LAFAYETTE — The fate of a 315-unit housing plan known as the Terraces of Lafayette has been postponed — again — to May 18 because city officials say they need more time to complete the staff report on the project.
According to the city website, an addendum and staff report by the city’s consultant on the Terraces and staff will be available on the website May 4.
The Terraces project was first scheduled to be heard before the planning commission April 6, then on April 27.
The Terraces has been the subject of 20 public hearings since it was first proposed in March 2011. But a new housing law, Senate Bill 330 by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Oakland, limits the number of public hearings to five for new applications.
The Terraces apartment plan was revived soon after Lafayette voters in June 2018 rejected Measure L, which would have allowed the developer to build 44 houses instead of apartments on 22 acres off Deer Hill and Pleasant Hill roads.
Because a hearing on the revived housing plan was held in January, four more hearings is the most that can be scheduled before the planning commission makes a decision, according to Robert Hodil, an attorney hired by the city as a consultant on the Terraces project.
At a Feb. 24 City Council meeting, Hodil cited Senate Bill 330 as a guide. Dubbed the “Housing Crisis Act of 2019,” the bill bans housing construction moratoriums and density reductions. It allows affordable and rent-controlled housing to be razed only if they are replaced.
“We are disappointed that the next hearing has been continued again, and there are probably many reasons for the delay,” said Bryan Wenter, attorney for developer O’Brien Land Co. “If that date holds, as we expect, it will have been nearly two years since the apartment project resumed for it to get to a hearing on the merits. We look forward to presenting the project and getting the city’s final decision.”
Wenter has said planning commission approval of the project cannot be appealed by a ballot referendum because the company is only seeking a use permit for the Terraces.
In another matter, Lafayette Mayor Mike Anderson wrote Gov. Gavin Newsom to suspend certain state-required planning and development deadlines because of the city’s public hearings have to be held remotely out of coronavirus concerns.
In his April 14 letter, Anderson cited the inefficiency of teleconference-based public hearings and said Lafayette has a “great tradition of public participation in consideration of planning and development issues.”
Anderson said the ability for residents to express their feelings to the City Council or Planning Commission is “highly desired and essential.”
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