11, a vote adopted a new Housing Element update, which then paved the way for the state approval on Friday. Projects qualify if at least 20 percent of their units are affordable, or if the entire project is dedicated to moderate income tenants.Īt the Santa Monica City Council meeting, which took place on Oct. Under the law, cities that are deemed noncompliant with their housing plans lose the ability to approve or deny projects with affordable housing components, and those projects instead are automatically approved, a function known as “builder’s remedy.” Santa Monica’s short-lived approval boom was the consequence of a 1990 state law known as the Housing Accountability Act. One council member, Phil Brock, referred to the state’s revocation of local control, a measure known as “builder’s remedy,” as a “hammer.” “Correct,” Yeo responded. “This is not theoretical,” Santa Monica planning manager Jing Yeo said at last week’s meeting. The public, and even many members of Santa Monica government, had learned that the city had temporarily lost that authority at a council meeting only last week, when staff explained that the city’s failure last fall to secure state approval meant that at least a dozen development projects were being automatically approved. The agency’s approval was not unexpected - Santa Monica had been working with the state to ensure its new plan would be certified - but the greenlight from Sacramento nevertheless marked an important technical milestone, because it ensures that the City of Santa Monica will once again have authority over local development approvals. On Friday - days after City Council members had revealed that the city’s earlier failure to come up with an approved housing plan had led to a brief development bonanza - the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) did in fact certify the city’s updated housing strategy, thereby closing an opening for developers that had occurred when the same agency refused to certify an earlier version of Santa Monica’s framework. Just like that, a golden loophole for developers in Santa Monica has closed. Mayor Himmelrich, Neil Shekhter and Gustavo Velasquez (Twitter via SaMoMayor, Wikipedia, Kevin Scanlon, Getty)
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