Council Unanimously Approves Affordable Housing Development at Religious Facilities

The City Council on Monday, voted unanimously to approve the crafting of an ordinance that will amend the zoning code to allow for the development of affordable housing projects on sites owned by religious institutions.

After more than 50 members of the public voiced their support for the proposal, the City Council moved the adoption of the staff recommendations along with some amendments.

The proposed housing developments will be allowed use “by right” but all will be subject to Predevelopment Plan Review (PPR) process as part of the Design Review.

“By right” projects will only be subject to a review by the Design Commission but not a review by the hearing officer or the Planning Commission for a Conditional Use Permit or other discretionary entitlement.

The by-right condition removes public hearings and other key parts of the city’s requirements from the process,
Public meetings held to receive comments included a virtual community meeting, Planning Commission study sessions and hearing on the zoning code amendment.

Ironically, a developer now could build housing with less public participation than it took to pass the amendment.

As approved by the City Council, the projects would be limited to commercial zones only. The staff’s proposal was to allow religious facilities with housing in commercial districts, special purpose districts and specific plan areas.

The religious facility must be operating at the time of the construction of the multi-family dwelling units and verified as a legally established nonprofit owner of the site for a minimum of five years from the date of application for a housing development.

Housing would be allowed up to 36 dwelling units per acre, versus the proposed staff recommendation of 32 dwelling units per acre.

However, as agreed upon, projects exceeding 75 units would require a Minor Conditional Use Permit.

The City Council also agreed to require the allocation of 80 percent affordable units and 20 percent workforce units on housing projects.

According to the motion approved by all councilmembers, the program will go back to the City Council for review after six housing projects or after a year, whichever comes first.

The city did outreach on the use of underutilized parcels in churches within the city for housing beginning in 2020 following calls of churches and other faith-based organizations to allow their vacant lots to be used for affordable housing projects to generate income after they saw their coffers drop due to COVID.

Bloomberg News reported in 2020 about a third of U.S. congregations surveyed between 2018 and 2019 said they have no savings.

Making matters worse, church donations plummeted during the pandemic.

According to the Barna Group, an evangelical research firm, as many as one in five churches in the U.S. could close over the next 18 months.