Thanks for letting us know that there will be no occupancy limits since getting an answer to that critical question was impossible BEFORE the CC votes.

No wonder they refused to tape the meeting. Absolutely appalling.

Shame on our "leaders" and our business-friendly City Council for working so tirelessly to destroy our neighborhoods and our privacy to help their developer buddies.

If the PACC passed city laws that were unclear then they can be changed due to "lack of transparency". We do not have to accept requirements that change the zoning of the city and the make-up of the residential requirements without due process of law and previously accepted methods for how the city is run. If the city cannot nail down the requirements then whatever they voted on will be reversed. Since we have a vote coming up for taxes for parks we can vote on other elements of city procedure which are deemed unacceptable as they change the tax base of the city in general.

Sacramento changed our zoning. We're complaining at the wrong people.
If California can secede from the Union, we should secede from California.

Here's a link to the materials from last night's meetings. Note that the assessments include rental INCOME as well as the property improvements!

Also, rental income will be taxed for renting to poor granny and the disabled kids this was allegedly going to help!

Note also this permits parking on front lawns! Welcome to Appalachia!

Web Link

Taxes

Will property taxes increase for a new ADU?
Reassessment of a property is required any time
new construction occurs.
However, in determining the value of new construction, only the improvement being added in this case, the ADU—is considered.

Assessment can also be based on income from a rental.
Note
that the Assessor’s Office is required by law to value new construction whether or not a
building permit has been issued.

Will property taxes increase for a JADU?
Yes, based on the cost of construction on the building permit applicatio
n
.

Will property tax
es increase for conversion of an existing structure?
Probably, depending on the amount of construction involved.

At what rate would rental income be taxed?
Ordinary income.
Talk to your accountant about deducting expenses, such as depreciating the
costs of construction and about how this affects tax treatment upon sale.

Would one be taxed for renting to relatives or friends?
Yes, it’s still rental income.

What happens when a unit is sold?

What happens about utilities?

What happens about noise, etc.?

What happens on trash day when there is no space for cans?

What happens on street sweeping day when the sweepers can't get to the curbs?

What happens about school impacts fee?

What happens about water usage in years of drought?

Will these ADUs cause more RPPs in areas not presently impacted by such?

What happens about privacy when we have two windows facing each other less than 6' apart in upstairs bathrooms or bedrooms?

What happens when neighbors fall out over some of these issues?

What happens to our quality of life?

One more thing about parking on front lawns.

What happens when a car is parked on a front lawn and somebody parks on the street blocking egress? And again, what happens when somebody is parked on the street and access to the lawn is blocked?

In my neighborhood, one house has widened the driveway each side of the original driveway to enable space for 4 cars and just a narrow strip of vegetation each side. This means in essence that with the rolling curbs this residence has taken away all the street parking in front of their house. Is this fair to the neighborhood?

Re front lawn parking, ask Mr. Wolbach. No doubt he's thought through his brilliant proposal to allow people to park on their front lawns and has all sorts of PowerPoints, mitigation analyses etc. explaining why all this makes sense. (Sarcasm intended.)

Maybe he and the rest of the uber-growth CC members can explain how their ADU plan -- which drastically exceeds the State ADU plan even though our density is way higher than the rest of the state -- will create affordable housing since there's no limit on what can be charged in rent.

According to the plan even Granny and the disabled have to be charged rent so please remind us how this is all about compassion rather than greed, over-crowding, and increased city revenue from fees and taxes.

"Re front lawn parking, ask Mr. Wolbach."

No, TELL Mr. Wolbach that parking on front lawns--or bare dirt--is illegal in Palo Alto due to leakage of oil from vehicles into the groundwater. However, as obvious to the most casual observer, the ordinance is not enforced.

Resident's questions, and others, may be the reason the city didn't record the meeting. There were no competing city meetings.
Most likely the City Manager didn't want to face questions for which they have not worked out the long, double-talk responses to cover development giveaways.

This question is of great interest:
What happens about privacy when we have two windows facing each other less than 6' apart in upstairs bathrooms or bedrooms?

I suspect "City Manager has no answers" is right about the reason why the meeting wasn't recorded.

Curmudgeon's comment that it's illegal to park on front lawns and bare dirt is very interesting, esp. since the City was represented by Jonathan Lait, the City of Palo Alto's assistant director at the Planning and Community Environment Department, will.

Perhaps the Weekly could do a followup with Mr. Lait??

Perhaps the other organizers of the event and the City Council etc. could also comment on the groundwater issue and the illegality, esp. since PA takes such pride in being oh-so-green.

@Resident, re your long list of questions. All good, but don't expect good answers very soon. I have voiced my concerns so many times previously, with no reasonable responses, especially when I ask "how will this improve the quality of life in PA?" Obviously it won't, but shouldn't that be the goal? Again, obviously not for the proponents of this.

@Garage Mahal,

"Assessment can also be based on income from a rental.
Note
that the Assessor’s Office is required by law to value new construction whether or not a
building permit has been issued."

Question?? How would the Assessor's Office know about construction that didn't have a building permit? Is that again left up to neighborhood enforcement? Left up to city code enforcement officials, nothing will be reported. It would be interesting to know how many existing ADU's, garage conversions, etc., have been built without permits. And that will probably continue even with the new ordinance. There are probably more than a few builders who are not licensed or bonded, but who will be happy to build an ADU for you.

Where will this go? I hope it works for those people who need it and are willing to pay the price to get it. I think there are so many flaws in its incorporation that so many people, including our CC members, didn't think thru all the way. I think it will fail because of its own built in problems, going well beyond the state mandate, which I disagreed with from the beginning.

The die is cast. It is now an ordinance. That meeting should have happened long before the CC voted.

@Gayle Johnson, re "Assessment can also be based on income from a rental." you said "Note that the Assessor’s Office is required by law to value new construction whether or not a building permit has been issued."

Totally agree about the value of new construction but I don't see what it should also be based on income from a rental. This assumes the ADU will always be rented and for one set price and/or rental income will be reported honestly.

Or will the ADUs be constantly reassessed?

It also totally undercuts the "affordable housing" angle since all the poor grannies and disabled kids can't be housed for free.

We need a CPA to tell us how "imputed income" is taxed. Looks like plenty of misinformation around. If I rent a $1800/month ADU to granny for $1/month, is someone on the hook to the IRS for $1799 of imputed income? If my employer lets me use a company car for personal as well as company business, a big portion of the lease payment (based on FAIR MARKET VALUE) shows up on my W-2 box 1 (Wages, tips and other compensation). On the other hand, if I rent to some homeless person for $1/month, can I write off $1799 as a charitable contribution?