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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 61 ORDINANCE NO. 61 AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA PLACING A MORATORIUM ON CONDOMINIUM AND OTHER COMMUNITY HOUSING CONVERSIONS FROM RENTAL HOUSING IN SAID CITY PENDING ADOPTION OF PERMANENT COMMUNITY HOUSING CONVERSION~ REGULATIONS RE.CITALS: 1. At the present time there is very little multiple rental housing still available in this City. There have been in the past, and presently are now pending, one or more appli- cations to convert existing apartment and other multiple rental housing to condominiums, and this City has at present no regulations specifically governing such conversions, either as to criteria to be satisfied prior to permitting such conversions in the first instance, or relating to the standards which must be met by such living units upon such conversion. 2. The 1974 SaratogalGeneral Plan has a housing element therein, and Government Cq~@~Sec~Q~ 65302(c) provides, part, that such housing~lemeh~h~ll~de~t'e~_b~i~ion <~'~ffousing needs of ~ir~c segme~f'~e ~c~n~unity. At~re"~t there is a disproportion between.condominium and other community housing units on the one hand, and multiple rental housing units on the other and it is essential to have permanent regulations to insure a reasonable balance of both rental and ownership housing in this City and to insure a variety of individual choices of tenure, type, price and location of housing, and to maintain the supply of rental housing at a reasonable level and to reduce and avoid the displacement.of long-term residents, particularly-senior citizens and families with school-age children who may be required to move from the community due to a shortage of replacement rental housing~= Criteria must be developed to establish and maintain such balance, and must be done prior to permitting any further conversions in this City. 3. The unique status of condominium and community apartment projects magnifie~ the effects associated with higher urban densities to the point where they may lead tO conditions of mismanagement~ neglect and blight and impact upon the public health, safety, welfare and economic prosperity of this City. In addition, .once criteria permitting conversion has been satisfied, additional criteria is essential in rela- tion to the physical conditions of each living unit offered for purchase, including, without limitation, utilities, fire protection, including roofing and fire wall requirements between units, unit access, off-street parking requirements, adequacy of provisions to care for and pay for common areas, noise insulation, joint or Separate metering of gas, electric, water and other utilities, structural safeness, structural history and structural life expectancy and other matters that can best be handled byethe requirement of a conditional ~ermit for each such conversion, none of which provisions are presently covered by any precise regulations at this time. -1- 4.' By reason of the lack of permanent regulations and criteria as hereinabove set forth, and by reason of the fact that at the present time there are one or more applica- tions for conversion from multiple rental housing to con- dominium and/or other community housing projects which, if permitted prior to the applicability of permanent regulations concerning the same, will dilute the rental housing market f~rther in this City, and indrease the already disproportionate balance between rental housihg and residential condominium and community apartment projects, and by reason thereof it is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and/or safety that such conversions be prohibited until such time as permanentSregulations have been adopted covering the same, ~ NOW, THEREFORE, as an interim urgency and emergency measure pursuant to Government Code Section 36937(b) of this City, and to the police power of this City, and without limiting the foregoing, in order to protect the public safety, health and welfare, the City Council of the City of Saratoga does hereby ordain as follows: Section 1: "Community Housing" as used herein shall mean and include a con8ominium project as defined in Section 1350 of the Civil Code, containing two or more con- dominiums; a community apartment project as defined in Section 11004 of the Business & Professions Code, containing two or more rightsclof exclusive occupancy; and a stock cooper- ative, as defined in Section 11003.2 of the Business & Professions Code, containingltwo or more rightsiof exclusive dcc~pahcy. .S_ection 2: For the period of time as hereinafter set forth, no conversion of existing multiple-family rental housing units to residential community housing shall be permitted in the City of Saratoga, and no application for approval of a tentative or p~rcel map for such conversion shall be filed, nor shall any pending application for approval of a tentative or parcel map for such a conversion be approved by the Planning Commission or bythe City Council on appeal. During the effective term of. this Ordinance (or as the same may hereafter be extended), any End all such pending applications shall be denied, without prejudice to reapplying without the payment of any additional fees there~'for~'i~aid at such-time as permanent regulations governing su~'h c~n~e~ions have ' been adopted by this City. : Section 3: This Ordinance is hereby declared to be an urgency and emergency measure adopted for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, and shall be effective immediately upon its passage. All of the preambles and recitals to this Ordinance are hereby referred to and incorporated into .this section by reference, and shall constitute a statement of the facts constituting such urgency. This Ordinance! shall be and remain in full force and effect for a period of ~0ur months from the date of its adoption or until the sooner adoption of permanent regulations governing the conversion of existing multiple-family rental housing to residential community housing. -2- This Ordinance was introduced as an urgency and emergency measure, and was hereafter passed and adopted at the regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Saratoga on the 21stday of . October , 1975, by the following vote, which vote c~nstitutes no less than a four-fifths vote of the entire City Council of the City of Saratoga: AYES: Councilman Kraus, Brighlm, Corr, Matteoni NOES: None z (/~~ ~'~~~ ,,~ ABSENT: Councilman Bri. dges ~ / The above -3-