Redwood City Docktown Residents to Begin Relocation in 2017

After failing to pass legislation to temporarily preserve Redwood City's Docktown Marina, it's lifespan may have just been shortened from 15 years to about 15 months.  A lawsuit settled in January of this year calls for residents to begin relocating in 2017, and an urgency bill that would have kept the Docktown in operation for the next 15 years was recently dropped because not all residents got behind it.

The floating community (located off Maple St, along the Redwood Creek) has existed since 1964 without any issue, mostly because no one had complained about it.  But late last year someone did, by filing a suit against the city alleging the Docktown was in violation of health and safety code, and that the city has been illegally collecting money for the private use of land that is actually held in trust by the state for the benefit of the people of California.  The city collects somewhere around $750,000/year for renting out slips to Docktown residents.

The suit was filed by Attorney Ted Hannig, who lives right across the creek from the Docktown in One Marina Homes.

State Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), and Assemblyman Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco) were able to get the bill to preserve the community approved by the State Lands Commission under the conditions that:

1) The city would prohibit new tenants, new liveaboard watercraft and transfer of existing watercraft at Docktown
2) The city would mandate that all liveaboard watercraft be owner-occupied or city owned. No subleases would be allowed.

Some residents possess multiple slips from the city, and rent out or Airbnb their houseboats.  These residents opposed the bill's conditions and consequently it failed to pass - to the dismay of those who would just like the extra 14 years in their homes.  So now, with no legislative action, the future of the Docktown defaults to the agreed upon terms in the Hannig settlement - which is to begin locating residents next year.

There are about 70 liveaboards and 100 residents in Docktown.  The $4.5 million Hannig settlement sets aside $3 million towards cleaning up the creek and assisting residents with relocation.  The remaining $1.5 million goes to Hannig.

Bay Area Real Estate Market: Hot or Cooling Off?

Despite increased talk around the Bay Area that the market seems to be cooling off, the rest of the country continues to rank us as the hottest market for real estate.  Realtor.com released a report at the end of April that ranked the SF area as the top in the country, and just today Inman News published a blog titled, "10 hottest real estate markets for summer 2016", in which we came in at #1.  But how can we be the hottest market in the nation if we're actually cooling off?

Inventory has picked up in many areas across the Bay Area, which has softened competition a bit.  This is especially true in Redwood City, where our inventory of over 60 homes for sale is nearly double what it was this time last year.  As a result, some homes have sat on the market longer than what we had grown accustomed to in recent years, which has spurred much of the conversation about a market cool-down.

But there is one important thing to remember - our real estate market over the past few years was the exception, not the rule.  Average days on market for a listing in Redwood City in May '15 was about 11 days.  Now it's about a week longer.  But inventory was unfathomably low for the majority of 2015, and with our economy booming, demand was very high (as it still is today).  Competition among buyers was so intense that practically every listing received multiple offer inquiries right off the bat - most of them contingency free.  So yes, our real estate market has cooled off a bit from it's white hot 2015 state, but that doesn't mean it's cold.  The more accurate way to describe today's market would be that it has come back down to earth (slightly).  Consistently high demand fueled by a 3.3% unemployment rate will sustain high prices in the Bay Area.

We can't use last year's market as a measuring stick for this year's.  Redwood City's current average DOM of 18 days sound like a long time next to last May's average of 11 days.  But compared to the nationwide average of 67 days (per Realtor.com), I'd say 18 isn't too bad...

State Senate Passes Bill to Encourage Building More In-Law Units

How to go about addressing the affordable housing crisis has been a contentious issue in the Bay Area to say the least, with public & private interest groups butting heads on virtually every solution that has been offered up.  At the end of April however, state legislators were able to make some progress by passing a bill that many are calling a "common sense solution".  

SB 1069 passed in April, and reduced many of the regulatory roadblocks to constructing an accessory dwelling

Senate Bill 1069, introduced by State Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont),  will do away with many of the regulatory roadblocks that homeowners face when trying to construct accessory dwellings on their property.  This will limit parking restrictions, fees for water and sewer hookups, as well as take 30 days off of the maximum amount of time a city can take to process permits, with the ultimate goal being to encourage and expedite the construction of these units.

Accessory dwellings are unique in that they offer a way to increase much needed inventory, without actually having to visibly increase density.  Karen Chapple, a professor of city planning at UC Berkeley, and a proponent of the bill, refers to these units as "hidden density", since most of them are tucked away in backyards and don't affect a block's curb appeal.  For this reason their increased construction is much less likely to be opposed by others in the community.

Further, unlike rent control or other tenant protection ordinances which their opponents argue unfairly tilt the playing field in favor of the tenant, facilitating the construction of accessory dwellings has benefits for both the homeowner and the tenant.  The obvious benefit for the tenant would be the increase in smaller, more affordable rentals.  On the flip side, homeowners with "too much home" are now able to more easily leverage that excess space into rental income.  It's a mutually beneficial approach to addressing an issue that has proven to be very divisive.

At the end of the day, spurring the construction of accessory dwellings is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to alleviating our housing shortage, but at least legislators are finding ways to work together to achieve some sort of progress.