LAFAYETTE, CA — The offensive over an affordable housing bill in Contra Costa County ended this week when Sacramento lawmakers dropped a requirement linking high-density housing developments and transit.
The offensive was aimed at a Senate bill allowing more homes to be built near major public transportation stops and on land owned by transit agencies.
Not every city fits the profile outlined in the bill, SB79, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener.
Lafayette launched a campaign to remove portions of the bill that the city council, along with officials in Contra Costa and the wider Bay Area, have been eyeing nervously.
SB79 increases housing density, requires affordable housing, and establishes transit tiers.
Developers could build more housing near high-volume transit stops than zoning laws previously allowed, based on the tiers.
The tiers — 1-3 —are based on service frequency and type, which would determine the permitted height, density, and size of nearby developments.
Lafayette officials claimed the city fit in none of the tiers.
A central sticking point was building high-density housing near BART, which would potentially overlap with high-risk fire zones.
The amendments added language related to high fire severity zones in two parts of the bill, which will require developments to meet fire safety standards in California's building, fire, and wildland-urban interface codes, according to the city.
The amendment gives cities the power to remove parcels located in high-risk zones.
Additionally, any site removed under this provision would not count toward capacity.
Lafayette city councilmembers and the mayor withdrew their opposition after Wiener amended the bill. The Contra Costa Board of Supervisors and Board of Directors for the Contra Costa Fire Protection District did likewise.
Lafayette has several housing projects that are currently under construction or have already been approved and are in the pipeline.
This year, city councilmemers approved a development with 90 rental units at 1001 Oak Hill Rd., and another, smaller, development of 17 homes — three with an attached accessory dwelling unit, or ADU — at Oak Hill Place at Deer Hill, both of which are within a quarter-mile of the Lafayette BART station.