Last month, the Oakland Planning Commission conducted a public hearing on components of the General Plan 2045 Update for consideration by the City Council this fall, with additional components seeking further community input and approval by 2025.
Much of the General Plan’s housing-related items implement the commitments already included in the Housing Element — the citywide plan adopted earlier this year for creating additional housing that meets state requirements. Three key action items in the Housing Element being implemented through this update are intended to remove barriers to the development of new affordable and mixed-income housing on key sites, as well as to facilitate creation of so-called “missing-middle” housing.
Three Key Action Items
The first two action items are the creation of two new “overlay zones” — added layers on top of existing zoning requirements — in certain areas of the city. One is an Affordable Housing Overlay Zone, which streamlines approval for 100 percent affordable
housing projects. The second is the Housing Sites Overlay Zone, which streamlines approval for mixed-in-come housing on key sites already identified in the Housing Element.
State requirements also create By-Right Approvals for small-scale developments on parcels less than 15,000 square feet that contain 20 percent affordable housing. Pursuant to State law, sites included in previous Housing Elements can receive By-Right
Approval if they include 20 percent affordable housing. However, if a site was newly added to the most recent Housing Element, there will be additional affordability requirements in response to Oakland community desires. This would range from 20 percent of units affordable at the “very low income” level to 40 percent of units at the “moderate income” level. Projects will not be eligible for
By-Right Approval if they propose more than 100,000 sq. ft., or are to be built in phases (unless they are 100 percent affordable).
City staff is currently drafting Objective Design Guidelines which By-Right Projects must adhere to. The guidelines will go through an
intensive community feedback process, planned in the coming months. The Planning Commission members requested that despite the State’s By-Right Approval requirements, the City create ways to enable the public to know when such applications are submitted.
The third action item is intended to create “missing middle” housing (multiplexes, townhouses, live/work, etc.) which are affordable
to middle-income households but historically have been difficult to produce due to market dynamics, and which are ineligible for public subsidies. Proposed changes include up-zoning some residential areas for up to four units of housing on lots greater than 4,000 square feet; and two units on smaller lots, as well as reducing setbacks and parking requirements in some areas.
Additional changes to the General Plan include increasing 60-foot height limits to 65 feet, and allowing structures with 75-foot, 85-foot, and 90-foot heights to go as high as 95-feet to better align with State code and to lower construction costs for common building types.
For more info, visit oaklandca.gov/topics/general-plan-update