Senate Bill 35 Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process Guidelines are Finalized

In 2017, the Governor signed SB 35 (Weiner) into law, seeking to streamline the approval processes for infill projects with two or more residential units and include streamlining for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) in localities that have failed to produce sufficient housing to meet their Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) goals. SB 35 limits its application to projects not located in specified hazard zones (flood, fire, earthquake, etc.) and requires 10% of the units to be available to households making at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI). In October 2018 the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) released draft guidelines outlining a local government’s responsibility, the streamlined ministerial approval process and project eligibility. C.A.R. submitted comments of concern regarding the exclusion of ADUs from project eligibility and identified a definitional inconsistency with state statute, which proposes to restrict affordability in perpetuity. State law restricts affordability for 55 years for rental housing and 45 years for owner occupied properties. C.A.R. requested that affordability restrictions within the guideline mirror state law. In November 2018, HCD released the finalized Guidelines which satisfied C.A.R.’s concerns in regard to affordability restrictions. However, despite SB 35 explicitly including ADUs for eligibility under the Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process, HCD amended the Guidelines to specifically exclude ADUs unless the project is a new single-family home with an attached ADU (AKA a duplex).