More Careful Growth
Dublin has been one of the fastest growing cities in California. Our leadership seems to welcome development without care to size, appearance, or the effect that it will have on the rest of our community. They upzone and make deals with developers that don't feel like the best decisions for residents. Our City government needs to negotiate on behalf of the residents to get better outcomes.
New Dublin Downtown
The Downtown Dublin plan has expanded over time (bait and switch) so that the current plan is
(4) adjacent blocks of 8-story buildings (approx.90 ft high plus roof screens) all in the space currently taken by Dublin Place (Bulington, Panera, Bassett, Pet Smart). About 3000 people living in apartments above the shops and restaurants all in 3 square blocks. No street parking to speak of. 8-story buildings right up to the sidewalks. And what about the $75 million parking structure being paid for by the City of Dublin instead of the developer? The City is currently trying to figure out how to pay for it. If payments are siphoned off of the General Fund, then it will be roughly $3000 per household that we will have contributed with our property taxes, for your parking convenience. And that's only the start – there's the cost of streets, storm drains, sewers, lights, utilities. BTW, the bulldozers should start arriving in about three years... sooner in the case of the two empty buildings along Amador Valley Blvd.
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Higher Property Tax Bill - Mello-Roos tax
A Community Facilities District tax (a.k.a. Mello-Roos tax) is levied if 2/3 of voters in a designated area approve the tax. So if an area wants a park, or more police, or their own school, then a district is formed if 2/3 of the voters approved it. The cost of the large item is added to the property tax bill of those in the district. So when used in the right spirit, it can be a good thing. Nowadays, landowners make their own 2/3 vote by themselves before they sell to new home buyers. (Sometimes it's only one person voting!) The future homeowners, who had no say in the vote, will pay $4k-$6k extra per year on their property tax bill for the next 30 years. These taxes are paying for streets, sewers, storm drains, sidewalks, etc. that should be paid for by the developer, but now the developer keeps that money and forces the homeowner to pay for it. OUR CITY COUNCIL APPROVED THESE DISTRICTS FOR OVER 2500 HOMES. Watch as other new developments like the DC (formerly known as SCS) will hatch MORE of the same scheme to our city leaders. We need to stop Mello-Roos that is used for residential infrastructure.
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
CEQA was legislated in California to evaluate and protect against harm that environmental conditions can cause - such as air quality, noise, traffic, school impacts, wildlife impact, etc. Each significant development project is supposed to do an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). In 1993, Dublin did and EIR for all of Eastern Dublin, they did some supplemental reporting in 2002, 2005. The current City leaders are still using that tired old report to approve over 3000 homes in the last 10 years. The call of many residents demanding a new report has been completely ignored by our city leaders. They continue to use it regardless if the findings from 20-30 years ago are outdated. This is yet again just another way our City makes it easy for developers to skate past their obligations.
Affordable
Home Ownership
Like many cities, Dublin has an Inclusionary Housing program as part of the Municipal Code. It requires that developers offer a certain percentage of new homes and a reduced price to lower income families. The houses cannot be rented out and can only appreciate by 2% per year. Unfortunately, our City leaders have voted three times now to drastically reduce the number of BMR (below market rate) houses for sale. They have done nothing to promote affordable for-sale housing… and you won’t hear them talk about it.
The advantages of a buying a BMR house are:
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for some families, it's the only way to get into home ownership
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mortgage payment does not go up (rent goes up each year)
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slowly build equity by paying down the mortgage and the home appreciates at about 2% per year.
Whenever you hear City leaders talk about affordable housing they avoid telling you that most of the time they are talking about rental units; nothing for sale. Their version of affordable housing is a discount of about $150-$200 per month on apartment rents that have been deemed “affordable” for moderate income**. ​
Let's get the required number of BMR homes as prescribed by our Municipal Code and stop letting the developers off the hook. Buyers with Dublin roots or connections should receive priority.
* e.g. an Aster 2-bedroom going for $3000/month would be considered affordable for moderate income households at about $2875/month; or about $2780 for low-income renters. Not a large discount but our city leaders consider good enough to brag about.
** For Dublin and Alameda County:
Moderate income – up to $142,000 for a household of 2; $159,750 for a household of 3.
Low income – up to $89,750 for a household of 2, $100,950 for a household of 3
Source: [Dublin] Community Development Dept 2023 income Limits And Maximum BMR Rent flier