Reading time: 12 minutes, plus the source material if interested.

“Project proponents will be driven by the Density Bonus provisions.

 

And our design standards and Community Benefits programs are unlikely to be implemented due to waivers and concessions.”

 

— David Loya

 We need to look at just how the State Density Bonus Law will affect the Gateway Area Plan, and what decisions can be made so we get housing built in the form that we want.

This article is set so you can skim and read the parts that are of interest or value to you. Be sure to read the sections on:
• student housing
     and think about the bonuses available for:
• shared housing
     — rooming house or dorm construction. 

Introduction

The California State Density Bonus Housing Law was designed to facilitate the creation of low-income, very-low-income, and senior housing for rent, and moderate-income housing for sale. The notion is simple in concept, but can be complex in understanding how the law is applied.

Recognition of the State Density Bonus Housing Law is crucial to the success of the Gateway Plan. Put briefly, if the conditions of the Gateway plan and the Gateway Form-Based Code (the Gateway Code) are such that a developer doesn’t want to play by those rules, that developer can utilized the State Density Bonus Housing Law and obtain waivers to our regulations.

As our Community Development Director David Loya expressed this in his 15-1/2 minute video “Affordable Housing Programs” from July 28, 2023:

“Project proponents will be driven by the Density Bonus provisions. And our design standards and Community Benefits programs are unlikely to be implemented due to waivers and concessions.”

This video and a full transcript can be seen and read here on Arcata1.com.
For his video, David Loya used information from the 2021 Meyer Nave publication. The updated 2023 version is here, below.

Selected articles on Affordability and Home Ownership for housing in Arcata can be seen in that as a table of contents chapter, here.

Why this matters — This is crucial 

If the City of Arcata Gateway Code and the Community Benefit program are not attractive to a developer, that developer may find it far more cost-effective to go the route of using the State Density Bonus Law.

By using the State Density Bonus Law, the developer can:

• Get bonus points for building student housing (see below);
• Pick and choose which parts of the Code are useful or economical or desired;
• Use waivers and concessions to eliminate unwanted parts of Gateway Form-Based Code;
• More or less ignore the Community Benefit Program;
• Ignore entirely the Privately-owned Public-Accessible open space requirements.

This is bad – bad – bad. And it effectively negates so much of the work that the Planning Commission has done over these many months.

The solution involves…

• It is important that the Planning Commission recognize this issue. Please devote a meeting to a discussion about this. To put it bluntly, why craft a code that could have its important aspects be ignored?
• Sitting down and talking with a developer or developers who have utilized the Density Bonus Law, showing them the draft code and other Gateway requirements, and seeing what they say and what suggestions they have. The point is to have them build here. If they do not want to build because of certain Commission decisions, let’s find out now and then re-visit those decisions.
• In essence, making our code so it is not repellant to a developer.

In my opinion

• The point allocations of the Community Benefits Program need to be completely thrown away, and a new system discussed. I will remind the Planning Commissioners that while the Commission came up with the list of items that would be in the Community Benefits Program, you did not allot the points. That was done outside of the Planning Commission. The result awards far too few points for areas that are of large importance, and, conversely, awarding too many points to items of low significance. For starters:  The range of the scale is too small. Use a 1 to 100 scale. 
• In my view, the “Privately-Owned Publicly-Accessible” Open Space program is one of large ill-conceived aspects of the Gateway Plan. I believe developers will do just about anything to get out of having to do this. Read or skim my article The Myth of “Privately-Owned Publicly-Accessible” Open Spaces.  Estimated full reading time: 14 minutes. Over 300 views.

This article may be updated and added to

This article may be added to and edited as new information comes to light. I am not an “expert” — I am presenting what I have learned from my reading. If there are statements in this article that you believe are not correct, please tell me. And if there is something that you feel needs further explanation, tell me that as well.

Below are three articles from authorities on the subject.

• A presentation by the League of California Cities.
• A report from one of the acknowledged experts in housing law, the Meyers Nave law firm. There are other articles by other law firms on the Internet about the State Density Bonus Law — many of them refer to the Meyers Nave article.
• A report from the Terner Center, “A Review of California’s Recent Housing Legislation.” April 2023.

Tenets of the State Density Bonus Law

The basic idea is that by supplying, say, 10% or 17% or 24% of low-income housing, the developer would be able to go beyond and outside of local regulations on building heights and densities. Supplying low-income housing is one source for the density bonus “points.” Others sources include:  Very-low income housing; moderate-income for-sale units; senior housing; foster youth, disabled veterans, and homeless housing; and college student housing.

This is based on there being local zoning laws that restrict a developer from building at the height or density that is desired, which is typically the case. By utilizing the State Density Bonus Law, a developer more housing than would otherwise be permitted.

In addition to bonuses based strictly on providing certain types of housing, bonuses exist for housing that is within a half-mile of a major transit stop. For our purposes here in Arcata, a “major transit stop” is one with “two or more major bus routes with a frequency of service interval of 15 minutes or less during the morning and afternoon peak commute periods.” If a project is for 100% lower-income affordable and is located within a half mile of a major transit stop, State law AB 1763 eliminates all restrictions on density and allows a height increase of up to three stories.

