8041 Ellis Avenue, Huntington Beach
Starting back in 2010, the City of Huntington Beach enacted the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan which designated the area around the intersection of Beach Boulevard, Ellis Avenue, and Main Street as high-density housing. Huntington Beach would later revise the Specific Plan to half the number of units allowed to be developed, spurring extended litigation over whether the lower density violated Housing Element requirements. Fast forward to 2020 when THDT Investment proposed a modest apartment building at 8041 Ellis Avenue in Huntington Beach, a parcel within this Specific Plan. The proposed building is directly across the street from a six-story, 274-unit apartment building and compliant with all of the city’s own objective land-use standards for the site, in both the General Plan and the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan. Nevertheless, the city denied the project. Their reasons are predictable: the building did not “fit”, nor did it maintain consistency with the “spirit” or “vision” of the city’s plans. However, the Housing Accountability Act does not defer to nebulous feelings about “spirit” or “vision”; rather, it plainly states that only the objective, quantifiable zoning standards matter. THDT Investments appealed to the city with this information who, once again, denied […]
AB 352 (2017)
Passed in 2017, AB 352 (Section 17958.1) sets limitations on the types of restrictions that cities can put on efficiency units near public transit and UC and CSU campuses. “Efficiencies” encompasses a variety of unit types, but in most cases the term refers to SROs (Single Resident Occupancy). For its definition, AB 352 defers to the International Building Code which requires a minimum size of 220 sq. ft., a closet, cooking facilities (sink, refrigerator, and cooking appliance), and a separate bathroom (toilet and bath/shower). The basic purpose of AB 352 is to ensure that localities that do permit Efficiencies/SROs do not limit those uses near transit. The law specifically prohibits cities, that allow Efficiencies generally, from limiting Efficiencies in areas zoned for residential use located within ½ mile of public transit or within one block of a car share vehicle. Limitations on SROs within 1 mile of University of California and California State University campuses are also prohibited. The only requirements that the law specifically allows for these uses are density, setbacks, lot coverage, and height restrictions. This law has seen limited action since its passage and no significant litigation. For the most part, market-rate developers are not constructing new […]
SB 35
Passed in 2017, SB 35 allows projects that meet certain affordability and design requirements to take advantage of a ministerial permitting process. The requirements to qualify are as follows: Affordability requirements: A project must have a percentage of units set aside as affordable to households making 80% or less of the Area Median Income For localities that have not met their RHNA allocations for above moderate income households the affordability threshold is 10%. For localities that have not met their RHNA allocations for households making 80% of AMI and lower the affordability threshold is 50%. 2/3rds of the square footage of the project must be designated for residential use, this includes residential parking garages. The project must provide prevailing wage for construction workers. 75% of the adjoining parcels must be urban uses. Must be located within a city. Must consist of two or more units. A ministerial approval process requires no public hearings and gives decision-making authority on a permitting matter to the agency tasked with evaluating permit applications. A permitting agency may still decline an application but they can only do so if it violates specific objective zoning or design standards. If a proposed project is found to violate […]
Categories
CEQA
- Opposition to Depublication: McCorkle Eastside Neighborhood Group v. City of St. Helena
- Respondents’ Opposition Brief
- PETITIONERS’ OPPOSITION TO RESPONDENTS’ DEMURRER TO PETITION FOR WRIT OF ADMINISTRATIVE MANDATE
- Request for Judicial Notice in Support of Petitioner’s Opposition Brief
- Respondents’ … Notice of Demurrer Hearing and of Demurrer to Verified Petition
- Respondents’ … Request for Judicial Notice in Support of the Demurrer
- Respondents City of Sonoma & Sonoma City Council Memo in Support of Demurrer
- Meet & Confer Declaration in Support of Demurrer to Verified Petition for Writ of Administrative Mandate
- Sonoma – 149 Fourth St
Housing Accountability Act
- La Cañada Flintridge Signed Judgement
- NOTICE OF MOTION AND MOTION TO ISSUE WRIT OF MANDATE
- Application to file amicus curiae brief and brief of amicus league of california cities
- [PROPOSED] AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS CITY OF SAN MATEO, ET AL
- Motion for Judicial Notice
- Application for permission to file amici curiae brief in support of appellants; amici curiae brief of building industry association-bay area, et al
- APPLICATION OF HABITAT FOR HUMANITY GREATER SAN FRANCISCO, INC. FOR LEAVE TO FILE A BRIEF, AS AMICUS CURIAE, IN SUPPORT OF APPELLANTS AND PROPOSED BRIEF
- Amici Curiae Brief of Law Professors
- Intervenor’s Reply Brief
- AG’s Motion for Judicial Notice