2021-2029 HOUSING ELEMENT
The City of Oxnard’s Amended Housing Element was adopted by the Oxnard City Council on October 4, 2022 and certified by the State of California, Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on October 25, 2022. A copy of the Certification letter may be viewed here.
The City’s Adopted Amended 2021-2029 Housing Element can be downloaded here. City of Oxnard Adopted Amended 2021-2029 Housing Element (October 2022).
GENERAL BACKGROUND
What is the Housing Element?
The Housing Element is a State-mandated policy document within the Oxnard General Plan that provides direction for the implementation of various programs to meet existing and projected future housing needs for all income levels. The Housing Element provides policies, programs, and actions that accommodate growth, produce opportunities for the development of new housing units, preserve existing housing stock, and assist the existing population.
To comply with State law, the City’s Housing Element is required to be updated every 8-years to ensure the city’s policies and programs can accommodate estimated housing growth needs identified in the Southern California Association of Government’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA).
City of Oxnard 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Amended Housing Element
The 2021-2029 Amended Housing Element was adopted as an amendment to the 2030 General Plan to replace the prior 2013-2021 5th Cycle Housing Element. The City Council adopted the Housing Element in October 2021, and then again in October 2022 after staff revisions to the document to address HCD’s comments and additional community input. Revisions between October 2021 and October 2022 are summarized in the following table. As part of the October 2021 City Council approval of the Final Housing Element, the Council also approved General Plan and Zoning Map Amendments to change land use designation on 13 parcels and the zoning designation on 106 parcels (https://arcg.is/HmSS1) to be consistent with Supplement 1 of the Final Housing Element and five (5) zoning ordinances to facilitate construction of housing units as stipulated in the October 2021 Final Housing Element.
The Five ordinances amend Chapter 16 of the Oxnard City Code to implement policy approaches in the Final 6th Cycle 2021-2029 Housing Element. The Ordinances were introduced on October 5, 2021, adopted on October 19, 2021, and became effective on November 18, 2021. A summary of these Ordinances is as follows:
Ordinance No. 2999 – An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Oxnard to Repeal the All-affordable Housing Opportunity Program (AAHOP) and replace these regulations with newly created Affordable Housing, Permitted (-AHP) and Affordable Housing, Discretionary (-AHD) Additive Zone Definitions, Designations and Regulations in OCC Chapter 16, Article VII, Section sections 16-420A through 16-420K. The ordinance provides zoning designations and objective standards for the development of affordable multifamily housing at 30 dwelling units with 20% lower income units per acre on parcels identified as AHP and AHD;
Ordinance No. 3000 – An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Oxnard amending the General Commercial zone permitted and related uses to allow up to 30 dwelling units per acre on parcels identified as AHP or AHD in OCC Chapter 16, Article III, Section 16-135 (Uses Permitted) and 16-136 (Related Uses); and
Ordinance No. 3001 – An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Oxnard amending the Business and Research Park (BRP) zone permitted and related uses to allow up to 30 dwelling units per acre on parcels identified as AHP or AHD in OCC Chapter 16, Article III, Section 16-162 (Non-Industrial Use) and 16-163 (Industrial Land Uses by Zone: Industrial Land Use Matrix); and
Ordinance No. 3002 – An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Oxnard amending the Density Bonus ordinance approval authority and appeal provision in OCC Chapter 16, Article IV, Section 16-410B (Definitions), 16-410F (Content of Application), and 16-410R (Determination on Density Bonus and Affordable Housing Incentive Program Requests). The amendment will allow Density Bonus permit approval by the approval authority authorized to approve the associated discretionary or ministerial permit approval for the underlying development permit; and
Ordinance No. 3003 – An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Oxnard creating a ministerial Site Plan Review (SPR) process to implement the 2021-2029 Housing Element. To comply with State law, the proposed ordinance provides a process for conducting a ministerial (non-discretionary) review of by-right development in OCC Chapter 16, Article VII, Section sections 16-523 through 16-523.12.
Environmental Document for Housing Element Update:
The City of Oxnard prepared and certified an Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND No. 2021-01) for the City of Oxnard 2021 – 2029 Housing Elemen pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) You can access the full Final IS/MND by clicking here.
REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT (RHNA)
The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) is mandated by State Housing Law as part of the periodic process of updating local housing elements of the General Plan. The RHNA quantifies the need for housing within each jurisdiction during specified planning periods. SCAG developed the 6th cycle RHNA allocation plan to cover the planning period October 2021 through October 2029.
- SCAG 2021-2029 RHNA Allocations (3/4/21) (pdf)
HOUSING ELEMENT TEAM
The 2021-2029 Housing Element Update team in composed of:
- Ashley Golden, Assistant City Manager
- Kathleen Mallory, Planning and Sustainability Manager
- Emilio Ramirez, Director, Housing Department
- Placeworks, Inc.
- Rincon Consultants, Inc.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS, PRESENTATIONS, AND STAFF REPORTS
- 2013-2021 Mid-Cycle Housing Element
- 2019 Annual Progress Report (APR)
- 2021-2029 Draft Housing Element (updated May 14, 2021)
- 2020 Annual Progress Report (APR)
- July 13, 2021 HCD Findings Letter
- 2021-2029 Draft Housing Element (Updated August 12, 2021)
- 2021-2029 Final Housing Element (Updated October 5, 2021)
- January 10, 2022 HCD Findings Letter
- 2021-2029 Conceptual Draft Amended Housing Element (Updated May 5, 2022)
- Letter from City of Oxnard to HCD, May 13, 2022
- Letter from City of Oxnard to HCD, June 28, 2022
- Conditional Certification Letter from HCD, July 11, 2022
- 2021-2029 Draft Amended Housing Element (July 2022)
- Summary of changes made to the October 2021 Adopted Housing Element
- Amended Housing Element (Adopted October 4, 2022)
- Final Transmittal letter to HCD (October 5, 2022)
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Over an approximately 2.5 year period, the City conducted extensive outreach for public input and collaboration. Beginning in early 2020, the City developed a stakeholder list of affordable housing advocates, realtors, developers, architects, and interested parties; this represented approximately 90 interested parties. This group received notification of Housing Element update meetings and opportunities for participation. The City met with these stakeholders throughout the update process. Staff met monthly with the HouseFarmworker organization, conducted individual meetings with housing advocates and developers, conducted virtual community workshops on the Housing Element, distributed development interest letters and surveys, and presented the Housing Element to the Planning Commission, City Committee, and City Council a number of times. Input from these meetings was incorporated into the adopted Housing Element. Meeting documents and videos are provided below.
- August 12, 2020 House Farm Workers PPT (Spanish PPT)
- September 8, 2020 Housing and Economic Development Committee public meeting on the Draft Housing Element
- September 16, 2020 Ventura County Coastal Association of REALTORS
- October 6, 2020 City Council public meeting on new programs in the Draft Housing Element
- October 22, 2020 Public Workshop on proposed sites
- November 16, 2020 meeting with housing advocates on lower income housing sites
- March 9, 2021 Community Services, Pubic Safety, Housing & Development Committee public meeting on the Draft Housing Element
- March 24, 2021 Public Workshop on the Draft Housing Element
- April 1, 2021 Planning Commission public meeting on the Draft Housing Element and Staff Report (PDF)
- April 13, 2021 Community Services, Public Safety, Housing & Development Committee meeting on the Draft Housing Element
- April 29, 2021 City Council public meeting on Draft Housing Element
- July 27, 2021 Community Services, Public Safety, Housing & Development Committee meeting on the Draft Housing Element and Update on 6th Cycle Housing Element
- August 18, 2021 Public Workshop on Final Housing Element
- September 2, 2021 Planning Commission Hearing on Final Housing Element:
- September 16, 2021 Planning Commission Hearing on Final Housing Element:
- October 5, 2021 City Council Hearing on Final Housing Element
- September 15, 2022 Planning Commission Hearing on Amended Housing Element
- October 4, 2022 City Council Hearing on Amended Housing Element
LINKS TO RELATED WEBSITES
CA Department of Housing and Community Development
Southern California Association of Governments