• Joint Statement on Housing - Press Release
• Joint Statement on Housing - Executive Summary
• Joint Statment on Housing - full text

Greenbelt Alliance
     Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group
              Sonoma County Conservation Action
                     Sonoma County Faith Based Coalition
                              Sonoma County Group of the Sierra Club
                                    Service Employees International Union, Local 707 AFL-CIO

This agreement represents a cooperative effort between Sonoma County Conservation Action (SCCA), Greenbelt Alliance (GBA), the Sonoma County Group of the Sierra Club (SCSC), Sonoma County Faith Based Coalition (SCFBC), the Sonoma County Housing Advocacy Group (HAG), and the Service Employees International Union, Local 707 AFL-CIO (SEIU 707). SCCA, GBA, SCSC, SEIU 707 and HAG agree to work together in support of the objectives listed below. Although this agreement defines a "shared" strategy, it does not preclude SCCA, GBA, SCSC, SCFBC, SEIU 707 and/or HAG from advocating projects or policies that are consistent with each organization's unique objectives.

We intend to solicit additional support of this agreement from other nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, and key leaders in the community.

GOALS

• Steer public and private investment toward existing developed areas.
• Provide for increased economic and housing opportunities and social justice.
• Conserve the County's valuable agricultural and natural lands, and minimize the environmental impacts of new development.

PRINCIPLES

1. Revitalize and Sustain Existing Communities in Sonoma County by Targeting Public and Private Investments Toward Existing Communities and Opposing Policies That Facilitate Sprawl.

The need of existing communities for housing affordable to low and very low income households, adequate physical and social infrastructure, long-term natural resource protection, efficient transportation methods, sustainable economic and community development, and enhanced social equity should be given priority in planning, investment and infrastructure development decisions.

Local communities should have adequate financial resources to invest in quality schools, safe neighborhoods, and a rich array of libraries, parks, shopping districts, and other community services and amenities. Providing recreational space and maintaining natural systems must be recognized as fundamental infrastructure needs.

Subsidies (other than affordable housing subsidies) should be ended. Premature extension of infrastructure, and other policies that facilitate and encourage urban and suburban sprawl should be ended. Economic development and transportation investments should provide economic and other benefits for working families, low-income residents and communities of color, and persons with special housing needs which are disproportionately impacted by sprawl and economic degradation.

The efficacy of the County General Plan should be fostered by a decision-making process that requiress public education, debate, and assent for any decisions that would weaken these protections.

Cities should be required to adopt within their general plans, a growth management and community development plan that includes urban growth boundaries which identify areas for compact and efficiently designed development to accomodate 20 or more years of growth. City general plans should also identify land and other opportunities for very-low, low and moderate income housing as an integral component of a diverse mix of housing reflective of income levels.

Development proposals consistent with adopted city general plans that reflect housing diversity, mixed-use and transit/pedestrian oriented development should receive expedited review and approval. Cities should actively pursue funding for new or improved infrastructure in areas identified for residential or mixed -use development or redevelopment, including underutilized areas in downtowns, commercial corridors, and industrially zoned lands. The County General Plan should identify lands for resource conservation, agriculture, wildlife habitat, flood control, watersheds, and recreation. Such lands should be protected from development.

2. Provide a Clear Edge Between Urban and Non-urban Land Uses Throughout Sonoma County.

Local communities should be required to adopt, as part of their general plans, a land-use designation system, such as urban growth boundaries, identifying areas for compact and efficiently designed development to accommodate 20 years of growth. The community's general plan (including the Land Use and Housing Elements) should also identify land needs for housing low income working families, resource based industries such as agriculture related industries, mining, and grazing, and lands required for wildlife habitat, flood control, watersheds, and other environmental purposes.

Areas identified for development and redevelopment should receive fiscal incentives to pay for infrastructure, while areas identified for agricultural production, resource conservation or environmental protection should be prohibited from development over the long term.

Once the land use designation system has been adopted, projects consistent with the plan should receive expedited review and approval.

In conjunction with local community General Plans, the County General Plan should promote compact and efficient land use in urban areas. Areas identified in the County General Plan as having significant agricultural, wildlife, or resource value should be protected from development.

