California's Law to Streamline Housing Already Having a Big Effect

"The developer of a project to replace the mostly vacant Vallco Mall in Cupertino, less than a mile from Apple’s spaceship campus, won a key approval from the city as it aims to start construction in September," reports Roland Li.

The Vallco Town Center project will add 2,402 residential units, 400,000 square feet of retail space, and 1.81 million square feet of office. Sand Hill Property Co. is developing the project.

City staff essentially decided the project qualifies for streamlined approval under SB 35, a "2017 law [that] shortens approval time to 180 days for projects that contain affordable housing and meet other requirements including using union labor for construction." California State Senator Scott Weiner authored SB 35.

In the case of Vallco Town Center, the project includes "360 units for renters making no more than 50 percent of the area median income and 841 units for renters making up to 80 percent of the area median income," according to Li.

For more information on SB 35, see a detailed explanation from Planetizen Correspondent Irvin Dawid, published in February 2018.