites for potential senior housing communities should be identified — a task assigned to city staff.
Later in the meeting, commissioner Eric Wallis wondered just how much senior housing might actually be necessary in the future.
“I’m not sure there’s going to be such an influx of baby boomers who currently live in San Ramon who are going to want to stay here,” Wallis stated, noting that seniors may want to leave in order to be closer to their families or escape the urban, traffic-congested environment.
“I’m not really that convinced that there are that many baby boomers who are going to stay and create such a senior housing crisis in San Ramon,” he added.
Wallis also said he was not convinced that there would be a large influx of seniors moving to San Ramon from other areas because of the higher cost of living.
He argued perhaps the biggest housing need for the city was more affordable single-family homes than what is currently available, in order to develop housing for younger families if the city still wanted to grow.
Commission chair Donna Kerger suggested that the commission expand Tuesday night’s discussion into more of a community workshop in the future in an attempt to bring people in and listen to what the community wants.
“It’s nice to have a plan — that’s why we have a general plan and have specific plans. It’s nice to have a vision,” Kerger stated, noting that it was important for city officials not to box themselves in. “I think it’s an excellent opportunity to have dialogue with people in the community.”
As the meeting came to an end, the commissioners agreed the next steps in the process would include creating a public community workshop on the topic of senior housing needs in San Ramon.
Editor’s note: Amanda Morris is a freelance writer for DanvilleSanRamon.com.
Editor’s note: Amanda Morris is a freelance writer for DanvilleSanRamon.com.
Editor’s note: Amanda Morris is a freelance writer for DanvilleSanRamon.com.
I’m glad to see that the commission will have a specific public workshop on senior housing, because the Feb 16 meeting was billed as a meeting on housing in general.
A thought: When we came to San Ramon with young children in 1985, we moved to a neighborhood close to schools. Other neighborhood houses also had school age children.The children have grown and left and we and many of our neighbors are now retired. We are aging in place, yet we are occupying prime real estate for families of school age children.
Is there a way that seniors who wish to stay in this community, can be incentivized to vacate (or trade) their near-school homes for senior-friendly neighborhoods that do not need school infrastructure?