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By Austin B. Quinn
December 30, 2024
The California Legislature’s 2023-2024 regular session came to a close this year on August 31, 2024, concluding with a frenzied final week featuring hundreds of bills on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. Land use and housing crisis issues drove legislative change yet again in areas involving ADUs, CEQA, fee transparency, and other housing matters. Check out the list below to stay ahead on those new rules most relevant to your business.
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
- SB 1211: Makes several technical changes to rules involving ADUs.
- First, this bill extends the prohibition against local agencies requiring the replacement of off-street parking if a garage or other parking space is destroyed to build or convert a space into an ADU, regardless of whether or not it is a covered or uncovered parking space.
- Second, this bill prevents agencies from imposing any objective development or design standard not authorized by Section 66323 on any ADU in compliance with that section.
- Third, this bill defines “livable space” for the purpose of ADU provisions as “a space in a dwelling intended for human habitation, including living, sleeping, eating, cooking, or sanitation.”
- Lastly, this bill increases the maximum number of ADUs that a local agency is required to ministerially approve from not more than 2 to not more than 8 detached ADUs on a lot with an existing/proposed multifamily dwelling, subject to a height limitation and setbacks. The number of ADUs must not exceed the number of existing units on the lot, and lots with proposed multifamily dwelling are still capped at 2 detached ADUs, at most.
- AB 2533: Prevents local agencies from denying a permit to unpermitted ADUs or junior ADUs constructed before January 1, 2020 solely because the ADU violates state or local building code standards (unless it is necessary for health or safety). This bill also requires the local agency to publish a checklist for homeowners to follow to remain in compliance, allows local agencies to inspect the unit, and prohibits agencies from charging homeowners impact fees or capacity charges for applying for a permit on an unpermitted ADU (with some exceptions).
- SB 1077: Requires the California Coastal Commission to develop and provide guidance for local governments to follow in amending local coastal programs to clarify and simplify ADU/junior ADU permitting in the coastal zone.
Builders Remedy
- AB 1893: Boxes in the builders remedy, limiting the amount of additional density a developer can obtain. Unlimited housing size and density will no longer be permitted. Projects will be limited to double the current density in most areas and triple the current density in so-called “high-resource areas”.
CEQA
- AB 3057: Expands a CEQA exemption for city or county adoption of an ordinance to facilitate ADUs to also include adoption of an ordinance facilitating junior ADUs. This is a technical fix designed to ensure local junior ADU regulations receive the same exemption from CEQA as is already afforded to conventional ADUs.
- SB 347: Exempts the leasing of or the granting of an easement to land in conjunction with a hydrogen fueling station or an electric vehicle charging station from the Subdivision Map Act if the project is subject to discretionary action by the advisory agency or legislative body.
- AB 2199: Extends a CEQA exemption for residential and some mixed-use housing projects in unincorporated areas that meet certain requirements from 2025 to 2032.
- AB 2091: Exempts from CEQA certain “rails to trails” projects that would convert old railroads into recreational trails as approved by agencies such as the Great Redwood Trail Agency, while remaining subject to public input.
Coastal Commission
- SB 951: Prohibits the Coastal Commission from bringing a project up on appeal on its own if the project conforms with an adopted Local Coastal Program. This bill also makes legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for certain areas of the state that are both a city and county.
Density Bonus Law
- AB 2694: Extends the Density Bonus Law to residential care facilities for the elderly, also known as assisted living facilities. This bill expands the definition of “development” and also, in the case of a residential care facility, changes the term “shared housing unit” to include a unit without an individual kitchen where a room may be shared by unrelated persons. By qualifying residential care facilities for the benefits of the Density Bonus Law, AB 2694 seeks to increase the supply of senior housing.
Environment
- AB 2875: Declares a policy of the state to ensure no net loss of wetlands (and net gain in the long run in terms of quantity, quality, and permanence of wetlands acreage) and requires codification of that policy.
Fees
- AB 2430: Eliminates the monitoring fees on qualifying 100% affordable housing developments. To qualify, housing developments must meet several conditions involving compliance with certain requirements of the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee and related government entities. Up to 20% of the units in the development may still be for moderate-income households.
- AB 2663: Increases transparency regarding inclusionary housing in-lieu fees. This bill requires local agencies that collect such fees to annually post the amount of those fees collected in the previous year and how those fees are being spent.
- SB 937: Pushes back deadlines for developers to pay local agencies certain fees.
- First, the bill requires that for a local agency to collect utility service fees when the developer applies for utility services, the agency must limit collection to those connection-related fees, and it must cap those fees at the costs incurred by the utility provider.
- Second, this bill prohibits fees or charges on residential development for the construction of public improvements or facilities until the date the first certificate of occupancy or first temporary certificate of occupancy is issued.
- AB 3177: Limits ability to use the Mitigation Fee Act to obtain land for street widening and level-of-service improvements. This bill also requires that a housing development be located within a transit priority area for purposes of local agencies setting the rate for a mitigating vehicular traffic impacts fee to reflect a lower rate of automobile trip generation. Furthermore, local agencies are authorized to impose a land dedication requirement on a housing development if it is not located in a transit priority area and the housing development has a linear street frontage of 500 feet or more.
