Room Enough: OVERALL METHODOLOGY

GOAL: To guarantee the development of a defendable, workable County General Plan that accommodates the housing and development needs of residents while protecting the area's resources, particularly agricultural land.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES:

• Legal lots of record may be developed according to existing zoning, but not subdivided;
• Incorporated areas should intensify land use;
• Vacant lands in spheres of influence should be developed prior to the development of non-contiguous land;
• Accept that projects already in the development pipeline will be approved;
• Accept the AMBAG population forecast to the year 2020.

TASKS UNDERTAKEN:

1. For County Unincorporated Areas:

• Identify vacant, legal lots of record in the unincorporated area that are deemed to be residential.
  
  
  • Using County Assessor records.
    
    
• Identify the zoning associated with the vacant, legal lots.
  
  
  • Using the County's plans and zoning ordinances and maps.
    
    
• Determine the number of dwelling units that could be built upon each vacant lot identified without subdivision.
  
  
  • County ordinances permit multiple units to be built upon one lot without subdivision; typically a Use Permit or administrative approval is all that is required.
    
    
• Identify residential development projects in the County's pipeline and the number of dwelling units that will be built upon final approval.
  
  
  • Use the Planning and Building Department's internal data back 10 years.

2. For the Cities:

• Identify the residential vacant legal lots of record within the incorporated areas;
  
  
  • Utilize the County Assessor file and current zoning ordinances for each City to determine legality;
    
    
• Calculate the number of dwelling units that could be built upon the vacant lots.
  
  
  • For the Peninsula cities, utilize the Water Management District's figures;
    
    
  • For non-Peninsula cities, use their existing zoning designations.
    
    
• Determine the boundaries of city Spheres of Influence (SOI) as defined by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) and modified by LandWatch Monterey County.
  
  
• Identify the vacant legal lots in the SOI and apply a density of 11.75 units per acre to each lot.
  
  
  • Based upon City of Salinas Medium Density Residential classification;
    
    
  • Density should reflect best planning practices that provide ratios for dwelling units to streets to businesses, schools, etc. For this study, the City of Monterey's ratio of 70% was used; this means that 70% of the acreage in the SOI was calculated for development rather than the full 100%.

3. For Fort Ord:

• Identify the number of new dwelling units that can be built under FORA's 2014 Plan;
  
  
• Identify the number of existing units slated for rehabilitation acknowledged under the 2014 Plan.

4. Determine the number of dwelling units that are likely to be created through projects currently in the pipeline at both the city and county levels.

• County Planning staff provided a report of projects from their permitting database that are considered to be in their pipeline;
  
  
• City staffs were contacted by telephone and with visits to determine their list of pipeline projects.

5. For both areas:

• Extrapolate the number of dwelling units required through 2020 from AMBAG's projected population forecast, using the existing countywide average figure of 3.14 persons per household.
  
  
  • Point out that actual household densities have a higher and lower range in various cities as determined by the 2000 Census.
    
    
• Match the number of potential dwelling units found in Steps 1, 2, and 3 to the housing requirements extrapolated and determine whether sufficient units have been found.