Advertise Directly to our 1,000+ BIASC Member Companies and their 6,000+ Employees through BIASC's Digital Magazine Southern California Builder - 5th Edition - The BIA Orange County Chapter Outlook Issue.

Southern California Builder digital magazine Issue 5, April 2021 - the Orange County Outlook Edition will feature a special tribute to building industry legend General William Lyon.

We invite you to join our building industry leaders in submitting a tribute from your company to General William. A portion of these tribute ads will be donated to the William Lyon Air Museum. Please reserve your tribute space by clicking the button below. Ad reservation due date: March 29, 2021. Tribute submission deadline: March 31, 2021.

Join BIAOC for Part 1 of two insightful virtual meetings on Opportunities for Today (Part 1) and Lessons For Tomorrow (Part 2 – Coming Soon). Hear from prominent Orange County Cities on future development opportunities and where they are planning for housing in their upcoming housing elements. Register now and invite your colleagues to participate.

A big congratulations to Brookfield residential on the approval of their Moiola school site project in Fountain Valley. The approximately 12.9-acre former school site currently supports a total of 40,073 square feet of buildings made up of four classroom buildings. The project boasts 74 single family units, a one-acre park, and offers the city much needed housing stock for those move up or move down buyers! Several BIA members showed up in-person to speak at both Planning Commission and City Council – a big thanks to Wendy Bucknum and Gretchen Fuog for testifying and fighting for new housing! Learn more about our Civic Advocacy Program HERE.

The Laguna Hills Mall Redevelopment known as Village at Laguna Hills is possibly headed to City Council next month. The project consists of 1,500 residential units, a boutique hotel, 250,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment, 2.5-acre central park, and 465,000 square feet of office. This project will not just help the City of Laguna Hills by generating much needed tax revenue, it will benefit the region with economic stimulus, and most importantly, housing!

Let the council know you’re in support of this project by sending a letter HERE . If you live or work in the area around Laguna Hills and want to support more, please email Steve LaMotte at SLaMotte@BIAOC.com.

As reported prior, the City of La Habra pushed forward an inclusionary zoning (IZ) policy last year. Due to coalition engagement, the council voted unanimously to postpone the discussion. However, the policy returned to council this month and was approved with a 3-1-1 vote. Mayor Espinoza, Mayor Pro Tem Medrano and Councilmember Simonian cited the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) as one of the reasons for approving this policy, even with staff and the BIA, reminding them that IZ has nothing to do with cities meeting RHNA requirements. Further, the proposed in-lieu fee language was vague and unclear and could have amounted to an astronomical fee on new housing. Thankfully, the council added a much lower $6.50/sq. ft in-lieu fee before approving the policy. For more information, please contact Steve LaMotte at SLaMotte@biaoc.com. 

As you most likely know, cities in California must update their housing elements to include a large number of housing units required by the State – known as the RHNA Process. Most, if not all cities will be holding public meetings over the course of the next year and we encourage our members to attend and offer input. Please visit our website on upcoming meetings.  Should you have any questions, please contact Steve LaMotte at SLaMotte@biaoc.com.

Congratulations to Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley on her victorious campaign for the 2^nd Supervisorial seat of Orange County. After a Friday update, Foley had nearly 44% of the votes cast and a more than 13,000-vote lead over the second-place finisher in the five-person race, according to the OC Register. The article goes on to say that she will be the first Democrat to hold this seat in 127 years, as well as the first women from the party to represent the 2^nd district. The BIA looks forward to working with Supervisor-Elect Foley, as well as Mayor-Elect John Stephens who was appointed this week to fill her vacated seat on the Costa Mesa City Council. 

Based on feedback from our builders around the state, CBIA has compiled a series of legislative proposals aimed at relieving the state’s ever-growing housing affordability crisis. Check It out HERE.

If you are interested in housing, you won't want to miss this free webinar series that will tackle the challenges and opportunities local jurisdictions face when developing and updating their Housing Elements. Understanding what drives the issue at the state level, and how mandates can be implemented in a way that is acceptable to our local communities and neighborhoods is critical if we are to ensure housing is available for all. Click HERE to register.

NextGen Membership Co-Chair chad@daviesimaging.com

BIAOC NextGen Morning Buzz with Nicole Burdette