Favorite Subject — Housing — On City Council Agenda Tonight

It’s a single-item agenda Tuesday night for the Novato City Council, but it’s an important one.

Following the presentation of a staff report, the council will consider housing policies for the city’s for submittal to the state.

Debates over housing — specifically sites for mandated affordable units — gripped Novato’s neighborhoods from mid-2010 to mid-2011, sparking the creation of advocacy groups both for and against high-density housing complexes scattered around the city. The volatile issue and vein-popping orations at many civic meetings created a reputation, whether fictitious or accurate, that .

This summer the council for the housing element of the general plan, and now it is time for the council to provide more direction to city staff to prepare for final drafts of the document that will be sent to state housing authorities for approval. If the housing goals are considered too low, the state could reject the housing element and require the process to start over again.

Housing density is at the core of many arguments both for an against the proposals.

At issue is whether 30 housing units per acre is appropriate for senior housing complexes, whether to allow market-rate housing to have 20 units per acre similar to affordable housing, and whether amnesty and incentives should be given to property owners for the creation of second units.

Another crucial factor under consideration is whether management policies of multi-family complexes should apply to all developments, not just those that request city assistance.

According to city planning staff, 20 draft policies were issued to council members in August and Tuesday’s meeting is slated to be an open discussion about it. The staff estimates it will take three months to prepare the final housing element, with a target of January 2012, and proposes that $35,000 to $40,000 be spent on hiring an expert consultant to handle it.

The meeting will be at . See the attachment for more details.