Inclusive Lafayette - General Plan

GENERAL PLAN UPDATE HOMEPAGE

This page is for everything related to the General Plan. Lafayette is committed to promoting affordable, sustainable multi-family housing and climate-friendly infrastructure throughout our city's general plan update.

In November of 2020, Lafayette began the process of updating its general plan, the equivalent of a city's constitution. As part of its general plan, Lafayette must plan for at least 2,114 units of new housing between January 2023 and 2031. The city must plan for housing because of the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, colloquially called RHNA, a state law that requires cities to update their housing elements every eight years to accommodate new housing development.

Housing elements are documents that govern all housing-related laws within a city. Every city in California is required to have a housing element. Over the 5th RHNA cycle, lasting from 2015-2023, Lafayette was required to plan for 400 units in its housing element. Lafayette is currently updating its housing element in preparation for the 6th RHNA cycle, which will begin January 2023.

This homepage has (inconsistent) updates on everything Inclusive Lafayette does related to housing elements and the city's general plan.

MARCH 8, 2022 UPDATE: Improving Lafayette's Draft Housing Element

After more than a year of deliberation, Lafayette's General Plan Action Committee has completed a first draft of every part of the housing element. A lot has changed over the past 12+ months. The city council essentially took up-zoning for new housing in single-family neighborhoods off the table; "semi-rural" has been reaffirmed in the new mission statement. Since February 13 of last year, when Inclusive Lafayette shared its first priorities for the housing element, the city council has rejected large parts of Inclusive Lafayette's policy platform. In response, we have had to identify new strategies for promoting affordable multi-family housing.

Therefore, Inclusive Lafayette sent the city a letter on March 8, 2022 describing specific ways we think the draft housing element can be improved. Inclusive Lafayette's prior letters focus on the benefits density can provide and the support for growth within the community. This letter focuses primarily on the legal justifications to plan for affordable housing. Cities that fail to create adequate housing plans risk fines and, in the worst cases, complete loss of local control over zoning laws. We want to ensure that Lafayette maintains as much local control as possible, and that the city uses that control responsibly to plan for multi-family housing.

FEBRUARY 13, 2021: Inclusive Lafayette's General Plan Platform

This page is for everything related to the General Plan. On February 11, 2021, Inclusive Lafayette released the core planks of our platform for Lafayette's housing element. Creating an inclusive community requires changing our laws, and the General Plan is like a city's constitution. Look under our "Get Informed" page to learn more about the General Plan.

You can sign our platform letter here!

(And you can see the full letter here if the pdf is not showing up below.)

Not into reading? Enjoy a shorter presentation summarizing our General Plan priorities.

(You can see the full presentation here if it is not showing up.)

GP Platform

If you enjoy deep dives, check out our recommendations for areas Lafayette should consider upzoning. Dispersing multi-family housing throughout the town will be necessary to address segregation in our community.

Prospective Areas Outside of Lafayette’s Downtown Corridor to Up-zone for Multi-Family Affordable Housing