Housing Element Sites Rezone
The Board of Supervisors (Board) adopted the Placer County 2021-2029 Housing Element on May 11, 2021, which includes programs to help Placer County achieve its housing goals, one of which is Program HE-1. The proposed project would implement Program HE-1 of the adopted Housing Element. Program HE-1 is a rezoning program to accommodate the need for low and very-low income households as required by the State’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation for the County. The Placer County Housing Element 2021-2029 includes an inventory of properties identified as candidate sites for a potential rezone program. The County is creating a new zoning district called Residential Multifamily 30 (RM30) to plan for potential sites to accommodate the RHNA calculations of units that would be suitable for low and very-low income units. The RM30 zone district would require residential development at a minimum density of 20 units per acre and a maximum density of 30 units per acre. This new zone district does not include a requirement to construct affordable housing beyond the requirements of County Code Article 15.64: Affordable Housing; however, the increase in density would enable a variety of housing to be constructed including deed-restricted affordable housing projects.
The site list for rezoning includes 74 properties totaling approximately 250.1 acres. The final list of sites to be rezoned will ultimately contain fewer properties and acreage as the list is refined; however, the EIR will analyze all 74 sites to ensure adequate environmental review of all 74 properties regardless of list refinement.