Dear City Council,

YIMBY Law is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, whose mission is to increase the accessibility and affordability of housing in California. YIMBY Law sues municipalities when they fail to comply with state housing laws, including the Housing Accountability Act (HAA). American Canyon and its agencies maintain ongoing obligations to abide by all relevant state housing laws when evaluating this proposal, including the HAA.

Before this Council is a proposal for 100 townhomes. The Planning Commission recommended approval of the tentative subdivision map, and the parcel already permits multifamily residential housing. This has been approved for multifamily rental. However, the final development including units for sale requires approvals both from City officials for construction and California’s Department of Real Estate for sale of condominium units.

American Canyon’s inclusionary ordinance requires different percentages of affordable units for rental as opposed to for sale properties. 19.28.040(A)(1)-(2). The Housing Agreement that would keep these units affordable requires specific information about the size, location, and layout details, as a condition of any discretionary permits. 19.28.070(F). However, DRE approval occurs afterwards, a process which could require changes to unit criteria as specified for the Housing Agreement. Therefore, there is a risk that DRE requires changes to designs in the condominium map, retroactively invalidating criteria relied on for the Housing Agreement, changing the affordable unit percentages.

The project applicants would like to proceed in compliance with city policies, but this procedural timeline presents a contradiction. As units are required to be salable before building permits are issued, DRE approval (which is procedural but not a building permit) could interfere with this process. The applicants cannot obtain a certificate of occupancy and may be unable to as the process evolves. Therefore, we suggest that the final map approval should be a condition for the Certificate of Occupancy rather than a prerequisite for the building permit. This will preserve the City’s need for safety and appropriateness without creating the potential for later roadblocks.

The applicants are willing to engage with the City on this question. We join in their reasonable attempt to ensure that the project is both legally compliant and salable.

Sonja Trauss
Executive Director
YIMBY Law