The city of Alameda may have found a way around requiring Alameda Point developer SunCal to build within the limits of Measure A, which Alameda voters approved some 35 years ago. Because SunCal's plans call for denser housing than Alameda's charter allows, the company is pinning its hopes on voters' allowing them to skirt Measure A/Article XXVI and its amendment.

At its meeting Monday, Nov. 10, the planning board will discuss an ordinance that would entitle "applicants" (such as SunCal) a "density bonus" if a project (such as Alameda Point) includes or provides for certain amenities.

Voter approval of the measure in 1973 added Article XXVI to the city charter. This article reads, "There shall be no multiple dwelling units built in the City of Alameda." In 1991 voters approved an amendment to Article XXVI, which reads, "The maximum density for any residential development within the City of Alameda shall be one housing unit per 2,000 square feet of land."

The ordinance that the city is considering invokes the California Density Bonus Law. The California law firm of Myers Nave explains that the law has been on the books since 1979, but has never been used in Alameda. Until it was amended in 2004, the law provided a 25 percent increase in density in exchange for 10 to 20 percent affordable housing.

The density bonus law reads, "When an applicant seeks a density bonus for a housing development within, or for the donation of land for housing within, the jurisdiction of a city and county, that local government shall provide the applicant incentives or concessions for the production of housing units and child-care facilities.

Under the law, cities and counties are required to adopt an ordinance that specifies how compliance will be implemented. This is the very ordinance that the planning board will be considering Monday evening.

"Anecdotal reports indicated that few developers took advantage of the (1979) legislation because of the relatively high percentage of affordable housing required to receive a bonus," says attorney Barbara E. Kautz, who wrote an extensive description of the law for the County Counsels' Association of California.

In 2004, a coalition of housing advocates and the California Association of Realtors (C.A. R.) help pass Senate Bill 1818, which made significant changes in the law. "The changes reduced the proportion of affordable units needed to obtain a density bonus," Kautz writes. The changes also increased the maximum bonus from 25 to 35 percent, required local governments to grant additional concessions and added a bonus for land donation.

Pro-Measure A writers on local blog "Action Alameda" (www.actionalameda.org/actionalamedanewsblog/) find it odd that the city has never used the law that would "provide a reasonable compromise between the pro-Measure A and the anti-Measure A people in Alameda."

"Action Alameda" points out that the law "provides developers with a subsidy for building affordable housing units, senior citizen residences or child-care facilities providing services primarily for low-income people. The subsidy would likely allow SunCal to increase the number of market-rate homes it builds, in return for meeting these concessions."

The ordinance before the planning board "will allow applicants to seek an increase in the residential density of a project if the project includes a specific percentage of qualifying housing units, such as affordable or senior housing units."

The planning board meets Monday at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers.

Contact Dennis Evanosky at