City Staff Interprets State's Reaction to Housing Element

So it appears we have another full year of discussing, analyzing and finalizing a document that outlines the city of Novato's grand game plan for housing its residents ... for the years 2007-2014.

And when we're done with this one, we get to start another.

The city's planning staff — whose members probably all deserve a month's holiday in Fiji after this is all done with next December — have unveiled an interpretation of the California Department of Housing and Community Development's nearly indecipherable written reaction to a draft housing element submitted in October.

Lost you already?

Just be thankful that our local government employees can write in the English language rather than grade-A Sacramento bureaucratese.

The city's nine-page memo released Thursday outlines the process of adoption and certification of the housing element, a required section of the city's periodic general plan update that lays out a plan — sometimes general, sometimes specific — of how new housing developments might shape the city and where new future additional residents will live. Accounting for growth is a mandatory task for municipalities, and it's the M word that has ticked off so many Novato residents who are wary about a trend toward high-density complexes for lower-income people.

A sticking point at this juncture of the housing element was the city's insistence on sticking with a density of 20 units per acre for future developments. The state recommended 23-28 units per acre.

Another crux is plotting properties that could be rezoned for housing. HCD contends that the city did an inadequate job of pinpointing those buildable areas.

Those two points are just grains of sand in a desert of information.

Pour yourself a 2-liter of dark roast and dive into the summation by the city planners. You'll want to know what city officials are talking about for the rest of 2013.

If you having the kind of day when you're up for diving on a live grenade, sink your teeth into the HCD's response to the draft housing element. Masochists need only answer the call.

Both documents are attached. Knock yourself out. If you are among the brave, please share your thoughts by adding a comment below.

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