Hermosa Beach planning commissioners receive mid-cycle housing-element status report; staff flags ADU accounting and site gaps

Hermosa Beach planning commissioners on Nov. 18 received a mid-cycle assessment of the city's 6th-cycle housing element implementation and pressed staff for clearer accounting of small-unit production and contingency planning after a recent court ruling nearby.

Community Development Director Lisonbee Becker told the commission the element (covering 2021'29) remains in place and that the city's regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) for the cycle is 558 units. "As you can see from the table, the city's regional housing needs allocation was a total of 558 units across all income categories," Becker said during the presentation. She said the city has 184 units in the pipeline and has completed 116 mid-cycle, but is underperforming in the very-low, low and moderate-income categories.

The report outlined five program areas: conserving existing housing resources, supporting affordable production, providing adequate sites, removing governmental constraints, and advancing equal housing opportunity. Becker described existing programs such as a two-officer code enforcement team, density-bonus alignment with state law, ADU/JADU production and a housing-trust fund partnership through the South Bay Council of Governments. She also said the city must improve data systems for ADU accounting and closely track whether projects on inventory sites are being built with housing so the city does not exhaust its "buffer."

Commissioners focused on several practical points: whether the units cited in staff reports are "net new" and how the city will replace inventory if sites are developed without housing. Becker responded: "We have presented the numbers as net new," and acknowledged current recordkeeping mixes technology and paper, making it difficult to account by affordability tier. Several commissioners urged yearly updates tied to the state's Annual Progress Report submission schedule.

The city attorney's office also briefed the commission on a recent appellate decision that decertified Redondo Beach's housing element after a court found overlay sites retained nonresidential base zoning and could not meet required residential density and lower-income allocations. "The court is still the final arbiter of state law," said interim assistant city attorney Sarah Laughlin, summarizing the New Commune DTLA v. Redondo Beach holding and its implications for overlay-zone strategies. Laughlin emphasized Hermosa Beach's housing element remains certified but recommended staff review whether any inventory sites need changes to ensure continued compliance.

Public commenters and several commissioners urged urgency on city-owned-site projects for affordable housing and improvements to ADU accounting so the city can demonstrate progress in lower-income categories. One commenter said, "We're never gonna make those numbers without, carrots," urging incentives rather than penalties for small-scale production.

The commission voted unanimously to receive and file the status report. Staff said it will continue tracking production, improve accounting before the next APR and return with recommendations for any necessary rezonings or program adjustments.

The commission will forward any formal recommendations to the City Council; the report filed with the record (Case No. 25-CDD-167) will inform the city's upcoming Annual Progress Report to HCD.