Why does the City not want a new City Council to consider the Housing Element?

The City is planning to have the proposed Housing Element approved prior to the November 8, 2022 Election and has agendized consideration of the Housing Element for the October 17, 2022 Council meeting.

The City is moving ahead of the City Council election to approve the Housing Element.  The regular October 3, 2022, City Council meeting was cancelled without explanation* during the contested City Council campaign when candidates and the public could have recorded their opinions at the meeting on the Housing Element or other issues.  The City Council during their regularly scheduled, but cancelled, meeting on October 3 could have amplified Housing information and made factual corrections to City positions.

Residents of Piedmont received the unprecedented City Administrator’s letter dated September 30, 2022 approximately a week before voters may begin voting in the election.  The letter disparages the positions of certain candidates and supports the positions of other City Council candidates, while claiming to provide factual information about the Housing Element. 

The City Administrator, Sara Lillevand and Mayor Teddy Kind are responsible for setting the Council meeting agendas. Lillevand has announced her retirement by April 2022 and King, is a “lame duck” and will no long be on the Council following the certification of the November 8 election.

Correction and amplification of information sent to voters by the City Administrator on September 29, 2022:

• The Charter states the Council shall proposes a zoning plan, but where zoning is proposed to be changed as within the proposed Housing Element voters must approve the zoning changes.
• An approved Housing Element is not just a plan to sit on a shelf, for the State requires implementation and developers and property owners gain legal rights.
• The Housing Element once approved by voters and the Council becomes law in Piedmont with all incumbent factors, such as lawsuits, site locations, property rights, and the rule of law.
• The City Council members and the City staff do not have the authority under the City Charter to change the zoning as proposed.  The Piedmont City Charter states clearly, “The Council may classify and reclassify the zones established, but no existing zones shall be reduced or enlarged with respect to size or area, and no zones shall be reclassified without submitting the question to a vote at a general or special election. No zone shall be reduced or enlarged and no zones reclassified unless a majority of the voters voting upon the same shall vote in favor thereof;”
• Only the voters per the City Charter have a right to approve the proposed Housing Element zoning changes.
• The City owns much of the property proposed to receive a zoning change, but changes will need voter approval, if the City Council adheres to the City Charter.
• Referring voters to the City website leads to false and incomplete information.
• No written legal opinions on Piedmont voters rights, density, single-family housing, classifications, reclassifications, or Piedmont liability have been provided publicly, indicating legal problems, and avoidance of providing points and authorities for public consideration.
• Despite threats to Piedmonters, the Piedmont City Council and City staff have known of the need for voter approval of proposed zoning changes and failed to date to schedule voter consideration to meet the State deadline of May 23, 2023.
• The loss of local control by the City’s rejection of legally required voting over zoning is happening now in Piedmont, not because of Sacramento, but because the Piedmont City Council is not following  the City Charter and scheduling the required timely local election for continued voters control of zoning in Piedmont.
• The City continues to spend well over a million dollars on banners, consultants, puzzles, incorrect flyers, staff time, and a letter thwarting Piedmont’s City Charter and voters rights, while complaining about potential election costs.
• Sending a City letter to Piedmonters shortly before an election regarding  a contested campaign issue is legally questionable particularly by using false and incomplete factual information.
• The City Administrator’s letter mentions nothing about the duty of the City Administrator to uphold the City Charter as requiring voter approval of the proposed zoning changes.

 For decades, a core principle of PCA is following the rule of law and upholding voters rights. 

• UPDATE: The City Clerk announced on 10.3.2022, “The City Council meeting scheduled for Monday, October 3rd has been cancelled due to a medical emergency in the City Administrator’s family.” 

Bridget Harris, candidate for the Piedmont City Council, voices, “The City Council should carefully consider applying the “Walkable Oriented Development” (“WOD”) approach to all possible locations and present the results to the community for approval before submitting any proposal for the 6th Cycle Housing Element.”

As the City of Piedmont addresses potential locations for additional housing to meet the 6th Cycle Housing Element, the following criteria should be considered:
1.      Maintain the culture and character of the City;
2.      Maintain traffic safety and security in the City;
3.      Minimize the loss of park land and open space;
4.      Offer locations that maximize the efficiency of construction and living.

