HOLLISTER
A state housing official in response to a judge’s recent order striking down San Juan Bautista’s growth rules told the Free Lance the prior law was “discriminating” due to a seven-unit annual cap and that the city leading up to the decision could not show an ability to accommodate regional housing needs.
Linda Wheaton, assistant deputy director of the state’s housing policy division, clarified that no specific guidelines exist relating to growth-cap percentages for local municipalities. But a city must show in its housing element document how it can accommodate a reasonable level of regional growth during each planning period, she said. San Juan’s next housing element update is due Aug. 31 – deadlines are staggered throughout the state – and lasts until 2014, she noted.
A San Benito County judge recently invalidated San Juan’s growth ordinance, which includes a 1 percent annual growth cap and required voter approval for any development of four or more units. The ruling means the law reverts back to the 3 percent cap approved in 2000.
Wheaton contended part of the judge’s ruling related to the fact that compliance issues “had been called to the city’s attention in our review of San Juan Bautista’s housing element.”
She noted that aside from the prior rules neglecting to show an ability to handle regional growth demand, a city must “evaluate the terms of any growth-management policies relative to their effect on cost and supply of housing.” She pointed out how the rules had left San Juan Bautista ineligible for Community Development Block Grant funding.
“It’s two-pronged,” she said. “Both of those were issues, in their cap and as well as their requirement for voter approval of (seven) units or more.”
She also said San Juan had not shown an ability to “mitigate” the problems. She noted how the prior law disallowed most types of multi-family housing and said it was “discriminating on the basis of housing type.”
