Housing advances despite dissent
New state laws curb foes’ ability to block projects
One after another, Castro Valley residents called in to a public Zoom meeting Monday night to oppose an affordable housing development on a grassy lot that had long been targeted for residential building.
Neighbors told the Alameda County Planning Commission that the 6acre site where developers want to build 72 homes should remain open space. They said the the project would cause traffic jams and lead to an increase in crime. They argued it was out of character with the neighborhood.
A few years ago, this type of development might have been shot down. But despite the opposition, the commission unanimously approved the project. The reason? Under a slew of state laws passed in recent years, cities and counties no longer have the power to reject housing that meets local rules and includes affordable homes.
Alameda County Planning Director Albert Lopez said that the commissioners didn’t really have any choice but to give a green light.
“The development checked all of the boxes,” said Lopez. “Even though a lot of residents wanted to keep open space, there wasn’t really a path
by which they could accomplish that.”
From San Bruno to Castro Valley to Lafayette, a slew of major Bay Area housing approvals are the result of changing politics and new state legislation that forces cities to accept development despite residents’ protests. This includes SB35, which streamlined housing construction in counties and cities that fail to build enough housing to meet state housing goals. Also, SB330 cuts the time it takes to obtain building permits, limits fees and prevents local governments from shrinking projects that abide by all city codes.
In June, the San Bruno City Council approved the 425unit Mills Park development. Just a year ago, the council had rejected it, prompting the threat of a lawsuit from California’s Department of Housing and Community Development. During the debate in June, San Bruno officials warned that the city was legally compelled to approve the project since it met all city requirements and that turning it down would result in fines of $600,000 a month.
“We are faced with the reality that housing is allowed on the site and a plan has been submitted,” San Bruno City Manager Jovan Grogan said at the meeting. “These are tough conversations, but we have to have them.”
In July, the Lafayette Planning Commission approved a proposal for 315 apartments on 22 acres that’s been caught up in conflict since 2011, a fight that has included lawsuits and a ballot measure. Last week, the San Mateo Planning Commission unanimously approved the 961unit Concar Passage mixeduse development, which had been in the works for three years.
Land use attorney Jennifer Hernandez said new state law “has very much narrowed the lawful reasons cities and counties can deny projects that comply with zoning and the general plan.”
Leora Tanjuatco Ross of the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County said, “The approval of these projects is the direct result of the work that has been happening over the last four or five years at the state level.”
“We are finally seeing it pay off,” she added.
Some of the pressure to force cities to comply with the new legislation comes from the California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund, known as CaRLA, which has filed dozens of lawsuits against cities that have illegally rejected or sought to downsize projects.
CaRLA codirector Victoria Fierce said city planners and elected officials are now well aware of the rules, even if neighbors are not.
“It’s starting to sink in now that the new process has teeth and consequences,” said Fierce. “The neighbors don’t understand that there is a whole new world where you have to actually follow the rules.”
Still, the flurry of major housing approvals comes as rents in the Bay Area are plummeting and financing is nearly impossible to obtain for development.
“These projects have emerged from the mess that constitutes the approval process in California,” said land use attorney Tim Tosta. “The question is: Who is going to finance them, and will they get built?”
While marketrate developments may be on pause until the economy bounces back, affordable projects will continue to be built, according to Sam Moss, executive director of nonprofit developer Mission Housing. Moss called SB35 and SB330 “the most prolific housing legislation that has ever been passed in California. Without it, thousands of affordable units would not have been approved.”
“There is no stopping it,” he said. “It has been awesome to watch these projects get approved.”
Daniela Ogden, a spokesperson for the affordable developer that just won approval in Castro Valley, said that the neighborhood opposition was disturbing.
“There wasn’t really anything they could do legally to stop it,” said Ogden of Eden Housing. “They were grasping at straws. But it was disheartening to hear the allegations and accusations from a community that we want to move people into.”
Brian Myers, the developer of the Concar Passage project in San Mateo, said that good developers have to do as much community outreach as ever, but that the stricter state laws come in handy in cities that are unreceptive to housing. “That’s for bad actors who want to hold up projects, which is not the case in San Mateo.”
“There it. It has is been no stopping awesome to watch these projects get approved.”
Tim Tosta, land use attorney