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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd 1943ORDINANCE NO. 1943 ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BURLINGAME ADDING CHAPTER 25.81 TO THE BURLINGAME MUNICIPAL CODE ESTABLISHING COMMERCIAL LINKAGE FEES FOR NEW COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CITY WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 65580(d) states that all cities have a responsibility to use the powers vested in them to facilitate the improvement and development of housing and to make adequate provision for the housing needs of all economic segments of the community; and WHEREAS, the provision of safe and stable housing for households at all income levels is essential for the public welfare of the city. Housing in Burlingame has become steadily more expensive and housing costs have gone up faster than incomes. Federal and state government programs do not provide enough affordable housing to satisfy the needs of very low, low, or moderate income households. As a result, there is a severe shortage of adequate, affordable housing for extremely low, very low, low and moderate income households; and WHEREAS, the City's 2015-2023 Housing Element states that it is the City's policy to establish programs to provide direct financial and technical assistance to facilitate the development of affordable workforce housing. The City can achieve its goal of assisting in the development of new housing that is affordable at all income levels only if adequate funding is available to support the development of such housing; and WHEREAS, in order to meet the needs of Burlingame's workforce, dwelling units will need to house a variety of household types, incomes, and age groups; and WHEREAS, Program H(C-3) of the City's 2015-2023 Housing Element specifies the consideration of a commercial linkage fee that would require developers of employment -generating commercial and industrial developments to contribute to the supply of low- and moderate -income housing through the provision of commercial in -lieu fees as prescribed in a nexus impact fee study; and WHEREAS, a Commercial Linkage Fee Nexus Study, dated November 2015, was prepared by Strategic Economics and Vernazza Wolfe Associates, Inc. demonstrating that commercial development projects in Burlingame attract employees, of whom a quantifiable number will have very low, low, or moderate incomes, and that new commercial development projects increase the demand for and exacerbate the shortage of affordable housing available for people at these income levels; and WHEREAS, the Commercial Linkage Fee Ordinance codified in this chapter will substantially advance the City's legitimate interest in providing additional housing affordable to all income levels in the city by providing fiords for the development of housing affordable to very low, low, and moderate income households; and WHEREAS, based on the findings above, the City desires to further the public health, safety and welfare by requiring commercial development projects in the city to mitigate their impact on the need for affordable housing in the city; ORDINANCE NO. 1943 NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council does hereby ordain as follows: DIVISION 1: Section 1: Chapter 25.81 is added to the Burlingame Municipal Code as follows: Chapter 25.81 COMMERCIAL LINKAGE FEES 25.81.010 Purpose. 25.81.020 Definitions. 25.81.030 Commercial linkage fees. 25.81.040 Fee payment. 25.81.050 Exemptions. 25.81.060 Below Market Fund. 25.81.070 Administrative Relief/Appeal. 25.81.080 Enforcement. 25.81.010 Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to: A. Encourage the development and availability of housing affordable to a broad range of households with varying income levels within the city as mandated by State law, California Government Code Section 65580 and following. B. Offset the demand for affordable housing that is created by new development and mitigate environmental and other impacts that accompany new commercial development by protecting the economic diversity of the City's housing stock; reducing traffic, transit and related air quality impacts; promoting jobs/housing balance; and reducing the demands placed on transportation infrastructure in the region. C. Promote the City's policy to provide an adequate number of affordable housing units to the city's housing stock in proportion to the existing or projected need in the community, as identified by the Housing Element. D. Support the Housing Element goal of providing housing opportunities for those who work in Burlingame. E. Support the Housing Element goal of achieving increased affordability of housing. F. Support the Housing Element policy of developing of a variety of housing types that are affordable to very low and extremely low income households. 2 ORDINANCE NO. 1943 G. Support the Housing Element goal of preserving residential character by encouraging maintenance, improvement and rehabilitation of the City's neighborhoods and housing stock. 25.81.020 Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: A. "Administrator" means the Community Development Director of the City or other person designated by the City Manager. B. 'Builder" means any person, firm, partnership, association, joint venture, corporation, or any entity or combination of entities which seeks City approvals for all or part of a commercial development project. C. "Building permit" includes full structural building permits as well as partial permits such as foundation -only permits. D. "Commercial" use includes hotels, retail uses, restaurants, services and offices. E. "Commercial development project" means an application for a planning permit or building permit that includes the new construction of gross square feet of commercial space or the conversion of a residential use to a commercial use. F. "Commercial linkage fee" means the fee paid by builders of commercial development projects to mitigate the impacts that such developments have on the demand for affordable housing in the City. G. "First approval" means the first discretionary approval to occur with respect to a commercial development projects, or, for commercial development projects not requiring a discretionary approval, the issuance of a building permit. H. "Planning permit" means any discretionary approval of a commercial project, including but not limited to a comprehensive or specific plan adoption or amendment, rezoning, tentative map, parcel map, conditional use permit, variances, or architectural review. 25.81.030 Commercial Linkage Fees. Initial fees shall be imposed on new commercial development projects as follows: $7.00 per square foot for retail development (includes restaurant and service uses), $12.00 per square foot for hotel, $18.00 per square feet for office of 50,000 square feet or less, and $25.00 per square feet for office greater than 50,000 square feet. Fees shall be based on the calculation of gross square feet of floor area, excluding enclosed parking areas, and shall include a credit for existing uses. The Council may amend these fees through the public hearing process for the City's Master Fee Schedule. Commercial 3 ORDINANCE NO. 1943 linkage fees shall not exceed the cost of mitigating the impact of the commercial development projects on the need for affordable housing in the city. 25.81.040 Fee Payment. Any commercial linkage fee shall be paid in full prior to the issuance of the first building permit for the commercial development project subject to the fee or at a time otherwise specified by Council resolution. If no building permit is required, the fee shall be paid before a conversion of use may take place. The fee shall be calculated based on the fee schedule in effect at the time the building permit is issued. 