A Win for Single-Family Zoning in California

Five Southern California charter cities need not worry about lot splitting in their single-family zoned neighborhoods thanks to a Los Angeles County superior court ruling on April 22. Depending on a forthcoming ruling, 120 cities may join them.

2 minute read

April 29, 2024, 10:00 AM PDT

By Irvin Dawid


Aerial view of housing and freeway in Cupertino, California.

MichaelVi / Adobe Stock

“A controversial housing law that abolished single-family zoning across California has been ruled unconstitutional by a Los Angeles County judge — but the narrow ruling is likely to be appealed by the state, and it’s unclear how it might ultimately affect the Bay Area,” reported Kate Talerico for The Mercury News on April 25 in a 'subscriber-only' article. [Other articles without paywalls are linked in this post.]

“Five Southern California cities — Redondo Beach, CarsonTorranceWhittier and Del Marsued the state in 2022, claiming the law was unconstitutional because it interfered with local authority over land use and zoning,” adds Talerico. [See 'Related' posts on the lawsuit below this post.]

The Los Angeles County Superior Court judge’s ruling [pdf], issued Monday, means that SB 9 can’t be applied in these five cities. The judge is expected to produce a ruling in the next month that could strike down SB 9 in cities across the state.

Charter cities only

“Note that this only affects California cities that are 'charter cities',” writes Bob Silvestri, editor of The Marin [County] Post in blog post on April 26. “It does not affect 'general law' cities or county governments.”

Silvestri goes on to distinguish charter from general law cities in his post based on a fact sheet [pdf] prepared by the League of California Cities’ legal staff.

The nonprofit group had “filed an amicus brief [pdf] in the case, arguing land use and zoning regulations are municipal affairs and that SB 9 deprived charter cities of their home rule authority,” wrote their general counsel, Sheri Chapman, on April 26. “Over 240 cities opposed the bill when lawmakers sent it to Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021.”

According to Wikipedia, “[a]s of January 21, 2020, 125 of California's 478 cities are charter cities.”

Additional reading on the April 22 ruling:

Additional related post (to those below this post): Are Charter Cities Subject to California's Housing Laws? January 24, 2020

Thursday, April 25, 2024 in The Mercury News

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