Rezoning bill passes senate; moves to assembly
Senate Bill 79, which would change zoning rules to allow for multifamily homes up to seven stories near transit lines, passed the California State Senate 21-13.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, was narrowly approved June 3, receiving only one vote over the required 20 votes needed to pass. Six senators did not vote, including Ben Allen and Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, both of whom represent portions of Los Angeles. Maria Elena Durazo, who represents Hancock Park and Larchmont Village, voted against the bill.
“California urgently needs to build more homes to bring down costs, and building them near transit provides our public transportation systems with an urgently needed infusion of new riders,” Wiener said in a statement. “This is an idea whose time has come.”
The bill is now before the California State Assembly and will start by being reviewed by the Housing, Local Government, and Natural Resources committees.
“If the bill is allowing seven story housing units in the middle of Larchmont Village and Hancock Park residential neighborhoods, without having to go through a local approval [process], I’m not going to support the bill.”
— Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur
Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur, who represents Larchmont, Hancock Park and Miracle Mile, said that he could not support the bill in its current version.
He said he did not know if there were amendments that could get him to support the legislation.
“If the bill is allowing seven-story housing units in the middle of Larchmont Village and Hancock Park residential neighborhoods, without having to go through a local approval [process], I’m not going to support the bill,” Zbur said in a June 12 interview with the Chronicle.
Greg Goldin, the president of the Miracle Mile Residential Association, said that Democratic legislators do not understand how to solve the state‘s housing and affordability issues.
“From La Brea to Hauser, an entire generation of market-rate housing has sprung up, all built around the notion that if you build it the price of housing will go down,” Goldin said. “That abundance equals affordability and all of the city’s data proves this: there’s absolutely no relationship between the two.”
The bill proposes a three- tier system, allowing different developments depending on whether the nearby transit is heavy rail, light rail or a commuter rail.
For tier one, which includes the Purple Line (or D Line), with future stops at Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue and at Wilshire and Fairfax Avenue, a multifamily development up to 75 feet can be built within one quarter mile of the heavy rail and up to 65 feet within half a mile.
Zbur said the argument he is hearing in favor of the bill is due to the housing and affordability crisis in the state, which he agrees is an issue that needs to be addressed.
He disagrees with how this bill goes about it.
“That doesn’t mean you build housing anywhere, without respect to our existing land-use patterns and residential neighborhoods,” Zbur said. “I’ve generally said I support higher-density development, closely hugging transit corridors where there is high-volume bus service.”
The senate vote was not along party lines, with three Republicans and 18 Democrats supporting the legislation and seven Republicans and six Democrats opposing the zoning changes.
Allen, who represents parts of Miracle Mile in the State Senate, explained his decision to not vote.
“Increasing housing density near our public transportation is an important goal to meet the state’s housing needs in an environmentally conscious manner, but we’ve also seen how this type of policy can exacerbate displacement issues and derail our affordability efforts,” Allen wrote in a statement to the Chronicle. “I support many of the goals of SB 79, but I also had been trying to work with the author to add guardrails that would promote and protect affordability and guard against displacement and unnecessary demolition. I will continue working in that direction.”
Zbur said it is really early in the assemblies consideration and a lot of changes could be made before a final vote.
The current version of the bill does not mandate any affordable housing units in any of the new developments.
Zbur said a vote would likely take place at the end of the legislative session, in September.
Category: News
