By Clarence Cromwell
They said they didn't want to do it, but Town Council members voted unanimously May 6 to hire a consultant who will help the town write its housing element.
The town will pay Melanie Shaffer Freitas more than $20,000 to draw up the state-required plan. It must detail how the city will provide adequate housing for residents of all ages, incomes, races and ethnic backgrounds. The 1990 housing element was handed back by the state three times for revisions before the town gave up on receiving approval.
Councilman Patrick O'Laughlin said he's exasperated with the state requirements. "This is one of the valid criticisms of government," O'Laughlin complained. "It is so complex and so onerous that we have to hire a consultant." He called the housing element a "make-work project."
Mayor Randy Attaway concurred.
"I think we all agree that this is something we don't want to be spending money on," Attaway said.
The next housing element must be prepared by June 20, 1997. The state requires that every city update the housing element of its general plan at five-year intervals.
The town will pay about $25,914 for the updated housing element. Shaffer Freitas' fees amount to $20,940. The town will make another $2,094 available in case further work is required. An environmental review of the housing element will cost $2,880. The costs are to be shared equally by the town and the Redevelopment Agency.
Shaffer Freitas agreed to update the housing element and prepare affordable housing programs for the Community Services Department. She would have to finish all the work by February 1997.
Shaffer Freitas has written housing elements for more than 50 California municipalities, including the city of Campbell in 1991. She also consulted for the Office of Affordable Housing at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
When the state Department of Housing and Community Development refused approval of the housing element, the Town Council passed a resolution stating its satisfaction with the housing element, an alternative known as "self-certification."
That precluded the town staff's doing another rewrite, but didn't solve all the town's problems.
Without a housing element, the town's general plan is incomplete, said Planning Director Lee Bowman. Anyone unhappy with the general plan could take the town to court and, theoretically, a judge could strip the town of its ability to issue building permits, Bowman said. That hasn't been done, although half the cities in California lack state-approved general plans, according to Bowman.
Bowman said Los Gatos followed the rules set forth by the state, but state officials sent the plan back with numerous infinitesimal corrections.
"A lot of times, places like Los Gatos are targets because the perception is we're super-rich and we don't care," Bowman said.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 15, 1996.
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