PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: February 28, 2017
PREPARED BY: John W. Baty, Principal Planner/Development Services
APPROVED BY: Leslie Little, Assistant City Manager/Development Services
Title
RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT CONTROL SYSTEM (RDCS) DRAFT COMPETITION MANUAL
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RECOMMENDATION(S):
RECOMMENDATION
Review, discuss, and provide feedback on the Draft RDCS Competition Manual testing results and implementation policies
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CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act):
Project, Description of CEQA requirements
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Morgan Hill 2035 Project, which included the Residential Development Control System (RDCS) Update, was prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and certified by the Morgan Hill City Council on July 27, 2016. (SCH #2015022074)
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PROJECT SUMMARY:
This is the 14th workshop in a series of workshops with the Planning Commission regarding the development of an RDCS Competition Manual to accompany the City's updated Residential Development Control System (RDCS), which becomes effective March 1, 2017.
The purpose of this workshop is for the Planning Commission to consider possible changes to Objective 8 Municipal Services and Objective 9 Project Quality and to provide additional feedback on the attached RDCS Implementation Policies (Section IV of the Manual). Time permitting the Commission should review, discuss, and provide feedback on the competition criteria, standards, and points (Section III of the Manual) for all nine of the Objectives.
The Planning Commission reviewed sections of the Draft Competition Manual at their prior workshops held on October 11, 18, November 1, 15, 22, 29, December 6, 13, 2016, January 10, 17, 24, February 7 and 21, 2017.
At the tenth workshop held on January 17, 2017, the Commission discussed and provided feedback on a Competition Manual Testing Template that would help determine whether or not different types of projects in a variety of locations could feasibly obtain a minimum score and to ascertain whether the costs to obtain allotments are generally consistent with costs under the existing system.
At the workshop held on February 7, 2017, the Planning Commission reviewed and discussed a summary of findings and recommendations based on the scoring results from the 15 different test projects submitted by volunteers from the development community.
The Planning Commission identified three key findings from the results of the initial test:
1) Projects are not achieving the minimum score without making contributions;
2) Smaller infill projects have a particularly hard time achieving the minimum score without making contributions; and
3) The cost of purchased points is too high when compared to what projects are contributing under Measure C.
With the Commission agreed upon objective that a project should have the opportunity to at least score the minimum score without making contributions, the Commission began reviewing the scoring criteria in the Draft Competition Manual with the goal of increasing the number of available non-contribution points.
The Commission recommended a number of modifications to the scoring criteria for the first four Objectives. For the remaining five Objectives staff followed the Commission's direction and provided a number of suggestions for increasing the number of available non-contribution points. For Objectives where there are few or no opportunities for non-contribution points, including Objectives 5: Parks and Open Space, 7: Transportation, and 8: Municipal Services, staff prepared a list (attached) of potential new criteria for the Planning Commission to consider.
At the last workshop held on February 21, 2017, the Commission considered the following changes to increase the non-contribution point opportunities in Objectives 5, 6, and 7.
Objective 5 Parks and Open Space
• Move Criteria 9C Open Space to Objective 5, add an opportunity to score 2 points for private open space, and increase Criteria maximum points to 10.
• Add a new criteria for proximity to a public park.
Objective 6 Environmental Protection
• For Criteria 6E, allow 1 point for every 1 Build-it-Green (BIG) point over the City required minimum, up to 22 points.
• Allow projects to score points in Criteria 6A through 6D and 6E.
Objective 7 Transportation
• Move Criteria 9A Connections to Adjacent Property and 9B Internal Connections to Objective 7.
At the 11th workshop on January 24, 2017, the Commission provided feedback on RDCS Implementation Policies, which is reflected in the proposed changes shown in the attached Revised Redline Draft Competition Manual Section IV. Commissioner Mueller shared his feedback in the attached email.
The Commission identified several questions regarding On-Going Allotments to follow-up on:
• Historically, each eligible on-going project was able to receive up to 15 allotments. Should this number be higher for the first year of competition under Measure S?
• When there is more demand than supply, how do on-going projects get prioritized? Does priority go to projects that can "finish-out"?
• Should an applicant be required to submit a request for on-going allotments before the Planning Commission makes its recommendation on the number of allotments?
• Should on-going projects be prioritized over projects in other competition categories?
• Should projects that are eligible for on-going be allowed to compete in multiple categories?
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Revised Redline Competition Manual Section III, Objectives 1-9
2. Opportunities to Increase Non-Contribution Points Objectives 5-9
3. Revised Redline Draft Competition Manual Section IV Implementation Policies
4. Commissioner Mueller's E-mail Comments on Implementation Policies