Del Mar: Approval Recommended For Housing Element Update

Press release from the City of Del Mar:

October 1, 2020

The City Council on Oct. 5 is set to vote upon a staff recommendation to approve the draft 6th Cycle Housing Element Update.

Local approval of the document is necessary for State review and certification to begin.

In preparation for more than a year, the Housing Element Update presents strategies through 2029 to accommodate 175 new housing units – 113 of them affordable -- in residential neighborhoods, commercial zones, on City-owned property and at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

One of the strategies is to amend the North Commercial zone on Jimmy Durante Boulevard and San Dieguito Drive to allow 20 dwelling units per acre. In a Sept. 30 enforcement letter, a State official advises the City that it is out of compliance with State law for failing to identify "adequate sites” of 20 dwelling units per acre for affordable housing. A separate discussion of the enforcement letter is scheduled for the Oct. 5 meeting.

Approval of the draft 6th Cycle Housing Element Update would bring Del Mar into compliance.

The document proposes:

• Amending zoning to allow for up to 20 dwelling units per acre in the Central Commercial zone (Camino del Mar between 9th and 15th streets); Professional Commercial zone (Camino del Mar just south of 9th Street), and North Commercial Zone (Jimmy Durante Boulevard and San Dieguito Drive). In these zones, residential uses at up to 20 dwellings per acre would meet the State’s “adequate sites” mandate for affordable housing. The requirement does not necessarily translate as 20 units per lot. Housing units would more likely appear in clusters on lots that could fit them while remaining within height and floor-area limits. Amending the commercial zoning could yield up to 28 affordable units, including two affordable units approved in the 941 Camino del Mar Specific Plan.
• Incentivizing owners of accessory dwelling units to rent them to lower-income households to capture at least 8 affordable units from a total of 77 projected ADUs.
• Partnering with 22nd District Agricultural Association to build affordable housing on State-owned property or, if an agreement cannot be reached, to default to a required State program to rezone vacant land on the North Bluff and/or south Stratford Court to allow for at least 51 affordable units; and
• To make up the difference, consider opening City-owned property on 9th, 10th, 28th and Court Streets for up to 26 small, affordable units, with public parkland considered only as a last resort.

The Housing Element Update does not propose specific development projects. Any future development proposal would be subject to the City’s permitting and design review process.

Failure to meet State mandates can expose Del Mar to severe financial penalties and even the loss of local zoning control.

State law requires jurisdictions to update their housing elements every eight years.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously Sept. 15 to recommend that the City Council approve the draft document.

Open the Housing Element Update staff report (PDF)

Open the State enforcement letter (PDF)

Open staff report on enforcement letter (PDF)

This press release was produced by the City of Del Mar . The views expressed here are the author’s own.