- AB 1820: Requires local agencies to estimate impact fees prior to construction. This bill requires cities and counties to provide an estimate within 30 business days of the submission of the preliminary application for a housing development project. The itemized list and good faith estimate of the total sum of all fees and exactions does not impose any binding obligation on that local agency, city, county, or special district to adhere to those figures.
Housing Elements
- AB 1886: Removes the ability of local agencies to self-certify the housing element of a general plan where the Department of Housing and Community Development finds that it is not compliant with Housing Element Law. A housing element or amendment to said element will be considered in substantial compliance with the Housing Element Law only if the element or amendment was determined to be in substantial compliance when a preliminary application or complete application was submitted, as specified.
- AB 2023: Requires local governments to complete rezoning of identified sites to accommodate all housing income levels within 1 year of the statutory period or within 3 years and 90 days of the statutory deadline if certain requirements are satisfied. Additionally, even if a draft element or amendment does not comply with the Housing Element Law, a legislative body is not excused from taking required actions in response. While current law creates a rebuttable presumption of a housing element’s validity in any action challenging said element, this bill instead creates a presumption of invalidity where the Department of Housing and Community Development finds that said element or amendment is noncompliant with Housing Element Law.
- AB 3093: Adds two new categories of low-income housing to accommodate for homelessness. This bill redefines all income levels and household income levels, removes the calculation method for extremely low income households, and specifies acutely and extremely low income households as a special housing need for the 7th and subsequent revisions of the housing element. The bill also changes rezoning requirements for localities to accommodate 100% of the need for all lower income households instead of only very low and low-income households, including the new categories defined by this bill. Additional requirements will now be imposed on the housing element related to historical preservation practices, coastal zone sites, and homelessness data collection.
- AB 1037: Adds penalties ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 per month for a local agency’s acts or omissions of an arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, or unfair nature upon enforcement by the Attorney General or Department of Housing and Community Development relating to the adoption of housing element revisions or enforcement of any state law requiring a locality to ministerially approve any planning or permitting application related to a housing development project.
Other Housing Bills
- AB 1413: Expands the definition of “disapproval” under the Housing Accountability Act and also expands notification requirements in related situations. Within 5 working days of receiving timely written notice by an applicant, a local agency must post the notice on its website and provide a copy to specified persons. The agency must also consider all objections, comments, evidence, and concerns about the project or the applicant’s written notice.
- AB 2243: Expands and modifies the provisions of the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 and the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022. Through various technical changes, it expands AB 2011’s geographic applicability and clarifies aspects of the law that are currently subject to local interpretation. AB 2011 thus expands to include: existing high-rise districts even if the site is not along a commercial corridor and sites within 500 feet of freeways, as long as certain requirements are met. This bill further clarifies interactions between the Density Bonus Law and AB 2011, clarifies that all aspects of AB 2011 projects are ministerial and not subject to CEQA, and specifies that any site remediation needs to occur after project approval but before the site can be occupied.
- SB 450: Tightens SB 9 to prevent denial of lot splits. This bill addresses explicit attempts by some local governments to either ignore the law in its entirety or impose local objective standards that seek to discourage the creation of new units and lot splits. It also requires approval or denial of SB 9 applications within 60 days, similar to existing ADU law. Furthermore, local objective zoning, subdivision, and design standards must be more consistent to prevent local governments from imposing overly burdensome requirements on units and lot splits utilizing SB 9.
- SB 7: Specifies that cities and counties may not object to Regional Housing Needs Determination. This bill also repeals the alternative process for determining the existing and projected need for housing for each region under the Planning and Zoning Law, for the 4th and subsequent revisions of the housing element. Related changes aim to clarify and simplify the RHNA statute and reduce legal uncertainties while also making minor, procedural changes to support the state’s work in combating homelessness.
- SB 312: Further clarifies CEQA streamlining for student housing contained in SB 886, extending the university housing development project exemption until 2032. A university housing development project carried out by the University of California, to remain exempt from CEQA, must be located on a campus site identified for housing in the most recent long-range development plan environmental impact report (EIR) or, alternatively, requires the project to be located on a site identified for housing in the EIR and either within the range of housing units or beds analyzed for that site, if the EIR identifies such a range, or within the total housing units or beds analyzed in the EIR. The bill also eliminates and adjusts some requirements involving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications.
Statutory Extensions
- AB 2729: Extends the life of all entitlements by 18 months.
Transit Oriented Development
- AB 2553: Redefines a “major transit stop” under state law as a transit stop with 20-minute headways instead of 15-minute headways. This is significant because much TOD streamlining is geared toward “major transit stops” and post-COVID transit agencies have since been cutting back service.
Warehouses
- AB 98: Implements new statewide warehouse design and build standards for proposed new or expanded logistics use developments. This bill also requires localities to update the general plan circulation element by 2028 and requires the South Coast Air Quality Management District to research and accept community input on air quality related to trucking routes and updates to circulation elements.
If you have any questions regarding the new regulations, please feel free to contact Neil Hyytinen at nhyytinen@hechtsolberg.com or Talon Powers at tpowers@hechtsolberg.com.