Focus
To boost homebuilding, San Diego planners OK letting council overrule historic designations
The San Diego Union-Tribune – November 6
The San Diego Planning Commission unanimously approved a proposal last week to accelerate homebuilding in the city by softening historic preservation rules. Developers praised the new proposal as a sensible policy change that would make it harder for opponents of projects to use historic preservation rules as a weapon to block or delay construction. Opponents, including historic preservation advocates, said the new policy is an overreach that could politicize the process and make it harder for the fate of potentially historic properties to get proper consideration. One key change: The new policy gives the City Council authority to overrule the city’s Historic Resources Board when the board designates a property historic. Another controversial element is allowing developers to use the city’s controversial Complete Communities incentive in Ocean Beach as long as a property isn’t the site of a historic cottage.
News
L.A. City Council looks at options with SB 79
Beverly Press and Park LaBrea News – November 5
The Los Angeles City Council recently approved a motion calling for a report by Dec. 1 from the Department of City Planning and Department of Transportation on the potential impacts of Senate Bill 79, which establishes state zoning standards around rail stations and primary bus lines, allowing multi-family buildings within a half mile of major transit stops. The motion directs the Department of City Planning and LADOT to provide a report that includes detailed maps of the areas where development projects would be allowed under SB 79. Please see our recent alert for more information on SB 79 and a summary of its impacts on transit-oriented housing development projects.
Menlo Park to weigh ballot measure requiring voter approval for housing on city parking lots
The Mercury News – November 5
The Menlo Park City Council last Tuesday voted to move forward with a plan to study a measure that would give voters the power to approve or block redevelopment of city-owned parking lots for affordable housing after enough signatures were gathered to require the issue be put on the ballot. Once the study is complete, the council could ultimately adopt the initiative for voter approval outright or give voters the decision to do so through a special election or on the November 2026 ballot.
Santa Cruz neighbors appeal approval of 57-unit Capitola Road project, challenge use of state’s ‘builder’s remedy’ law
Lookout Santa Cruz – November 12
A group of Live Oak residents is appealing the Santa Cruz County planning commission’s approval of a contentious housing project on Capitola Road led by local development and architecture firm Workbench. The appeal was filed with the county board of supervisors on Nov. 3 by Live Oak resident Mike Reis on behalf of neighbors living on Grey Seal Road, less than two weeks after the planning commission unanimously approved the project. The 57-unit project at 841 Capitola Rd., near 7th Avenue, was greenlit by the planning commission in large part because it uses the state’s builder’s remedy mechanism.
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