Santa Clara County Municipal Code Art. 1 Stanford University Community Plan Area Academic Space Affordable Housing…

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Editor's note— Ord. No. NS-300.929, adopted Sept. 25, 2018, provided for an effective date of July 1, 2019.

(a) The purpose and intent of this Article are as follows:

(1) There is a shortage of housing in Santa Clara County that is affordable to extremely low, very low, low, and moderate income households, and a consequent need to encourage the construction of homes affordable by families and individuals and to otherwise increase the affordable housing supply in the region.

(2) Because of the shortage of affordable housing units many households overpay for housing.

(3) Imbalances between jobs and housing have implications for housing affordability and traffic congestion in the region.

(4) The housing supply and affordability concerns that are experienced in the region have a particularly strong effect at and around Stanford University due to the high housing prices in the area around Stanford University and the employment opportunities generated by Stanford University.

(5) Construction of new Academic Space within the Stanford Community Plan will result in an increased number of workers in lower-income categories.

(b) In order to address the demand for affordable housing generated by the construction of Academic Space, a fee on the construction of Academic Space as described in this Article will assist in the provision of affordable housing for the extremely low, very low, low, and moderate-income households that are required by the workforce associated with development in the Stanford University Community Plan Area.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)

In addition to the definitions of Chapter 1 of Division A1 of this Ordinance Code, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) Academic Space means all building uses, except building uses for housing and parking facilities, within the Stanford University Community Plan Area.

(b) Academic Space Development or Academic Space Development Project means construction of Net New Building Area of Academic Space.

(c) Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Fee shall be defined as provided in Section A14-115 (Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee).

(d) Affordable Housing means any Dwelling Unit that shall be affordable to Extremely Low, Very Low, Low, or Moderate Income Households pursuant to this Article.

(e) Affordable Housing Cost means the affordable rent for rental units as defined by California Health and Safety Code § 50053, as applicable.

(f) Affordable Housing Fund means a fund or account designated by the County to maintain and account for all monies received pursuant to this Article 1.

(g) Affordable Housing Agreement means an agreement providing for long-term affordability of a Dwelling Unit, income certification and screening of potential purchasers and/or renters of Affordable Units, resale control mechanism, and on-going management of the Affordable Units.

(h) Affordable Housing Plan is a plan that shall be proposed by the Applicant and approved by the County prior to issuance of a Planning Permit that provides for the payment of Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fees or the provision of Affordable Units.

(i) Affordable Unit means a Dwelling Unit that is affordable to Extremely Low, Very Low, Low, or Moderate Income Households pursuant to this Article.

(j) Applicant means a person, persons, or entity that applies for Academic Space Development in the Stanford Community Plan Area, and also includes the owner or owners of the property if the Applicant does not own the property on which the development is proposed.

(k) Area Median Income or AMI means the annual median income for Santa Clara County, adjusted for household size, as published periodically in the California Code of Regulations, Title 25, Section 6932, or its successor provision, or as established by the County in the event that such median income figures are no longer published in the California Code of Regulations.

(l) Building Permit means any full structural building permits or partial permits (i.e., foundation-only permits).

(m) Certificate of Occupancy means the final inspection approval of the Building Inspection Office on the building permit inspection card for a complete building or structure.

(n) County Executive means the County Executive or designee.

(o) Deemed Complete is a term described in Section 5.20.080 of the Zoning Ordinance and that applies to an application for a Planning Permit.

(p) Dwelling Unit means a building or portion thereof that is designed, intended, or used for dwelling purposes for a Family, but shall not include Student Housing.

(q) Extremely Low Income Household means a household as defined in California Health and Safety Code § 50106.

(r) Family means one or more persons occupying premises and living as a single, nonprofit household, as distinguished from a group occupying a hotel, club, fraternity, or sorority house. A family shall be deemed to include necessary domestic help.

(s) Lower Income Households means a household as defined in California Health and Safety Code § 50079.5.

(t) Low Income Households means a subset of Lower Income households as defined in California Health and Safety Code § 50079.5 with incomes above the highest income threshold for Very Low Income Households.

(u) Moderate Income Household means a household as defined in California Health and Safety Code § 50093(b).

