Planning Commission Agenda and Packet 2024 04 11

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WClty0f Planning Commission Louisville Staff Report COLORADO • SINCE 187S April 11, 2024 ITEM: Housing Plan Draft Review STAFF: Jeff Hirt, AICP, Planning Manager Rob Zuccaro, AICP, Community Development Director PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to share the draft Housing Plan ("Plan") with Planning Commission and solicit input prior to City Council's consideration of the Plan in May for adoption. While not required for this type of policy document, the Commission may consider a motion supporting adoption of the plan as drafted, or with potential conditions or amendments to the Plan. Planning Commission last discussed the Plan in November 2023 to provide input on a draft Plan framework that informed this draft. Attachment 1 includes the full draft plan and its appendices. The topics the Plan covers are wide ranging, but include several topics within Planning Commission's purview including potential zoning code changes. BACKGROUND: In 2021, the City of Louisville was awarded a grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to develop the City's first Housing Plan ("Plan"). The Plan is an important step for the City to address housing affordability and choice in Louisville and aligns with advancing numerous City policies around environmental, social, and economic sustainability. City staff temporally paused the project until mid-2023 to address the urgent needs from the Marshall Fire recovery. The firm EcoNorthwest prepared the Plan with City staff oversight. EcoNorthwest is nationally known as specializing in housing plans and is currently working with the Denver Regional Council of Governments to prepare a Regional Housing Needs Assessment. The core components of the Plan in Attachment 1 include: 1. Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) — Attachment 1 includes the full HNA as an appendix. The findings are summarized in the main body of the Plan — first at a very high level in Part 1: Introduction and subsequently in Part 2: Housing Needs and Market Assessment. The findings act as the foundation for the Plan's goals, strategies, and actions and quantify the growing housing affordability challenges in Louisville. 2. Housing Goals: The Plan sets forth three housing goals for the City that include increasing residential development, expanding access to affordable housing, and diversifying the city's housing stock. The goals act as a foundation for the Plan's strategies and actions and can have broad applicability supporting City decision making related to housing in the future. 3. Housing Strategies and Actions: The Plan sets forth three housing strategies for the City with 13 action items tied to the strategies. The action items include several factors to support prioritization including potential impact on housing production, level of 15