Image credit: VTA
As part of the continuing work to implement housing element commitments, the City of San Jose is planning to bring an initial iteration of the Ministerial Housing Ordinance to the Planning Commission on December 4th and to Council on December 17th. A ministerial process promotes efficiency and speeds up housing development by requiring approval or denial of a project based on specific predetermined objective criteria. Individual projects that meet objective standards do not require a public hearing, and instead the city would rely on the public outreach done during the general plan, specific plan (urban villages), and other planning processes.
In our conversations with city staff, they have shared that the proposed ordinance would establish a streamlined review process for moderate to higher density housing developments on parcels zoned Urban Residential, Transit Residential, or Urban Village Mixed Use Commercial in some of the city’s areas targeted for growth.
We are pleased to see this initial iteration of the ordinance moving forward in compliance with the City’s housing Element timeline, and that staff intends to expand the scope of the ordinance in a second phase. In Phase I, the land where the ordinance applies is limited, and because it requires development to comply with the City’s objective standards, it exempts most projects using the State Density Bonus for cost reductions created by the waivers and concessions for development standards available through that program. As a result, it may make integrating inclusionary housing on site far less attractive. However, we believe this is an important step in the right direction: helping to enable the financial feasibility of housing development in growth areas. We will continue to engage with staff as they bring the proposed ordinance forward and expand its reach in future iterations.