Less crime, cleaner streets, bike lanes – the quality of life in Rancho Cordova has dramatically improved for most residents since the city incorporated just five years ago, city leaders and residents say.

But advocates and some officials fear Rancho Cordova is in danger of effectively becoming two cities – the haves vs. the have-nots – as the City Council looks to strip an affordable housing requirement from the city's plans.

It is the most explosive in a series of moves affecting low- to moderate-income residents, including last year's restrictions on thrift shops and the council's vote Monday to criminalize picking through trash bins and scavenging for recyclables from the trash.

The move to cut an affordable housing requirement could divide the city between affluent neighborhoods south of Highway 50 – where large tracts of land are waiting to be developed – and north of the highway, where working-class and poor residents are more likely to live, affordable housing advocates say.

"They decimated any commitment on their part to build affordable housing," said Shamus Roller, the Sacramento Housing Alliance's executive director. "Rancho Cordova does have some revitalization issues, but they're basically making two communities."

This year, Rancho Cordova is required to update its "housing element" – a plan laying out housing policy for five years. All jurisdictions are required to submit a housing element to the state's Department of Housing and Community Development.

Under its original plan, which the city adopted after incorporating in 2003, Rancho Cordova had required 10 percent of new residential units to be affordable. But in a 3-2 vote earlier this month, the City Council went against city staff's recommendation and decided to drop the 10 percent requirement from the plan the city will submit for state approval.

Mayor Linda Budge supported dropping the 10 percent requirement, which she said is an impediment to development in this rough economy.

"It gets us beyond today's current economic climate," Budge said at the council's Nov. 3 meeting.

Councilman Ken Cooley, however, in an interview called that a "false argument."

When there's a clear standard, developers know what to expect and will factor the cost into the price they're willing to pay for land. Neighboring communities like Folsom have an even higher requirement of 15 percent, he said.

"I just think it will produce more well-rounded communities," Cooley said.

If Rancho Cordova does drop the 10 percent requirement, it doesn't mean the city will stop building affordable housing, said Curt Haven, economic development director.

Officials have talked about passing an ordinance separate from the plan the city will submit to the state.

That ordinance could lay out a more flexible approach to affordable housing, including provisions that would allow developers to donate land and pay fees in lieu of housing. It also could offer incentives for projects that create mixed-income developments, Haven said.

But Cooley said ambiguity and a lack of definitive requirements would undermine any efforts to build affordable housing.

"When you drop the requirement, you'll have a thousand reasons why it doesn't make sense to do it now, or you'll defer it," he said.

The debate over affordable housing in Rancho Cordova could have significant long-term implications for the city, which is one of the few areas in the region with land available for development. The 32-square-mile city is only about half developed.

"They have a lot of growth coming potentially in the next 10 years," said Valerie Feldman, acting managing attorney for the Legal Services of Northern California. "What it might mean unfortunately in the long-term is there will be a Rancho Cordova that looks very lopsided."

Officials say there are still affordable homes and rental apartments in Rancho Cordova, as compared to surrounding areas. But some advocates see the council's effort to drop the affordable housing requirement from the city's plans as part of a larger pattern where the city has improved neighborhoods at the expense of low-income and working-class residents.

Call The Bee's Robert Lewis, (916) 321-1061.