1 Brandy Forbes
From: Davis White <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2022 4:42 PM
To: Brandy Forbes
Subject: HCD's Position on Intensity of Land Use & SB 9 Attachments: TempleCityfTechnicalAssistance042922.pdf
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To whom it may concern,
The California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) recently published a letter in response to Temple City’s implementation of Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) which has sweeping implications for other jurisdictions in this process. The letter focuses on the city’s ill‐founded attempt to reduce the intensity of land use for SB 9 projects without any attempt to concurrently increase intensity elsewhere, as required by the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (HCA). Any change in intensity of units or size without counterbalancing affects feasibility. HCD has found this violates state law.
Temple City’s SB 9 ordinance—and HCD’s response—also contains a laundry list of don'ts which may affect a jurisdiction’s Housing Element compliance. Specifically, the letter called out Temple City’s use of square footage restrictions, height and story restrictions, courtyard requirements, parking limitations, LEED standards, underground requirements, and even affordability deed restrictions. All told, such requirements for SB 9‐related projects which go beyond standards for other projects may be construed as governmental constraints. Jurisdictions will have to identify and justify such constraints in their Housing Elements.
Lastly, the letter stresses that a jurisdiction’s implementation of SB 9 is covered by state laws other than the HCA and State Housing Element Law. This includes, but is not exclusive to, State ADU Law, AFFH, and Anti‐Discrimination in Land Use Law.
How a city implements SB 9 has wide‐reaching considerations. Jurisdictions should be fully aware that SB 9‐related projects are not separate nor exempt from their ordinary zoning laws and instead should be included within existing codes. The point of SB 9 is to give homeowners the means to increase the density of their properties. It is not a dead‐ end in state law.
Attached to this email is HCD's letter to Temple City for reference.
Sincerely,
Davis White
‐‐
Davis White he/him
yimbylaw.org
(415) 298-0788
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