Housing development projects: objective standards: affordability and site criteria.

(1) Existing law, the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022, provides that a housing development project is an allowable use on a parcel that is within a zone where office, retail, or parking is a principally permitted use, if the proposed development complies with specified requirements. Under that act, one of those requirements is that the project site is 20 acres or less. This bill, if the site is a regional mall, as defined, would instead require that the project site not be greater than 100 acres. (2) Existing law, the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022, until January 1, 2033, authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for an affordable housing development or a mixed-income housing development that meets specified objective standards and affordability and site criteria, including being located within a zone where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use. The act makes a development that meets those objective standards and affordability and site criteria a use by right and subject to one of 2 streamlined, ministerial review processes depending on, among other things, the affordability requirements applicable to the project. This bill would make various changes to the objective standards and affordability and site criteria applicable to an affordable housing development or mixed-income housing development subject to the streamlined, ministerial review process under the act. Among other changes to those objective standards, the bill would prohibit an affordable housing development subject to the act from demolishing a historic structure that was placed on a national, state, or local historic register. (3) The Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 prohibits a housing development from being subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process if it is located on a site or adjoined to a site where more than 13 of the square footage is dedicated to industrial use in the latest version of a local government's general plan adopted before January 1, 2022. This bill would instead prohibit a housing development from being subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process if it was designated for industrial use in the latest version of a local government's general plan adopted before January 1, 2022, and either residential uses are not principally permitted on the site. Existing law prohibits a housing development from being subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process if it is located within 500 feet of a freeway. This bill would authorize a housing development located within 500 feet of a freeway to be subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process, provided that the building meets specified criteria, including that it will have a centralized heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system. This bill would prohibit a local government from imposing any density limitation on a mixed-income development project that is a conversion of existing buildings into residential use, except as specified. The act prohibits a mixed-income housing development subject to the streamlined, ministerial review process from being located on a site greater than 20 acres. This bill, if the mixed-income housing development is located on a site that is a regional mall, as defined, would prohibit the development from being located on a site greater than 100 acres. (4) Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 requires a mixed-income housing development subject to the streamlined, ministerial review process to meet specified affordability criteria. In this regard, the act requires a rental housing development to include either 8% of the units for very low income households and 5% of the units for extremely low income households or 15% of the units for lower income households. In the case of an owner-occupied housing development, the act requires either 30% of the units be offered to moderate-income households or 15% of the units be offered to lower income households. This bill would clarify that those affordability thresholds apply only to the base units of the housing development project and excludes units added by a density bonus, among other changes. (5) Existing law defines various terms for purposes of the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022. The act defines "use by right" to mean that the development is not subject to a conditional use permit or other discretionary local government review and the development project is not a "project" for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act. This bill would revise various definitions for purposes of the act. The bill would clarify that "use by right" means that the development project is not subject to a conditional use permit or any other discretionary local government approval, permit, or review process and no aspect of the development project, including any permits required for the development project, is a "project" for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act. Existing law requires at least 75% of the perimeter of the housing development site to be adjoined with parcels that are developed with urban uses in order to be subject to the act. The act defines "urban uses" to include any current or former residential, commercial, public institutional, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use. This bill would include a public park that is surrounded by other urban uses, parking lot or structure, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use, or any combination of those uses, as an "urban use." (6) Existing law requires a local government that determines a housing development project is in conflict with any of the standards established in the act to provide the development proponent written documentation of the standards with which the development conflicts within 60 days or 90 days of the submittal of the development proposal, depending on the number of housing units. This bill would require a local government to determine, in writing, whether a development is consistent or inconsistent with the act within specified timeframes, including 30 days of submittal of a development proposal that was resubmitted to address written feedback. The bill, after the local government determines that a development is consistent with the objective planning standards of the act, would require a local government to approve a development within 60 days or within 90 days, depending on the number of housing units. (7) The Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 authorizes a local government, by ordinance, to exempt parcels from the act if the local government makes specified written findings, including that the local government identifies another parcel that meets the requirements of the act and that the substitution of parcels will result in no net loss of the total residential capacity in the jurisdiction. This bill would additionally require the local government to designate the exempted parcels and identify the reclassified parcels on its zoning maps, as specified. (8) This bill would provide that the provisions of the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 as applicable on December 31, 2024, apply to a housing development project application that is submitted on or before December 31, 2024, unless the development proponent chooses to be subject to any of the provisions of the act as applicable on January 1, 2025. (9) The bill would make various other clarifying and technical changes. (10) Because the bill would impose various new requirements on local governments reviewing and approving affordable housing developments and mixed-income housing developments under the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (11) 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. (12) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.