Commentary 9-29-16

Measure R not the answer 
Ballot Measure R, to eliminate the current Growth Management Ordinance (GMO) and replace it with a Housing Action Plan and Growth Regulation Tool, is not the answer.
The plan attempts to solve the housing affordability and availability problem by focusing on increasing supply to counteract the increasing demand from families who work in the area and demand for vacation and second homes in one of the most desirable locations to visit in the country. (See any top 10 list of Best Place to ??) Housing affordability is not unique to Healdsburg, but we have a geographically constrained area in which to grow relatively high density housing for locals and visitors alike. We cannot build our way out of the affordability problem, when any market rate housing is subject to purchase by more second home owners. We have already hollowed out the town by squeezing out the people and families who work in the town and surrounding area.
If you have not had a chance to read the Housing Action Plan along with the Growth Regulation Tool, I would encourage all voters to do so, all 56 pages of it. It is complex, but should be read before deciding on how you should vote on how the city of Healdsburg and its citizens manage growth into the future. The plan is also subject to change at any time by the current or future city council.
The current GMO limits market rate housing to 30 units per year, there are no limits on affordable housing in the current GMO. Deed-restricted affordable housing needs some form of subsidy to make it pencil out, even inclusionary housing; what limits the construction of affordable housing is not the current GMO, but how to pay for it, and to some extent housing regulation and permitting structure. Within the city of Healdsburg’s urban growth boundary there have been identified significantly less than 1,000 residential lots suitable for future development.
We need more affordable housing for the people and families that live and work in the Healdsburg area, and a mixed economy that is not mainly dependent of wineries and tourism. We need to manage responsible growth that primarily provides affordable housing to the people and families that live and work in the area and make the best use of the available residential lots.
The Housing Action Plan goals for housing construction through 2022, or six years from now identifies 560 total units of housing, or most of the available residential lots within the urban growth boundary. Then what?
The committee also came up with a range of positive changes to regulations and permitting that will help with affordable housing construction. Even if the GMO ballot measure does not pass, they should be adopted by the city anyway. The committee that drafted the plan also recognized that there needed to be a funding source for affordable housing that could replace the redevelopment agency that was eliminated several years ago. Their choice was increasing the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) by 2 percent that should generate approximately $500,000 a year for affordable housing, or Measure S. A good start, but we need much more.
We need the city to focus on affordable housing and leave the current GMO in place. Recently the state approved the ability of local jurisdictions to form “Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFD)” under Senate Bill 628 which allows local cities and counties to replace the old redevelopment agency funding model with something new. This could add to the funding available from the proposed increased TOT.
The advantage of an EIFD is that it can provide funding for deed restricted housing from very low to moderate income families. We would have to tax ourselves, and I include all of the 95448 zip code in this, if we really want to provide housing for those that work in and around town, from city workers to teachers, police and fire. One the city should explore.
Vote no on Measure R, and let’s get a well-funded sustainable long term plan that provides the means to build the affordable to moderate housing we really need, and move city funding from increasing tourism to a more balanced economy.
— Tony Crabb is a
Healdsburg resident