Zoning: Suggestion angers business group
CHICO >> Gloomy news was apparent in Friday’s 2020 Chico Chamber’s Business Summit, coming at the end of the State of the City address, but probably the unofficial take-away was the stir over Mayor Randall Stone.
For the chamber event, Stone provided a shortened version of the State of the City address he gave earlier in the week, calling for inclusionary zoning in housing, but left the Business Summit soon after he concluded. Chico Chamber CEO Katy Thoma said Stone had left early because he was due at a Sacramento conference.
Repeating his 2019 stance, Stone called for 10 percent inclusionary zoning on Friday, meaning a housing development would have to devote 10 percent of its units to low-income residents. The City Council talked about inclusionary zoning during 2019, but no official policy has been adopted.
Stone said unless inclusionary zoning was mandated, builders would not respond voluntarily to the need for low
income housing. Stone pointed out that apartments under construction in Chico now are “luxury” units, not the kind that displaced or vulnerable residents needed.
He noted that California is seeing a revolt by low-income renters, from measures like Assembly Bill 1482 that caps rent and prevents unjust evictions, to calls for higher minimum wage.
Later in the program two speakers who shared the lectern with Stone criticized the idea of inclusionary zoning.
“We talked about inclusionary zoning 12 years ago when I was on the council,” said Golden Valley Bank CEO Mark Francis, who is also on the chamber board.
“Inclusionary zoning doesn’t work.”
Francis said that forcing builders to set aside lowerrent units for low-income tenants forces up costs on other residents because construction and permitting costs don’t change. They can even be higher if public funds are involved in projects or offered as subsidies.
Inclusionary zoning “doesn’t increase the supply of housing or reduce the cost of construction,” he said, “unless it’s highly, highly subsidized. It could even reduce the supply.”
Projecting how the zoning could impact Chico, if 2,000 homes were built, he said, only 30 homes would be low-income. According to the city, 340 single-family dwellings were built in 2018 and 305 in 2019.
Francis suggested that builders would go to communities outside Chico rather than deal with that kind of regulation.
Housing legislation
Current Chico Chamber Chair Jolene Francis of Enloe Medical Center wondered why at the 2019 State of the City event Stone had suggested that the California Environmental Quality Act should be changed to help increase housing, but then opposed Assembly Bill 430, which would have offered those reliefs.
Chico’s City Council refused to be included in the legislation, but other surrounding communities hopped on, including Oroville, Gridley and Orland.
Thoma answered a question from the audience that referenced Stone being “openly hostile” to economic growth by saying, “If you’re in his (election) district, you can vote.”
Stone conducted the first State of the City address Wednesday in the City Council Chambers, saying he had more information in regards to the city than the roughly 20 minutes allowed by the chamber. About 20 attended that event.
Among the items he mentioned then was inclusionary zoning, public lockers for homeless individuals, the coming update of the Chico housing element — which should more strongly address low-income housing — and coming portable restrooms in city greenways for the homeless.