Novato board backs code changes for shelters, care centers
The Novato Planning Commission has endorsed changes to city zoning codes regulating emergency shelters and residential care centers.
The city developed the changes in response to new state housing laws and health-and-safety codes. The commission voted unanimously Monday to recommend that the City Council approve the amendments.
“I think it’s appropriate,” said Peter Tiernan, a commissioner. “We talked about it in the general plan.”
Novato’s housing element program 4.A involves emergency shelters. Steve Marshall, the city’s deputy community development director, said state law mandates that an emergency shelter be allowed in at least one zone where housing is permitted. Novato’s program lists the general commercial zoning district.
“Not only does that district allow residential use in the form of live-work opportunities, it’s also close to services that may be used by people experiencing homelessness, or staying at a shelter,” Marshall said.
State law says municipalities can only apply eight objective standards to an emergency shelter, but Marshall said some requirements like setbacks, building coverage and height, can’t be forced by the city. However, the city can implement standards on things like exterior lighting, on-site security and the maximum number of beds or occupants.
The Planning Commission endorsed an amendment to the emergency shelter program to require a staff-level review for compliance with objective standards. These standards include requiring a 1-to-1 ratio of staff parking; a maximum bed count of 50; on-site management and security; “dark sky”-compliant exterior lighting; and a maximum stay of 180 days per year.
“That gave someone six months to stay in a shelter and then find their way into a more permanent housing situation,” Marshall said.
Marshall said housing law states that an agency has an obligation to have enough beds to support the number of homeless people based on the most recent survey. Marshall said the city’s number was 150 when the housing element was completed.
Marshall added that the city has not seen any proposals for emergency shelters, but it does see “quite a few” elder care centers with six or fewer people in them.
Community care facilities are defined by state law as offering services for residents such as disabled people, neglected children or adults in day care. They have to be permitted where the city allows family dwellings.
“You can’t treat these facilities differently than you would a residential unit in the underlying district,” said Marshall. But if the facility serves seven or more people the city, has more discretionary reviewing power, he said.
Elder care facilities follow a similar rule, and alcohol and drug treatment centers are permitted where homes are. Again, the city can conduct a discretionary review if the site serves seven or more people.
Under the proposed amendments, care facilities and recovery centers serving up to six people would be permitted in all 10 districts where the city allows family homes. Definitions were changed to better match the state law.