The El Cerrito Planning Commission will discuss a proposed inclusionary ordinance at its meeting on April 18, 2018, that would require housing housing developers to provide affordable units or pay an in-lieu fee in the city — for the first time — as a condition of building market-rate apartments or homes. The draft ordinance requires for-sale developers of projects with nine or more units to set aside 12 percent of the homes as affordable to moderate income households with no in-lieu fee option except for fractional units. Developers who build rental residential projects would be mandated to provide 5 percent affordable to low income and 5 percent to moderate income households but would be allowed to pay an in-lieu fee. The proposed for-sale in-lieu fee is $20 per sq. ft. while the rental rate is $17 per sq. ft. Among other issues, BIA|Bay Area East Bay Government Affairs Executive Director Lisa Vorderbrueggen will be urging the city to extend the fee option to all housing developers. Staff is recommending exemptions to the ordinance, if the City Council adopt it: accessory dwelling units; for-sale projects with 10 or fewer units and rental projects with nine or fewer units; projects that have been entitled or deemed complete by the effective date of the ordinance; and all projects that have building permits issued pursuant to a development that was entitled within two years of the effective date of the ordinance. Click HERE to access the agenda, associated staff report and Keyser Marston Associates’ inclusionary policy analysis. Contact Lisa Vorderbrueggen at 925-348-1956 or lvorderbrueggen@biabayarea.org.
