Planning and Zoning Law: court orders: housing development projects.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires a county or city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Existing law requires a court, when issuing a final order or judgment in favor of a plaintiff challenging the validity of a general plan or mandatory element, to include one or more specified remedies in the order or judgment. Under existing law, these remedies include, among others, suspension of the authority of the city, county, or city and county to issue specified building permits, to grant zoning changes or variances, and to grant subdivision map approvals, as provided. The Housing Accountability Act, which is part of the Planning and Zoning Law, prohibits a local agency from disapproving a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households, or an emergency shelter, or condition approval in a manner that renders the housing development project infeasible for development for the use of very low, low-, or moderate-income households, or an emergency shelter, including through the use of design review standards, unless it makes prescribed written findings. The act defines a housing development project for these purposes to mean residential units, mixed-use developments consisting of residential and nonresidential uses with at least two-thirds of the square footage designated for residential use, and transitional housing or supportive housing. This bill would remove the option of a court, when issuing a final order or judgment in favor of a plaintiff challenging the validity of a general plan or mandatory element, to suspend the authority of the city, county, or city and county to issue specified building permits, to grant zoning changes or variances, and to grant subdivision map approvals, for housing development projects, as defined in the Housing Accountability Act.