Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 6, 2023

SPECIAL MAY 9th ELECTION SUPPLEMENT

 
SATURDAY, MAY 6, 2023 

SECTION BSECTION B

InSIDE THIS SECTION

SB 330 ABSOLUTELY LIMITS LOCAL LAWS 
OVER HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS

YES TO MEASURE M Page 2,10

NO TO MEASURE M Page 3

CONVERSATIONS Pages 4-5

IMPARTIAL ANALYSIS OF MEASURE M Page 5

OPINION Page 6

LEGAL NOTICES Page 6-9

Editors Note: During the life of the Measure M campaign, there has been a great deal of 
misinformation regarding SB 330 and whether or not the alternative application submitted 
by New Urban West was a real possibility. SB 330 is real and as a result, if Measure M does 
not pass, the larger project without any benefit to the city will be built. 

As part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pledge 
to create 3.5 million new housing units by 
2025, he signed Senate Bill 330 on Oct. 9, 
2019. The new law makes numerous changes 
to the Permit Streamlining Act and 
the Housing Accountability Act, many of 
which are in effect only until Jan. 1, 2025, 
and establishes the Housing Crisis Act.



Under the new rules, cities and counties 
will be limited in the ordinances and policies 
that can be applied to housing developments. 
“Housing development” is now 
defined to include residential projects, 
mixed-use projects with 2/3 of the square 
footage dedicated to residential units and 
transitional or supportive housing projects.



New Preliminary Application Process

The legislation creates a preliminary application 
process. A housing development 
will be deemed to have completed the preliminary 
application process by providing 
specified information regarding:

1.site characteristics,

2.the planned project,

3.certain environmental concerns,

4.facts related to any potential density
bonus,

5.certain coastal zone-specific concerns,

the number of units to be demolished
and

the location of recorded public easements.



With limited exceptions, housing developments 
will only be subject to those ordinances 
and policies in effect when the 
completed preliminary application is submitted. 
The public agency must make any 
historic site determination at the time the 
developer has complied with the preliminary 
application checklist. That determination 
can only be changed if archaeological, 
paleontological or tribal cultural 
resources are found during development.



To facilitate the preliminary application 
process, all public agencies must compile a 
checklist that specifies what is required to 
complete a development application. The 
application checklist must now be made 
available in writing and on the public agency’s 
website.



The developer has 180 days from the submittal 
of the preliminary application to 
submit a development application. Under 
SB 330, the local agency now has additional 
disclosure obligations when rejecting an 
application as incomplete and cannot request 
anything that is not identified on the 
application checklist.



Streamlining Provisions

The Housing Accountability Act was 
amended to prohibit more than 5 hearings 
when reviewing a project that complied 
with the general plan and zoning code objective 
standards when the application was 
deemed complete. “Hearing” is broadly defined 
to include any workshop or meeting 
of a board, commission, council, department 
or subcommittee.



Additionally, a housing development cannot 
be required to rezone the property if 
it is consistent with the objective general 
plan standards for the property. The public 
agency may require the housing development 
to comply with the objective zoning 
code standards applicable to the property, 
but only to the extent they facilitate the 
development at the density allowed by the 
general plan.



SB 330 also shortens the timeframes for 
housing development approval under the 
Permit Streamlining Act. Local agencies 
now have 90 days, instead of 120 days, following 
certification of the environmental 
impact report, to approve the project. For 
low-income projects seeking tax credits or 
other public funding, that time frame is 60 
days.

Housing Crisis Act of 2019

The HCA freezes many development standards 
in affected cities and counties starting 
Jan. 1. Generally, an affected city or 
county 

will be a U.S. Census Bureau-designated 
urbanized area. Under the HCA, the Department 
of Housing and Community 
Development will determine the affected 
cities and counties by June 30. HCD may 
revise this list after Jan. 1, 2021 to address 
changes in urbanized areas based upon the 
new census data.



Among other changes, the HCA provides 
that, where housing is an allowable use, an 
affected public agency, including its voters 
by referendum or initiative, may not change 
a land use designation (general plan or 
zoning) to remove housing as a permitted 
use or reduce the intensity of residential 
uses permitted under the general plan and 
zoning codes that were in place as of Jan. 
1, 2018. The exception is if the city concurrently 
changes the standards applicable to 
other parcels to ensure there is no net loss 
in residential capacity.



Affected public agencies are also prohibited 
from imposing a moratorium or similar 
restriction on a housing development, 
including mixed-use developments, except 
to specifically protect against imminent 
threats to public health and safety. Additionally, 
affected public agencies cannot 
enforce a moratorium or other similar restriction 
on a housing development until 
the ordinance has been approved by HCD. 
As of Jan. 1, affected cities or counties are 
prohibited from imposing or enforcing 
subjective design standards on housing 
developments where housing is an allowable 
use. Objective standards are limited to 
design standards that involve no personal 
or subjective judgment by a public official. 
They must be verifiable by reference to an 
external and uniform benchmark available 
to both the applicant and the public official 
prior to application submittal



An affected city or county is also prohibited 
from establishing or implementing any 
growth-control measure adopted by the 
voters after 2005 that:

 1.limits the number of land use approvals 
for housing annually,

 2.acts as a cap on the number of
housing units that can be constructed or

limits the population of the city or county.



The HCA also prohibits development approvals 
that require residential unit demolition. 
Unless the project will replace all 
existing or previously demolished affordable 
restricted units, it will include at least 
as many units as existed on the site within 
the previous 5 years. Existing residents are 
allowed to remain until 6 months before 
construction begins, and displaced residents 
are provided relocation benefits and 
a right of first refusal for a comparable unit 
in the new project at an affordable rent.

https://www.bbklaw.com/news-events/insights/
2019/legal-alerts/10/sb-330-limits-
local-laws-over-housing-developments

The City of Sierra Madre reminds residents to 
protect the integrity of our election:

WARNING:

ELECTIONEERING PROHIBITED!

Violations can lead to fines and/or imprisonment.

WHERE:

Within the immediate vicinity of a person in line to cast their ballot or within 100 
feet of the entrance of a polling place, curbside voting or drop box the following activities 
are prohibited.

WHAT ACTIVITIES ARE PROHIBITED:

DO NOT ask a person to vote for or against any candidate or ballot measure.

DO NOT display a candidate’s name, image, or logo.

DO NOT block access to or loiter near any ballot drop boxes.

DO NOT provide any material or audible information for or against any candidate or 
ballot measure near any polling place, vote center, or ballot drop box.

DO NOT circulate any petitions, including for initiatives, referenda, recall, or candidate 
nominations.

DO NOT distribute, display, or wear any clothing (hats, shirts, signs, buttons, stickers) 
that include a candidate’s name, image, logo, and/or support or oppose any candidate 
or ballot measure.

DO NOT display information or speak to a voter about the voter’s eligibility to vote.

The electioneering prohibitions summarized above are set forth in Article 7 of Chapter 
4 of Division 18 of the California Elections Code.”