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AGENDA REPORT
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| | | | | | | | DATE:
| January 21, 2020
| TO:
| Mayor and City Council
| FROM:
| Stefan T. Chatwin, City Manager 
| | SUBJECT: | Resolution 2020-07 of the City Council of the City of Fairfield Authorizing the City of Fairfield to Become a Member of the Solano County Subregion to Administer the Regional Housing Needs Allocation Process for the Solano County Subregion’s 2022-2030 Housing Element Update |
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| | | | | | | | | RECOMMENDED ACTION | | Adopt resolution. |
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| | | | | | | | | STATEMENT OF ISSUE | | As part of the upcoming 2022-2030 Housing Element Update process, Fairfield will receive from the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) an allocation of housing units which must be provided for in our next Housing Element. ABAG is permitting local jurisdictions to cooperatively establish a “subregion” to allocate housing units among members of the subregion. A subregion is proposed for the jurisdictions in Solano County. The attached resolution facilitates the City’s participation as a part of the subregion. |
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| | | | | | | | | DISCUSSION | The State of California requires local agencies to include Housing Elements in their General Plans and regularly update the Housing Elements according to the statutory schedule. The current schedule responds to the State’s climate change planning efforts and will be coordinated with those efforts. Housing Elements must meet a variety of statutory requirements in order to be certified by the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). A core requirement is that the Housing Element must identify adequate sites to meet anticipated population growth; this includes housing for all income groups. The State has assigned to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) the responsibility for assigning the number of units by income category that each city must facilitate. ABAG allocates this number of units required by each City through a Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process.
To allow for more collaborative planning, ABAG has offered local governments the opportunity to form "subregions". If formed, a subregion would be responsible for allocating its total housing need by income category among the members. In 2011, all of the Cities in Solano County agreed to form a subcommittee. Through this process, Fairfield was able to collaboratively shift more than 250 units of its default allocation from ABAG to other cities in the county.
At its meeting of August 8, 2019, Solano County’s City-County Coordinating Council (4 C’s) unanimously approved a recommendation that Solano County jurisdictions again join together to form a subregion. Subregions need to be approved by ABAG, which requires each of the participating governments to pass a resolution authorizing participation in the subregion. As was the case with Solano County’s subregion formed in 2011, the 4 C’s would be the body authorized to approve the proposed sub-regional RHNA allocations to each city. The proposed resolution must be submitted to ABAG by February 1, 2020.
Planning Directors within, have begun discussing with a consulting firm; Placeworks, the methodology by which the Countywide RHNA allocation would be allocated within the subregion. David Early, the Placeworks’ principal assigned to the project, assisted us with the 2011 subregion, and facilitated the Fairfield’s transfer of units to other cities in the County. If the City Council approves Fairfield’s participation in the sub-regional process, staff will provide regular update to the City Council regarding development of the allocation methodology. It is expected that the subregion will receive its total allocation from ABAG this summer, and that the proposed sub-regional assignment methodology would be established around the same time.
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| | | | | | | | | CITY COUNCIL WORKPLAN | Community Safety
| Community Infrastructure | Quality of Life | | Financial and Operational Sustainability | Economic Development | Travis Air Force Base |
| City Council Goal this item supports:
Not Applicable |
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| | | | | | | | | PUBLIC CONTACT/ADVISORY BODY RECOMMENDATION | None
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| | | | | | | | | ALTERNATIVE ACTION | | The City Council could choose to not participate in the sub-regional process. The City would then receive its Regional Housing Needs Allocation from ABAG, with more limited ability to comment or participate in the process of developing the City’s RHNA numbers. |
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| | | | | | | | | STAFF CONTACT | Brian K. Miller, Associate Planner
707-428-7446,
bkmiller@fairfield.ca.gov
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| REVIEWERS: | | Reviewer | Action | Date | | Feinstein, David | Approved | 1/6/2020 - 8:40 PM | | Alexander, Amber | Approved | 1/7/2020 - 12:03 PM | | Answerer | Approved | 1/7/2020 - 12:08 PM |
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