Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 21.15.1756 and Section 21.45.600, relating to micro-units, read and adopted as read.  (Citywide)
Great. Thank you. Next. Next hearing is turning 50. I'm sorry. I'm 50. Please. Report from Development Services recommendation to receive supporting documentation under the record, conclude the public hearing and declare an ordinance creating a pilot program to allow up to a maximum of 500 micro unit housing units. Read the first time and later the next regular meeting of City Council for Final Reading Citywide. Oscar Orsi. Development Services Director, will. Introduce the staff for this. Presentation. Thank you, Mayor. Council members. This is a great, exciting opportunity to bring this pilot program to your attention for your review and approval. This is a new housing type that will hopefully be affordable and provide another option to our community. And with that, Patricia will provide you a presentation. Good evening again, Mayor and council members. I'll be very brief for this item. This is a zoning code amendment to allow a micro unit pilot project for up to 500 units. These units would be permitted in the in the eligible area is the midtown area specific plan area and the Downtown Plan Development District. This will help implement the housing element and help us reach our new housing, our main goal of 2600 units that are required by 2029. It implements many different policies of previous studies and reports prepared on housing. It is a pathway to affordable homeownership, these micro units, and they are typically, in terms of rents, they're typically 20 to 30% lower than rent for a studio. So it's a market based, affordable housing solution. This will be a program to allow units and take away some of the barriers that exist towards those units, including open space requirements that are on a per unit basis. It will define what a micro unit is and allow adaptive reuse of michael micro units and but it will prohibit them in buildings that are already developed with residential uses to limit any displacement potential. So there was no outreach done on this ordinance as part of the housing element update process and next steps are to report back to the Council on the Pilot Program and to recommend permanent zoning code changes upon understanding how this is received by prospective developers. So with that, the recommendations are to determine that the zoning code amendment is categorically exempt from secure and to adopt the amendment to establish the micro unit program. That concludes my report and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. There's no public comment. I got a motion and a second, please. I just want to add as we get those motions in, this is something that I remember for sure talking about with then Vice Mayor Susan Lowenthal. It's something that I've always supported. Our Workforce Study Group, Housing Group also put it in their report. This is really exciting. Thank you to the staff. I know I've been pushing you guys on this. Just we got to support all types of new housing. And I think you heard a little bit in the last conversation how important housing is, how important growth is going to be. These are these units are not white picket fence units. They are units that are affordable, that are dense and that have a different type of person that can afford to live there. And so we want to be a city that welcomes and supports all people and all types of folks in these units. And so with that, I have a motion to approve 1/2. But Councilman Sun House and Councilmember Pearce with that roll call, please. District one, district two. I. District three. I. District four. All right. District five. I. District six. District seven. I District eight. Hi. District nine. All right. Motion carries.