Hi everyone, we hope you are well and staying home.
We promised you Bullet Points for the 4 Worst Bills of 2020. We must stop Scott Wiener and his divisive “upzoning” bill, SB 902, and three lookalike bills.
Our ASK: Read and share our points below. We’ll ask you to ACT later.
PREDICTION: Wiener will use the pandemic to argue we must build as much luxury housing as possible, kill local rules & give developers planning powers.
HOT NEWS: Planning guru Peter Calthorpe, the father of transit-oriented development, stunned our April 4 Zoom teleconference by saying 1) He opposes SB 50 and up-zoning of residential areas; 2) Fixed-rail is “over” due to its vast costs to little effect. (Agreed. Let’s approve telecommuting NOW.)
Calthorpe told the teleconference that he warned Wiener about his divisive housing bills such as SB 50: “I told Scott he had the wrong strategy, and it was going to build an opposition force that would spill over into the well-intentioned idea of infill as the only major solution to our housing problem, and that he would poison the well. And lo and behold, that’s what’s happened. We need a rational means that satisfies everyone.”
Bullet Points: The Four Worst Bills of 2020
SB 902 (Wiener): “SB 50, But Way Worse”
- Instantly up-zones all single-family streets in California to 8-plexes in large cities, 6-plexes in medium cities and 4-plexes in small & unincorporated areas.
- Thousands of neighborhoods and cities — East L.A., South L.A., Burbank, (Rick pls name 3 in NorCal?) — would see homes destroyed for SB 902 luxury apartments, a central goal of Wiener’s.
- L.A. Times misreported SB 902 as allowing 4-plexes in single-family zones statewide. This is wrong. Granny-flat laws double 4-plexes to 8-plexes in all cities above 50,000, and to 6-units in cities of 10,000 to 50,000.
- In addition, cities can up-zone ANY parcel to allow up to 15 units in luxury apartments in redefined Jobs Rich or Transit Oriented areas. Transit areas would be mile-wide swaths on bus lines. “Jobs rich” would be big areas the State insists will have good commute times in the future. (Can’t make this stuff up, folks.)
Wiener should withdraw this insensitive bill that destabilizes communities and drives up housing costs at the worst possible time.
AB 3173 (Bloom): “The Luxury Walk-in Closet Bill”
- AB 3173 calls for extreme density in California's 8 largest cities, a foolish concept in 2020. It radically miniaturizes "micro-unit" luxury units (rarely less than 300 sq. ft.) to the size of walk-in closets, 80 square feet.
- Developers are excused from local review, zoning, planning, parking & height limits. A report by Urban Land Institute says micro-units bring in nearly double the rent per foot of an apartment ($2.73 vs. $1.43 per sq. ft.).
- We estimate, from such studies, that Bloom’s walk-in closets would bring a median rent of $1,700. Clearly, they will be commandeered by illegal Airbnb, corporate travelers and investment groups, i.e., it’s not housing.
Bloom should withdraw the bill.
AB 725 (Wicks/Wiener) Bullet Points: “The Punisher Bill”
- AB 725 is based on deceptive words declaring that 25% of future growth must be directed to areas zoned for “2 to 35 units per acre.” The meaning? Single-family zoning is 9 units per acre, duplexes are about 18 units per acre. Both are key targets of AB 725.
- The bill upends city plans and zoning statewide and is an experiment on people’s lives and stability that’s wildly inappropriate in 2020.
- In a particularly ugly punishment of cities, Wicks bans cities from counting their approval of granny flats (ADUs) toward the bill’s absurd 25% growth rule.
Wicks should withdraw the bill.
AB 1279 (Bloom): “The Punisher Bill, Part Two”
- In middle-class areas within cities that failed to reach their state-ordered housing-approval targets (California’s obscure “RHNA” rule), those neighborhoods would be punished over a state law few have heard of.
- The bill would create a middle-class neighborhood category called “High Resource Areas,” calculated by looking at employment and college degrees. AB 1279 would then allow these areas to be overrun by luxury apartment complexes.
- Bloom’s is engaging in what is known as “weaponizing RHNA.” It’s a highly inappropriate idea with California’s middle-class now teetering on its edge.
Bloom should withdraw the bill.
Lastly, we promised you a Peter Calthorpe pdf on more intelligent ways to plan for growth. Upzoning and destroying existing residential areas is NOT on his list. https://www.livablecalifornia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Peter-Calthorpe-on-Housing-Crisis.pdf
We will send you the 4 Worst Bills List again soon. Watch for and share it.
Livable California is a non-profit statewide group of community leaders, activists and local elected officials. We believe in local answers to the housing affordability crisis. Our robust fight requires trips to Sacramento & a lobbyist going toe-to-toe with power. Please donate generously to LivableCalifornia.org here.
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