A study by the American Enterprise Institute suggests that these criteria can best be met by “Walkable Oriented Development” (“WOD”).  This approach focuses development in areas within a ten minute walk of services and infrastructure. WOD focuses on the placement of multi-unit housing close to existing supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants and public transportation.  It allows an increase in density while minimizing the need for the construction of additional infrastructure. WOD also makes it easier and less expensive for low income owners/renters to access necessary services thereby reducing traffic impact .

Piedmont doesn’t have a WOD location in the center of the City nor does it have a WOD area along Moraga Avenue.  It doesn’t make sense to force expensive and inefficient high density development in these locations.  However, Grand Avenue and Park Boulevard could become WOD areas with significantly less expense and disruption to the existing community.  The City Council should carefully consider applying the WOD approach to all possible locations and present the results to the community for approval before submitting any proposal for the 6th Cycle Housing Element. 
https://www.aei.org/wod/

Bridget Harris, Seaview Avenue, Candidate for City Council

Editors Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Senate Bill 9 (SB9) can be a Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) Game Changer for Piedmont.

How so and are actions possible now?

The ADU  [Accessory Dwelling Unit] discussion in the Civic Discussion Forum has much of the insight needed to help implement the opportunity of ADUs in Piedmont with respect to political support needed to develop ADUs in Piedmont and help guide the ADU discussion to help save the downtown “look and feel” of Piedmont in general. Here are a few observations that hopefully adds to the expertise here.

First, Piedmont is essentially implementing the ministerial RHNA housing allocation without a revised Master Plan. The community knows that the math allocations do not add up to the values shared for our collective sense of “Piedmont”.  We also know that fellow community members such as teachers, police, community staff cannot afford to live in our city limits. We also know we need more time to articulate a new Master Plan that implements both Piedmont’s values we share, while increasing the supply of affordable housing we need.

Second, our Piedmont housing element acknowledges, “The 2008 General Plan Update is the first major Plan revision in 12 years. It looks ahead to a horizon year of 2025. Most of the work on the Plan update was completed over a 15-month period between April 2007 and July 2008.”; long before anyone had dreamed of RHNA or the need for affordable housing in Piedmont.

Question: Can Piedmont comply with RHNA and timing while committing to the time commitment needed to articulate a new Master Plan with a diverse community, without abandoning value, purpose and civic sense of place of Piedmont?

Let’s look at the RHNA math more closely.

•       The RHNA estimate is generally based on the average number of ADU building permits issued each year, “multiplied by eight (because there are eight years in a housing element cycle)”.
•       If numbers were low in 2019 but were high in 2020, 2021, and 2022, a given city jurisdiction could potentially use 2020-2022 as the baseline.
•       “A slightly larger number may be warranted if a robust, funded, and clear plan to increase production has been put in place.”

Again, the RHNA formula allows Piedmont to multiply our ADU units by a factor of 8 if these permits and the intentions and performance are real.

Suggested Goal for discussion:
How can Piedmont develop ADUs at the rate of 70 ADUs per year, beginning in 2022, for eight years.  But let’s also look at how we achieve the outcome of permitting 250 ADU units in less time and less money than the City’s spend on consulting fees to explain the RHNA math to its citizens.

Proposal for Discussion:
Piedmont’s permitting process is highly unusual. Most cities accept filed permits and terminate them after a very short period of time, say 18 months. However, Piedmont’s permits stay actively open indefinitely and pass on from respective homeowner to homeowner, until built or revised. Permits do not expire in Piedmont.

This unique process can be used to Piedmont’s advantage. This may help demonstrate and meet long-term goals for Piedmont’s ADU permitting count; and show immediate proof to the RHNA that Piedmont’s volume of ADUs complies with Piedmont’s RHNA quota. This approach could demonstrate policy results and buy time for a better Piedmont Master Plan.

If the City of Piedmont combines Piedmont’s unique permitting and permit process with a new “surged effort” to help the City enable low cost access for anyone who is considering building an ADU in the next 10 years, Piedmont can “hit its numbers.”  The City needs a new operations model with a concerted, coordinated, significant, programmatic design, budgeting and mass permitting of high quality ADUs.

Is the trade worth the hassle?  Is the needed change to the City Planning Operations and focus worth the reward to save us from knee jerk “numbers game” and buy Piedmont the time needed for a new Master Plan? Can we do a better job at coordinating the look and feel of Piedmont’s future?

