Policy Projects

The City’s Development Impact Fee Ordinance was adopted in 2014. As required by the Mitigation Fee Act, all cities who have adopted such an Ordinance must update it’s nexus studies every eight years. Nexus studies are required to justify the fees, demonstrating the link between the development and the need for public facilities. These studies must identify existing levels of service, potential impacts, and how the fees will address those impacts.

On July 15th, 2025, the City contracted Economic and Planning Systems, Inc to begin work on this project that will take about a year and a half.

For further information, please contact Miroo Desai, Planning Manager.

The City originally adopted its Affordable Housing Set-Aside (AHSA) Ordinance in 1990 to address a shortage of affordable housing available to moderate, low, and very low-income households. In 2014, the AHSA ordinance was revised and renamed the Affordable Housing Program (AHP).

The AHP Ordinance covers both for-sale and rental housing projects. It requires a set-aside of Below Market Rate (BMR) units in new ownership housing developments of 10 or more units and an impact fee on all new rental housing projects or in-lieu BMR unit production. In addition, the Planning Regulations include a “Development Bonus Program” which increases allowable height, Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and/or density in exchange for affordable housing units and community benefits. The program was in part designed to counter the “Palmer Decision” (Palmer/Sixth Street Properties, L.P. v. City of Los Angeles, 2009) that prevented cities from mandating affordable housing in new rental projects.

Assembly Bill 1505 (AB1505) passed in 2017 in response to the Palmer Decision which restored local governments’ ability to require developers to include affordable rental units in their projects. The City is now allowed to revise the AHP by adopting inclusionary housing requirements for rental developments under the authority granted by AB 1505, also known as the “Palmer Fix”.

On July 15th, 2025, the City contracted with Economic and Planning Systems, Inc to conduct this study in conjunction with the update of the Development Impact Fee. This work is expected to take a year and a half to complete.

For further information, please contact Miroo Desai, Planning Manager.