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Opening Thoughts
Does Measure J Face an Existential Threat from the State?
Davis has long been a posterchild community for anti-growth policies – culminating with the 2000 passage of Measure J. But with the city out of compliance with current state housing laws, having had the Builder’s Remedy imposed, and facing doubts about whether it can meet state housing needs in the next decade – there is a real question as to whether the state will see Measure J as a barrier to housing and attempt to take it out.
This weekend, William Fulton of the California Planning and Development Report asked, “Is The Era Of Ballot-Box Zoning Over?”
Fulton notes at least 60 others cities have some form of ballot box zoning.
He writes, “Now, however, ballot-box zoning is running up against the recent state-level push to allow more housing production. And it may be that ballot-box zoning will lose.”
As Fulton explains, “Not all development projects are subject to the initiative process, of course. Only legislative matters can go on the ballot – not ministerial projects. For 40 years, however, the courts have ruled that this means any general plan amendment or zone change is a legislative matter and therefore can go on the ballot.”
He argues, “The Davis situation seems like(ly) to be the flashpoint for the issue.”
In my view much of this is self-inflicted. When it was enacted, the idea of Measure J was to provide a community check on the approval authority of city council while at the same time providing the community with a brake on what at the time seemed to be a runaway growth.
Full article here
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