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Mayor: state budget, CEQA changes could affect local housing, broadband and wildfire projects
Summary
The mayor said the governor signed a state budget with borrowing and funding shifts and that recent changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) could reduce review for infill housing, broadband and wildfire prevention projects; the city will monitor and engage boards and commissions.
The mayor told the council that the governor signed the final portions of the state budget and warned that legislative changes to CEQA could affect local planning review for housing, broadband and wildfire prevention projects.
The mayor cited the budget’s size and recent fiscal actions in Sacramento, saying, “$321,000,000,000, a budget… dollars 5,000,000,000 in borrowing, almost $2,000,000,000 in funding shifts.” He said the legislature has made changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and that some of those changes “could impact us from the perspective of a lessening, reduction in CEQA review for things like infill housing, which was everything we do, broadband infrastructure… wildfire prevention projects.”
The mayor also noted that under CEQA, historic resources are considered part of the environment and are therefore subject to review. The transcript records the mayor saying the recent changes “do prohibit changes to the building code, with some exceptions for fire safety for new residential building standards.”
City staff said the village will follow the state changes closely and keep boards and commissions and the community informed as more details become clear. No specific local policy action or new local ordinance was adopted in the recorded remarks; the comments were presented as an update and a pledge to monitor implications.
