Item 8 - Visual slideshow presented by Staff at MeetingRutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Housing Legislation Update
Before After
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Housing Crisis Act of 2019
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Went into effect 1-1-2020
•New “No Net Loss”
requirements for planned
and existing housing
•Revised the Housing
Accountability Act
•New Preliminary
Application Vesting
•Amends Permit
Streamlining Act
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Old “No Net Loss” Law -
Housing Element Site Only
§65863 already imposed:
•Restrictions on reduction of density of a Housing Element site or
approving individual projects with less units than identified density
•Must make finding that remaining sites identified in Housing
Element are sufficient to meet Regional Housing Needs
Assessment (“RHNA”) numbers
•Requirement to “identify and make available” additional adequate
sites within 180 days if agency approves lower density project and
finds remaining sites are not adequate to meet RHNA
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
SB 330 –NEW No Net Loss of Planned or
Actual Units
•Government Code §66300 –applies to all residential
sites
•Fundamental purposes:
–Prevent future planning/across the board regulations
that will reduce housing
–Preclude/limit individual projects that will result in
fewer units due to demolition
•Projects without a completed project application
before Jan. 1, 2020
–Extreme limitations on demolition of “protected units”
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
SB 330 –NEW No Net Loss of Planned
Units
•Per §66300(b), on land where housing is permitted, City
cannot enact a “development policy, standard, or
condition” that would have the following effects:
–Reduce intensity of land use below Jan. 1, 2018 levels
–Impose moratorium on housing development unless imminent
threat to health & safety
–Impose/enforce design standards established after January 1,
2020 that are not objective
–Establish/implement numeric caps on permits/units/limits on
population
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
SB 330 –NEW No Net Loss of Planned
Units
City can decrease intensity if it concurrently
increases intensity elsewhere so there is no
net loss in residential capacity. (66300(i))
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City can impose restrictions on
“commercial use” of land
designated for residential use, e.g.,
short term rentals. (66300(c))
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
SB 330 –NEW No Net Loss of Actual Units
•On project level [§66300(d)],
City can’t approve a “housing
development project” [more
than one unit] that:
–Demolishes existing dwelling units
unless it replaces with at least as
many
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•Severe restriction on the demolition of vacant or
occupied “protected units” (e.g., affordable), including
replacement requirements
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
SB 330 –NEW No Net Loss of Actual Units
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Protected Units:
•Covenanted Units (within 5 yrs)
•Occupied by lower or very low income households
(within 5 yrs)
•Elderly couple on fixed income?
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
SB 330 –NEW No Net Loss of Actual Units
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Housing Development Project that requires demolition
of occupied or vacant “Protected Unit” must:
•“Replace” all existing or demolished units
•Include at least as many units as the greatest number of
units on the site in last 5 years
•Existing residents must be allowed to remain until 6
months before construction
•Displaced occupants must get relocation benefits + right
of first refusal
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Housing Accountability Act
•Housing Accountability Act or
“Anti-NIMBY Act” (Gov. Code §
65589.5) amended again
•Applies to “housing development
projects”
–Residential or mixed use with 2/3
residential square footage
–Likely does not apply to the
development of a single family
home
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
2018 Amendments
To deny a housing development project (or
impose a condition reducing density), agency must
either:
•Determine project does not comply with objective general
plan, zoning or subdivision criteria or standards within 1-2
months of a completed application (otherwise deemed
consistent)
OR
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
2018 Amendments
Find, by a preponderance of the evidence,that project
would have a specific adverse impact on public health
or safety that can’t be mitigated:
•“specific, adverse impact” means a significant, quantifiable,
direct, and unavoidable impact, based on objective, identified
written public health or safety standards, policies, or
conditions as they existed on the date the application was
deemed complete
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
2018 Amendments
Additional changes:
•Added additional penalty
provisions, including fines
for bad faith disapprovals
•Attorneys fees for housing
groups
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
New Amendments
Effective January 1, 2020
SB 330 further amended HAA:
•Freezes all existing regulations and impact fees when
certain enumerated information (a “preliminary
application”) is submitted for a housing development
project
•No City action required to “deem” application complete
Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Vesting Regulations Upon Complete
“Preliminary Application”
•“Preliminary application” is a new defined term in
Permit Streamlining Act. (§65941.1)
–Project and site description information
•City staff will post list of required information online
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Limitations to Vesting
The following may still be imposed after application deemed
complete:
•Automatic fee increases based on independent cost
indices referenced in a city’s or county’s fee ordinance
•Regulation is necessary to mitigate or avoid a health or
safety impact and there is no feasible alternative
(preponderance of evidence)
•Regulation necessary to avoid or substantially lessen a
project impact under CEQA
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Limitations to Vesting Continued
Vesting “expires” when the project
has not commenced construction
within 2.5 years of “final approval”
or is revised to change the number
of residential units or square
footage of construction by 20% or
more.
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Limitations to Vesting Continued
•Later enacted regulations of
use and occupancy of
residential units such as rent
control and limitations on
short term rentals still apply
to housing development
projects
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Additional HAA Amendments
•Clarifies “objective” to mean “involving no personal or
subjective judgment by a public official and being
uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and
uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable
by both the development applicant or proponent and
the public official.”
•“Lower density” includes any conditions that have the
same effect or impact on the ability of the project to
provide housing.
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
HAA Does Not Exempt Projects from
CEQA
SB 330 did not affect §65589.5(e), which states:
•“Nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve the
local agency from complying with” CEQA or the Coastal
Act
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Permit Streamlining Act
•Maximum of 5 public hearings
where project complies with
General Plan and zoning (§
65905.5)
•Deadline to act on project after
EIR certified reduced from 120
to 90 days (§65950)
–60 days for certain affordable
housing developments
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Permit Streamlining Act
Adds §65913.10:
•City must make “historic site” determination at the time the
preliminary application is submitted, “[f]or purposes of any
state or local law, ordinance, or regulation that requires the
city or county to determine whether the site of a proposed
housing development project is a historic site.”
•Determination “remains valid” during pendency unless
discovery made during grading/construction
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
Permit Streamlining Act
Amends §65943:
•City required to provide the applicant with an exhaustive
list, in writing, of the items that were not complete within
30 days of application submittal
–deemed complete if no written determination in 30 days
•City may not request new information that was not listed
in the initial incomplete letter during subsequent reviews
of an incomplete application
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Rutan & Tucker, LLP | 611 Anton Blvd., Suite 1400, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | 714-641-5100 | www.rutan.com
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