Bel-Air/Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council urges community to respond to recent State Housing Bills SB 9 & SB 10

Reprint from Bel-Air/Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council.

STATE HOUSING BILLS

The State Legislature continues to try to create more housing by eliminating single family zoning and making the processes for increasing density easier for developers.
Some previous incarnations of these efforts would have had limited impact on lots in BABCNC territory due to exemptions for very high fire hazard severity zones. Of the new bills, SB-9 has no such exemption and SB-10's exemption is conditional. Neither bill has any requirement for new development to include affordable housing.

SB-9 would allow residential lots to be split without any review process.  Existing law allows an Accessory Dwelling Unit as well as a Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit on the lot, so in these cases a current single family lot could have six homes on it.

SB-10 would allow the City to up-zone certain parcels to allow up to ten units on the parcel.  This action could be taken without any review, and with the project receiving an automatic California Environmental Quality Act exemption.

Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council has taken positions against both (See Community Impact Statements below).  Dangers of added density in the hillsides is a primary consideration.  Incentives to build more housing and to correct historical inequities produced by zoning law are some of the most prevalent arguments on the other side.  A wealth of information and opinions can be found on the internet.

Here's how to share your thoughts on these bills with your legislators:

If you live in BABCNC territory, your State Senator is Ben Allen, and you can fill out his contact form here.  Your Assemblymember is Richard Bloom and his contact form is here. 

City Council also is considering resolutions opposing each bill.  Council File 21-0002-S18 would, if passed, express opposition to SB-9.  21-0002-S21 would express opposition to SB-10.  You can add a public comment to the council file by using this form.  You should fill out one form for each file number.

These resolutions were introduced by Paul Koretz.  You can share your opinion with him by emailing paul.koretz@lacity.org.  The current email address for the Council District 4 (Nithya Raman) office is contactCD4@lacity.org but it's likely that nithya.raman@lacity.org will work as well.