Housing Growth
As our community grows, we need to ensure that housing development is sustainable, affordable, and meets the needs of all residents. I support controlled growth that prioritizes homes for local families, preserves our small-town character, ensures infrastructure keeps pace, protects existing neighborhoods, and creates real pathways to homeownership. By balancing growth with quality of life, we can bring in revenue to fund roads, safety, and services—benefiting everyone—while attracting better jobs so families prosper and new residents enjoy the same opportunities that brought us here.
My plan supports the Housing Element with practical upgrades to keep growth controlled and beneficial: • Add buffer sites for flexibility, economic stress-tests for downturns, and automatic check-ins (like a 2027 review) to adjust pace as needed. • Prioritize rezoning infill and corridors (downtown mixed-use, gateways) to minimize farmland impact—using farmland strategically and minimally (only short-term if needed to meet mandates and unlock revenue/grants), with strong ag buffers long-term. • Promote diverse options for all income levels, with strict affordability requirements and density that fits (taller units within 1-2 stories of surrounding common heights). • Attract higher-wage employers like Western Growers tech companies and California AgTech businesses (through studies, incentives, and outreach to bring them here), creating jobs that raise wages for natural affordability. • Create pathways to homeownership for first-time buyers—using development impact fees for grants, plus credits or tax reductions for local residents. • Ensure developers pay full share via agreements/fees, tying to infrastructure (roads fixed first, water on track with ADRoP), funding public safety/revenue growth, and shifting to slow, purposeful expansion once mandates are met.