Agenda

Return

C. 20

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Brian M. Balbas, Public Works Director/Chief Engineer
Date:	June 18, 2019

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

ADOPT Ordinance No 2019-17 to exempt payment of certain transportation impact fees for accessory dwelling units and take related actions under CEQA.

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 06/18/2019

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Mary Halle, 925.313.2327

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: June 18, 2019
David Twa,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ADOPT Ordinance No. 2019-17 to exempt accessory dwelling units approved under a ministerial permit from payment of certain transportation impact mitigation fees.


DETERMINE that the adoption of Ordinance No. 2019-17 is exempt from environmental review under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the adoption of the ordinance may have a significant effect on the environment.

RECOMMENDATION(S): (CONT'D)

DIRECT the Director of Conservation and Development to file a CEQA Notice of Exemption with the County Clerk.

AUTHORIZE the Public Works Director to arrange payment of a $25 fee to the Department of Conservation and Development for processing, and a $50 fee to the County Clerk for filing of the CEQA Notice of Exemption.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The County will incur costs to publish the Ordinance pursuant to Government Code section 66018, subdivision (b). The waiving of fees associated with these permits is anticipated to result in the loss of approximately $400,000 per year of revenue but will provide a benefit of approximately 50 additional dwelling units per year. The loss of revenue will be compensated by local road funds and increased efforts to compete for State and Federal Transportation funds. (100% Local Road Funds)

BACKGROUND:

At the March 26, 2019 Board of Supervisors (BOS) Meeting, an agenda item related to the update of the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC) developer fee program resulted in dialogue amongst Board members related to encouraging the development of ADUs in response to the housing crisis. The Board requested that staff research a potential process to encourage the development of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).

At the April 10, 2019 BOS meeting, staff’s follow up report to the Board indicated the potential to implement an umbrella ordinance that could ease fee collections for ADUs across certain traffic fee programs throughout the county. This action was discussed again at the April 24^th BOS meeting when the ordinance, related to the update to the WCCTAC fee program, provided for waiving fees on ADUs that are ministerial actions for an internal conversion ADU. At the April 24^th meeting, Board members again expressed their desire to relieve fees for this type of residential housing as it is one method to address the housing crisis with limited cost, time and impact.

Staff recommends adoption of Ordinance 2019-17 as a means to encourage an increase in development of ADUs. .

Staff estimated the potential fiscal impact of this action based upon the assumption that the rate of ADU construction would remain consistent with the rate of permits issued for ADUs during 2017 and 2018. During this two year period, over 90 ADU permits were issued across the County.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

If the Board does not approve the introduction of Ordinance 2019-17, the item cannot move forward to adoption.