The legislative session ended on September 9, 2021. The Governor is now either signing or vetoing bills that made it to his desk. Of the three bills The Rockridge News previously focused on (see the July 2021 issue), SB 9 and SB 10, have been signed while the third, AB 1401, addressing off-street parking requirements, died at the end of the session. All three bills were supported and/or co-authored by Rockridge’s two legislators: Senator Nancy Skinner and Assembly Member Buffy Wicks.
SB 9 – This law will require ministerial (i.e., as-of-right) approval of subdividing a current single-family housing zoned lot into two lots. It will also ministerially allow building two units on any single-family zoned lot. The bill also allows an accessory dwelling unit on any such lot, at the city’s discretion.
The net result could be as many as four (or six) housing units on a lot currently designated for one. No off-street parking can be required with a half-mile walking distance of a BART station (i.e., almost anywhere in lower Rockridge). There are some exceptions. For example, the law does not apply to lots now containing permanently affordable housing or those located within designated historic districts.
SB 10 – This law will allow city councils to rezone, with no environmental review, any area in a “transit-rich” or “urban infill” site (i.e., anywhere in Rockridge) to allow up to ten residential units per parcel. (This rezoning isn’t ministerial, like, under SB 9, it simply gives councils the option to take this action.) Further, by a two-thirds vote, the city council may override any local law (including initiative measures) that would prohibit the rezoning. In addition, the bill also allows up to four accessory dwelling units per parcel — i.e., up to a total of 14 residential units per parcel.
The bill also has an “anti-backsliding” provision that prohibits the city council from later undoing the density increase. The bill does not apply to high or very high fire hazard severity zones (e.g., parts of Upper Rockridge) unless the city’s building standards include mitigation for fire hazards (Oakland’s do).) Individual projects of fewer than ten units in the rezoned area will also be exempt from environmental review.
Also signed into law was SB 8 (Skinner). It extends her 2019 bill, SB 330, for an additional five years. It allows provides for citizen lawsuits (with potential fines) against cities turning down an “affordable housing project” (as specified in the law) unless the denial meets very stringent requirements. It also has an “anti-backsliding” provision prohibiting a city from reducing residential densities from those in existence when the law was enacted.
For reasons discussed in earlier articles, these bills are unlikely to significantly affect Rockridge, at least in the short run, but they could have more significant effects in other parts of Oakland.
More info on these bills can be found at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
