A document identifying Santa Maria properties for affordable housing and a blueprint for additional bicycle-transportation and recreation facilities in the city are on the agenda for Wednesday's Planning Commission meeting.

The planning panel will consider its recommendation to the City Council whether to submit a preliminary draft Housing Element to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for review, and whether to adopt a Bikeway Master Plan update.

Separate public hearings on the items are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 110 E. Cook St.

The Housing Element is a written template for meeting the city's housing goals. Its basic principle is to identify land for affordable housing at all income levels - extremely low, very low, moderate and above moderate. It is one of seven required elements of the city's General Plan.

State law requires periodic updates, and the last one was completed in 2006.

To meet a state mandate known as the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), Santa Maria is on the hook for 3,200 new units by 2014.

Under the allocation set by the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG), the city must make sure there is enough supply of vacant land available for 368 extremely low units, 368 very low units, 544 low units, 800 moderate units and 1,120 above-moderate units.

The allocation had been 4,837.

City Planner Brian Smith said one of the challenges of the update is identifying vacant land to accommodate the housing.

However, the city believes there is adequate capacity to meet a requirement to find enough land zoned at 20 units per acre. The city's planned development/high density residential (PD/R-3) zoning allows 22 units per acre.

In the last go-around with the state, approval of the update took three years as the city was locked in a dispute with the HCD over credit toward its lower-income housing numbers.

One of the revisions in the current draft is a clarification on illegal garage conversions.

Some had interpreted an earlier incarnation as promoting illegal garage conversions as affordable housing, according to Smith.

However, the wording has been changed to reflect "the city does not endorse illegal garage conversions as a method to create additional dwelling units. However, garage conversions are permitted as a method to increase habitable living space within a single-family residence."

A building permit is required before a garage can be converted into additional living space to avoid potential health and safety impacts. Also, the city mandates a new covered parking space to replace covered parking spaces lost in the conversion

In early 2010, the council is expected to consider the comments and adopt the draft Housing Element. After that action, HCD officials will have 60 days to review the document and give comments.

It ultimately will be certified by the HCD and adopted by the council to be made official.

The Bikeway Master Plan - being updated for the first time since 1992 - is a blueprint for additional bicycle transportation and recreation facilities in the city. It describes improvements to Santa Maria's bikeway network, such as support facilities and an expansion of more than 130 miles of new bike trails.

The new plan promotes bicycle riding in the city, while serving as a starting point for future developments and setting new guidelines and standards, said Brian Halvorson, Community Development Department planner.

The bike plan, good for about 20 years, calls for 139 new miles of proposed bike facilities - 59 miles of bike paths, 64 miles of bike lanes and 16 miles of bike routes. Total cost of the new system is estimated at

$62 million. Included are campaigns to promote and market bike riding to work or school.

This item was delayed at the previous planning meeting to allow city staff time to prepare responses to comment letters on the plan. On Oct. 21, 12 extra comment letters were given to the commissioners after they had received their agenda staff reports.

Approval of the bike plan is scheduled for the Nov. 17 council meeting.

November 3, 2009