What is Sound Community Planning?

By an edhat subscriber

This question has come up a lot lately with the City’s decision to allow residential units in the R-4 and Commercial zones to be permanently converted into hotels/short term vacation rentals. (There is an unlimited # of units that can be converted annually for single unit conversions.)

They say it’s “consistent with the principles of sound community planning” because the General Plan accounts for the loss of homes and the AUD is on tract to produce residential units.

Does anyone know if the 2011 General Plan expected short-term vacation rentals to substantially decrease (700+ entire units) the number of residential units in our housing stock? And did it forecast that market rate rentals would mean market rate + 20-30% for the AUD or was the Housing Element Adjusted when the Marc produced luxury units? Seems like we lost a ton of houses and we got a bunch of expensive houses. Is there anyone out there than can tell me how this is “consistent with the principles of sound community planning?”

Did the General Plan forecast what was going to happen to the down town area?