As California continues to endure an ongoing housing crisis, local governments were nevertheless breathing a sigh of relief this week following the most recent failure of controversial Senate Bill 50 (SB50).
Proponents of the legislation claim it would spur the construction of desperately needed housing, especially near high transit areas. Many local governments, however, fear the bill, as currently written, would preempt local zoning, taking control of housing development away from them.
Thus, they believe, the overall character of their communities could be altered as La Palma, Los Alamitos and the city of Cypress had all sent strong letters of opposition to their local senators.
The bill, introduced by San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener, would have allowed the development of “neighborhood multifamily projects” located on eligible parcels by “submiting an application for a streamlined, ministerial approval process that is not subject to a conditional use permit.”
Local municipalities strongly opposed the measure for a variety of reasons, while most of their concerns centered around the potential of losing local control of zoning, housing and related development rules.
According to a La Palma staff report requested by council member Gerard Goedhart, the SB50 legislation would have allowed developers of certain types of housing projects to override locally developed and adopted height limitations, housing densities, parking requirements, and limiting design review standards.
Because the bill would usurp local land use authority, the La Palma City Council directed staff to draft an opposition letter for the Mayor’s signature and send it to the state legislature.
Additionally, the bill included many other provisions related to “transit-rich” and “job-rich” communities that were opposed by both local cities.
In the summary letter sent to legislators, the city of La Palma was very quick to point out the exact reasons why they believe they do not believe they qualified as a “transit-rich community,” while also noting the state Dept. of Labor had not yet “defined” a “job-rich” community.
In Los Alamitos, a letter signed by Mayor Richard Murphy informs Sen. Wiener that “the city must continue to oppose SB50 unless the measure is further amended to address our concerns.”
The letter from the city of Los Alamitos also noted that the city was “pleased” with some of the amendments, including one that would allow an “alternative” approval process to include “local flexibility plans.”
“The City of Cypress respectfully continues to oppose SB50,” said Cypress city manager Peter Grant in a letter to Sen. Wiener. Grant said Cypress wants more definition in “local flexibility plan” that was recently added to the bill.
Until the local flexibility plan has more definition, Grant worried “developers without a long-term stake in the community” could still potentially override local limits.
In addition, the legislation could “remove the most fundamental elements of local control,” said Grant’s letter. Cities should always retain the “right to determine land use and zoning.” In essence, he said, cities “must maintain the ability to make decisions that make sense for their communities.”
The bill has been amended since first being introduced in 2018 and is expected at some point to resurface with amended language for another vote.
Nevertheless, the cities were breathing a sigh of relief as SB50 was defeated 18-15 in the Senate vote. Sen. Thomas Umberg, who represents Los Al and Sen. Ling Ling Chang who represents La Palma and Cypress, both abstained from voting on the bill.
