By Tim Redmond, June 29, 2019, 48Hills.Org.
Testimony looks at how ‘streamlining’ bill would cut the public out of crucial development discussions.
Several members of the Planning Commission expressed concern this week about SB 330, a bill by Sen. Nancy Skinner that is supposed to speed up housing development– and one commissioner said the city needs to oppose it.
Jacob Bintliff, senior planner for policy, told the commissioners on Thursday June 27 what the bill would do (his memo is here). The measure would block cities like San Francisco from any measure that decreases housing density, anywhere, unless the city upzones to increase density somewhere else. There can’t be any rules that delay or restrict new housing.
Oh, and the rules include community-driven ballot initiatives: A measure like Prop, I, the 2015 Mission Luxury Housing Moratorium, would be illegal under SB 330 … (more)
The author failed to mention the comments made by Director John Rahaim. He voiced concern over the amount of time and money and energy the Planning Department is required to spend to deal with all the bills coming out of Sacramento. The staff is forced to analyze them to figure out how they will impact the city and the Planning Department. If they don’t figure it out before they pass, they will have to do so later to implement them.
Multiply the efforts of a single planning department by the number in the state and you will have an idea how much our state representatives are costing the taxpayers of California in their haste to force unwanted change on out local communities. The millions of dollars spent to implement these draconian bills that are turning our cities over to developers as by right projects, could be better spent solving the homeless problems by keeping tenants housed in the existing affordable housing.