The City of Menlo Park received a long-awaited letter today (12/20/23) from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) letting us know that we have received conditional approval of our 2023-2031 Housing Element. The letter goes on to state that, "HCD is pleased to find the revised draft housing element, including minor edits, meets the statutory requirements described in its August 29, 2023 review. The housing element will substantially comply with State Housing Element Law (Gov. Code, § 65580 et seq.) when it is adopted, submitted to, and approved by HCD, in accordance with Government Code section 65585."
In the few hours since the City announced this good news, I have already received the same question from multiple residents:
"Does this mean that the Builder's Remedy projects, that have been submitted, won't happen?"
Here is my understanding of the situation vis-à-vis state law, and in particular the Housing Accountability Act: A preliminary application relates back to the date it was submitted. It is the standards in place on that submission date that apply to the project going forward. For 80 Willow Road (the former Sunset Magazine site), the preliminary application was submitted before the Housing Element was certified and it may be entitled to the standards in place as of that time.
As I've mentioned, there are a lot of unknowns at this point and a lot of process that has yet to play out. I will continue to keep you posted.
For now, it's a very good thing that we have a (conditionally) approved Housing Element. I am grateful to our City Staff for getting this over the finish line.
