YIMBYs, NIMBYs clash over S.F.’s plan to raise neighborhood building height limits

San Francisco Chronicle – February 1

San Francisco’s state-mandated plan to raise building height limits to encourage housing production along transit corridors from the Sunset to the Richmond to the Marina came under criticism at the Planning Commission’s recent informational hearing on the proposed up-zoning. In all, the area being rezoned makes up about 50% of the city’s land, but those areas have seen just 10% of the city’s housing development over the past 20 years, mostly because the majority of the area is not zoned for high-density projects. This includes areas along Lombard Street in the Marina; 19th Avenue; Taraval, Irving, Judah, and Sloat in the Sunset; and Balboa, Clement, and Geary in the Richmond. It also includes blocks just off those corridors. In many areas heights would be increased from 28 to 65 or 85 feet; some larger sites on busy intersections would allow towers as high as 140 or 300 feet. In addition to homeowners, the coalition opposing the rezoning includes progressive groups like the Race & Equity in all Planning Coalition, or REP-SF, made up of housing justice organizations from across the city.

The proposed up-zoning is part of a larger effort to increase housing production city-wide, including the recent approval of “Housing Constraints Legislation” which, as explained in our prior legal alert, is intended to streamline housing production, as required by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

News

San Jose to fight developers using ‘builder’s remedy’ to downsize housing projects

The Mercury News – February 2

San Jose is the most recent city to fight back against the “builder’s remedy,” which, as discussed in our prior alert, applies when a local jurisdiction has not adopted a revised Housing Element in compliance with state law, in which case the local jurisdiction cannot deny a qualifying housing development project even if it is inconsistent with the general plan and zoning ordinance (subject to limited exceptions). Last week, the city sent letters of rejection to developers who attempted to use the builder’s remedy after June 20, 2023 (even though HCD did not certify the city’s revised Housing Element until January 29, 2024), including to some who tried to scale back previously approved housing projects, telling them that the city will not proceed with their applications. Of the 29 plans submitted in the last year, nearly a third would downsize projects previously approved by the city, putting 4,177 previously-approved units on the chopping block. Most notable among them is the Berryessa BART Urban Village at the San Jose Flea Market site, where the developer asserted the builder’s remedy to reduce the scope of the project to 940 housing units from the 3,450 originally proposed — a move that Mayor Matt Mahan has said “decimates” one of the city’s signature transit-oriented projects.

Governor Newsom adds Santa Monica, Mountain View, and other communities to ‘prohousing’ list

Santa Monica Daily Press – February 2

Governor Gavin Newsom has added seven communities (Eureka, Healdsburg, Mountain View, Petaluma, San Luis Obispo, Santa Monica, and the County of Tulare) to “prohousing” list, bringing the total to 37 statewide. HCD said the state needs to plan for 2.5 million new homes over the next eight years, with at least one million serving the needs of lower-income Californians. To encourage that development, the designation rewards communities with “funding incentives and additional resources that help scale up those innovative efforts.”

Anaheim violated state housing laws with transitional housing permit denial, judge rules

The Orange County Register – February 3

An Orange County judge has ruled that Anaheim violated several housing laws in its dispute with a nonprofit after the city denied a permit for transitional housing for women. The City Council in 2021 voted unanimously to deny a conditional use permit to convert an eight-bedroom house into a transitional living facility in the Colony Historic District after opposition from the neighborhood. Grandma’s House of Hope sued in 2022, and the state joined the lawsuit later that year. Anaheim violated the state Housing Element Law, the Housing Accountability Act, the Land Use Anti-Discrimination Law, and Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Law, the judge said. Governor Gavin Newsom and HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez celebrated the ruling, calling it a defeat for communities who stand in the way of housing.

Attorney General Bonta’s office joins the fight against pro-parking group’s attempts to thwart affordable housing projects

Lost Coast Outpost – February 1

The State of California wants in on the City of Eureka’s fight against the Security National-funded Citizens for a Better Eureka. The Office of Attorney General Rob Bonta submitted a request to file amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs in support of the City of Eureka and the Eureka City Council, and it says the court should reject the Citizens for a Better Eureka’s efforts to thwart affordable housing developments downtown. Last month, the group filed a series of motions seeking preliminary injunctions that would immediately block the city and its partners from breaking ground on affordable housing and transportation projects slated for development on municipal parking lots downtown.