On Tuesday, Sept. 24, the Rocklin City Council discussed a recommendation from staff to adopt a resolution of intent to place up to 203.90 acres of land in the City of Rocklin under consideration to be added to the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Available Sites Inventory. This would include subsequent General Plan amendments and rezoning of the identified parcels to High Density Residential or Mixed Use.

The Sites Inventory is part of California Housing Element requirements and both cities and counties must maintain adequate acreage, or else face potentially serious state sanctions.

The list of parcels was largely recommended by the City’s RHNA Ad-Hoc Committee, a group made up of two Councilmembers, two Planning Commissioners, local affordable housing developers, building experts and citizens, that met regularly over an eight-month period to analyze and recommend the most suitable sites.

The Council expressed admiration for the work done by the RHNA Ad-Hoc Committee and stressed the importance of maintaining and updating this portion of Rocklin’s Housing Element. The next formal update to the City’s Housing Element will be due in 2021.

The Council also shared concerns with specific sites on the list, removing three from consideration, and directed staff to further research what other strategies may be available to address the RHNA site inventory requirements. Exploring options for encouraging the construction of accessory dwelling units and placing overlay zones on certain areas of the City to increase development options were two specific issues Council requested more information on.

The Council also wished to provide additional opportunities for land and businesses owners that would be affected by the changes to learn more about the proposed updates and provide additional feedback. Future discussions regarding these items have not yet been scheduled.

Please use this link to find more information on the RHNA item from Sept. 24 meeting.