For City Council Meeting [June 13, 2023]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Arron Brown, Acting City Manager
FROM: Colby Cataldi, Director of Community Development
Title
Request City Council Approve the Submission of an Application to the Southern California Association of Governments for Consultant and Technical Assistance through the Housing Infill on Public and Private Lands Program.
Body
BACKGROUND
The Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) program, established in 2019 by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), provides funding for planning activities aimed at accelerating housing production. REAP Grants of 2021 (REAP 2.0) expand the program for planning and implementation investments that support infill development.
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has opened a call for applications under REAP 2.0. The Housing Infill on Public and Private Lands program (HIPP) seeks to support projects that scale up “development of surplus publicly owned land or underutilized privately owned land that can be redeveloped with affordable or mixed income housing and ancillary neighborhood serving businesses and supporting infrastructure.”
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
In the City’s Downtown Area, the HIPP program may be used to advance the Rialto Downtown Vision and Strategic Plan and redevelopment of underutilized land. While opportunity sites are distributed throughout the Downtown, they have not been developed due to certain constraints. The constraints include small lots that are difficult to develop based on limited size, the need for lot consolidation, the lack of economies of scale, inadequate infrastructure, and the lack of awareness of development opportunities in the development community.
Through the assistance of government real estate services, funded through the HIPP program, the City may better understand opportunities and constraints, identify strategies to overcome those constraints, dispose of publicly owned properties, and broker relationships to facilitate redevelopment of privately owned properties. Examples of activities that may be funded through HIPP include:
• Inventorying vacant and underutilized sites
• Brokering relationships between developers and private property owners
• Analyzing constraints to development
• Identifying of strategies to overcome constraints
• Valuing property
• Evaluating financial feasibility and alternative financing solutions
• Analyzing adequacy of infrastructure
• Engaging with the development community
• Preparing a Request for Proposals
• Preparing Disposition and Development Agreement(s) as appropriate
The HIPP program offers the City resources needed to transform vacant and underutilized properties in Downtown Rialto. Therefore, the Planning Division recommends that the City Council approve submission of an application to SCAG for consultant and technical assistance through the HIPP program.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Pursuant to Section 15378 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a “Project” means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Responding to a call for applications is not a project as defined by CEQA.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY
The activity is consistent with the Housing Element Goal 5-2 (Housing Availability and Production), which is to “promote and encourage housing development that adequately meets the needs of all socioeconomic segments of the community and region.”
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney has reviewed and supports this staff report
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Operating Budget Impact
There is no operating budget impact.
Capital Improvement Budget Impact
There is no capital improvement budget impact.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council Approve the Submission of an Application to the Southern California Association of Governments for Consultant and Technical Assistance through the Housing Infill on Public and Private Lands Program.