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Along with several other municipalities and special districts in the San Ramon Valley, the city of San Ramon is in the process of overhauling its election system, and city officials are asking for residential input on the process at the City Council’s regular meeting Tuesday evening.
In order to comply with a petition citing the California Voting Rights Act, the city is in the process of transitioning from its current election system of at-large council elections to district-based voting.
City leaders will need to create at least four districts within city boundaries in order to do so. Each district will be represented by a City Council member, with residents only being allowed to vote for council candidates who reside in their designated geographic region, as opposed to all residents choosing to vote from all council candidates at-large. The mayor’s position would continue to be elected at-large citywide.
City officials will be creating districts with the goal of creating balanced areas that contain similar population, interests and concerns.
City staff have created an online information page full of facts and frequently asked questions for residents to learn about the process, as well as a series of maps dividing up the city into various areas based on population concentrations, residential ethnic backgrounds, land-use and zoning.
In addition to San Ramon, the town of Danville, the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, the Dublin San Ramon Services District and the San Ramon valley Unified School District are also in the process of transitioning from at-large to district-based voting for elections. The SRVUSD is the first of these groups to have selected a potential district map, approving a preferred map at its Feb. 21 meeting.
The City Council is set to discuss district-based elections as well as other issues at its regular meeting Tuesday, 7 p.m., at City Hall, 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road.
In other business
* In order to help tackle the city’s ongoing priority of managing its growth while also providing its residents with affordable homes to occupy, the City Council will discuss approving a inclusionary housing ordinance and affordable housing commercial linkage fee ordinance.
The ordinance would require new market-rate housing and commercial developments to pay a fee, develop low-income housing or designate units of a complex as low-income housing, in order to preemptively mitigate a developer’s impact on the need for low-income housing.
A study prepared by Keyser Marston Associates in 2017, recommended that San Ramon maintain a 15% on-site requirement for affordable housing. If a developer were to build a multi-family residential development project consisting of 100 units, a minimum of 15 would be set aside as affordable units for low and moderate-income households.
Keyser Marston further recommended a $1- to $2-per-square-foot fee, should the city decide to charge a fee on top of the 15% on-site requirement, an increase from the city’s current 50-cent-per-square-foot rate.
Fees collected would be placed in an affordable housing fund, which would be dedicated to providing low-income ownership or rental housing in San Ramon.
If approved by the council, city staff will finalize the ordinance in order to be incorporated into the city’s Municipal Code, for final approval as a consent agenda item at the council’s March 26 meeting.
* Council members will hear a special presentation recognizing March as American Red Cross Month.
* In honor of the trees that beautify the streets and neighborhoods of San Ramon, the council is expected to recognize Saturday (March 16) as Arbor Day.
Nationally, Arbor Day is celebrated in the last Friday of April, but California celebrates the occasion for a whole week, typically in mid-March.
* Prior to the council’s regular meeting, city officials will meet during a special workshop to discuss community outreach efforts in regards to San Ramon’s solid waste practices.
Last November, the council approved a new waste service contract with Alameda County Industries of San Ramon, Inc. replacing its previous provider.
ACI will begin providing collection services on Oct. 1, with new service rates becoming effective Jan. 1, 2020.
Council members will gather for the special workshop in the City Hall EOC Meeting Room, Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
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