The General Plan Annual Progress Report is a yearly summary of development trends, achievements, and progress on the implementation of General Plan Action Items. Section 65400 of the Government Code requires jurisdictions to submit these annual progress reports, with a special emphasis on housing and the County's success in meeting its share of regional needs, including the removal of government constraints for achieving these goals. Required reporting for housing construction completed in 2023 was submitted to the Office of Planning and Research, and State Departments of Housing and Community Development and Finance prior to the required April 1, 2024, deadline.
Noteworthy updates in the 2023 General Plan Annual Progress Report include completion of the Yolo County Agricultural Conservation Priority Plan, the addition of the Story Trail at Capay Open Space Park, kickoff of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, and approval of the Gibson Solar Project that will help Valley Clean Energy achieve its local solar energy goals.
Construction permitting increased again to a new high of 1,334 building permits issued in 2023. Planning permits peaked in 2022 and have settled back to an amount more typical in recent years at 50 planning applications for the 2023 calendar year. Housing construction rebounded last year post-pandemic and an above average 34 new dwelling units were completed in 2023. This includes two Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), nine manufactured homes, 21 detached single-family homes, and a duplex.
With the increase in the median household income for a family of four from $106,600 in 2022 to $114,000 in 2023 by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, four of these new dwellings are classified as affordable to Extremely Low Income households, three affordable to Very Low Income households, four affordable to Low Income households, 11 affordable to Moderate Income households, and 12 affordable to Above Moderate Income households. Yolo County is likely to meet its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) obligation of 57 units for the current RHNA cycle by end of 2024, which would be five years earlier than the 2029 timeline.
The unincorporated County's current Cycle 6 RHNA numbers are significantly lower than the last RHNA cycle where Yolo County's required housing numbers were unrealistically high, in part because of the inclusion of student housing needs for the University of California-Davis, which have since been removed from the County's obligations. Additionally, the new RHNA cycle took into consideration the County's contribution to preserving farmland for the production of food and fiber, as well as physical constraints in the unincorporated area, such as the floodplain, high fire severity areas, and lack of infrastructure and municipal services. Given that there have been approximately 25 new homes completed in the unincorporated County each year, it is possible that the County could see an additional 175 or more new homes constructed over the Cycle 6 RHNA period.
Appendix A of the 2023 General Plan Annual Progress Report provides tables showing the status of every Implementation Action adopted in the 2030 Countywide General Plan, except for the Housing Element Implementation Actions which are included in the 2023 Housing Element Annual Report in Appendix B. The majority of the 468 Implementation Actions in the 2030 Countywide General Plan are designated as ongoing actions making it difficult to measure progress. Of the remaining actions, approximately one-fifth have been completed. Some actions are no longer relevant or are no longer achievable. Actions should be reviewed for current relevance as well as refocused to eliminate ambiguity and ensure accountability. A future review could be a part of a more substantial update of the General Plan which is quickly approaching its 2030 lifetime expectancy.
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