17.40.080 Housing.
A. Residential uses in the Marina Coastal Zone are limited to the area east of Highway 1, adjacent to the vernal ponds. Residential densities of four to eight dwelling units to the acre are proposed. Since public purchase of all the vernal ponds, their wetlands and their protective setbacks (at least one hundred feet) is unlikely, the LCLUP provides that residential uses in this area be clustered on portions of sites which would least affect the wetlands and would protect other environmentally sensitive or visually significant attributes of the sites, as described in the LCLUP.
1. Clustering would also provide economies of construction which would encourage moderately priced, energy-saving housing.
2. The city is currently in the process of approving and submitting to the state its housing element. This element includes a locally recognized fair-share obligation and an action program committing the city to housing programs which will enable them to achieve their regional fair-share obligation.1
3. The housing element applies to the entire city. So the action programs requiring dispersal of housing by value, rehabilitation, conservation of lower income housing will apply to the Coastal Zone as well as the rest of the city.
4. Because of the small number anticipated in the Coastal Zone (about one hundred), the overall lower density required to protect environmentally sensitive areas, and the need to dedicate environmentally sensitive areas and support areas, no special housing regulations are necessary beyond those in the city’s certified housing element.
B. Condominiums and Stock Cooperatives.
1. There are no existing multiple-family residential structures in the Marina Coastal Zone. Therefore the issue of conversion of lesser cost rentals and possibly substandard units to condominiums and/or stock cooperatives does not presently exist.
2. New construction in R-1 zones as modified by the city’s condominium guidelines could include townhouse construction (common wall), zero lot line options and other types of clustering. Condominiums are possible, but they would have to meet the standards of the city’s condominium guidelines. Clustering of various types would allow the double advantage of reducing the construction cost per unit and protecting the sensitive environment. No additional regulation appears necessary. (Ord. 2020-07 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2007-11 § 3 (Exh. A), 2007)
1The State Housing Element Guidelines require each jurisdiction to have a housing element which distributes the regional low and very low income housing need proportionately to all jurisdictions within the region (fair-share). The guidelines go on to require that each jurisdiction develop a program to achieve construction of their fair-share of the regional need for affordable units within an established time frame. Currently, over forty percent of Marina’s housing is affordable to low income households and over one-third of the city’s population is qualified for this type of housing.