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Planning and Building Department, Planning Division, Long Range Planning Unit, recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution of Intention 166-2025 to initiate the process to propose amendments to various sections of Title 130 and the Land Use Element of the El Dorado County General Plan to implement measures in the Housing Element for the purpose of compliance with State law, General Plan, and Zoning Ordinance consistency.
FUNDING: General Fund.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The Housing Element is one of seven General Plan Elements mandated by the State of California, as required in Sections 65580 through 65589.8 of the Government Code. On August 31, 2021, (Legistar file 21-1397) the Board adopted the 2021-2029 Housing Element of the General Plan. The 2021-2029 Housing Element provided a review of the goals, policies, financial resources, and necessary revisions to implementation measures in the Housing Element to reflect changes in local, state, and federal law.
Forty implementation measures were identified in the Housing Element. After four years of having a certified Housing Element, the County has implemented 21 measures. The County now must implement the remaining 19 measures to remain in compliance with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) certification. Fourteen of those 19 remaining measures have not been completed to the original timeframes provided in the certified Housing Element. All fourteen of those remaining implementation measures are being addressed either through this effort or through the efforts of the Board approved Affordable Housing Taskforce. When the 2021-2029 Housing Element was adopted, as well as with previous cycles of the Housing Element, the proposed timelines for completion of implementation measures were not strictly enforced by HCD and the completion of those measures was not closely tied to appropriations of grant funds. Had the current requirements for the completion of implementation measures been known at the time of Housing Element adoption, staff would have been more conservative in setting timelines for completion.
Completion of outstanding implementation measures is essential to ensure compliance with the County’s Housing Element, State law, and HCD’s current certification of the County’s Housing Element. Several federal, state, and regional funding programs consider housing element compliance as an eligibility or ranking criteria. For example, the CalTrans Senate Bill (SB) 1 Sustainable Communities grant; the Strategic Growth Council and HCD’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities programs; and HCD’s Permanent Local Housing Allocation consider housing element compliance and/or annual reporting requirements.
The County must monitor and report its compliance with the Housing Element through Annual Progress Reports, which are required pursuant to Government Code section 65400. In addition, Government Code section 65585(i) gives HCD authority to review any action or failure to act by a local government that it determines is inconsistent with an adopted housing element or housing element law. This includes failure to implement programs in a local jurisdiction’s housing element. HCD may revoke housing element compliance if the local government’s actions do not comply with State law. As a part of revocation of housing element compliance, HCD has the authority to withhold funding from local jurisdictions that do not show satisfactory progress toward implementation of all programs in their adopted housing element.
The County’s Health and Human Services Agency recently submitted its Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program (HHAP) Round 6 funding application to HCD, which is a critical funding source for its programs. HHSA also serves as the Administrative Entity (AE) for the El Dorado Opportunity Knocks (EDOK) Continuum of Care (CoC) and applies for HHAP funds to support a range of homelessness response initiatives. In a new addition to this process, as part of the application, HCD required the County to provide a list of programs not implemented according to schedule in the Housing Element and an action plan with timelines for implementation. Based on modifications and changes to state law, staff expects this will be standard practice for this application going forward. The County submitted its action plan; and this ROI will help implement that plan. If HCD approves the Large City or county Eligible Applicant’s timeline to implement all housing element programs, the Eligible Applicant will be eligible to receive the initial disbursement. Subsequently, in order to be eligible to receive the second disbursement, the Eligible Applicant must describe the progress made or report all housing element programs have been implemented in the update to the Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plan, due by January 31, 2027. If HCD concludes that insufficient progress has been made to implement the jurisdiction’s housing element programs, the Department may require the region’s participating jurisdictions to provide a corrective action plan as part of the update to the Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plan. HCD may withhold the remaining 50 percent of funds from the grantee until the Department has found the update or the corrective action plan satisfactory.
The outstanding measures have a direct correlation to Title 130 of the County’s Zoning Code, including the County’s Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance which was current and in compliance with state law until recent legislation was passed necessitating amendment to existing code, and the Land Use Element. The first step in amending the Zoning Ordinance is the adoption of the Resolution of Intention (ROI), as required by Section 130.63.020 (Ordinance Amendments and Zone Change Applications) of the Zoning Ordinance. Section 130.63.020, with respect to the ROI, allows the Board to weigh-in before the County commits significant resources to a proposed amendment. Following the adoption of an ROI and the completion of environmental review and noticing, the Planning Commission holds a public hearing and makes a report on its findings and provides a recommendation to the Board on the proposed amendments.
Following possible adoption of this ROI, staff will complete public review drafts of the proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance and Land Use Element and proceed with the preparation of all necessary noticing and environmental review as required by the California Environmental Quality Act. Following preparation of the environmental documents, the proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance and Land Use Element will be considered for approval and possible recommendation by the Planning Commission to the Board of Supervisors during noticed and scheduled public hearings, where public comment will also be received.
Summary of Housing Element Implementation Measure Status
- 40 implementation measures adopted as part of the 2021-2029 Housing Element
- 21 implementation measures completed
-19 implementation measures still to be completed
Of those 19 implementation measures still to be completed:
- 5 implementation measures are in process/ongoing
- 4 implementation measures are related to work being done by the Affordable Housing Task Force (some may require an ROI at a future date)
- 4 implementation measures are or will be worked on through collaboration with other projects or agencies (i.e., DOT, Tahoe El Dorado Area Plan)
- 6 implementation measures are included as part of this ROI
ALTERNATIVES
The Board may choose not to approve and adopt ROI xxx-2025 to amend the Zoning Ordinance and Land Use Element of the General Plan. This will, however, potentially cause the County to lose HCD Housing Element certification, funding for County programs, and will cause delays in the implementation of Housing Element Implementation Measures as described above.
PRIOR BOARD ACTION
On March 25, 2025, the Board was presented both the 2024 Housing Element Annual Progress Report and the 2024 General Plan Annual Progress Report (Legistar file 25-0374) as receive-and-file items. The outstanding Housing Element Implementation Measures were noted in both documents and subsequently submitted to and certified by the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI), formerly the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR).
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
Chief Administrative Office, County Counsel, and Health and Human Services Agency
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Approve as recommended.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no change to Net County Cost associated with this item. Funding for the staff time associated with the proposed Zoning Ordinance and General Plan Amendments has been included in the FY 2025-26 Budget. Funding beyond FY 25-26, if needed, will be included in subsequent budgets accordingly.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1) Clerk of the Board will obtain the Chair’s signature on one (1) original copy of the ROI.
2) Clerk of the Board will forward two (2) certified copies of the fully-executed ROI to Planning and Building Department, attention Christopher Smith, Planning Division, for further processing.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
N/A
CONTACT
Thea Graybill, Planning Manager for Long Range Planning
Planning and Building Department