NIMBY City Council versus the state
The city of Huntington Beach’s council majority apparently believes that it is above the law. In late December, the council instructed the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would defy state laws that require municipalities to approve more housing development — and now Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has replied in a forceful manner. We could definitely see this one coming.
The Legislature passed the California Housing Accountability Act in the 1980s, and then strengthened it in 2017 to restrain local governments from acting on their worst NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) inclinations. It’s something of a sledgehammer and does chip away at local control, but lawmakers understood that municipal governments are a key impediment to housing construction.
If cities fail to submit a “housing element” that permits sufficient housing construction, the law triggers a “Builders Remedy.” That gives developers “by right” approval to build projects with significant affordable or moderately priced units. We’re not fans of affordable-housing subsidies and mandates, but do support laws that allow streamlined approvals provided builders conform to general regulations.
The Department of Justice took umbrage at Huntington Beach’s “attempt to justify this blanket prohibition based on the speculative assertion that affordable housing projects” could be built near environmentally sensitive areas. The City Council seems to be using vague environmental concerns — ones that existing regulations can address — as a transparent excuse to stop new housing in the city.
One doesn’t need to speculate at some city officials’ motives. “The state wants to urbanize Huntington Beach,” Mayor Tony Strickland said in December, according to news reports. He vowed “to fight as much as we can to protect our suburban coastal community.” Such “protections,” however, use big government to squelch market-oriented housing solutions. These types of nogrowth attitudes explain why the state responded with these heavy-handed housing-element laws in the first place.
Sorry, but just as Huntington Beach residents must follow even those city laws they don’t like, so too must the city follow state laws they oppose. We expect the courts to rebuke Huntington Beach and residents to be stuck with soaring legal bills.