_______________________________
Kathleen Ward
Mayor, City of San Clemente
ATTACHMENT 2
City Hall ● 910 Calle Negocio, San Clemente CA 92673 ● (949) 361-8200 ● www.san-clemente.org Page PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2
May 7, 2024
The Honorable Juan Carrillo
Chair, Assembly Local Government Committee
1020 N St, Room 157
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 1886 (Alvarez) Housing Element Law: Substantial Compliance Notice of Opposition (As of April 1, 2024)
Dear Chair Carrillo,
The City of San Clemente regretfully must oppose measure AB 1886 (Alvarez) because it turns its back to a fundamental provision of current housing element law: A city may disagree with HCD; explain why its housing element is in substantial compliance with the law; and then adopt that housing element which is thereafter considered “in substantial compliance with housing element law.” For decades, cities have worked with HCD to draft housing plans that accommodate their fair share of housing at all income levels. These extensive and complex plans can take years to develop, include public involvement and engagement, and environmental review. Cities go to great lengths to ensure that their housing elements substantially comply with the law, even if HCD disagrees. Current law acknowledges this fact by allowing cities to “self-certify” their housing element or take the issue to court and have a judge make the final determination of substantial compliance.
AB 1886 encourages “builder’s remedy” projects by eliminating self-certification for the purpose of what it means to have a housing element “in substantial compliance with the law.” The “builder’s remedy” allows a developer to choose any site other than a site that is identified for very low-, low-, or moderate-income housing, and construct a project that is inconsistent with both the city’s general plan and zoning. AB 1886 facilitates such projects for those cities that have a good faith disagreement based in substantial evidence.
San Clemente prides itself on the preservation of its housing via our effort to maintain the beauty of Spanish Colonial Revival and other favorable design standards to its exterior aesthetics and architecture. The “builder’s remedy” would severely hinder our ability to follow those important planning guidelines, allow deviations from our design standards/municipal codes, and create unnecessary tensions within our community. Therefore, the City of San Clemente opposes AB 1886 (Alvarez) as it precludes a local jurisdiction’s ability to deny certain housing projects, regardless of local zoning, if it does not have a compliant Housing Element.
Like other California jurisdictions, the City of San Clemente faced many challenges on the complex initiative to certify its Housing Element. Countless hours were dedicated to this effort by City staff, consultants, elected officials, and the public; the City spent more than two years working on this prolonged effort of certification. On October 12, 2022, the City’s 6th Cycle Housing Element was finally approved and certified by HCD. Though the certification had been awarded, the task of implementing the Housing Element Rezoning Program has still been underway post certification.
Leading up to this approval, the City struggled with many inefficiencies in the process as a result of having to comply with the following: unreasonable deadlines set forth by (HCD), lack of clarity on key Housing Element expectations, the tardiness of key Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) metrics to better analyze the current makeup of housing, lack of adequate staffing and consultants, and massive confusion from the public and our elected body.
The City of San Clemente believes that AB 1886 is counterproductive. What is really needed is for HCD to partner with cities to provide meaningful direction that helps them finalize their housing elements and put those plans to work so that much needed housing construction can occur. Again, for these reasons, the City of San Clemente must oppose AB 1886 (Alvarez). If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] and (949) 361-8200.
Sincerely,
Victor Cabral
Mayor
City of San Clemente
Cc: The Honorable David A. Alvarez (via e-mail)
Members, Assembly Committee on Local Government (via e-mail) Linda Rios, Senior Consultant, Assembly Committee on Local Government (via e-mail) Congressman Mike Levin (via e-mail)
William Weber, Assembly Republican Caucus (via e-mail)
Senator Janet Nguyen (via e-mail)
Assemblywoman Laurie Davies (via e-mail)
League of California Cities (via e-mail)
CELEBRATING 90 YEARS OF INCORPORATION
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
AND CITY COUNCIL
Victor Cabral
Mayor
Mark Enmeier
Mayor Pro Tem
Chris Duncan
Steve Knoblock
Rick Loeffler
CITY MANAGER
Andy Hall
910 Calle Negocio
San Clemente, CA 92673
Phone: (949) 361-8200
“The Spanish Village
by the Sea”