Housing Element Update

OVERVIEW

The City of Turlock is updating parts of its General Plan and Zoning Code to facilitate the development of housing to meet current and projected community needs and to address new State laws. The project also involves updating the Safety Element of the General Plan to incorporate strategies to address risks from natural hazards as well as preparation of a new Environmental Justice Element that identifies segments of the community most impacted by pollution and health risks, along with strategies to improve quality of life for them.

WAYS TO PARTICIPATE

Community engagement will be a vital component of the project. To learn more about the project, the process, and opportunities to participate, click on the FAQs below, or contact the Planning Division:

• Email: planning@turlock.ca.us
• Phone: (209) 668-5640
• Or subscribe to the mailing list for announcements and other updates: planning@turlock.ca.us

FAQS

What does the project involve?

The project involves an update to the Housing Element of the General Plan to ensure the City can accommodate sufficient new housing to meet current and projected need. Amid the ongoing housing crisis in California, Turlock is required by law to plan for at least 5,802 new homes by 2031 to keep pace with housing demand. Zoning Code updates are needed to streamline the permitting process for housing and create opportunities for smaller scale housing in existing residential neighborhoods that can offer more affordable options for people who live and work in Turlock.

In planning for new housing, it will be important to ensure adequate emergency evacuation capacity and to prepare natural hazard risks, including hotter average daytime temperatures in the summertime. These issues are addressed in the Safety Element of the General Plan, which will be updated in parallel with the Housing Element. Additionally, some areas of Turlock have low income populations disproportionately affected by pollution and health-related risks. Accordingly, a new Environmental Justice Element of the General Plan will be prepared to address those risks and improve quality of life for residents in those areas.

What is a Housing Element?

The Housing Element is a required element (or chapter) of the General Plan. It is essentially the City's plan for addressing local housing needs. Unlike other elements of the General Plan, the Housing Element must be updated every eight years to address changing demographics and market conditions and to plan for housing needs over the next 8-year cycle. The Housing Element also has a more detailed list of statutorily required contents than other elements and it must be certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) with every update. For these reasons, the Housing Element is typically published under a separate cover than the rest of the General Plan. View our current Housing Element here

What's in our Housing Element?

One of the key components of the Housing Element is the inventory of sites available for housing, presented in a table showing the location, size and zoning applicable to each site together with a projection of the number of housing units that could realistically be accommodated on the parcel in view of past trends and local conditions. A map of the sites is also included.

By law, the Housing Element must also include an assessment of local housing needs, potential constraints to housing production, and fair housing issues - which means any factors that impede access to housing for disadvantaged groups like the disabled, the elderly, or racial of linguistic minorities. In view of that assessment, the Housing Element must include a program of actions to address identified needs, constraints and fair housing issues.

City's current Housing Element covers the 8-year period from 2015 through 2023. The inventory in the 2015-23 Housing Element identified 302 sites available for housing with a combined capacity for 4,756 new homes. View our current Housing Element here. Some of these sites have been built, so the 2023-31 Housing Element will need to identify new sites and explore other options for accommodating sufficient new housing to meet projected needs.

What is RHNA?

A term that is central to the Housing Element process is RHNA, which stands for Regional Housing Needs Allocation. It is the total number of new housing units that the City must plan to accommodate in the upcoming cycle. RHNA is split into four categories representing different levels of affordability, based on median income level in the county. The affordability categories are as follows:

• Low Income - Households making less than 50 percent of the area median income (AMI)
• Low Income - Households making 50-80 percent of AMI
• Moderate Income - Households making 80-120 percent of AMI
• Above Moderate Income - Households making more than 120 percent of AMI

Since housing production is driven largely by market forces, the City is not required to build new housing to meet its RHNA. The mandate in State law is that the City ensure that local zoning has sufficient capacity to meet RHNA for all income categories throughout the 8-year planning cycle. Additionally, HCD will be reviewing the Housing Element to ensure it includes policies and programs to facilitate accommodating the RHNA.

Where does RHNA come from?

The State determines the estimated need for new housing in each region of California for the upcoming cycle, based on population projections and other factors including rates of vacancy, overcrowding, and cost-burden. Each regional planning agency then allocates a target to each city or town within its jurisdiction, considering factors such as access to jobs, good schools, and healthy environmental conditions. For the Stanislaus region, the Stanislaus Council of Governments (StanCOG) developed and refined a methodology for RHNA allocations with input from local jurisdictions in between October 2021 and August 2022.

The City's RHNA allocation for the upcoming planning period is shown on the table below. The City is required to ensure that local zoning has sufficient capacity to meet RHNA at all income levels throughout the period.

How can Turlock accommodate our RHNA?

Turlock's existing master plans and specific plans have vacant land zoned for new housing development and there is capacity under current zoning to add infill housing downtown. However, to fully satisfy the legal requirements for the Housing Element, the City will need to explore strategies to facilitate development of a range of different housing types throughout the community, including apartments and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that would be affordable for lower income households because of their smaller size. ADUs - sometimes called caretaker or second units - are built on single-family residential properties, either as standalone structures or incorporated into the main house. They can be more affordable due to their smaller size and offer opportunities for lower income households, including seniors, students, teachers, and other public service workers.

Strategies that could be considered include:

• Promoting higher density infill housing on some commercial corridors;
• Promoting small scale infill housing in established residential neighborhoods;
• Partnering with interested churches and other religious institutions to facilitate development of affordable housing;
• Providing incentives for homeowners to build ADUs and Junior ADUs.

What happens if the City does not update the Housing Element?

There are also penalties for jurisdictions that fail to adopt a certified Housing Element, including suspension of local authority to issue building permits or grant zoning changes, variances, or subdivision map approvals; court-imposed fines of up to $100,000 per month, which if not paid can be multiplied by a factor of six; or receivership, whereby a court-appointed agent is empowered to remedy identified Housing Element deficiencies and bring the Housing Element into substantial compliance with State law.

What will community engagement look like?

Community engagement will be a vital component of the project and there will be opportunities to have your say throughout the process. Key community outreach objectives will be to engage a broad cross-section of community members and provide a variety of forums and channels for community input that meaningfully shapes outcomes. Activities will include bilingual English-Spanish "go-to" outreach at events and popular locations around town; an interactive map-based online survey; neighborhood listening sessions; and community meetings. To learn more about opportunities to participate and stay in the know, click on the icon above subscribe to the project mailing list.

What is the project timeline?

The graphic below shows project phasing and key milestones. By law there are certain defined timeframes that must be respected and that have been programmed into the schedule. These include a 30-day public review period before the Draft Housing Element is sent to HCD for review and a 90-day review period for HCD. Additionally, an environmental impact report (EIR) will likely be required for the project and there is a mandatory 45-day public comment period for the Draft EIR.

Under State law, the statutory deadline for adoption of the Housing Element is December 31, 2023. The Turlock Housing Element project timeline envisions completion by this date.