Limits local size rules for small housing projects

The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. The law also requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to notify the city, county, or city and county, and authorizes the department to notify the Attorney General, that the city, county, or city and county is in violation of state law if the department finds that the housing element or an amendment to that element, or any specified action or failure to act, does not substantially comply with the law as it pertains to housing elements or that any local government has taken an action in violation of certain housing laws.

Existing law, the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, governs the management and operation of common interest developments. Existing law makes void and unenforceable any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in a planned development, and any provision of a governing document, that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction or use of an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit on a lot zoned for single-family residential use that meets specified standards.

This bill would prohibit a local agency, as defined, from imposing a floor area ratio standard that is less than 1.0 on a housing development project that consists of 3 to 7 units, or less than 1.25 on a housing development project that consists of 8 to 10 units. The bill would prohibit a local agency from imposing a lot coverage requirement that would physically preclude a housing development project from achieving the floor area ratios described above. The bill would prohibit a local agency from denying a housing development project located on an existing legal parcel solely on the basis that the lot area of the proposed lot does not meet the local agency’s requirements for minimum lot size. The bill would only apply to housing development projects that meet specified requirements, including, among other things, that the project be located in a multifamily residential zone or a mixed-use zone, as specified. The bill would additionally require the department to identify violations by a local government of these provisions, as described above. This bill would add the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 to the specified provisions of law for which the department is required to give notice of a violation.

This bill would make void and unenforceable any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in a planned development, and any provision of a governing document, that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts a housing development project from using the floor area ratio standards authorized under the provisions described above. The bill would provide that it does not apply to provisions that impose reasonable restrictions, as defined, that do not make the implementation of a project subject to the above-described provisions infeasible.

The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65585 of the Government Code proposed by AB 215 to be operative only if this bill and AB 215 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.