3. Create Livable Communities Throughout Sonoma County.

Neighborhoods, communities and regions should plan compact, higher density, safe, livable land use patterns that ensure a mix of uses, minimize the impact of cars, and promote walking, bicycling and transit access, providing mobility for all segments of the public, including children, seniors, persons with disabilities and working families. Economic development and transportation investments should reinforce these land use patterns.

Communities should have an appropriately scaled and economically healthy center focus. At the community level, a wide range of commercial, residential, cultural, civic, and recreational uses should be located in the town center or downtown. At the neighborhood level, neighborhood centers should contain local businesses that serve the daily needs of local residents. At the regional level, regional facilities should be located in urban centers that are accessible by transit throughout the metropolitan area.

Streets and pedestrian paths should contribute to a system of connected and interesting routes to destinations. Residential street design should encourage pedestrian and bicycle use and should discourage high-speed traffic.

Businesses which expand their employment base in the county have an obligation to insure that housing is available for new employees which is affordable to them and which is located near the workplace. This obligation also applies to public sector employers. Housing affordable to new employees should be planned to be available as the expansion occurs. A substantial part of the funding required for construction of affordable housing for new employees should come from the employer, as is currently required in Sacramento County and other jurisdictions.

4. Make Housing More Available and Affordable to All Segments of the County's Population, Especially To Families and Individuals of Average, Low and Very Low Income.

A fundamental purpose of these principles is to promote and reinforce more equitable housing opportunities. For example, housing opportunities would be enhanced if public agencies targeted investments to existing communities, ended sprawl, encouraged infill, promoted the social and economic development of historically disenfranchised populations, expedited approval of housing projects consistent with local plans for compact, efficient development, and reformed the state/local planning and fiscal systems to promote better land use decisions.

In addition, the state should provide one or more significant on-going revenues sources for the development of affordable housing, through periodic bond measures and/or dedicated sources of funding. To encourage the development, reuse and rehabilitation of housing in existing communities, state and local agencies should provide financial assistance, priority infrastructure funding, and expedited review of housing projects in areas identified for revitalization and redevelopment in local land use designation systems.

The provision of rental housing affordable to very low and low income households, and to households with special housing needs is a high priority and an appropriate approach to meeting the area's housing needs.

5. Ensure the Long-term Viability of the County's Agricultural Economy and Agriculture Related Industry.

Commercially viable agricultural land should be permanently protected from conversion to other land uses. Sustainable agricultural operations should be supported and encouraged. Urban growth boundaries should be required on urban edges in cities and unincorporated communities to protect agricultural land use from urban uses and vice versa. Increased funding and technical support should be provided for agricultural conservation easements, farmland mapping and monitoring, and other agricultural land conservation strategies. Where needed for wildlife or native plant habitat, outdoor recreation, or watershed buffer, state and local governmental agencies should be encouraged to reconverting appropriate agricultural or urban land to these uses, particularly in the Russian River flood plain and the Laguna.

State laws and planning procedures should be strengthened to ensure that proposals that convert agricultural land to other uses (other than housing for agricultural workers), impact water supplies available to agriculture, or develop incompatible uses in or adjacent to agricultural areas, are subject to full review and analysis. Before local agencies approve additional urban development, a proven water supply for the development should be identified and established. These water supplies should not include taking water necessary for agricultural production.

6. Promote Economic Prosperity Based on Reinvestment and Revitalization.

Funding for local and regional economic development efforts should be targeted at reinvestment and revitalization in existing areas. Land use patterns that direct investment into existing communities will help create economic opportunity for working families, low income residents, people with special needs and communities of color which are disproportionately impacted by sprawl and environmental degradation. At the same time, support for local enterprises and entrepreneurs will help create the longer-term basis for economic and employment opportunities. State, regional, and local economic development policies and decisions should reward those enterprises that contribute to the communities and regions where they operate, protect the natural environment, and provide workers with good pay, benefits, opportunities for upward mobility, a healthful work environment, and incentives for alternative transportation use.

Redevelopment funds should be applied to true redevelopment, and not to infrastructure for new development other than affordable housing. Priority for use of redevelopment funds should be to improve and revitalize blighted neighborhoods, and to expand the supply of housing affordable to lower income households.

