Don’t be fooled: California’s new housing laws make significant changes to zoning

That's the headline chosen by the noted George Skelton, not us, in describing the impact of SB9's passage on Santa Clara County neighborhoods. Skelton is responding to the bait-and-switch offered by housing advocates who told us that SB9 was a necessary game-changer to increase housing stock, only to suggest within minutes after its passage that it's no big deal--and if you want real change consider San Jose's radical Opportunity Housing proposal. Originally in the L.A. Times.

The word is out that major land zoning bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom don’t amount to much because they were so watered down by compromising legislators. Don’t believe it.

If my next-door neighbor can convert her single-family home into a fourplex, that amounts to a lot. Suddenly there are more cars parked on the street, more little kids screaming and more dogs leaving gifts on my lawn.

And she could do that under SB 9, the signature bill by Senate leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) from the recently concluded legislative session.
Atkins’ bill and another, SB 10 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would weaken single-family zoning — if not eliminate it — and make it easier to build multifamily dwellings.

SB 9, dubbed the “duplex bill,” would offer homeowners new options to build additional housing on their lots, regardless of whether they’re currently zoned for single-family only. They could add a granny flat, convert the house into a duplex or erect a triplex or fourplex.

SB 10 would be voluntary for cities. They could rezone a parcel for a new housing development of up to 10 units and streamline government permitting. A builder could bypass the California Environmental Quality Act, often abused by a project’s opponents. The project gets dragged out until it’s no longer economically feasible and is abandoned.

The showdown was unique for a legislative battle. It involved mainly ordinary citizens, especially on the opposition side, much more than special interests.
The battle also was unique for another reason. It was less about partisanship than geography — where a lawmaker lived mattered more than party.
The most intense tussle was over local control, with dozens of cities — including L.A. — opposing the legislation.

“Local government has less control under these bills,” says Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a former leader of the state Senate. As a legislator, Steinberg pushed through some of the earliest legislation that attempted to incentivize more urban housing near public transportation.

Read the whole thing here.

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Photo taken by Stephen Johnson.