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CC - PUBLIC HEARING: (1) Adoption of a Finding of Consistency per the California Environmental Quality Act Demonstrating the Density and Other Bonus Incentives (DOBI) Ordinance is Consistent with the Certified EIR for the Culver City General Plan 2045 and Zoning Code Update Projects; and (2) Introduction of an Ordinance Approving a City-Initiated Zoning Code Amendment (P2024-0306-ZCA) Replacing the Current DOBI Ordinance in its Entirety with a New DOBI Ordinance and Adding New Definitions to the Zoning Code (Project).
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Meeting Date: March 17, 2025
Contact Person/Dept: Jose Mendivil, Associate Planner
Gabriela Silva, Associate Planner
Emily Stadnicki, Current Planning Manager
Phone Number: 310-253-5757 / 310-253-5736 / 310-253-5727
Fiscal Impact: Yes [ ] No [X] General Fund: Yes [ ] No [X]
Attachments: Yes [X] No [ ]
Commission Action Required: Yes [X] No [ ]
Commission Name: Planning Commission Date: February 12, 2025
Public Notification: (Email) Public Notifications - City Council (02/27/2025), Meetings and Agendas - City Council (03/12/2025), Interested Parties (03/12/2025); (Posted) City website (02/27/2025), Social Media (02/28/2025); (Published) Culver City News (02/27/25)
Department Approval: Mark E. Muenzer, Planning and Development Director (2/26/2025) _____________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council
1. Adopt a Finding of Consistency per California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), demonstrating the Density and Other Bonus Incentives (DOBI) ordinance is consistent with the Certified EIR for the Culver City General Plan 2045 and Zoning Code Update Projects; and
2. Introduce a new DOBI ordinance, replacing the current DOBI ordinance in its entirety and adding definitions to the Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC) Title 17 - Zoning, for terms that are in the new DOBI ordinance, as stated in Exhibit A of the draft Ordinance.
PROCEDURES
1. The Mayor seeks a motion to receive and file the affidavit of mailing, publishing, and posting of public notice.
2. The Mayor calls on staff for a brief staff report and the City Council poses questions to staff.
3. The Mayor seeks a motion to open the public hearing and the City Council receives public comment.
4. The Mayor seeks a motion to close the public hearing after all testimony has been presented.
5. The City Council discusses the matter and arrives at its decision.
BACKGROUND
Culver City is facing a housing affordability crisis. Although the City has approximately 538 affordable units (out of 4,201 total units) currently in the housing review pipeline, only 43 income-restricted units have been built since July 2016. Further, the State required Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation is 3,341 additional housing units by 2029, with 2,272 of those units income-restricted. The Culver City Housing Element Preferred Land Use Map provides increased opportunities for residential growth with an estimated 11,500 net new units (about 67% increase) between 2019 and 2045.
The General Plan Housing and Land Use and Community Design Elements identify various programs for the City to implement to encourage housing production. The DOBI Zoning Code Amendment (DOBI ZCA) supports several of these goals and measures as outlined in the Findings section of the draft Ordinance (Attachment 1).
Planning Commission Public Hearing and Recommendation
The proposed DOBI ZCA was presented to the Planning Commission on February 12, 2025. During the public hearing, one attendee commented in support of the item. Following discussion and deliberation, the Planning Commission unanimously adopted Resolution No. 2025-P002 (Attachment 3) recommending Council approval.
Planning Commission also recommended that City Council consider extending the income restriction period for affordable units to 99 years or in perpetuity. The proposed ordinance relies on the time periods in State law, for Low, Extremely Low, Very Low- or Low-Income households, they must be no less than 55 years, and for Moderate-Income households, no less than 45 years. The City's Housing and Human Services Department supports extending income restriction periods.
ANALYSIS
To meet the affordable housing goals outlined in the Housing Element, the City has developed a new Density Bonus Ordinance which improves upon and replaces the current Density Bonus code language.
The new Density Bonus code is generally modeled after the Density Bonus program recently adopted by the City of Los Angeles and includes enhanced local incentives to encourage the production of affordable housing by introducing the following components:
* Tier Density Bonuses
* Community Benefit Density Bonuses
* Additional Concessions
Tier Density Bonuses
The Tier Density Bonus adds an additional percentage, on top of the state density bonus, when projects provide more than the state minimum affordable units. The local tier bonus increases if the project is located in proximity to transit, according to the following schedule:
Table 1. Tier Density Bonus requirements
Tier 1 - State Density Law
Tier 1 is for projects that provide the minimum number of affordable units per State density law. A developer receives a density percentage increase from the base density if they provide a certain percentage of affordable units. See Attachment 6 for the standard State density bonus tables for low, very low, and moderate income levels.
Tiers 2-4 - Local/City Bonus
Projects that provide more than the state minimums are eligible for a range of local bonus levels depending on the location of the project, the percentage of affordable units, and the affordability level. A project can only select one tier, but Community Benefit Bonuses (see below) can be layered on top of the local tier increase.
Below is an example of a Tier 2 Project providing low-income units. The minimum threshold to receive the local bonus is 15%, so when 15% (of base density units) are low income, the project receives the State bonus plus an additional 4% local bonus for a total density bonus of 31.5%.
There are similar calculations for very low and moderate income units with the local bonus always added to the State bonus when a project provides more affordable units than the minimum State requirement (see Attachment 7 for a Summary of Tier Bonuses for Projects at the various income levels).
Table 2. Example of a Tier 2 Project with Low Income Level Units
Tier 2 can be used anywhere in the City. Tier 3 is for projects in High Quality Transit Corridors and Tier 4 is for projects in Culver City's Transit Priority Areas; see Attachment 5 for a map illustrating the various eligibility areas.
