Piedmont Multifamily Housing Standards and ADU Incentives: Oct. 21
Virtual Community Workshop October 21, 2021, 5:30 pm
Pre-approved architectural plans, taller and larger ADUs permitted, allowing two ADUs and one Junior ADU on a single-family property in Piedmont.
“Objective” Standards and Incentives for Multifamily Housing and ADUs –
On Thursday, October 21, 2021, the City of Piedmont and Lisa Wise Consulting (LWC) will host a virtual event, entitled “New Fair Housing Programs Community Workshop,” starting at 5:30 pm, to discuss new objective standards for multifamily housing and new ADU (Accessory Dwelling Units) incentives.
State of California laws, such as SB35 and SB 330, require cities to apply standards that are objective and “knowable in advance” to applications for multifamily housing developments, such as apartment buildings.
Discretionary design review or conditional use permits are no longer allowed.
Last year, the City and LWC consultant began to prepare objective design standards for future multifamily housing developments, including the citywide Fair Housing Survey conducted in March 2021 and presentations to the Housing Advisory Committee in May and June 2021. The results of this work will be described to the Piedmont community on October 21, 2021.
State laws, including AB 671, require cities to develop incentives for the creation of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that can be offered at affordable rents to residents with very low, low, and moderate incomes.
The October 21 event will also include a discussion of possible new ADU incentives. New incentives would generally be available to homeowners who choose to rent their new ADUs at very low or low rents for a period of 10 years.
Currently very low or low rents for a one-bedroom apartment with two occupants is a maximum of $1,370 to $2,193 per month, and the maximum incomes of the tenant households are $54,800 and $87,700, respectively.
Possible ADU incentives could include changes to City regulations to offer pre-approved architectural plans, permit taller and larger ADUs, or allow as many as two ADUs and one Junior ADU on a single-family property in Piedmont.
The City and LWC have developed plans for ADU and JADU construction with Openscope Studio, an architectural firm based in San Francisco. With some modifications, these new plans can be used to quickly obtain Planning Division approvals and streamline the building permit plan review to construct a new ADU.
Participants in the virtual meeting on October 21 on the Zoom platform can share their ideas, take part in online polls during the community workshop, and hear from other Piedmonters on these important issues.
To RSVP for the New Fair Housing Programs Community Workshop, please email Piedmontishome@piedmont.ca.gov. For more information, please visit the Get Involved webpage at Piedmontishome.org
Members of the Piedmont community are invited to send their comments on the draft new objective standards and ADU incentives to the City of Piedmont Planning & Building Department by November 19, 2021. Comments can be emailed to Piedmontishome@piedmont.ca.gov or mailed to: Fair Housing Programs, City Hall, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94602. The draft new fair housing programs are funded in part by a California SB 2 planning grant.
This is the link to the draft guidelines to be discussed at the meeting.
https://p1cdn4static.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_13659739/File/Government/Departments/Planning%20Division/Housing%20Programs/LWC_Piedmont_New%20Fair%20Housing%20Programs_101821.pdf
Three take home messages from last night’s meeting
Staff recommending a Mediterranean facade for three/four story buildings in the multi-family/mixed use zones. Others recommended a more modern/minimalist aesthetic. Compare and contrast El Piedmonte on Piedmont Ave and the newer building down the street across from Cycle Sports.
Staff proposing to develop three pre—approved ADUs that can be installed without staff review – Tudor, Craftsman and Mediterranean (flat roof). Whereas current ADU regs require that ADU match the design of the main house, under new rules that would not be required. A Tudor main house could drop a Mediterranean ADU in the back yard.
ADU height – staff proposes to raise ADU height from 16 to 18 feet, 22 feet if the unit is rent restricted. As an example, staff showed a conversion of a garage to a carriage house with ADU on top. To mitigate the impact on neighbors, staff recommends increasing the back yard setback from 4 to 6 feet.
There is a 30 day comment period on the draft guidelines to be followed by hearings at the Planning Commission. Email the planning department with
your comments.
Visit link below to read the draft
https://p1cdn4static.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_13659739/File/Government/Departments/Planning%20Division/Housing%20Programs/LWC_Piedmont_New%20Fair%20Housing%20Programs_101821.pdf