Friday Update on November 21 2019
All,
This is the last update for November because of Thanksgiving.
A couple items:
- Today, the pre-construction meeting was held for the Blue Mountain Terrace Senior Affordable Apartments. The engineering team expects work to commence in the next 3-4 weeks. This is amazing news for us!
- Staff has revised the City’s Website and renamed the tab Current Planning. We repopulated the information a bit and have included the SB 2 Grant. Look for upcoming sections on the Regional Housing Needs Allocation and the Housing Element. We also plan to start developing some ideas on community outreach and engagement which we will seek input from folks through some simple polling to get views on various ideas. Look for a little remodeling of the planning website.
- The Sacramento Area Council of Governments ruled on the final Regional Housing Needs Allocation and we got wacked a bit in the final formula. During the planning period, they have us down for 552 units with 125 VERY low, 75 Low, 104 moderate and 248 Above Moderate. 304 “affordable” units is a lot and will be incorporated into our new housing element. This will be a task.
- The SB 2 Grant Application we are finalizing will put us on a path to take a balanced approach to future development and address many of the State’s growing priorities from a housing standpoint. The most important thing we will emphasize is that the project will focus within the existing City limits, look at undeveloped, unentitled and under utilized land. The process will enable us to launch a comprehensive community engagement process which will give key stakeholders within the City a chance to help plan the future. From a Staff perspective, we have taken the input from those who have participated in recent meetings and will do our best to bring opportunities for all segments to lend their voice to important issues regarding our City’s future.
- We live in a “data” driven world and we can expect our State mandates and policies to receive significant review through a data analysis. Expect that the upcoming Housing Element will be data driven, with accountability and culpability for poor performance. As we move forward, we will need to be strategic, practical and establish programs which can be accomplished. It’s going to be great!
Finally, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. I always feel blessed for what we have in Winters and the wonderful community we have here. The peace and tranquility we share along with the beauty which surrounds us makes celebrating holidays even more special.
Thanks,
John