Is Novato's Housing Stand Bold or Cleverly Symbolic?

Whether local citizens/activists will admit it or not, Thursday’s Novato City Council meeting might have been a turning point in the city's battle to satisfy state-mandated affordable housing requirements without igniting a citywide civil war — or it may not have been.

The meeting produced a list of five potential affordable housing sites which, together, would create 202 units of affordable housing provided the owners of the properties were willing to sell. Lopped from the preliminary list were another seven considered sites, including two presently occupied by churches, earning a big sigh of relief from Rev.  Darrell Chilson of the Novato Seventh-Day Adventist Church on San Marin Drive and Pastor Joe Everly of The Quest church on South Novato Boulevard.

More importantly, the City Council declared, voices unwavering, that Novato’s affordable housing plan would cap density at 20 units per acre. That’s a third less than the state requirement for a “metropolitan” community. Were Novato determined to be “suburban,” like Petaluma, 20 units per acre would be satisfactory. Incidentally, the planned 202 units are two more than the state requirement.

While there have been continuing discussions regarding the merits of each proposed site for new affordable housing (the topic was big enough for City Manager Michael Frank to establish a 21-member ad hoc committee that worked nine months’ worth of Wednesdays to arrive at a conclusion), the most contentious issue of this process has been density. Several organizations were formed in large part to wage war against high-density proposals (one was formed to promote affordable housing). At times, the debate turned emotional.

At its meeting July 14, the City Council sent a welcome message to its residents: We’re on your side. And that has to be worth something to the citizenry, even the few who stepped up to complain Thursday about the names on the city’s short list of possible building sites. The people spoke, and the leaders listened.

Unfortunately, at this point, it’s impossible to know if the state will accept Novato’s density proposal of 20 units per acre. Councilwoman Carole Dillon-Knutson seemed to be looking for contingencies when she said, “There’s nothing wrong with being rejected with comments from the (State Department of Housing and Community Development).”

Three months ago, California Assemblyman Jared Huffman petitioned the HCD to ask that California cities determined to be “metropolitan” be given the right to appeal their status. AB 1103, a version of affordable-housing reform legislation before the committee, should “clarify that a local government does not have to apply the default density throughout the region, provided they can demonstrate an ability to meet their regional housing need,” Huffman wrote. In response, HCD Committee Chair Norma Torres kept the bill in committee until Huffman removed language stating that Marin cities could appeal metropolitan density requirements in favor of suburban.

Judging only from the AB 1103 experience, it seems as if Novato stating it will limit affordable housing density to 20 units per acre is largely a symbolic effort. It's a way to tell its citizens, “Hey, we tried,” when the HCD inevitably pushes back.

If this be the case, well, then it’s not completely unreasonable to wonder if efforts to limit density are merely jousts at windmills, and that rather than continue fighting for lower density in its housing element Novato should begin exploring ways to somehow make 30 units per acre an acceptable form of affordable housing.

By telling its citizens, “We stand with you,” then kicking the issue upstairs to a legislature whose attitude toward lower density has yet to show signs of thawing, Novato could be doing just that.