This is a repost from a post made on NextDoor about growth control

SB35 = newest threat to our growth control which allows us to practice smart growth.

Senate Bill 35 was introduced by State Senator Weiner and it’s basically the hammer to enforce the 1982 Housing Accountability Act. Bill was signed by the Governor and it went into effect January 1st this year.

Before SB35 we all knew we were supposed to build to our RHNA numbers but it wasn’t really enforced so many communities (apparently 97.6% of them) did not keep up with their RHNA numbers. BTW: there are 2 levels of “bad boys” in this group and we are part of the group that is the least “in trouble” since we have been very good at building affordable homes. But still…

SB35 now allows projects which include varying rates of affordable units (depending on affordability levels) to come in and satisfy those needs and bypass all subjective controls, like growth and architectural reviews, and just go to the counter and apply for a permit.

As a city Morgan Hill cannot make any subjective demands on the project, only the usual reviews for conformance to code and structural requirements.

This is another reminder that we have to build homes in our community. For Morgan Hill that averages out to about 115 homes a year, per the RHNA numbers. But if we only build that many units then the majority of homes we build will be affordable and we have a commitment to build homes of every type for everyone for our community - that’s part of smart growth.

So, we can’t stop growth, we can only control it the most intelligent way possible – smart growth.

I hope you are all getting this because this is what we have to deal with at the Planning Commission and City Council levels. I promise we are not in the pockets of developers. We are in the pockets of our community and we are trying to balance a lot of needs - and it just got a lot tougher.

We have to balance often conflicting needs.

It’s not that we don’t hear your cries to “stop or slow growth even more”, it’s that we have to balance these needs. It’s just not that easy.

Whew!