7. Protect Environmental Quality, Natural Resources and Human Health by Preserving Ecological Communities, and Conserving Natural Resources.

Areas and resources of regional and local importance should be identified and permanently protected for productive agriculture and agriculture related industry, for recreation and open space, and to preserve biological diversity and habitat. Private landowners and businesses should be required to combine compatible economic activity with pollution prevention and good land stewardship, and to invest in alignment with the community's vision for the future.

8. Reform the State/local Land Use Planning and Finance Systems to Encourage Better Planning and Land Use Decisions.

The state should reform the current site-based system of allocating the local share of the sales tax to reduce the incentive to approve retail development at the expense of needed manufacturing, housing, or other development.

To encourage local coordination of development, infrastructure and conservation programs, a process for cities and counties to jointly plan for growth should be established. Incentives such as more authority to transfer job and housing allocations among jurisdictions within the county, expanded fiscal and planning authority, and preferences in receiving state grants and loans should be given to agencies that coordinate their local plans in ways that achieve compact development and the long-term protection of natural resources.

Cities and the County should jointly develop land use plans with policies and incentives that keep urban uses in urban areas and urban service areas, and encourage city centered development by using existing urbanized land more efficiently through infill, higher density development, and revitalization of existing urban areas.

We recognize that local governments and voters have the right to determine urban growth boundaries and establish and enforce policies which direct and control overall economic expansion and population growth. Nevertheless, cities and counties are morally and legally required to provide adequate sites and infrastructure to meet their regionally determined fair share of housing construction for low and very low income households, for farmworkers, and for households with special housing needs.

OBJECTIVES

It is the objective of SCCA, GBA, SCSC, SCFBC, SEIU 707 and HAG to work together to garner additional support for local policies and programs that will lead to the achievement of the goals and principles identified in this agreement,

1. SCCA, GBA, SCSC, SCFBC, SEIU 707 and HAG Agree to Support the Update of General Plans and Zoning Ordinances To:

A) Establish Urban Growth Boundaries for cities (city-centered growth);

B) Provide mixed uses in urban areas, in-fill development and housing densities that support efficient land use and efficient public transportation systems;

C) Identify a supply of appropriately zoned sites which is adequate to meet the community's regional share of need for housing affordable to low and very low income households, and households with special needs;

D) Support a balance between residential, industrial and commercial land uses within the cities;

E) Require employers to help provide for and fund the housing requirements of their workforce at all income levels. This might include housing impact fees, a housing trust fund, or other strategies. Support cities in requiring every residential development to include low-income housing, increasing their density allowances and fostering zoning changes that permit the development of secondary units in every residential zone.

F) Assess and address the need for farmworker housing, including the need for year round, seasonal and migrant housing, identify sites to meet the need for farmworker housing, and encourage the renovation and rehabilitation of existing farmworker housing;

G) Provide equal access to open spaces and environmentally enhanced areas in the County and the cities for all economic segments of the population and persons with disabilities.

2. SCCA, GBA, SCSC, SCFBC, SEIU 707 and HAG agree to develop recommendations to amend pecific policies that will:

A) Strengthen inclusionary housing ordinances;

B) Support non-profit developers and facilitate/expedite approval of their affordable housing proposals consistent with the criteria set forth above;

C) Require commercial, industrial and agricultural employers that are expanding employment opportunities in the County to provide in a variety of ways for the housing needs of their new employees so that they can live in reasonable proximity to their jobs.

3. SCCA, GBA, SCSC, SCFBC, SEIU 707 and HAG agree to support methods to secure financial resources that will provide adequate infrastructure in existing communities, such as:

A) Incentives to help private, non-profit and public sector agencies construct affordable housing for farmworkers, people with disabilities and other lower income households;

B) Federal, state and local funding sources;

C) Revenue sharing among the cities and County.

4. SCCA, GBA, SCSC, SCFBC, SEIU 707 and HAG agree to work towards assuring that elected officials and appointed boards follow local and state laws and policies by encouraging:

A) The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to amend, strengthen and follow the General Plan, including the Housing Element and Land Use Element;

B) The nine cities within Sonoma County to amend, strengthen and follow their respective General Plans, including the Housing Elements of the plans.