May 9, 2025 The Best Source of News, Culture, Lifestyle for Culver City, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Palms and West Los Angeles

Column: State Usurping Key Powers From Cities

By Tom Elias

All over California last fall, hundreds of the civic minded spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars running for posts on city councils and county boards.

Some of them may now be wondering why they bothered. For over the last three years, state government has gradually usurped almost full jurisdiction over one of the key powers always previously held by locally elected officials: The ability to decide what their city or county will look like and feel like over the next few decades.

That’s done via land use decisions which control how many housing units and commercial sites can be built up in a given time.

Via a series of laws mandating new levels of density everywhere in the state, whether or not they are needed and justified, this key local power now belongs to largely anonymous state officials who know little or nothing about most places whose future they are deciding.

It’s being done through the elimination of single-family, or R-1, zoning. It’s being done via the new requirement that the state Department of Housing and Community Development approve housing elements for every locality. If HCD does not approve such a plan for a city, developers can target it with virtually no limits, if they choose.

It’s all based on a supposed need for at least 1.8 million new housing units touted by HCD. This, despite the fact that the state auditor last spring found that HCD did not properly vet the documents and other instruments on which that estimate was based.

What’s more, only three years earlier, HCD was claiming more than 3.5 million new units were needed. Less than one-eighth that many have risen, yet HCD has cut its need estimate considerably.

And yet… cities and counties must do what they’re told by this demonstrably incompetent agency, or risk lawsuits and big losses in state grants for everything from sewers and road maintenance to police and fire departments. State Attorney General Rob Bonta even set up a new unit in his Justice Department to threaten and pursue noncompliant cities.

This leads localities to approve developments in ways they never did before, including some administrative approvals without so much as the possibility of a public hearing.

It leads to the absurd, as with Atherton trying to get state approval of a plan forcing almost all local homeowners to create “additional dwelling units” on the one-acre lots long required in the city. That’s instead of building almost 400 townhouses or apartments in a town of barely 7,000 persons.

And in Santa Monica, because the city council did not get its housing element approved, developers can probably not be stopped as they make plans for at least 12 large new buildings. So much for bucolic seaside living.

Santa Monica is also an example of a city buckling to state pressure to allow huge projects opposed by most of its citizens, a majority of whom are renters. That city has done nothing to stop or alter the largest development in its history, to be built on a property at a major intersection now occupied by a grocery and several other stores.

Despite heavy community interest, evidenced by the more than 2,000 persons on a Zoom call about the project last winter, the city will hold no public hearings and does not respond to most written communications from its citizens about the development. All because it fears the state will sue if it objects.

Several cities have begun to fight parts of today’s state domination of land use. Four Los Angeles County cities – Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson and Whittier – are seeking a court order negating the 2021 Senate Bill 9, which allows single family homes to be replaced by as many as six units, with cities unable to nix any such project.

As city councils and county boards see their constituents objecting loudly to much of this scene, it’s inevitable that other lawsuits will follow. No one can predict whether or not courts will find the state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have vastly overreached in their power grab, which is all for the sake of increased density and based on unfounded predictions by bureaucrats who answer to no one.

Related Posts

Culver City Debuts Online Portal to Expand Community Role in Homeless Outreach

May 6, 2025

May 6, 2025

New Online Tool Empowers Residents to Report Concerns to City Services Culver City has introduced a new online portal to...

Major Mixed-Use Project Unveiled for Culver City’s Fox Hills

May 5, 2025

May 5, 2025

New Housing, Retail Project Could Redefine Fox Hills Corridor A new chapter in Culver City’s Fox Hills neighborhood is beginning...

Bruce Willis’ Former Beverly Hills Canyon Property Listed for $15 Million

May 5, 2025

May 5, 2025

Eight-Lot Mulholland Estate Includes a 1950s Ranch Home. 31 Acres A sprawling canyon estate in the Beverly Hills Post Office...

Prices Spike in Brentwood, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica Amid Post-Fire Housing Rush

May 5, 2025

May 5, 2025

Displaced Families Are Reshaping Los Angeles’ Housing Market on the Westside Home sales and prices across Los Angeles surged in...

Jessica Alba’s “Dream Home” Hits the Market for $19M Amid Split from Cash Warren

May 4, 2025

May 4, 2025

After 16 Years, the Couple Parts Ways and Prepares to Sell Their Family Estate. Actress and entrepreneur Jessica Alba and...

Preliminary Hearing Begins for Driver in Malibu Crash That Claimed Four Pepperdine Students’ Lives

April 30, 2025

April 30, 2025

Defense Disputes Speed Claims in PCH Tragedy That Killed Four A Malibu man accused of speeding and crashing into a...

Visible Flames Expected as ATF Conducts Testing in Santa Monica Mountains

April 29, 2025

April 29, 2025

Los Angeles Fire Department to oversee public safety during ATF fire tests The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and...

Los Angeles Residents Accused of Defrauding FEMA After Devastating Wildfires

April 28, 2025

April 28, 2025

Defendants Faked Damage and Residency to Illegally Collect FEMA Aid Five individuals have been arrested on federal charges for allegedly...

Culver City Releases New 2025 Wildfire Hazard Maps for Local Neighborhoods

April 27, 2025

April 27, 2025

City Urges Public to Review Proposed Zone Maps and Submit Feedback Culver City residents can now review updated fire hazard...

Gene Simmons Lists Modern Beverly Hills Home for $14 Million Amid Downsizing

April 27, 2025

April 27, 2025

Kiss Rocker is Trimming His Real Estate Portfolio, Parting Ways With a Luxury Home Rock legend Gene Simmons is looking...

March Sees Another Dip in Home Sales as Inventory Grows Nationwide

April 27, 2025

April 27, 2025

Existing-Home Sales Fall, Inventory Builds as Buyers Face Higher Prices Existing-home sales across the United States declined in March, according...

Mayor Issues Emergency Order to Waive Permit Fees for Palisades Residents

April 27, 2025

April 27, 2025

City Departments Ordered to Suspend Collection of Fees for Rebuilding Mayor Karen Bass on Friday issued an Emergency Executive Order...

Skip Traffic, Relax, Catch a Vibe: Midweek Sunset Party Lands on the Westside

April 22, 2025

April 22, 2025

DJ Jason Bentley, Mocktails, Games, Food Trucks, Light Up Fox Hills Commuters looking to escape rush hour gridlock on Thursday,...

Lawsuits Allege Insurance Giants Conspired to Undercut California Fire Victims

April 21, 2025

April 21, 2025

Two Lawsuits Accuse Top Carriers of Price-Fixing and Violating Antitrust Laws Attorneys representing homeowners impacted by California’s January wildfires have...

Los Angeles City Attorney Sues Over Illegal Rentals, Wildfire Price Gouging

April 20, 2025

April 20, 2025

City Attorney Seeks Permanent Ban and Millions in Penalties for Operators City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto has filed a civil...