During its 2019–2020 session, the California legislature worked to eliminate single-family neighborhoods like Westwood Hills with a package of 9 bad housing bills that would, among other things, permit multifamily buildings on single-family lots, destroying R-1 single-family neighborhoods throughout the state. Led by Democratic Senators Scott Wiener (San Francisco), Toni Atkins (San Diego, who also happens to be President Pro Tem of the Senate) and their allies, 4 Senate bills and 5 Assembly bills were introduced.
These ill-considered bills progressed through the legislature with virtually no public notice, during the months while the public and media were distracted by the COVID-19 pandemic, civil protests and resulting severe economic disruption. Thanks to an amazing last-minute effort by California citizens and community organizations, led in part by nonprofit Livable California, 7 of the 9 bills were defeated in the legislature — including the most destructive to single-family neighborhoods, SB 1120, which would have permitted 4 to 8 units on every single-family lot.
However, the other two bills (both benefiting developers in various ways, such as targeting single-family neighborhoods for multi-unit development, reducing environmental protections, bypassing local fees, parking, height and other local requirements) have been approved by the Legislature and were, unfortunately, signed by Governor Newsom. The worst of these for single-family neighborhoods is AB 725, which requires cities to target single-family neighborhoods for multi-unit development.
Senator Toni Atkins has promised to introduce similar bills in the upcoming legislative session, so we must be prepared to once again lobby hard in order to protect our neighborhood.
Bill details and status can be found at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billSearchClient.xhtml
For more info go to https://www.livablecalifornia.org/act-now-3-2/
These bills were opposed by the California Alliance of Local Electeds
