Newsom signs SB 79, clearing way for more housing development near transit

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed state legislation allowing more rapid and more dense housing development near major public transit in San Diego County.

Senate Bill 79, introduced earlier this year by Sen. Scott Wiener, D- San Francisco, overrides local zoning standards, allowing taller housing near specific transit stops in eight counties across the state.

Aside from San Diego County, they include other highly populated regions – Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Clara, Alameda, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

The bill was originally intended to be enacted statewide, but its footprint was narrowed through a series of amendments as it wound its way through the Legislature, including the limit to areas linked to major transit stops. That includes heavily used stops on major bus lines and subway and light rail stations such as the San Diego Trolley.

“All Californians deserve an affordable place to live – close to jobs, schools, and opportunity,” Newsom said in a statement announcing his decision to sign the bill. “Housing near transit means shorter commutes, lower costs, and more time with family. When we invest in housing, we’re investing in people – their chance to build a future, raise a family, and be part of a community.”

Wiener called Newsom’s signature a “historic step” that “marks a new day for affordable housing and public transportation in California.”

“In California, we talk a lot about where we don’t want to build homes, but rarely about where we do – until now,” Wiener said in a statement.

The legislation will allow for multi-family developments as high as nine stories directly adjacent to major transit hubs, with the height restrictions scaling downward to five stories depending on distance from the stations.

It also streamlines the permitting process for projects within a half-mile of major public transit stops and allows transit agencies such as the Metropolitan Transit System to develop greater density on properties they own.

The regions in question have pushed back. The San Diego Association of Governments opposed the bill in June, and later in the summer, a divided Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution urging Newsom to veto the bill.

Mayor Karen Bass followed by sending Newsom a letter in September, also calling for ways to develop more housing that do “not erode local control, diminish community input on planning and zoning and disproportionately impact low-resource neighborhoods.”

Before the bill passed in September, Bonnie Kutch of University City, whose organization, UC Peeps is part of the San Diego Community Coalition, a network of local groups that oppose high-density development, compared the bill to other housing policy.

“SB 79 is worse than the Bonus ADU Program, SB 10, Complete Communities, and any other program that has been proposed locally,” said Kutch. “While the full consequences of Newsom signing SB 79 into law have yet to be determined, what’s clear is they will be felt far and wide.”

The Coast News reported that several North County cities are also opposed, including  Oceanside, Encinitas, Vista, Solana Beach, Carlsbad and Del Mar.

California YIMBY – meaning Yes, in My Backyard, as opposed to the NIMBY movement – said SB 79 will apply to under 1% of transit stops in the state and maintains some local control, for instance over design, fees, and permitting, for cities. The organization co-sponsored the bill.