The city of Ceres submitted its Housing Element to the General Plan but it’s being held up by bureaucrats in the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

Bob Kachel, a longtime member of the Ceres Planning Commission who will soon be stepping down, last week asked about the status of the Housing Element, which must be updated every seven years and approved by the state. He was told by Community Development Director Lea Simvoulakis that the document has hit a snag. The Housing Element is a required piece of a city General Plan which outlines the housing goals for all household income levels. In recent years, however, the city hasn’t come anywhere near those housing goals but not for trying. The building industry drives construction in any city and is dependent on market conditions, interest rates and other factors.

“We received a second comment letter and we were not happy about it, our consultant,” said Simvoulakis.

City officials had a conference with HCD officials and showed them the draft Housing Element.

“They seemed to like what we’re showing them,” she explained. “We got extra information provided by Public Works and Engineering. They seem to unofficially say that they like our changes.”

Kachel commented that his experience with HCD as a paid planner with Stanislaus County – a job from which he retired – was not fun.

Simvoulakis said Ceres is “not alone in this circle of endless HCD talk.” EMC Planning Group had housing elements approved for two other cities “so hopefully we’ll be their third city.”

Kachel indicated that while a Housing Element is not seen by citizens as a “nobody cares” issue, he said it’s very important to remain updated because “if you don’t have a Housing Element … you can be in big trouble when it comes to approving or not approving projects because it just allows developers to just bypass, more or less, the planning process and we don’t want to be in that situation.”

Simvoulakis inherited the burden of carrying the Housing Element since coming to Ceres in April. The Housing Element was crafted by her predecessor, Christopher Hoem and the city’s consultant, EMC Planning Group. She was hoping the state would give its stamp of approval to the document before the end of the year.