Focus
Elk Grove settles with state on affordable housing lawsuit
Allen Matkins – September 4
Elk Grove has settled a lawsuit with the state over a 67-unit supportive housing project the city denied, despite the fact that the city had recently approved a similar market-rate project. The lawsuit filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) alleges that the city violated Senate Bill (SB) 35, the Housing Accountability Act (HAA), the Nondiscrimination in Land Use Law, and the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Law. Attorney General Rob Bonta stated during a recent press conference: “Our housing laws are not suggestions. They are not recommendations. They are not optional for your consideration. They are the law.” The settlement agreement requires specified city findings for any disapproval of future affordable or supportive housing projects; monthly reporting requirements; rezoning to create an additional affordable housing site for low-income housing, as specified, by July 1, 2025; and a settlement payment of $150,000. The city also reached a settlement agreement with the developer earlier this year, pursuant to which the city will relocate the supportive housing project out of Elk Grove’s historic district to other city-owned property. The city also agreed to reimburse the developer $850,000 for costs incurred, pay damages totaling $860,000, and reimburse the developer’s attorneys’ fees in the amount of $600,000.
Please see our prior legal alert for more information about SB 35, which was recently amended by SB 423.
For additional information on the Elk Grove lawsuit, please see CapRadio’s coverage from September 4 linked below.
News
Lawmakers close loopholes in SB 9 to encourage new housing in single-family neighborhoods
Times of San Diego – September 1
As the state Legislature wrapped up its regular session, lawmakers passed legislation authored by Senator Toni Atkins of San Diego to close loopholes in Senate Bill 9 to encourage new housing in single-family neighborhoods. The two-year-old SB 9, known as the HOME Act, allows property owners to split their lots and build up to four units on a single-family parcel. It has faced pushback from many localities, and Atkins’ new Senate Bill 450 attempts to circumvent that. The updates to the original law include requiring local governments to either approve or deny an application for a new SB 9 unit or lot split within 60 day and requiring a local government to provide homeowners with a reason and remedies if their application is denied. Governor Gavin Newsom has until September 30, 2024 to sign or veto bills passed by the state Legislature.
Bill separating warehouses from homes, schools passes California Legislature
The Sun – September 3
New large warehouses would have to be several hundred feet or more from homes, schools, and other sensitive land uses if a late-hour bill approved by California’s Legislature becomes law. Sponsored by Assembly members Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Colton, and Juan Carrillo, D-Palmdale, Assembly Bill 98 would require, with certain exceptions, that new warehouses be built on arterial roads, collector roads, major thoroughfares, or local roads primarily used by commercial traffic. It also would require new warehouses to have 300-foot setbacks between sensitive uses and the nearest loading bay if that warehouse is built in an industrial area. In non-industrial areas or land that was rezoned to industrial, the setback would be 500 feet.
California cities, counties may need to consider wildlife connectivity in development plans
MSN/Los Angeles Times – September 6
California lawmakers have passed Assembly Bill 1889, known as the Room to Roam Act, which directs cities to consider and protect wildlife connectivity in their land-use plans. The bill now goes to the governor’s desk for final approval. Efforts to boost wildlife connectivity in California have gained momentum in recent years. What’s billed as the largest wildlife crossing in the world is rising over a 10-lane freeway near Los Angeles, while last month saw the launch of an initiative seeking to leverage public and private resources to build more safe passages for wildlife across the state.
State Supreme Court OKs UCSF building opposed by neighborhood groups
San Francisco Chronicle – August 28
The state Supreme Court rejected a challenge by San Francisco neighborhood groups to UC San Francisco’s plans for a 15-story hospital at its Parnassus Heights campus. Opponents of the construction said it would violate city height and zoning restrictions and would also cause pollution that UC has failed to address. A judge ruled in December that the groups opposing the project could try to prove their case, but a state appeals court ruled in June that the university was exempt from those restrictions as a government educational institution. That ruling became final last Wednesday when the state Supreme Court unanimously denied review of the neighborhood groups’ appeal.
Berkeley’s gas ban was blocked in court. Now a new plan has emerged.
Canary Media – September 4
After the courts squashed its first-in-the-nation natural gas ban, the city of Berkeley has emerged with a new strategy to curb the planet-warming fossil fuel: taxing large buildings that use it. On November 5, residents of the Bay Area city will vote on a ballot measure that proposes taxing the owners of buildings of 15,000 square feet or larger based on the amount of natural gas consumed each year. If passed, legal experts say this would be the first tax in the country to target the use of a specific fuel source for buildings.
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