(v) Net New Building Area is any new building area not documented as a credit for demolished buildings as allowed for in a land use approval by the County. Net New Building Area square footage is calculated based on outside to outside wall dimensions, inclusive of interior rooms and structural elements, stairwells on each floor, elevator shaft on ground floor only, basements, attic space if counted as a story, and mezzanines. Net New Building Area excludes covered balconies and patios, uncovered balconies and patios, open floor spaces to below, parking areas, covered arcades, light wells, mechanical shafts, tunnels, elevator shafts on all floors except ground floor (ground floor is inclusive), penthouses, and mechanical and utility rooms (including equipment, steam, audio/visual, electrical, information technology and janitorial mop sinks).

(w) Planning Permit means a tentative map, parcel map, use permit, architecture and site approval permit, cluster development permit, development agreement, or special use permit, or any discretionary permit excluding General Plan and specific plan amendments, zoning and rezoning, and area development policies. Planning Permit shall not include the General Use Permit as described in the Stanford Community Plan.

(x) Student Housing means housing provided to students, including, but not limited to, dormitories, apartments, family student housing, graduate student housing, and other housing provided to matriculated students of Stanford University, but shall not include any housing provided for postdoctoral fellows.

(y) Very Low Income Households means a household as defined in California Health and Safety Code § 50105.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)

(a) An Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee is hereby imposed on all Academic Space Development Projects. No application for a Building Permit for an Academic Space Development shall be approved, nor shall any such development be constructed, without compliance with this Article. The fee imposed by this Article shall be collected at the time of the issuance of the Building Permit. No Building Permit shall be issued for an Academic Space Development that has not paid a fee required under this Article.

(b) The Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee shall be charged on a square foot basis for all Net New Building Area. The amount of the fee shall be established by resolution of the Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors shall evaluate the fee established by resolution every ten years.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)

This Article shall not apply to any Net New Building Area authorized under the 2000 Stanford University General Use Permit as amended May 5, 2015.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)

(a) An Applicant may protest the imposition of the Stanford Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee on a proposed Academic Space Development Project pursuant to Government Code § 66020. The Applicant shall provide written notice to the Clerk of the Board and the County Executive of the factual elements of Applicant's dispute and the legal theory forming the basis for the protest at the time it files its Planning Permit application with the County or within 90 days of receiving a Planning Permit conditioned on payment of the fee. The Applicant shall provide such additional information as may be required by the County Executive to make a determination upon request. The determination of the County Executive shall be final.

(b) The requirements of this Article may be adjusted or waived if the Applicant demonstrates that applying this Article would take property in violation of the United States or California Constitutions. The Applicant shall submit a request for an adjustment or waiver in writing to the County Executive at the time it files a Planning Permit application with the County. The Applicant shall provide such additional information as may be required by the County Executive to make a determination on the request. The determination of the County Executive shall be final.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)

For the purposes of this Article, the conversion of residential space or parking areas to Academic Space will be deemed Net New Building Area and the Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee shall be paid prior to issuance of a Building Permit for such conversions.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)

(a) All funds derived from the Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee shall be placed in the Affordable Housing Fund to address the housing needs of Extremely Low, Very Low, Low, and Moderate Income Households. The affordable housing and inclusionary housing guidelines may include account and accounting procedures, including the creation of separate accounts within the Affordable Housing Fund, for fees deposited into the Affordable Housing Fund.

(1) All Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fees shall be deposited into the Affordable Housing Fund.

(2) The Affordable Housing Fund, including accrued interest, shall be subject to all the applicable provision of the Mitigation Fee Act (Government Code § 66000, et seq.), including, but not limited to, the requirements for accounting, reporting, and expenditure of the fund to increase the supply of affordable housing.

(3) The fees collected under this Article and all earnings from investment of the fees shall be expended exclusively to provide or assure continued provision of affordable housing through acquisition, construction, development assistance, substantial rehabilitation or maintenance, financing, rent or other subsidies, or methods, and for costs of administering programs which serve those ends. The housing shall be of a type, or made affordable at a cost or rent, for which there is a need in the area surrounding the Stanford Community Plan and which is not adequately supplied in that area by private housing development in the absence of public assistance and to the extent feasible shall be utilized to provide housing opportunities to all income levels.

