A proposed “inclusionary” housing ordinance requiring developers to build affordable housing or pay in-lieu fees was met with some resistance Thursday at the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission.

The proposed ordinance would require affordable housing when any new housing development is approved, in an effort to create workforce and affordable housing.

Only 24 percent of county residents can afford a median-priced home, and statistics show that people are leaving to live elsewhere because they can't afford to live in San Luis Obispo County.

As proposed, the ordinance would give developers options to create affordable housing, such as developing units on or off-site, paying in-lieu fees or dedicating land.

However, the idea of allowing developers options such as paying an in-lieu fee instead of developing affordable units or constructing the housing off-site didn't sit well with some of the commissioners.

“I'm having a hard time seeing how this ordinance will result in new affordable housing getting built in a market-rate project,” Commissioner Sarah Christie said. “If you give a developer the option of taking a loss or writing a check, they'll write the check.”

Christie believes the in-lieu fees, which planning staff has yet to develop, should be set at the highest level possible to encourage developers to build affordable housing.

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Others agreed that in-lieu fees should be the last option used by developers to create affordable housing when new housing is approved, but also urged the commission to keep options available in the ordinance.

“You need to keep all the options on the table,” said Jerry Bunin, government affairs director for the Central Coast Homebuilders Association. “A one-size-fits-all won't work.”

The Homebuilders Association as a general rule doesn't support inclusionary housing but is willing to work with the county to create the most “balanced, flexible and realistic” ordinance possible, Bunin said.

“We don't think we are the cause of the affordability problem,” Bunin added.

A handful of Nipomo residents who also spoke at the commission meeting said they support the concept of inclusionary housing but that their community can't take anymore high-density projects.

“(Inclusionary housing) seems like a back-door way of getting more high-density housing in Nipomo,” said Elaine Thomas. “Nipomo always seems to be getting the bulk.”

Thomas also didn't favor allowing the affordable units to be constructed outside of a market-rate project, which she said defeated the purpose of inclusionary housing.

“You have to spread out the high-density housing,” Nipomo's Richard Wright added. “Don't build it all in one place.”

The commission took no action on the proposed ordinance and continued the hearing to its Jan. 10 meeting.

November 9, 2007