SEC. 417.1. FINDINGS.

The Board of Supervisors hereby finds that:

A. The fee provisions of this Section are equivalent to or less than the fees for developments of over 20 units previously adopted by the Board in Ordinance No. 051685 and 060529 and are also supported by the Nexus Study performed by Keyser Marston and Associates referenced in Section 415.1(11) and found in Board File No. 081152. The Board of Supervisors has reviewed the study and staff analysis prepared by the MOH dated July 24, 2008 in Board File No. 081152 and, on that basis, finds that the study supports the current proposed changes to the inclusionary housing requirements for projects of 20 units or less in the Eastern Neighborhood Area Plan. Specifically, the Board finds that the study and staff memo: (1) identifies the purpose of the additional fee to mitigate impacts on the demand for affordable housing in the City; (2) identifies the use to which the additional fee is to be put as being to increase the City's affordable housing supply; and (3) establishes a reasonable relationship between the use of the additional fee for affordable housing and the need for affordable housing and the construction of new market rate housing. Moreover, the Board finds that the new inclusionary affordable housing requirements are less than the cost of mitigation and do not include the costs of remedying any existing deficiencies. The Board also finds that the study establishes that the inclusionary requirements do not duplicate other City requirements or fees.

B. Furthermore, the Board finds that generally an account has been established, funds appropriated, and a construction schedule adopted for affordable housing projects funded through the Inclusionary Affordable Housing program and the in lieu fees will reimburse the City for expenditures on affordable housing that have already been made.

C. The Board finds that small scale development faces a number of challenges in the current development climate, including limited access to credit and often, a higher land cost per unit for the small sites on which they develop. Because of these and other variations from larger-scale development, they operate under a somewhat unique development model which cannot be fully encapsulated within the constraints of the Eastern Neighborhoods Financial Analysis, prepared to assess the financial feasibility of increasing housing requirements and impact fees in the Plan Areas. To address these challenges, the Board finds that a number of slight modifications to the affordable housing requirements of the Eastern Neighborhoods, to apply to small projects (defined as 20 units or fewer, or less than 25,000 gross square feet) are appropriate.

(Added by Ord. 108-10, File No. 091275, App. 5/25/2010; Ord. 312-10, File No. 100046, App. 12/23/2010)