Housing, Builders’ Remedy and Local Control
Hi Peter-
We were all talking about the horrible proposal for development on the Sunset Magazine property and we were all pretty clueless - LOL. I said, you know who would know something - Ohtaki. :-) So you were on our minds - hope you are well and what is the deal with that development anyway? :-)
Yes, the N17 proposed development on the former Sunset magazine HQ is outrageously huge and out of character for Menlo Park - two 460 feet high rises (~40 stories) like in Manhattan plopped into the mid-Peninsula. Over the last decade, the State of California government has taken away local control over zoning to encourage high-density housing everywhere.
"Builders Remedy” Senate Bill 330 forces high-density development over objections and zoning of local communities
Since some cities have not met their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), so SB330 Builders Remedy law allows a high-density development with 20% affordable units, in this case high rises, which exceed the city’s zoning height restrictions if the city’s Housing Element hasn’t been approved by the state’s Housing and Community Development (HCD) agency. N17 applied just before Menlo Park submitted its current Housing Element.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing cities can do about it, unless we can pressure our state representatives to repeal the Builders Remedy law that encourages these monstrosities! See recent Daily Post editorial.
Housing Element and RHNA mandate
California requires all cities, towns and counties to zone areas for additional housing in a Housing Element every 8 years under the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). The state’s Department of Finance estimates population growth statewide, then Housing & Community Development (HCD) requires regional governments, such as the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to allocate additional housing to each city, town and county.
Transit-oriented housing makes sense
Many cities have increased the density and height of housing near public transit corridors like the Caltrain line on the Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose. Cities are also converting light industrial warehouse areas built in the 50s and 60s into mixed use areas with office space, housing and retail - called “live-work-play” zones.
I was the first Mayor to pass a Housing Element for Menlo Park in over 20 years in 2013. We rezoned 16-acres of empty car dealerships along El Camino Real into mixed use including 680 housing units - mostly apartments walkable to the Caltrain station. I also chaired our General Plan update the rezoned over 500 acres of warehouses into a live-work-play mixed use zone with up to 4500 housing units near Facebook’s headquarters.
To give cities more flexibility implementing zoning for housing, I partnered with State Assemblyman Rich Gordon to introduce legislation (AB1690, 2014) which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Sacramento and was signed into law by Governor Brown.
California’s top-down approach to housing is an unfunded state mandate
No funding is provided by the state for the infrastructure to support the additional housing, such as classrooms, water or transportation, so cities require developers to pay impact fees, which increase the cost of housing. Also, the Sustainable Communities Strategy (SB375, 2008) requires housing to be located near jobs - what’s called the jobs-housing mix - to prevent urban sprawl and reduce GHG emissions from car commuting. However, many employees don’t want to live next to their jobs.
The Housing Element is a top-down unfunded mandate that’s a huge burden on California cities - driven by Dept. of Finance projections for continuing population growth. But people are moving out of California! So why are we aggravating our residents?
And then in 2021, Governor Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 9, authored by State Senator Scott Weiner (San Francisco):
SB9 took away the primary role of city councils to govern land use to quadruple the density of our neighborhoods
SB9 forces increased density in residential neighborhoods, by eliminating single-family zoning to allow each lot, regardless of size, to be subdivided into 4 units. SB9 law took away our local zoning control and allows 4 housing units on your neighbor's lot, resulting in overcrowded classrooms and traffic. High-density housing makes sense on transit corridors and near jobs, not in our neighborhoods. So forget about Transit-Oriented Housing or Jobs-Housing Mix, let’s just densify our charming neighborhoods. Who’s going to fund the additional classrooms, transportation and water infrastructure?
SB9 will erode the American Dream
The goal of buying a single family house in a nice neighborhood is a big draw for immigrants like my grandparents - the American Dream. Some council members believe that single family housing is exclusionary. I beg to differ. We must protect our family-friendly neighborhoods.
Let’s restore Local Control
I encourage concerned Peninsula residents to support Lydia Kou, former Palo Alto mayor and Democrat running to challenge State Assemblyman Marc Berman (who voted for SB9). Let’s restore local control over zoning and sensible housing that doesn’t change the character of our communities.
