First it approved a development of nearly 600 homes. Then it killed it because of pushback by neighbors. Now state law requires the City of Dublin re-approve the sprawling housing project
The East Bay city was expected to once again approve the plan by Trumark Homes to build 573 houses in the east Dublin hills, two months after it had quashed the project, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
In December, the Tri-Valley city unanimously approved plans by the San Ramon-based developer to build the houses on 165 acres in East Ranch, north of Interstate 580 and east of Fallon Road, in a region blanketed by housing.
Under the late 2021 deal, Trumark was to set aside 18 homes and 50 granny units as affordable, while giving some nearby land to a nonprofit to build up to 77 supported affordable apartments for people with developmental disabilities. The developer also was to pay $5.4 million in fees in lieu of restricting additional homes as affordable.
A group of neighbors from nearby homes campaigned to oppose the project, citing 30-year-old environmental reports and the potential for traffic congestion and crowded schools. They collected 5,200 signatures, enough to force a ballot vote.
The petition and repeal would have allowed Trumark to resubmit the project – but without its affordable housing deal. The City of Dublin decided to simply scrap the project.
Now city staff cite state law in saying Dublin should once again approve the Trumark project – only the city now stands to lose more than 100 affordable housing units.
Under the state’s Housing Accountability Act, they say, the city can’t deny developments that comply with a city’s general plan, as well as other “objective” development standards it has already established in an area where a project is proposed.
The only portion of Trumark’s proposal where the council had “significant discretion” was the approval of a customized affordable housing deal, city reports said. In its latest proposal, Trumark plans to follow the “objective standards” of the city’s affordable housing rules to “limit the city’s discretion” over the project as a whole.
Trumark now proposes to pay fees to account for 40 percent of the requirement, or 29 homes. And it will designate 43 homes in the project as affordable to low- and moderate-income households, accounting for the other 60 percent of the requirement, city reports said.
The net result: whereas the initial project included up to 145 affordable units, the new Trumark project poised for city approval has 43.
“Once a city designates a site for housing in its general plan, it must allow that housing to be developed except in very limited circumstances involving immediate threats to public health and safety,” the city staff report said in reference to the state law. “Because none of the exceptions are present here, approval of this application is mandated by the (Housing Accountability Act).”
[San Jose Mercury News] – Dana Bartholomew