The City Council will hold a virtual public hearing on the revised draft of the updated Housing Element of the General Plan on Monday, Feb. 7.
The council meeting starts at 7 p.m. The time of the hearing won’t be known as the agenda for the meeting was not available to the public by editorial deadline.
State law requires city governments to update the Housing Element of the General Plan at eight-year intervals.
The Housing Element has to contain planning to accommodate the potential construction of a certain number of housing units, but can’t mandate the actual construction of those units.
This time around, Seal Beach officials are required to plan for 1,243 units. This could result in changes on residential zoning in some areas of town.
Incidentally, those 1,243 units would be for families of income levels.
A table in the document defined moderate income in Orange County as a maximum of $128,050 at year, with affordable rent at $3,201 a month and an affordable home price of $500,000.
“Between 2000 and 2018, median home sales prices in Seal Beach increased 151% while prices in the SCAG region increased 151%,” according to the revised draft of the Housing Element.
“Median home sales prices in Seal Beach in 2018 were $952,000, representing the highest prices as of that date,” according to the draft.