The New RHNA Math may be possible if the City of Piedmont and its Planning Department creates a programmatic approach to design, permitting in a massive coordinated effort to plan and permit ADU’s within Piedmont.  Can the City help guide or retain a prepaid pool of consulting architects and builders to provide easy, low cost planning access to anyone in Piedmont who wants to build an ADU in Piedmont in the next 10 years, without penalty for changing plans?

These systems exist in other venues – is it worth the trade of the hassle here in Piedmont for the results?

If Piedmont homeowners take the time and also have access to simple resources to help develop their respective ADUs, even if it takes 10 years to save, plan and build … or sell the opportunity to the next homeowner …  legitimate RHNA permits counts are possible. The housing opportunity is real.

By this new math, Piedmont needs at a peak initiative 20 residents per week to participate in affordable designs and permits approved per week for the next 4 months to reach 250 Permitted ADU permits.

The RHNA math only demands 70 permits to extrapolate Piedmont’s 8-year trend, but Piedmont can do better. On average, the building California City building departments provide comments to completed ADU applications in 10 days. The design standards are already set in Piedmont. Let’s change that to 30 approvals per every 10 days if the applicants are among the Petition of 1,000 signatures of concerned citizens.

John Cheney, Lincoln Avenue, Piedmont

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Piedmonters have called for clearer explanations on what is proposed in the Housing Element.  Helpful explanations would include:

• Specific diagrams of any new and safer roads near schools and in the Morago Canyon Area where housing is proposed, including cost projections for road improvements.
• The state is looking for zoning changes to increase housing density. How is Piedmont proposing to comply with the City Charter and Piedmont voters rights on zoning changes increasing density?
• High density housing in Piedmont is being proposed to a height of 6 stories.  This height is greater than existing buildings in Piedmont.  How does this not change the character of the city and stay in  compliance with Piedmont ordinances and design review standards?
• Currently, a small number of dwelling units are in the Moraga Canyon area. How will services be provided including: transit, pedestrian access, monitoring of low-income and affordable rents, public safety access, etc. –  for the hundreds of new dwelling units proposed? How will the additional workload and costs be covered ?
• The Housing Element once adopted by the City and the Department of Housing and Community Development becomes a “property use right. “ On city and private property, what are city and voter controls over development and costs after the Housing Element has been adopted by the City Council?
• The City is not required to build the housing.  However, the use of City land is essential to meeting the large numbers of dwelling units required of the HE.  What right does the City have to participate in leasing, selling, or assisting in the use of public lands per the State Constitution Article 34 and the City Charter without voter approval of the zoning use changes?
• Commercial developers paired with government money await the opportunity to build in Piedmont as supported locally by influencers in and outside of Piedmont.   What is the schedule to provide  Piedmont voters with their right to vote on the HE zoning changes prior to final adoption?
• Outreach efforts by Piedmont have been clouded and confused by partial information and changes to the proposed HE.  Why isn’t or wasn’t a mailed survey sent to every residence in Piedmont to learn of voters concerns and interests?
• What are the requirements for building high density dwelling units in Piedmont, including: height limits, density, street configurations, utilities, public safety, trees, transit, parks, sewers, water, landslides, fire protection, parking, lighting, open space, etc. ?

Bring us all together instead of pitting neighborhood against neighborhood.

I sense growing anxiety in the community over the decisions being made of where to accommodate 587 units of new housing.

What would greatly reduce this anxiety, in my opinion, would be to have details of the suggested plans along with their locations, ie, how many stories will there be? what will the buildings look like on the outside?  will they be duplexes, attached condos, high rise apartments buildings?

Yet another way to reduce this anxiety would be to understand that for Piedmont to reach its goals, a compromise needs to be found so that the distribution of new housing will be borne by the whole community not one neighborhood. 

If our goal is to help solve the housing crises, let us be equitable with each other as well as those that need affordable housing.  Please find a mediator to bring us all together instead of pitting neighborhood against neighborhood.

Karen P Harley, Piedmont Resident

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Article 34 of the state Constitution prohibits the development of a low-income affordable housing project with state or local public financing or assistance unless and until a majority of the voters of the jurisdiction has approved it.

Article 34 of the California Constitution requiring voter approval of proposed development has not been presented to Piedmonters as an important voter law regarding the proposed Housing Element plan.

According to the rule of law, voters have rights regarding zoning and use changes as proposed in the Housing Element.  Workarounds to stop Piedmont citizens from voting defeats the Piedmont rule of law and City Charter.