The bonuses for housing that is restricted to seniors is not based on affordability levels. Bonuses for students is restricted to lower-income college students — income of the students or of their families.

What’s important to us, here in Arcata, is how the law applies to us and our situation.

For example, in the Gateway Area Plan, a developer can create an apartment  building with no parking (zero) for the tenants. That is written into the draft code. So the sections of the State Density Bonus Law (SDBL) that allow a developer to bypass local parking requirements would not be meaningful to a developer building in the Gateway area.

Similarly, in the Gateway Area Plan there is no maximum on the density of housing that can be built. If a developer were to figure out a way to cram apartments onto a parcel at a density of 200 units per acre of land, that can happen by the proposed Gateway code. The developer does NOT need the State Density Bonus Laws to build at high densities. (See the articles here on Arcata1.com: Visualizing Compatible Density and “Mio” apartments in Seattle — Density of 205 units per acre.)

Housing projects using the State Density Bonus Law that are consistent with Arcata’s General Plan and other development standards would have a virtually automatic right to additional density and height. Added height can be one, two, and in some cases three stories.

Please note that these 1, 2 and 3 added stories are on top of the City-wide zoning regulations for that parcel. These are not added to the Gateway-designated heights. The City-wide maximum height limit is four stories. Adding 1, 2, or 3 to that might yield 5, 6, or 7 stories. This is NOT a case of looking a the proposed Gateway heights of 4 to 7 stories, and then adding 1, 2, or 3 stories to that.

In other parts of Arcata there are upper limits on density. “Residential Low Density” (R-L) has a maximum density of 7.25 units per acre; “Medium” (R-M) is up to 15; and “High” (R-H) is up to 32 units per acre. The July 11, 2023, draft of the Land Use Element of the General Plan shows “Medium” as up to 25 units per acre, and “Residential High Density” as up to 50 units per acre.

This means, with a density bonus of 80%, which is possible, if a neighborhood that is currently zoned Residential Low Density (most of residential Arcata) has its zoning changed to Residential High Density, as is proposed, then the net result could be a six-story or possibly seven-story building that is built at a density of 90 units per acre in an otherwise residential neighborhood.

This is primarily why I am opposed to the density implementation measures that are currently in the draft General Plan.
These implementation measures need to be thought through better, as to what can actually occur.

There’s also the issue of “Local-serving commercial uses such as corner grocery stores and coffee shops shall be permitted in [R-H] zones.” As of yet, “local-serving commercial uses” is not defined. A future Community Development Director might on his or her own determine that a bookstore is a local-serving commercial use… or a full-on restaurant… or a nail salon, or dog boarding outfit. The idea is to have a corner store that people can walk to. That’s a good notion. But what fits into that category will affect the current neighbors. If the owner of a home a few blocks from Cal Poly — or a few blocks from Arcata High — wanted to open up a lunch and snack shop for local students, you can bet that would affect what goes on in that neighborhood.

The draft General Plan update adds: “Under current state land use and planning law, single-family zones are authorized to construct multiple dwelling units per lot in single family residential zones and may allow up to four residential units on most R-L lots.” 

This is State Bill 9. This allows, in theory, a homeowner to split the lot into two parcels and to have a duplex on each parcel. But SB 9 is not yet working as wished, as this article from January 2023 in the LA Times points out, or this report from the Terner Center, also from January 2023, points out.

How the Density Bonus Works

From the Meyers Nave document, below.

Arcata is required to grant a density bonus and other incentives or concessions to housing projects which contain one of the following:

• At least 20% of the housing units are for low income college students in housing dedicated for full-time students at accredited colleges.
• The project is a senior citizen housing development (no affordable units required). 
• At least 5% of the housing units are restricted to very low income residents.
• At least 10% of the housing units are restricted to lower income residents.
• At least 10% of the housing units in a for-sale Common Interest Development (CID) are restricted to moderate income residents.  Note: CID can include condominiums. Moderate income is defined as 80% to 120% of local area median income (AMI). 
• 100% of the housing units (other than manager’s units) are restricted to very low, lower and moderate income residents (with a maximum of 20% moderate). Moderate income units are for sale units only.
• At least 10% of the housing units are for transitional foster youth, disabled veterans or homeless persons, with rents restricted at the very low income level.

There is also a provision for a density bonus for a “shared housing building.” This means a residential or mixed-use structure with five or more shared housing units and one or more common kitchens and dining areas designed for permanent residence of more than 30 days by its tenants. In other words, a dormitory or rooming house. If 10% of the total units are set up as shared housing units, that is eligible for an additional density bonus point.

.

The Documents

Guide to the California Density Bonus Law

From the law firm Meyers Nave. Document date: January, 2023.

Information: Pages 2 – 13
List of Statutes: 14 – 29

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Housing Legislation and Status Density Bonus Law Update

From the League of California Cities.   Document date:  May, 2023.
10 pages.

You can use the + and – keys to enlarge or reduce the size of the document.

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The Terner Center
New Pathways to Encourage Housing Production: A Review of California’s Recent Housing Legislation

Not recommended. Included only if you want to read further.
April 2023.  12 pages of text, and 13 pages of notes and statutes.

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