City Sends Hotly Debated Draft Housing Element to State, Posts It Online

As Mill Valley officials continue to update the city's General Plan for the first time in 24 years, City Hall has shipped off a draft version of its new Housing Element, widely regarded as the most contentious piece of the larger update, off to the state for a first review and have posted it online for public viewing.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development has 60 days to issue any changes the city needs to make to the Housing Element in order receive certification and meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), which is the number of new housing units needed to accommodate a growing population, according to state requirements managed by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). 

The plan is available on the city website, and attached at right, with tangible documents at City Hall and the Mill Valley Public Library. 

Since October 2012, members of the MV2040 Land Use and Mobility Working Group and the General Plan Advisory Committee have been analyzing policies, goals and program recommendations to create the draft document.

As the process moves forward, residents will have an opportunity to weigh in on the draft Housing Element as part of the General Plan update. The Planning Commission is expected to hold the first public hearing in May. After making a recommendation to the City Council, the City Council will hold its own public hearings before adopting the plan, hopefully by this July.

Part of the larger General Plan update, the Housing Element deals with planning and zoning as it relates to residential growth and affordable housing, and is subject to strict state regulations. It identifies sites that could accommodate enough new housing for the 2014-2022 period.

Mill Valley has not updated its Housing Element since 2003. This Housing Element update addresses the RHNA for the current cycle (2007-2014), and the city must do another update next year for the 2014-2022 cycle.

In a draft report earlier this year, the Association of Bay Area Governments allocated 292 new households to Mill Valley for that period. An earlier ABAG report allocated 750 new households, which was later reduced to 450 in July. 

Failure to comply with Housing Element can eliminate a city or county from consideration for certain types of state and federal grants. It is also becoming an important determinant for funding for transportation grants as federal and state agencies have begun to link transportation improvements to land use planning.

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