Councilpresident Martinez  introduced a series of motions on 8/19/2020 around reforming the planning process and development agreement process within the City Council. The motions:

• Ask the City Planning Department as well as the Chief Legislative Analyst to develop criteria for high value projects and amend the planning process so these projects are diverted from the City’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee and go directly to the City Council.

• Ask the City Planning Department to update their Processes and Procedures Ordinance with additional criteria on when entitlements will be granted and should restrict actions from moving forward unless it can be established that they are in the public interest or otherwise adhere to established policies of the City. They also ask the department to create new protocols around communication between developers and council offices to help with transparency issues.

• Asks for the creation of a future ballot measure that would address the city’s desperate shortage of housing as well as the city’s RHNA obligation be modeled after TOC to incentivize broader community benefits such as affordable housing, high paying jobs, parks and open space and improvements to mobility and the public realm.

• Lead to an equitable distribution of new housing around the city based on high quality jobs, transit, and historic housing production.

To read the full set of motions please click here.

To read more of the August 19th 2020 Legislative Update click here.