With the passage of a surplus land resolution on Monday night, the City Council has moved the city another step closer to adding a housing development to Moraga Canyon.
Councilmembers unanimously voted to support an “exempt” surplus land resolution — a procedural step which now enables the city to start the process for preparing a request for proposal (RFP) to potential developers.
The city says the “exempt” status provides for greater local control over design standards and developer selection. “Surplus land” is land that a local jurisdiction considers underutilized. In the Moraga Canyon Specific Plan (MCSP) that is identified as land on both sides of Moraga Avenue — Blair Park or an area above Coaches Field.
Council directed the city administrator to move forward with next steps for preparing an RFP. Monday’s move is a procedural step and no decision about the land has yet been made.
The path to identifying a potential developer of the MCSP could take around six months, said Planning Director Kevin Jackson. After an RFP is developed with the help of a consulting firm, he said, it will take about 60 days from that point for developers to submit proposals, and then additional time for the city to review the submissions. He said the city has been in touch with some developers since the MCSP was approved last October in order to understand their needs.
Councilmembers emphasized their focus on local control. “We have been driven by the thought of local control since the beginning,” said Councilmember Conna McCarthy.
“Local control is essential — over contractors, design standards — room to negotiate with the developer,” said Councilmember Tom Ramsey.
City Administrator Rosanna Bayon Moore shared another reason why passing the “exempt” surplus land resolution mattered: “[Working with] developers who have experience matters to us, [but it] may not to the state,” she said. She also noted that a non-exempt designation would limit conversations between city staff and elected officials and would entail a “one size fits all” approach that is not aligned or consistent with Piedmont’s aims.
Background (from City of Piedmont press release)
The Moraga Canyon Specific Plan, adopted in October 2025, provides a vision and framework for the construction of 132 new homes on City-owned land along Moraga Avenue, including road safety improvements, design and landscaping standards, and wildfire safety requirements.
Surplus Lands Act: “Exempt” determination provides for greater local control
California’s Surplus Land Act (SLA) requires cities that desire to lease or sell public property to follow a specific process that ensures the site is prioritized for housing. The SLA provides two paths for this process, depending on whether the site is determined “exempt” or “non-exempt”:
- For “non-exempt” sites, the State establishes the manner in which the opportunity is noticed to developers, parameters for negotiations, and which developer receives preference if there are multiple interested parties , giving the City little control over the process. Additionally, this path places limits on what kind of architectural requirements or design standards can be included.
- An “exempt” determination provides the City more flexibility to select a developer based on local criteria, but has more requirements for affordable housing. These deeper affordability requirements associated with an “exempt” determination are consistent with the affordable housing targets that already exist in the adopted Specific Plan.
Each path has advantages and tradeoffs. At a November study session, the City Council received a presentation from Economic & Planning Systems that outlined the process and timeline for both options and provided a feasibility analysis for a series of development scenarios. In December, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) confirmed that a Moraga Canyon Specific Plan project would qualify for an “exempt” determination.