Santa Ana, California, postponed until June 20 voting on a resolution to file for an exemption from two state housing laws set to take effect in July. Both aim to streamline housing projects in commercial zones, regardless of local zoning laws.
The city is seeking exemption from Assembly Bill 2011 and Senate Bill 6, which allows residential development in areas that are zoned for office and retail space.
Municipalities can seek exemption from the laws if they identify other areas such housing can be built, according to city staff.
The council had intended to vote on the issue on May 16, but instead voted to postpone the issue, after it received a letter from California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.
“We urge you to continue this item to a later date so that affected and interested parties will have an adequate opportunity to review and comment on the proposal,” Supervising Deputy Attorney General David Pai wrote in the letter obtained by The Epoch Times.
Pai additionally stated the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development was additionally aware of the city’s plans and was “currently reviewing the issue(s) it raises.”
According to a city staff report, officials say they have identified over 770 acres of land that could be re-zoned for residential development and have not only identified but built over 50 percent of its state-mandated housing plan—which required it zone for over 3,100 homes—for the 2021 through 2029 planning period.
As such, the city says it has already identified ample areas for new housing projects, and should be exempt from the two laws.
Local residents are mixed on the issue.
Resident Diane Fradkin wrote in a May 16 email to the city that she supports its proposed exemption request.
“I support the ordinance as I understand it will give the City control over planning policies rather than the State,” she wrote.
Another resident, Dale Helvig agreed.
“Santa Ana has been a leader in addressing new housing and should have the opportunity to be a leader again by identifying where and what it needs to build,” he wrote in an email the same day to the council.
But others argued against the city’s plan.
“I am writing to heartily protest the city’s efforts to exempt all eligible sites from AB 2011 and SB 6. This strategy undermines the production of affordable housing and the turnover of underperforming commercial sites into mixed use development,” Elizabeth Hansburg, co-founder and director of People for Housing Orange County, wrote in a letter to the council.
