Orinda's housing plan tool is ready for public use
By Sora O'Doherty
Orinda residents can now draw their own version of where they would put new housing in Orinda. The new tool, A Balancing Act, was obtained by the city of Orinda from the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the agency that assigns to each city, town and county the number of new housing units they are required to provide for in the next cycle of the housing element. Each is required to zone for new housing, but is not required to actually provide new housing units.
ABAG offered a number of free licenses to an online public engagement tool, known as A Balancing Act, and Orinda was awarded one of the licenses. Now available online, the tool allows the public to offer comments and suggestions on proposed housing site inventory.
According to the city, the simulation tool is a great way for residents to explore the location of potential housing sites and the number of potential housing units on those identified sites. The responses received through this tool will be shared with the city council and help inform their decision on which sites ultimately will be counted in the 6th Cycle Housing Element sites inventory.
The simulation tool allows users to create a housing plan by selecting housing sites and adjusting the number of housing units at each site. The goal is to create a complete housing plan that would accommodate at least 1,699 housing units (the city's required RHNA, plus buffer).
Once users have created a complete housing plan, submit the plan. The results from the simulation tool will be shared with the city council and inform development of the Housing Element. https://orinda.abalancingact.com/housing-simulation
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