Council approves Mary Avenue housing project and AB130 exemption amid fire‑safety and sequencing disputes

The Certino City Council on a late‑night vote approved permits for the Mary Avenue affordable‑housing project and upheld a statutory CEQA exemption under AB130 after an extended debate over fire‑safety mitigation, setback reductions and procedural sequencing.

Vice Mayor Chiao opened a deep dispute over the meaning of AB130 and whether the city’s November adoption of Chapter 7A and related local amendments satisfies the statute’s phrase about sites that “have adopted mitigation measures” in very‑high fire severity zones. Council members and counsel differed over whether the citywide adoption of building and fire‑safety standards constitutes the “adopted mitigation measures” that allow an AB130 exemption, or whether the language requires site‑specific adopted measures.

Why it matters: AB130 provides a statutory exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act for qualifying housing projects, but it also excludes sites in delineated earthquake‑ or very‑high‑fire‑severity zones unless mitigation steps have been adopted. If a council wrongly denies an exemption, the city could face litigation, attorney‑fee awards and fines under the Housing Accountability Act; if the council wrongly grants an exemption in the face of real health‑and‑safety risks, residents and first responders could face greater fire…