Measure L Update

Save Lafayette

MEASURE L UPDATE JUNE 19, 2018

There is a forty five day moratorium, starting June 13, that suspends city council approval of any development inconsistent with the General Plan, which is for a maximum of 2 homes per acre. This will give the city time to rezone the Deer Hill site to match the General Plan, as ordered by the Appeals Court in February, after the city illegally tried to deny citizens the right to vote on the project. At the special council meeting on Wednesday June 13, the city attorney tried to include an exception to the 45 day-moratorium, which would have made the Terraces exempt from the moratorium. Ivor Samson strongly objected to the exception; Mike Anderson and Cam Burks agreed to exclude the exception; Don Tatzin argued for about an hour to allow the exception but finally gave in.

The developer resubmitted the 315 Terraces apartments application on June 15. Ultimately approval or denial of that project will be up to the city council. It Is likely that the developer has no intention of building the apartments. All his past projects are single family residences, http://obrienhomes.net/about-us/past-projects.php

The O’Brien Land Company funded the Yes on Measure L campaign because the 44 homes are what they know how to build, what they wanted to build and maximize their profits.

Three things to note:

  1. The Opportunities and Constraints analysis in 2006, together with the average slope calculation in 2008, showed 14 homes as maximum for the property.
  2. The site rezone will be considered first by the Planning Commission before it makes its recommendations to the city council. Three options are likely to be reviewed – R20, R40 and R65 (see definitions below) – at the Planning Commission’s next meeting, Monday June 25 from 7:00 PM-11:00 PM at the Lafayette Parks & Recreation Sequoia Room, 500 St. Mary’s Road, Lafayette. The city council will take up this matter at a later date.

(Be aware that each house can have the option of an attached or separate Accessory Dwelling Unit (“ADU”) on the same lot– up to 2 bedrooms, max of 1200 square feet – see the link here) http://www.lovelafayette.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=3913

  • **R20 = 1 single family residence per 20,000 square feet (theoretical max. 48 houses + 48 ADU’s on Deer Hill’s 22 acres)
  • R40 = 1 single family residence per 40,000 square feet (max. 24 houses + 24 ADU’s)
  • R65 = 1 single family residence per 65,000 square feet (max 14 houses + 14 ADU’s)
  • LR-5 (1 house per 5 acres) was the zoning approved by the city council in 2010 for 4 houses.
  • Open Space is another possibility.
  1. The Housing Accountability Act authorizes the city to deny the apartments application because of any or all of the five significant, unavoidable public health and safety impacts identified in the apartments EIR and certified by the city council in 2013. If the city moves promptly and brings the zoning into conformance with the General Plan, that will create an additional ground for denial of the apartments project.