Community Benefit Density Bonuses
Community Benefit Density Bonuses incentivize Tier 2-4 projects to provide affordable units for larger families, workforce housing, and community amenities (such as childcare facilities or public open space) by providing additional density that can be layered on top of each other and the Tier Bonus system, as follows:
Table 3. Community Benefit Density Bonuses
Additional Concessions
A concession is a reduction or modification of City development standard, like height or parking, that results in identifiable cost reductions for a project, as required by State Density law. The new Density Bonus ordinance allows for eligible projects to request additional concessions above and beyond the State concessions:
* Tier 2-4 projects may receive one additional concession.
* 100 percent affordable projects receive two additional concessions.
Concessions related to height are restricted to the following:
* Tier 1 eligible projects may have a maximum height increase of 11 feet.
* Tier 2-4 eligible projects may have a maximum height increase of 22 feet.
* 100 percent affordable projects may have a maximum height increase of 33 feet.
Waivers
A waiver is an exemption from specific requirements that would physically prevent a project from being built as designed. Per State law, a City can't limit the number of waivers, but a City can require the developer demonstrate that the waiver is necessary to make the project physically feasible, as DOBI proposes. Further, if a developer requests five or more waivers, the project must go before the Planning Commission as a public hearing.
See Appendix A of Attachment 8 for examples illustrating how the new Density Bonuses will impact an array of projects.
New Definitions
There are three terms in the new ordinance that are currently not defined in Zoning Code: Applicant, Base Density, and Development Standard. These will be added to Title 17 and the definition language is at the end of Exhibit A of the draft Ordinance (Attachment 1).
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION
A Finding of Consistency (FOC) has been prepared pursuant to the applicable provisions of CEQA Guidelines Section 15183 (Attachment 2). The FOC compares the impacts of the revised DOBI to those identified in the Final Program Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the General Plan and Zoning Code Update certified on August 26, 2024 (SCH #2022030144). The FOC analysis demonstrates that the Proposed Project is consistent with the Culver City General Plan and with the Certified EIR.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The City has actively engaged the community as part of the process for updating the Density Bonus Ordinance. The project team attended Fiesta La Ballona in August 2023 and talked to over 100 community members; that weekend staff also distributed a survey to gauge local opinions about housing affordability and incentives, ultimately receiving 133 responses. The feedback gathered from these interactions was crucial in shaping the proposed ordinance.
In Fall 2023, the City and their consultants conducted several public outreach events in conjunction with the General Plan Update, including community open houses at El Rincon Elementary School, the Veterans Memorial Building, and a virtual open house via Zoom. Staff and their consultants presented the current affordable housing incentives and proposed updates. Attendees participated in Q&A sessions and one-on-one discussions, which allowed for in-depth engagement and feedback on the ordinance update.
On November 27, 2024, a preliminary draft of the ordinance was emailed to local developers for comment. The City received four responses in support of the draft ordinance with one response expressing concern that using the tiering system could result in a lower percentage of affordable units versus the State density percentages. To resolve this issue, staff increased the percentages of additional required affordable units and decreased the percentages of the local bonuses.
Planning Commission Workshop
In March 2024, staff presented the results of community engagement and initial elements of the ordinance to the Planning Commission for discussion. The Commission universally supported expanding community benefits and density bonuses, awarding greater density bonuses based on project's proximity to transit, and expressed a desire for Culver City to offer competitive benefits.
The Commission agreed upon the need for clearer definitions of concessions and bonuses, streamlined approval processes, and layering incentives to boost housing production. Public comments highlighted the high cost of development and the potential benefits of increased density incentives.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Community Benefit Bonuses and Tier Density Bonuses have no anticipated fiscal impact to the City.
CONCLUSION
The proposed amendment will increase the potential to meet the City's Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) number as outlined in the City's certified Housing Element. Overall, the proposed amendment will streamline development, comply with recent changes to State law, clarify Density Bonus procedures and processes, encourage greater provision of affordable units within market rate developments, and expand eligibility for housing bonuses. The FOC analysis demonstrates that the proposed amendment is consistent with the Culver City General Plan and it's Certified EIR.
Based on the analysis contained herein staff proposes the findings for the Zoning Code Amendment as outlined in draft Ordinance (Attachment 1) can be made and recommends the City Council introduce the ordinance that will replace City's current Density Bonus code language in its entirety.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Proposed City Council Ordinance (P2024-0306-ZCA) with Exhibit A: New DOBI Ordinance
2. CEQA Finding of Consistency
3. Planning Commission Resolution No. 2025-P002 with Exhibit A
4. February 12, 2025, Planning Commission Staff Report (without attachments)
5. Tier Density Bonus Eligibility Map
6. State Density Bonus Tables
7. Summary of Tier 1-4 Bonuses for Projects at Various Income Levels
8. Guide to the Culver City Affordable Housing Density Bonuses - with the following Appendices:
Appendix A. Example Projects
Appendix B. Visual Aids to Help Determine Unit Calculations
Appendix C. Graphs to Aid Tier Density Bonus Calculations
Appendix C. Graphs to Aid Tier Density Bonus Calculations
MOTION(S)
That the City Council:
1. Adopt a Finding of Consistency report demonstrating the DOBI ordinance is consistent with the Certified EIR for the Final Culver City General Plan 2045 and Zoning Code Update (Attachment 2); and
2. Approve and Introduce a new DOBI ordinance, replacing the current DOBI ordinance in its entirety and add definitions to CCMC Title 17 - Zoning for terms that are in the new DOBI ordinance, as stated in Exhibit A of the draft Ordinance (Attachment 1).