LAFAYETTE — Lafayette City Manager Steve Falk cited voters’ rejection of two recent measures and BART’s current plan for housing as key reasons why he decided to resign Monday after nearly three decades with the city.

“It has been the great privilege of my professional career to serve Lafayette for 28 years, and I am proud of our many accomplishments on behalf of this splendid city,” Falk said in his letter of resignation, which he submitted to the city before the council meeting. “The time has come … for Lafayette to hear a new voice from the city manager’s office and for me to discover my unexplored potential.

“I will always love Lafayette,” he concluded in his letter.

Falk, 56, will continue working through the end of the year, and offered to help with the transition to a new city manager.

In his letter, Falk noted his role in the Measure C sales tax, which was defeated in November 2016. The sales tax would have protected open space, beefed up police patrols, created a downtown park, added public parking and restored the landmark Park Theater.

He also noted his role in Measure L, a ballot measure allowing 44-house project hammered out by the developer and the city on the 22-acre Deer Hill parcel north of Highway 24. Voters rejected Measure L in June, and the developer has resubmitted plans for up to 315 apartments there.

“Elections have consequences, and one is that Lafayette residents deserve a city manager who is better aligned with their priorities,” he wrote.

Falk also referred to — not specifically by name — Assembly Bill 2923, sponsored by state Assemblymen Tim Grayson, D-Concord, and David Chiu, D-San Francisco. The bill would remove a city’s zoning and land-use authority on BART-owned land within one-half mile of a transit station and hand it over to the BART board. The bill would allow BART to approve new standards for housing development.

Lafayette Mayor Don Tatzin and other East Bay officials opposed to AB 2923 are urging Gov. Brown not to sign the bill.

“All cities – even small ones – have a responsibility to address the most significant challenges of our

time: climate change, income inequality, and housing affordability,” Falk wrote. “I believe that adding multifamily housing at the BART station is the best way for Lafayette to do its part, and it has therefore become increasingly difficult for me to support, advocate for, or implement policies that would thwart transit density. My conscience won’t allow it.”

Tatzin, in a statement released Tuesday, said: “I have had the privilege to know Steve for his entire tenure with Lafayette and recognize that his contributions have made the city far better than it was before he joined.”

Tatzin pointed to Falk’s contributions to “tangible projects”: improving the infrastructure of roads and drains; the Lafayette Library and Learning Center; the Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center; improving parks and recreation facilities at Lafayette Community Park, Buckeye Fields and the Jennifer Russell Building at the community center; and overseeing a 60 percent city reserve of the general fund.

“It’s very sad to see you make this decision,” said Councilman Mike Anderson. “All I can say is that you’ve done an incredible job here. I think it’s a change going on that you recognize and are freeing us up to move forward.”

Burks called Falk “an exceptional leader” and “a visionary.”

“He’s made this city really what it is today,” Burks said. “I just wanted to say thank you, Steve, on behalf of my family.”

Councilman Ivor Samson, who was the only council member who did not endorse Measure L, also praised Falk.

“You and I have crossed swords, but we’ve always done so respectfully and in a business setting and not a personal setting,” Samson said. “And while we haven’t always agreed on a lot of things, I respect you incredibly.”

Falk’s annual salary is $253,683.

His employment contract came under scrutiny last year over concerns that its 18-month severance package was too generous. Falk’s contract gave the city manager 18 months of paid salary and health benefits — equal to about $512,142 — in the event his employment was ended by the council, which was not the case here.