California Article 34 reinforces the role of Piedmont voters spelled out in the Piedmont City Charter fulfilling the rule of law in Piedmont and throughout the state. 

The council enthusiasm for swift adoption of the new Housing Element did not include a citizen vote in the schedule, ignoring Piedmont ordinances, the Piedmont City Charter and the state Constitution impeding Piedmont voters from voting on the significant zoning changes proposed.  

The Piedmont City Council has a right and responsibility by Piedmont and California laws to devise housing and development proposals in the Piedmont General Plan, including the Housing Element.  The City Council will ask the state to approve the Housing Element plans.  However, most importantly, if the state approves Piedmont’s Housing Element and the Housing Element requires zoning changes and reclassifications per Piedmont laws, as the current Housing Element proposal does, then the zoning changes per Piedmont laws must be approved by Piedmont voters prior to implementation. 

Various workarounds have been presented regarding zoning to avoid seeking approval of Piedmont voters at a general or special election.

If Piedmont voters reject the City Council zoning changes, then the City Council must, according to Piedmont laws, change the Housing Element to adhere to Piedmont laws by gaining Piedmont voter approval of zoning changes. 

In Los Gatos, a ballot measure has been qualified for the ballot to amend their City Council’s approved General Plan and place the matter before voters.  Piedmont has the assumed protection of Piedmont and state laws requiring approval of proposed zoning changes, if the City Council adheres to City and state laws. 

Does the Piedmont City Council trust voters to act on proposed zoning changes per the Piedmont City Charter, Piedmont Zoning Ordinances, and Article 34 of the state Constitution?

