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Carlsbad council hears briefing on sweeping state housing laws and pending legislation
Summary
City attorneys and the city's state lobbyist told the City Council that recent and pending state laws substantially limit local discretion on housing approvals, expand ministerial (by-right) approvals, change CEQA review, and increase enforcement risks including monetary penalties.
Carlsbad City Council received a detailed briefing on state housing law and pending legislation on April 15, as legal and lobbying experts described a wave of statutes and bills that reduce local review of housing projects and increase enforcement tools for the state.
Margaret Sahaghi of the law firm Myers Nave and Sharon Gonzales, the city's state lobbyist at California Public Policy Group, told the council that the cumulative effect of new laws is to constrain discretionary local control and to streamline or require ministerial approvals in many circumstances. "It means less discretion at the city of Carlsbad level, definitely less," Sahaghi told the council.
The presentation summarized categories of change now in effect or under consideration: expanded categorical and statutory CEQA exemptions for…
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