The City Council is taking the actions required by state law to implement the City approved and State Certified Housing Element.  The Housing Element is a requirement of the City’s General Plan that explains how the City will meet the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA).

Thanks to laws made in Sacramento, all cities in California must create rules that allow for a specific number of housing units to be built in their city. The City is required to prepare an update to its housing element every eight years. 

The creation, adoption and implementation of the Housing Element began in 2019 and the City has ensured that the public has been actively involved throughout the process. The City established a 30-member Housing Element Advisory Committee and the General Plan Advisory Committee made up of engaged citizens and community leaders. There have been more than 50 Public Meetings and 7 circulated Drafts of the Housing Element and 14 Public Meetings on the Implementation Plan since adoption of the Housing Element.  

After receiving the RHNA allocation numbers from the State, the City filed a 33 page appeal. Unfortunately, the appeal was denied. Then, the City submitted a proposed Housing Element to the state FOUR times, before they indicated we had a plan that would be in compliance.

The City held countless wide-ranging public meetings with public participation with the City Council-appointed Housing Element Update Advisory Committee and General Plan Advisory Committee to put forth a comprehensive housing plan. 

The Housing Element was eventually certified as statutorily compliant with State law by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on October 5, 2022. 

To remain compliant, the amendments must take effect by the statutory deadline of February 12, 2025. 

The 2022 City Council including Joy Brenner, Duffy Duffield, Diane Dixon, Kevin Muldoon, Will O’Neill, Brad Avery and Noah Blom voted unanimously (7-0) to approve the Housing Element on September 13, 2022.

Following adoption of the Housing Element in 2022, the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) was formed to work on the Housing Element Implementation Plan. GPAC members include: Jeremy Evans, Arlene Greer, Nicholas Acevedo, Dennis Baker, Curtis Black, Mathew Brady, James Carlson, Jeff Cefalia, ANnie Clougherty, Susan DeSantis, David Guder, Lenn Hackman, Laird Hayes, Charles Klobe, Ruth Kobayashi, Scott Laidlaw, Katie Love, Anthony Maniscalch, Thomas Meng, Jim Mosher, Maxwell Pearson, Robert Rader, Harrison Rolfes, Nancy Scarbrough, Amber Snider, Debbie Stevens, Gramam Walberg, Christy Walker, Paul Watkins, and Lory Williams. 

On August 21, 2023, the GPAC voted to recommend approval of the Housing Element Implementation Plan to the City Council with Charles Klobe making the motion and Susan DeSantis making the second.

If the City does not meet the February 2025 deadline, our City will lose local control!  

This will enable developers of affordable housing projects to have their residential projects approved as a “builder’s remedy” in accordance with the Housing Accountability Act allowing higher density housing on any site. Existing development standards such as height limits, setbacks, parking standards and other local development controls would be set aside as part of “builder’s remedy.”

It can also result in fines and penalties from the State where the state can fine our City up to $50,000 each month for being out of compliance. This could take away significant amounts of funding that we need for public safety and infrastructure in our City. 

Further ramifications could include, but are not limited to, increased exposure to public and private litigation, loss of permitting authority which will affect all property owners - including those planning remodels, loss of eligibility for State and regional funding sources, court receivership, and increased exposure to monitoring by the newly formed Housing Accountability Unit of HCD.

Our neighbors in Huntington Beach have unsuccessfully tried to sue the state. And this month, Governor Newsom said, “You will soon be able to ask the folks in Huntington Beach if the law I’m about to sign is not impactful… They continue to lose decision after decision after decision. They abuse the process, they abuse the laws and now we will enforce aggressive fines with the law I will be signing today..”  

Special interest groups are currently suing the City of Newport Beach. These lawsuits are wasting Newport resources including City staff time and a significant amount of money.

The City Council can and should make this vote. The option for a vote that’s provided in the city charter was precluded when the state mandated the housing requirements, said Councilmember Robyn Grant. The charter is subject to the requirements of the State of California, she emphasized. They would prefer any other achievable path to lessening the burden the State has placed on the City, she said.

“The housing element is certified and our City is required to implement it. Failure to do so comes at a high risk with drastic consequences,” Grant said. “They’re much, much more undesirable than the idea of planning for housing in our City.”

Pursuant to our Charter Section 423. Our charter specifically states, “This Section shall not apply if state or federal law precludes a vote of the voters on the amendment.” 

The City followed the HCD guidelines in the size of the “Buffer.” A Buffer is needed to obtain the number of affordable units required by HCD because real estate values are so high in Newport Beach that without the Buffer the State affordable requirements would not be met. Without the adopted Buffer HCD would not have approved the City’s Housing Element.

The claim focuses on the wrong number. The real requirement by the State is not the number of total units but the number of affordable units which is 4,845 (including 3,436 very low, low, and moderate units). As detailed by City Staff in their July 23, 2024 staff report to the City Council, “The City is not required to build housing units to meet its RHNA allocation, only to establish the appropriate zoning designations and development standards to allow the private market to develop these units.”

The City spent years working with the community to comply with state mandates by focusing future housing in job centers, like the Airport Area and Newport Center, not in residential neighborhoods.