Where is an official written legal opinion regarding voter rights on the Piedmont proposed zoning changes and the Housing Element indicating compliance with the Piedmont City Charter, Piedmont Zoning Ordinances, and Article 34 of the state Constitution ?

~~~~~~~

READ CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION ARTICLE 34 > https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=CONS&division=&title=&part=&chapter=&article=XXXIV

The City of Piedmont is presenting another informational event for Piedmonters on matters related to the Housing Element.  A social time in the City Hall Courtyard will follow the presentation to give attendees “a chance to meet with City staff and gain additional clarity on the Draft Housing Element.”

Presentation information has not been provided by the City.

On Thursday, August 18th at 5:00 p.m., the City of Piedmont will host a “Housing Element 102” Information Session.

Community members are invited to attend in person, virtually on Zoom (https://piedmont-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/82234103859), or on KCOM-TV, the City’s Government Access television station (Comcast Channel 27 or AT&T Channel 99). The information session, which will be held in the City Council Chambers, will be followed by an open house in the City Hall Courtyard.

This session, which follows up on the Housing Element 101 session, hosted by the City on September 29, 2021, which can be viewed at https://piedmont.granicus.com/player/clip/2413, is intended as an informational opportunity to provide clarity on salient pieces of a complex process and will focus on four main topics:

• Housing Element and the Regional Housing Needs Allocation Basics
• Overview of the Draft Housing Element Sites Inventory
• Recap of the Direction the City Council Provided to Staff at its August 1, 2022 Meeting
• Update on the Status of Piedmont’s Housing Element Process, Next Steps and Timeline to Certification

The open house will be a chance to meet with City staff and gain additional clarity on the Draft Housing Element.

Community members are encouraged to view the City’s Housing Element Basics YouTube playlist, which consists of a series of short videos about the Housing Element process.

Comprehensive and detailed information about the Housing Element process is available on https://piedmontishome.org and https://piedmont.ca.gov. Please contact Senior Planner Pierce Macdonald at piedmontishome@piedmont.ca.gov with questions or comments.

New legal advice upends the rule of law in Piedmont regarding voters’ rights per the Piedmont City Charter and City Ordinances.

The Piedmont City Charter and City Ordinances require the City Council to propose the Housing Element, and Piedmont voters to approve the zoning changes –  sizes, use, and classifications.

According to Piedmont City Attorney within the proposed Housing Element, all Piedmont single-family zoning can be changed to high density multi-family zoning without Piedmont voter approval.  This current legal advice desecrates the rule of law in Piedmont regarding voters’ rights per the Piedmont City Charter and City Ordinances. Copied below.

Piedmont’s City Charter has protected Piedmont for nearly a century against intrusive commercialism, factories, high density housing, etc. by focusing on single-family residential zoning.  The Charter is clear. Placing multi-family dwellings/high density housing into single-family zoning, which is all of Piedmont, without voter approval is against Piedmont’s laws.

The single-family zoning classification in Piedmont is separate and distinct from Piedmont’s multi-family zoning classification. Classification determines the use and density allowed within a zone.  Multi-family classification is for multi-family use.  Single-family classification is for single-family use.  Commingling Piedmont multi-family classification zones and single-family classification breaches the City Charter and Piedmont Ordinances. 

Without voter approval, the Housing Element proposes the multi-family zone density will be increased to high density multi-family development and changing the single-family use classification as found in all zones to be changed to multi-family use. 

Piedmont zones are classified as: commercial, public, multi-family, and single-family.   All zones are specified as permitting single-family dwellings.  Unrecognized, Single-family classifications/use found in each zone cannot be interchangeable or described as proposed as multi-family zoning. 

The Housing Element proposes to allow high density multi-family classification to replace Single-family classification in zones used for commercial and public zones based on the false premise that single-family zoning allows higher density multi-family use without voter approval.  

Currently in Piedmont, all properties are zoned and classified for single-family dwellings. The State of California legislated a transformation of the Single-family classification to allow three (3) dwelling units:  a primary residence, an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), and a Junior ADU built within the confines of the primary residence.  Essentially, the State outlawed the single family housing unit per parcel limitation.  Consequentially, the high density multi-family dwelling units proposed for Piedmont’s Housing Element will need the approval of voters to change the classification of single-family residential to multi-family residential.  The proposal jumps the number from 3 dwelling units to a proposed 40-100 units per parcel without voter approval, ignoring Piedmont laws. 

The City Council will need to propose a Housing Element that will gain approval of Piedmont voters or be faced with revisions to gain Piedmont voter approval.  

Piedmont’s City Attorney Michelle Kenyon has advised and stated that single-family zoning classification allows multi-family zoning including high density multi-family development by ignoring the City Charter language. Further Kenyon stated that voters do not control density in Piedmont. This advice destroys voter rights and rule of law making the Piedmont proposed Housing Element counter to the City Charter.

The intent and language of the City Charter describes single-family zoning and classification as “the only use on such property shall be a single-family dwelling. ”  The new legal advice provided to the City Council fails to recognize voter requirements compliant with the Charter. 

Voter approval for zoning changes have been placed on a ballot many times in Piedmont per the City Charter .

At the August 1, 2022, City Council meeting City attorney Kenyon asked Planning Director Kevin Jackson about how the city had implemented the City Charter in regard to voters’ rights.  Jackson provided two examples, which excluded voters, both of which were based on Kenyon’s or her law firms prior advice allowing multi-family residential use to supplant single-family use without voter approval.  

The Council was not informed by Kenyon or the Planning Director regarding a plethora of prior documented legal advice requiring compliance with the City Charter and for ballot measures to be put before Piedmont voters regarding zoning changes.  Significant prior legal advice can be found in the City’s archives countering City Attorney Kenyon’s advice, and requiring Piedmont voters right to control and approve zoning per the City Charter.

