Huntington Beach is moving to ask voters this November to approve a new law that would leave future housing development plans up to residents.
The City Council on Tuesday, July 2 directed staff to craft a charter amendment ballot initiative that would require city-initiated zoning changes to get voter approval. Critics said it would put the city at even higher risk of financial penalties from the state for refusing to allow more housing to be built.
The proposal, from Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark and Councilmembers Casey McKeon and Pat Burns, would force new city housing plans to get voter approval first before they could be implemented. The city has refused to adopt a state-mandated housing element that would allow developers to build at least 13,368 housing units this decade.
The City Council at a special meeting on Monday, July 8 will vote to place the charter amendment on people’s ballots.
McKeon, who submitted the item, said private developers who seek zoning changes wouldn’t be affected by the proposed charter amendment. Only city-initiated zoning changes, like with a housing element, that force the city to adopt a statement that says the benefits of new housing outweigh the environmental impacts would need to go before voters.
Those environmental impacts can include noise, more traffic and utilities.
“That decision, we feel, to permanently and negatively impact our environment, is too important to be left out to a majority of four councilmembers and should be left up to the voters to decide,” McKeon said.
All four members of the council’s conservative majority voted for the item on Tuesday with the rest of the council abstaining.
Housing elements are city plans that show where new developments can occur and set policies to encourage affordable housing construction. The Huntington Beach City Council has refused to adopt a new housing element for the city, instead choosing to fight a legal battle with the state arguing it doesn’t have to.
A judge in May ruled that Huntington Beach had violated state law when the City Council didn’t adopt a compliant housing element. The judge’s ruling said despite environmental concerns raised by the city, it still needed to comply with state housing law.
Councilmembers who abstained suggested the item was more so a political move to harm the council’s left-leaning members who are running for reelection.
“This council majority is trying to put something unpopular on the ballot to try to jam up Councilmembers (Rhonda) Bolton, (Natalie) Moser and I when we’re running for reelection,” Councilmember Dan Kalmick said. “This is horrible politics to try to make us make a bad vote so folks can say again, like they did during the recall, that we want to build six-story buildings next to single-family homes, which is not true. This is not environmental stewardship.”
Councilmembers against it said it would likely backfire to maintain local control over housing developments. Getting voters to approve anything that would entail more housing in Huntington Beach would be difficult, Kalmick said.
Cities without a housing element in place face monthly fines from the state. Developers can also bypass local density restrictions on what they can build without needing approval.
“To be clear, this proposal is not about genuine environmental protection,” Councilmember Natalie Moser said. “It is a tactic to delay and obstruct any development. Leveraging environmental concerns only when it serves a political agenda.”
Moser said the city can’t “survive a forever war with the state of California” and will face further financial costs from fines and legal battles.
Two bills moving through the state legislature would increase penalties for not having a compliant housing element and strengthen the builder’s remedy law, respectively.
Burns said he believes the proposed charter amendment is good for the city and any efforts to ward off overbuilding are worth fighting for.
The proposed charter amendment would be similar to a Yorba Linda law that requires voter approval for zoning changes. There, the city is expected to ask voters in November to approve a new housing element and has warned its residents of consequences should voters reject the latest plan.
