San Ramon's Appeal Of Housing Mandate To Be Decided Next Week

SAN RAMON, CA — San Ramon will officially learn in one week whether it will succeed in its efforts to lower the number of housing units it must plan for in the years to come.

The odds do not appear to be in the city's favor.

San Ramon was one of 27 local governments to appeal their Regional Housing Needs Allocation to the Association of Bay Area Governments, a planning agency that focuses on finding regional solutions to issues such as housing, water or environmental matters.

The state asked regions to draw up plans for additional housing units, including affordable housing, to meet expected need. It tasked the Association of Bay Area Governments with figuring out how many units should be built in various local towns and cities.

The association's administrative committee recommended on Sept. 29 that San Ramon's appeal be rejected. The committee is slated on Nov. 12 to ratify its final decisions on each appeal.

The committee similarly recommended rejection of appeals by other Tri-Valley cities, including Danville, Dublin and Pleasanton.

Critics argued that economic hubs should receive a larger share of new housing units and that suburban areas would be forced to grapple with traffic or water distribution issues if they took in more residents who worked elsewhere.

Aaron Eckhouse, regional policy director of California YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard), said in comments during the Sept. 29 meeting that San Ramon is a major job center that has a housing-to-job ratio comparable to that of San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Campbell.

If the committee officially rejects the town's appeal, San Ramon must plan for at least 5,100 additional housing units in the city. The city sought to reduce its housing allocation by 28 percent to 3,660 units.

The state does not require local governments to ensure that the units get built.

The state determined that local governments in the Bay Area must make way for more than 441,000 new housing units, with 26 percent for people who are considered very low income, 15 percent for people who have low incomes, 17 percent for people with moderate incomes, and 43 percent for people who have incomes above moderate.

The Association of Bay Area Governments has heard all appeals in the matter and was expected to adopt a final plan at its Dec. 16 meeting.