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Navigating the new Coastal Zone: Key housing reforms for 2026
Allen Matkins – May 6
The California Coastal Commission has long posed a significant hurdle to coastal housing production, even as state law has streamlined residential development elsewhere. But the tide may be turning. A series of legislative and regulatory shifts are lowering barriers to development in the Coastal Zone with more reform potentially still to come. This update analyzes what the Strategic Plan means for coastal development and identifies other legislative and regulatory shifts that housing proponents should have on their radar.
News
LA County Board of Supervisors advances housing ordinance update
Pasadena Now – May 13
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on May 12 took a step toward overhauling the County’s housing ordinance for unincorporated communities across the County — including Altadena, where thousands of structures were destroyed in the January Eaton Fire. Among its provisions: a new “Acutely Low Income” category for households earning less than 15% of the Area Median Income, a requirement for “like-for-like” replacement of affordable units that are demolished, and broader eligibility for density bonus projects to include shared housing and residential care for the elderly. County counsel will prepare the final ordinance documents for a final vote by the Board at an upcoming meeting.
Redondo Beach adopts new Housing Element after court loss
Easy Reader News – May 7
The Redondo Beach City Council last Tuesday approved a new Housing Element. The move came in reaction to a loss in court last year which effectively nullified the city’s previous Housing Element. The prior Housing Element included what are known as zoning overlays – areas that keep open the possibility of alternative development uses. The new Housing Element has no zoning overlays. Instead, it increases density allowed on four of Redondo’s five designated new housing sites and requires new development on those sites to designate at least 50% of the square footage to residential uses.
As explained by Mayor Jim Light, “[w]e (had to make the changes) to avoid Builder’s Remedy, which basically allows a developer to do whatever they want.” Please refer to our prior legal alert for more information about the Builder’s Remedy.
‘Baffling’: YIMBYs push back on Lurie’s plan for housing around transit hubs
San Francisco Chronicle – May 5
Senate Bill 79, a state law that upzones transit corridors in California’s cities, will go into effect on July 1. The law contains a provision that allows cities to propose alternative plans. Lurie’s “Family Zoning” plan, which added density and increased height limits in the city’s western and northern neighborhoods when it passed last year, means San Francisco is eligible to circumvent SB 79’s requirements provided state officials sign off on the alternative plan. Still, city officials are seeking temporary and permanent exemptions for swaths of the city it is classifying as “low-resource” zones in the Bayview, Mission, and Excelsior neighborhoods and industrial employment hubs in the South of Market, Mission Bay, and Bayview neighborhoods. GrowSF, a moderate political group with ties to Lurie, and SF YIMBY, a pro-development group, urged the Board of Supervisors to reject the industrial exemptions in a letter last month. Even so, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the exemptions last Tuesday.
For more information on SB 79, please see our recent legal alert.
In long-delayed vote, San Diego approves big batch of land-use rules
The San Diego Union-Tribune – May 12
San Diego is the only city in the region that updates its zoning code annually with one large batch of policy changes, which was unanimously approved by the City Council on Monday. Among other things, the 134-item package softens development rules for downtown, bans storage facilities in certain locations, eases approvals for emergency shelters, allows medical clinics in more places, and allows for-sale housing — no longer just rental units — under the Complete Communities developer incentive.
Contra Costa’s anti-sprawl boundary draws fire as housing pressures grow
East Bay Times – May 4
A Contra Costa County anti-sprawl policy is drawing new opposition as critics argue extending it could worsen the region’s housing shortage. Back on the ballot this June as Measure A, the county is seeking public support for extending the policy through 2051.
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