Greetings Members-
I hope this message finds you well and enjoying the summer. I want to thank all of you who attended our joint Riverside and Baldy View Chapter Summer BBQ event at the Resort in Rancho Cucamonga. It was great to be at an event in-person with so many industry leaders who work here in the Inland Empire. We look forward to more collaboration with our Baldy View colleagues in the future.
Your BIA Riverside County Chapter team continues to be active and engaged on numerous issues throughout Riverside County to advance our industry interests. Below is an update on a few items of note:
City of Menifee CEQA Guidelines: We continue to partner with the planning department at the City of Menifee as they update their policies regarding implementing the CEQA process in the city. We are working to ensure these guidelines are cost-effective and provide a clear path to successful entitlements. The city hopes to have the new guidelines to the City Council for consideration this fall. We thank the city for engaging the BIA Riverside Chapter in these discussions and appreciate their desire to ensure that these guidelines provide an efficient entitlement path for our members.
MSHCP Fee Increase implementation: We have been working to insure smooth implementation of the MSHCP fee increase. The first phase of the increase took effect July 1, 2021, and the 2nd phase will take effect January 1, 2022. We experienced a few jurisdictions where pre-payment of the MSHCP, as allowed under the fee program, was a challenge. We are working with these jurisdictions to find solutions to simplify the pre-payment of MSHCP fees for the 2nd phase of the fee increase implementation at the end of the year.
City of Riverside Decarbonization: The City of Riverside is considering implementing new building codes that would require all single-family and low-rise multi-family developments to be all electric by 2023. The city has formed an advisory group that has just kicked off to begin looking at the issue, and the BIA Riverside Chapter is engaged at the table. Our industry has a long record of environmental sustainability and efficiency, and we look forward to assisting the city to advance environmental stewardship while protecting housing affordability.
Upcoming Events: Don’t forget our annual chapter wine event, “Wine Under the Stars,” is coming up on August 19th at Wilson Creek Winery. To sign up for the event please click here. It will be an event you will not want to miss as we will celebrate our former Chapter Executive Officer Borre Winkel and wish him well in his retirement after 25 years of distinguished service to our industry!
As always, if I can be of assistance, please feel free to contact me directly at eo@riversidebia.org.
