CITY OF GROVER BEACH
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
Agenda Item No. 8
Placement: Consent
Meeting Date: June 22, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Matthew Bronson, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Matthew Bronson, City Manager
SUBJECT: Creation of Ad Hoc Council Committee on Building Heights and Commercial Space Citizen Initiative and Next Steps with the Citizen Initiative
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the creation of an ad hoc Council committee consisting of Mayor Dee and Council Member Tuggle on the building heights and commercial space citizen initiative and receive information about the next steps regarding the citizen initiative.
BACKGROUND
On June 8, 2026, the Council adopted Resolution No. 26-20 to place a citizen initiative to reduce building heights in commercial and industrial areas and establish a commercial space requirement on the November 3, 2026, general election ballot. This action followed submission of a petition for this initiative to the City on April 20, 2026, and certification of signatures accepted by the City Council on May 11, 2026, that required the Council to either adopt the ordinance in the initiative or place the ordinance on the November 2026 ballot.
The initiative would limit building heights in certain Commercial Zoning Districts to three (3) stories and no more than forty feet (40') in height, and limit buildings within the Industrial Zoning Districts to thirty-three feet (33') in height. The initiative would additionally change how building height is measured and require that building heights are measured from the average natural grade to the highest point of the building, including any appurtenances. For mixed-use developments, the initiative would require a minimum of thirty-three percent (33%) of a mixed-use building to be dedicated to commercial uses and require such commercial uses on the ground floor frontage on the primary street.
The June 8th staff report provided additional information on the impacts of this initiative. These impacts included potential loss of residential units that would have to be accounted for elsewhere in the city, the implementation process if the initiative was approved, including coordination with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to remain compliant with State housing law, and the overall fiscal impact projected with this effort.
Ad Hoc Council Committee
Along with placing the initiative on the ballot, the Council provided direction to create an ad hoc Council committee related to the initiative and this agenda item establishes such a committee.
The expressed intent of such a committee is to meet with proponents of the citizen initiative to Staff Report: Creation of Ad Hoc Council Committee on Development Initiative and Next Steps Page 2 June 22, 2026
discuss these potential impacts and alternatives that could be considered. An ad hoc committee consisting of two members of the Council can be established at any time and for any purpose by Council action and can meet on an as-needed basis. The two members of the Council proposed for this committee are Mayor Dee and Council Member Tuggle though the Council can modify this composition if desired. If the creation of this committee was approved by the Council, the City Manager and/or City Attorney would support the work of this committee as staff.
Next Steps with the Citizen Initiative
Below is a summary of next steps related to the citizen initiative following the June 8th meeting:
• The City Clerk has submitted the adopted resolution (Resolution No. 26-20) for placing the citizen initiative on the November ballot to the County Elections Office. The citizen initiative would be labeled on the ballot as Measure F-26. • Staff is working with SLOCOG to schedule an agenda item with the Council to discuss the upcoming Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process and hear concerns about the City’s potential allocation in the potential distribution methodology. A proposed timeframe for this agenda item is July through September depending on schedule availability and initial discussions about the methodology. Final adoption of the methodology is anticipated in early 2027.
• Staff is working on a Request for Information (RFI) for the analysis that would be needed if the measure is approved that would confirm the number of residential units lost through this action and potential rezoning needed to account for these lost units. This RFI would just produce information about the availability of firms to do this work and the estimated cost involved. The RFI is anticipated to be released later this month. • As part of the Request for Proposals (RFP) process to begin for the consultant work related to the Housing Element update, staff is adding an additional work task to analyze the effects of a potential ordinance that reduces building heights without the commercial space requirement. Such an ordinance could potentially have less impact on loss of residential units than the ordinance in the citizen initiative that also includes a commercial space requirement, but this would need to be analyzed by an outside consultant to ensure a legally compliant ordinance. Direction to consider development of such an ordinance would need to come from the Council as this initial information about the cost and timing of such an analysis would be brought to the Council for discussion once available. The RFP is anticipated to be released later this month.
In addition to these items, staff is implementing direction provided by the Council as part of the action to place the initiative on the November 2026 ballot. This direction included sending letters to HCD in support of SLOCOG’s objection to the proposed countywide RHNA number and requesting a letter to the City outlining HCD’s review process if the measure is adopted and the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the City’s Housing Element. Staff would add that HCD has already reached out to the City about placement of this initiative on the ballot and has requested a meeting later this month to discuss the potential impacts. This meeting may also provide information on HCD’s review process and compliance efforts the City would need to undertake. Lastly, the Council directed staff to send a support letter for AB 2676 which would affect implementation and enforcement of voter initiatives related to housing development.
Staff Report: Creation of Ad Hoc Council Committee on Development Initiative and Next Steps Page 3 June 22, 2026
FISCAL IMPACT
There are no funding impacts to this staff report.
ALTERNATIVES
The Council has the following alternatives to consider:
1) Approve the creation of an ad hoc Council committee consisting of Mayor Dee and Council Member Tuggle on the building heights and commercial space citizen initiative and receive information about next steps regarding the citizen initiative; or 2) Do not approve the creation of the ad hoc Council committee or modify the composition of the committee; or
3) Provide alternative direction to staff.
PUBLIC NOTIFICATION
The agenda was posted in accordance with the Brown Act.
Multi-Year Goals
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