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What state housing laws mean for Carlsbad
As more apartments and condos are being proposed or built in Carlsbad, we have received questions from residents about why the city is allowing more development even though we have a voter approved Growth Management Plan.
The short answer is that a slew of new state laws over the past several years have made building new housing – especially affordable housing – easier and quicker at the expense of local control.
These new state laws significantly reduce a city’s discretion in approving new housing and put strict timelines on the approval process. If a city does not meet these new requirements, the consequences may include something called the “builder’s remedy,” which allows housing to be built at any location, height and density until the city complies with required housing laws, as determined by the state’s housing agency.
Under the state’s Density Bonus Law, developers who include a required percentage of affordable homes may be allowed to exceed local height and density limits. The law can also allow waivers from some city development standards, such as parking requirements, when necessary to accommodate the additional homes.
In addition, Assembly Bill 2097 dramatically restricts a city's ability to require minimum parking for certain projects located within a half-mile of a major transit stop, which can apply to projects proposed in the Village near the Coaster station.
We have a webpage where you can learn more about state housing laws and what the city is doing in response to protect our quality of life.
Retaining what control we can
Carlsbad is in a better position than many other cities when it comes to retaining some local control over housing. That’s a result of these important actions the City Council has taken in recent years.
Approved housing plan
The City of Carlsbad has a certified Housing Element, which is a state-required plan for how the city will meet its share of the region’s housing needs, as determined by the San Diego Association of Governments. If the city did not have its plan certified by the state, developers would be allowed to place housing anywhere in the city, at any density. If the city does not comply and follow recent state housing laws the state might decertify our Housing Element, which may result in the builder’s remedy mentioned above.
Updated growth management plan
The city has begun work on an updated growth management plan to help protect our future quality of life. The first step was a citizens committee that met for over a year to review and suggest updates to current standards for things like parks, roads and libraries. The City Council approved the committee’s recommendations and directed staff to continue work on the new plan.
Objective design standards
To strengthen local design regulations, the city has established objective design standards for multifamily housing and mixed-use development projects. This helps ensure new projects fit in with the existing character of the city. However, even with these recent changes to strengthen city codes, state law still requires Carlsbad to provide some flexibility and grant incentives and reduced parking to qualifying housing projects that include affordable units.
Legislative advocacy
The City Council established a Legislative Subcommittee to work with city staff and the city’s professional lobbyists to advocate for local interests at the state and federal level. This includes promoting legislation that preserves local control over land uses. So far this year, the City Council has taken positions on 10 bills related to housing and land-use legislation. You can find information about each of these bills and the city’s response on the Legislative Subcommittee’s positions page of our website.
Increasing community involvement in development projects
The City Council updated a policy to require developers to do more public outreach when a project is about to be proposed. This gives community members more notice and a better opportunity to weigh in early.
Decision making authority
The City Council approved updates to the city’s municipal code so that, for projects under review by the City Council or the Planning Commission, decisions about environmental requirements will be made by them at a public meeting, rather than administratively by city planners.
I will continue to keep you updated on these laws and how we are responding. In the meantime, I encourage you to read through the information we have compiled and share it with others concerned about these issues.
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