25.81.050 Exemptions. chapter: law. A. The following commercial development projects are exempt from the provisions of this Projects adding less than 5,000 square feet of net new square footage. 2. City buildings and facilities and those public facilities entitled to an exemption under 3. Projects that have established a vested right not to be subject to this chapter. 4. Applications under review by the Planning Commission that had been deemed complete at the time of adoption of the commercial linkage fees provided for in this Chapter. B. The City Council may elect to waive payment of the commercial linkage fee if it finds that: (1) the commercial development project is dedicated to a public use owned and operated by other public agencies or a nonprofit public benefit corporation; and (2) the benefits to the community provided by such public use exceed those that would be provided by the payment of the commercial linkage fee. If the City Council elects to waive commercial linkage fees pursuant to this provision, the public use of the site shall be guaranteed by a recorded document in a form acceptable to the City Attorney. C. The City Council by resolution may adopt additional exemptions from time to time. 25.81.060 Below Market Rate Fund. A. Special Revenue Fund. A fund for the deposit of fees established under this chapter shall be established and may also receive monies for housing from other sources. B. Purpose and Limitations. Monies deposited in the fund shall be used to increase and improve the supply of housing affordable to moderate-, low-, very low-, and extremely low-income households. Such purpose includes the purchase of affordability covenants or similar initiatives whose purpose is to preserve existing affordable housing that may otherwise be lost due to market conditions. ORDINANCE NO. 1943 Monies may also be used to cover reasonable administrative or related expenses associated with the administration of this chapter. C. Administration. The fund shall be administered by the Administrator, who may develop procedures to implement the purposes of the fund consistent with the requirements of this chapter and subject to any adopted budget of the City and generally applicable accounting and procurement processes. D. Expenditures. Fund monies shall be used in accordance with the City's Housing Element, or subsequent plans adopted by the City Council to maintain or increase the quantity, quality, and variety of affordable housing units or assist other governmental entities, private organizations or individuals to do so. Permissible uses include, but are not limited to, land acquisition, debt service, parcel assemblage, gap financing, housing rehabilitation, grants, unit acquisition, new construction, and other pursuits associated with providing affordable housing. The fund may be used for the benefit of both rental and owner -occupied housing. 25.81.070 Administrative Relief/Appeal. A. The builder of a project subject to this chapter may request that the requirements of this chapter be waived or modified by the City Council, based upon the absence of any reasonable relationship or nexus between the impacts of the development and either the amount of the fee charged or the type of facilities to be financed. B. The application shall be made in writing and filed with the Community Development Director not later than: 1. Twenty (20) days prior to the public hearing before the Planning Commission on the development project application under this title, or 2. If no hearing before the Planning Commission is required by this title, at the time of the filing of the application for a development permit. The application shall state in detail the factual basis for the claim of waiver, reduction, or adjustment. C. The City Council shall consider the application at a public hearing held within sixty (60) days after the filing of the fee adjustment application. If a reduction, adjustment or waiver is granted, any change in use within the development project shall invalidate the waiver, adjustment or reduction of the fee. The decision of the City Council is final. 25.81.080 Enforcement. A. Payment of the commercial linkage fee is the obligation of the builder of a commercial development project. The City may institute any appropriate legal actions or proceedings necessary to 5 ORDINANCE NO. 1943 ensure compliance herewith, including, but not limited to, actions to revoke, deny, or suspend any permit or development approval. B. The City Attorney shall be authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter and all below market rate housing agreements, regulatory agreements, and all other covenants or restrictions placed on affordable units, by civil action and any other proceeding or method permitted by law. C. Failure of any official or agency to fulfill the requirements of this chapter shall not excuse any builder or owner from the requirements of this chapter. No permit, license, map, or other approval or entitlement for a commercial development project shall be issued, including without limitation a final inspection or certificate of occupancy, until all applicable requirements of this chapter have been satisfied. D. The remedies provided for in this chapter shall be cumulative and not exclusive and shall not preclude the City from any other remedy or relief to which it otherwise would be entitled under law or equity. DIVISION 2: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The Council hereby declares that it would have adopted the Ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid. DIVISION 3: This Ordinance is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per State CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(4), which indicates that administrative actions that do not result in physical changes to the environment are not considered "projects" requiring review. The proposed Ordinance is also exempt per Section 15305 (Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations), which is a categorical exemption that applies to code amendments that will not have any significant environmental effects. DIVISION 4: This Ordinance shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in accordance with California Government Code Section 36933, published, and circulated in the City of Burlingame, and shall be in full force and effect thirty (30) days after its fi ORDINANCE NO. 1943 I, Meaghan Hassel -Shearer, City Clerk of the City of Burlingame, do hereby certify that the foregoing ordinance was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the 190' day of June, 2017 and adopted thereafter at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the 3`d day of July, 2017, by the following vote: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: BEACH, BROWNRIGG, COLSON, KEIGHRAN, ORTIZ NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE ATTEST: I & Me nHassel-Shearer, City Clerk