According to the Charter and City ordinances, the City Council is to propose plans for development of Piedmont, however these plans must comply with voter approval per the Piedmont City Charter regarding changes, such as as going from single-family use to high density multi-family use.

The state has anticipated zoning changes to accommodate Housing Element zoning changes to add the large increases in housing, for Piedmont it is 587 housing units, a 15% housing increase.  The state provides a specific amount of time 1-3 years to implement zoning changes outlined in an approved Housing Element.  To date, the state has not eliminated city Charters’ voter approval of zoning changes.

See Piedmont’s zoning map be clicking below:

  https://cdn5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_13659739/File/Government/Departments/Planning%20Division/Zoning/Zoning%20Map%20-%202021-12-01.pdf?v=9uGc6RDmS

Piedmont City Charter ARTICLE IX. General Provision

SECTION 9.02 ZONING SYSTEM The City of Piedmont is primarily a residential city, and the City Council shall have power to establish a zoning system within the City as may in its judgement be most beneficial. The Council may classify and reclassify the zones established, but no existing zones shall be reduced or enlarged with respect to size or area, and no zones shall be reclassified without submitting the question to a vote at a general or special election. No zone shall be reduced or enlarged and no zones reclassified unless a majority of the voters voting upon the same shall vote in favor thereof; provided that any property which is zoned for uses other than or in addition to a single-family dwelling may be voluntarily rezoned by the owners thereof filing a written document executed by all of the owners thereof under penalty of perjury stating that the only use on such property shall be a single-family dwelling, and such rezoning shall not require a vote of the electors as set forth above.

City of Piedmont Ordinance :

Sections: 17.02.010

Title; City Charter 17.02.010 Title; Intent; City Charter.

A. Title. This chapter 17, Planning and Land Use, is also known as the zoning ordinance.

B. Intent. The City of Piedmont consists primarily of unique single-family residences set among mature trees and other vegetation. The residents wish to:

1. preserve the architectural heritage and beauty of the city’s homes, the mature vegetation, the tranquility and privacy that now exist, and significant views;

2. reduce on-street parking and traffic in the neighborhood streets and facilitate pedestrian and bicycle activity;

3. avoid overcrowding and its detrimental effects on city schools and other services and facilities;

4. preserve the city’s historical heritage;

5. preserve the existing stock of small homes and otherwise allow for a variety of housing types for all income levels, including single-family and multi-family dwellings;

6. ensure excellence of architectural design, and compliance with the Piedmont Design Guidelines;

7. allow retail, office, and service commercial uses that primarily serve city residents; and

8. promote property improvements without sacrificing the goals already mentioned.

These zoning regulations are designed to implement these purposes.

C. City Charter. The city’s zoning ordinance is also subject to the City Charter, particularly Section 9.01, General Plan, Section 9.02, Zoning System, and Section 9.04, General Laws Applicable.

Those sections read as follows:

Section 9.01 General Plan. The City Council shall adopt, and may from time to time, modify a general plan setting forth policies to govern the development of the City. Such plan may cover the entire City and all of its functions and services or may consist of a Planning & Land Use combination of plans governing specific functions and services or specific geographic areas which together cover the entire City and all of its functions and services. The plan shall also serve as a guide to Council action concerning such City planning matters as land use, development regulations and capital improvements.

Section 9.02 Zoning system. The City of Piedmont is primarily a residential city, and the City Council shall have the power to establish a zoning system within the City as may in its judgment be most beneficial. The Council may classify and reclassify the zones established, but no existing zones shall be reduced or enlarged with respect to size or area, and no zones shall be reclassified without submitting the question to a vote at a general or special election. No zone shall be reduced or enlarged and no zones reclassified unless a majority of the voters voting upon the same shall vote in favor thereof; provided that any property which is zoned for uses other than or in addition to a single-family dwelling maybe voluntarily rezoned by the owners thereof filing a written document executed by all of the owners thereof under penalty of perjury stating that the only use on such property shall be a singlefamily dwelling, and such rezoning shall not require a vote of the electors as set forth above.

Section 9.04 General laws applicable. All general laws of the State applicable to municipal corporations, now or hereafter enacted, and which are not in conflict with the provisions of this Charter or with ordinances hereafter enacted, shall be applicable to the City. The City Council may adopt and enforce ordinances that, in relation to municipal affairs, shall control as against the general laws of the State.

In this subsection C, Section 9.02, the prohibition not to reduce, enlarge, or reclassify a zone without a vote is understood to mean the city may not change the zone boundaries, or change (reclassify) a property from one zone to another. [ Classification is the use. Zone names connote the useage, as commercial, public, multi-family, and single-family.]

 

REMINDER!

The City of Piedmont will hold its General Municipal Election on November 8, 2022. The nomination period for the three vacancies on the Piedmont City Council and two vacancies on the Board of Education IS OPEN NOW! The deadline for submitting completed paperwork is Friday, August 12th at 5:00 p.m. There is no cost to candidates to file nomination papers and place your name on the ballot for the November election. The City Council and Board of Education are Piedmont’s two elected bodies and guide the operation of Piedmont City government and the Piedmont Unified School District respectively. Members of these bodies may serve a maximum of 2 consecutive four-year terms. The City publishes the Guide to Nomination and Candidacy, which provides details about the nomination and candidacy process which prospective candidates should find useful. Prospective candidates are required to schedule an appointment to take out nomination papers with the City Clerk’s office. An appointment will also be required to submit the nomination papers once the candidate has completed their work. These appointments generally last between 30 minutes and one hour. Residents with questions about the process or wishing to make an appointment can call the City Clerk’s office at (510) 420-3040 or send an email to cityclerk@piedmont.ca.gov. Read the Council resolution calling for the election below: https://piedmont.ca.gov/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=18746218