After delayed feedback from state officials on the town’s last set of revisions to its Housing Element, the Los Gatos Town Council voted Tuesday to hold off on further discussion of the document until its next meeting.
Town staff sent the revisions from the council’s Feb. 6 meeting to state officials for informal feedback, but only received the feedback a few hours before the Feb. 20 meeting began. Since town staff were not able to adequately interpret the response in the short time before the meeting, councilmembers unanimously voted – after some renewed discussion on the limitations for where the town can build small multi-unit housing – to table the discussion until their next meeting in March.
Having hit another roadblock in the town’s efforts to approve its Housing Element, the deadline for which was last February, councilmembers expressed frustration that state officials took roughly two weeks to respond with their feedback.
Veronica Tam, the town’s Housing Element consultant, said the state’s department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is actually not under any obligation to respond to their requests for informal feedback, especially with several other cities across the state working through approving their Housing Elements.
“They’re only obligated to respond to official submittals,” Tam said at the meeting. “So when we request for meetings, request for informal reviews, it really is up to them and based on their availability and schedule whether they’ll be able to get back to us in a timely manner.”
Councilmembers also butted heads again over where small multi-unit housing can be built in town per the Housing Element. The conflict was spurred by a comment from state officials recommending an absence of restrictions, as was outlined in the document originally submitted by the town.
Vice Mayor Matthew Hudes argued for implementing limitations before submitting the document for official approval, while councilmembers Rob Moore and Maria Ristow said the decision can wait until the council is tasked with implementing the finalized document.
Tam said the council would be within its rights to implement those limitations after the document has been approved by state officials. But in a 3-2 vote, with Moore and Ristow voting against, the council maintained the restrictions for construction of small multi-unit housing can be built, adding that it cannot be built further than half a mile from a transit stop.
Hudes argued for increased communication with state officials, saying it would be better to have an idea of what they are looking for before the Housing Element is approved.
“It’s important for us to get this right by having a discussion with HCD before we move this forward,” he said.