| | Published March 18th, 2009
| Moraga Hires a Consultant to Help File its Housing Element
| | By Sophie Braccini | | |
Like all other California jurisdictions Moraga has to file, in the coming months, a plan showing how its buildable land will be zoned to accommodate the development of low and moderate income housing. Failure to comply with the State requirements could mean the loss of an annual allocation from the Transportation Agency; about $250,000 for Moraga, per year.
The deadline for filing the report is the end of June and at the March 11 Council meeting, town staff recommended hiring Baird and Driskell Consultants to help in the process.
"The Town lost many employees that have not been replaced and our current development projects are still taking a lot of time," said Planning Director Lori Salamack. At this time, she is working on two major development projects with the help of only one part-time assistant. "We want to file our housing element as close as possible to the June deadline," said Mayor David Trotter. All the other Council Members agreed and voted unanimously to approve the contract.
The contract cost of $67,000 includes discussion with the State agency that manages the process, public sessions, and the responses to both public and agency questions.
Salamack believes that this expense will save money on the development of the Moraga Center Specific Plan. The Planning Commission is expected to start working on this assignment in April. Salamack is working on a schedule that will allow multiple opportunities for public comment.
|
| |
| | | |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA