Staff Report
Reviewed by: Assistant Town Manager, Community Development Director, and Town Attorney
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 08/21/2018
ITEM NO: 10
DATE: AUGUST 13, 2018
TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER
SUBJECT: DISCUSS AND PROVIDE INPUT TO THE CITIES ASSOCIATION BOARD OF
DIRECTORS REGARDING THE POTENTIAL PARTICIPATION OF THE TOWN
OF LOS GATOS IN A REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS ALLOCATION SUBREGION.
RECOMMENDATION:
Discuss and provide input to the Cities Association Board of Directors regarding the potential
participation of the Town of Los Gatos in a Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA)
subregion.
BACKGROUND:
In 2015, the Cities Association Board created a RHNA Task Force to evaluate the formation of a
RHNA subregion for the next RHNA cycle (2023-2031). Council members from several cities
participated in the Task Force as well as the Cities Association Executive Director, a
representative from the City Managers Association (Los Gatos Town Manager), an executive
from the City of Morgan Hill, and a Housing Element expert from the Association of Bay Area
Governments (ABAG)/Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). Silicon Valley @ Home
participated in the initial meetings.
DISCUSSION:
The Task Force concluded its work in June 2018 and brought its findings to the June Cities
Association Board meeting. The Board reviewed the staff report (see Attachment 1) and its
exhibits:
1. Overview of a RHNA Subregion
2. Pros and Cons of Forming a Subregion
3. Guiding Principles
4. Draft Resolution
5. Draft By-Laws for the Subregion
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DISCUSSION (Cont’d):
Through its discussion, the Board learned that a subregion is formed by two or more contiguous
cities and the County. The purpose is to distribute or allocate the housing need identified by
the State and the Council of Governments (i.e., ABAG/MTC) for the Santa Clara County
subregion to the participating cities and the County. To minimize workload, the Board was
interested in using the ABAG/MTC allocation methodology as its starting point and then
facilitating trades between willing cities (see Exhibit 1 to Attachment 1).
The Board learned that all cities must have a RHNA and that all cities would still need to plan for
housing in all income categories. In other words, no city could have an allocation of zero. The
Pros and Cons document (see Exhibit 2 to Attachment 1) highlighted the opportunity for
collaboration between the participating jurisdictions and a potential downside of having the
same numbers even after a subregion process.
Given the interest for potential RHNA trades, the Task Force drafted sample By-Laws to govern
the subregion (see Exhibit 5 to Attachment 1). One Council member from each participating
city and the County would be a member of a Policy Committee. Staff support would come from
the Cities Association, City Managers Association, and Planning Officials Association. Article
VIII, Section 3 of the By-Laws specify that adoption of “The final Regional Housing Needs
Allocation shall require: (1) consent of a majority of all cities and the County participating in the
subregion; and (2) consent of each jurisdiction that has been allocated a greater share of
housing than the ABAG default allocation.” This was very important to the Cities Association
Board to ensure that no city would be forced to take housing without its app roval.
In June, the Cities Association Board decided to take a two-step process:
1. Ask all cities to report back on its level of interest in participating in a subregion; and
2. Consider at its October meeting, the formal establishment of a subregion.
If the Board decides to move forward, then each participating city/town would need to adopt a
resolution indicating its commitment to the process (see Exhibit 4 to Attachment 1). According
to the timelines in State law, all resolutions would need to be ad opted no later than September
2020 (see Attachment 2).
CONCLUSION:
For several RHNA cycles, Santa Clara County and its cities have had general conversations about
forming a subregion but lacked an adequate institutional framework to do so. This is the first
time that progress has been made on the organizational structure for the process. Staff
recommends that the Town Council forward its interest in participating in a RHNA subregion .
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FISCAL IMPACT:
It is anticipated that the Town’s participation in the subregion would be absorbed by the Town
Manager’s Office and the Community Development Department in the form of staff support to
the process.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT:
This is not a project defined under CEQA, and no further action is required.
Attachments:
1. Cities Association Board Report with Exhibits
2. RHNA Schedule