(4) Housing assisted with Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fees shall be subject to long term affordability agreements or covenants established through an Affordable Housing Agreement.

(5) The County Executive shall prepare or cause to be prepared an annual report regarding the collection and use of funds pursuant to this Article for the preceding year beginning July 1 and ending June 30. The annual report shall be presented to the Board of Supervisors at a public meeting in December of each year. The annual report shall include all of the following:

i. The annual and cumulative amount of fees, interest earnings, loan repayments, and all other revenues of the Affordable Housing Fund;

ii. The annual and cumulative expenditures of the Affordable Housing Fund;

iii. The amount on-deposit in the Affordable Housing Fund as of June 30 of the preceding year;

iv. Annual and cumulative number of Dwelling Units that have been created and proportionately attributable to use of the Affordable Housing Fund, excluding any Dwelling Units for which affordability restrictions have expired;

v. Annual and cumulative number of affordable units created pursuant to Section A14-120 Alternatives to Payment of Fee, excluding any Dwelling Units for which affordability restrictions have expired;

vi. The annual and cumulative number of affordable units required to mitigate the impacts of Academic Space development governed by this Article;

vii. The remaining number of affordable units required to fully mitigate impacts, representing the difference between amount determined pursuant to clause (vi) less the sum of amounts determined pursuant to clause (iv) and (v); and,

viii. The amount, if any, of excess funds then on-deposit in the Affordable Housing Fund not required to mitigate the remaining affordable housing impacts identified in clause (vii) or rehabilitate, extend affordability covenants, or replace previously created affordable units identified in clause (iv) or (v), and the source from which any such excess funds were originally derived. Any excess funds identified pursuant to this clause (viii) shall be remitted to the original source within 30 days of presentation of the annual report to the Board of Supervisors.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)

As an alternative to payment of the Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee, an Applicant may submit a request to mitigate the impacts of such Academic Space through the construction of Dwelling Units affordable to Extremely Low, Very Low, Low, or Moderate-Income Households. This request shall be outlined in an Affordable Housing Plan. The conversion of market-rate Dwelling Units to affordable Dwelling Units shall not be eligible as an alternative to payment. The Affordable Housing Plan shall contain information regarding the location, size, design, finishing, and proposed affordability levels of Affordable Units to be constructed as an alternative to paying the Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fees and any other information reasonably required by the County Executive.

(a) Applicant shall submit the Affordable Housing Plan at the time it files its initial development application with the County. The County Executive shall review the Affordable Housing Plan and shall approve it if he or she determines that such alternative will further affordable housing opportunities in an equal or greater extent than payment of the Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee.

(b) Applicant shall receive a credit against the Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee for the development of Affordable Units which shall be provided by resolution of the Board of Supervisors.

(c) Affordable Units that are constructed as an alternative to payment of the Academic Space Affordable Housing Impact Mitigation Fee may be made available to Extremely, Very Low, Low, or Moderate-Income Households in proportions that shall be approved by the County Executive and shall be subject to an Affordable Housing Agreement. The Affordable Housing Agreement shall ensure that Affordable Units remain affordable to the targeted income group for no less than 55 years. A longer term of affordability may be required if the Affordable Unit receives a subsidy pursuant to a subsidy program that requires a longer term of affordability.

(d) Any household that occupies an Affordable Unit must occupy that unit as its principal residence, unless otherwise approved in writing by the County Executive for rental to a third party for a limited period of time due to household hardship, as specified in the affordable housing and inclusionary housing guidelines.

(e) No household may begin occupancy of an Affordable Unit until the household has been determined to be eligible to occupy that unit. Affordable Units shall be rented to income eligible households at an Affordable Housing Cost for the entire term of the affordable housing restriction. The County Executive shall establish standards for determining household income, maximum occupancy, Affordable Housing Cost, provisions for continued monitoring of tenant eligibility, and other eligibility criteria pursuant to applicable laws and regulations.

(Ord. No. NS-300.929, § 1, 9-25-18)