SBs 9/10 EXPLAINED

SB 9 allows streamlined building of ADUs larger in size than local regulations may have previously allowed, and let's multiple units of various sizes be built on one lot. The law requires only 4' setbacks from lot lines, so those will probably be concrete, as fire laws prohibit planting within 5' of a structure. They are exempt from fire sprinklers. They are considered by the bill's author to create a desirable form of density in a neighborhood. There is no requirement that these be rentals. There is no low-income requirement attached. Extra parking does not have to be made available for the additional units, resulting in crowded street parking. To prevent speculators from buying up homes to this, the owner is supposed to live in one of the units for 3 years, but that is unenforceable. 

SB 10 allows for streamlined lot-splitting, in equal parts, and each new lot can have as many as 4 homes or a 10-unit apartment building. Again, no low-income requirements, or parking considerations. 

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The best analysis I've seen of SBs 9/10 is below, by Cindy Montañez, from the August 25, 2021 - issue of The Planning Report: What’s “In & Not In”  SB 9 & 10: California State Housing Bills Now Pending. The piece was written just before passage of the bills. Ms. Montañez was previously District 39 Assemblywoman. I am including excerpts from the piece in hopes of later getting permission to share it in its entirety.   https://www.planningreport.com/2021/08/25/what-s-not-sb-9-10-california-state-housing-bills-now-pending

Excerpts: Cindy Montañez:

"SB 9 is a cousin of sorts to SB 10, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener...There’s been some arguing among the many critics of SB 9 and SB 10...as to which bill is more ill-advised from a planning or affordability perspective. Is it SB 10, which allows city councils to override voter initiatives that protect land, jeopardizing both the 110-year-old right to the initiative and dozens of voter ballot  measures in California that guard urban growth boundaries, canyons, shorelines, trails, farmland and other land?  

"SB 9 upends residential planning in single-family zoned areas of towns and cities with more than 2,500 people, overriding local concerns — and local planning. It applies everywhere, including in severe burn zones such as Paradise. The bill curiously takes no interest in fire evacuation route capacity in fire zones, instead allowing developers to decide whether the density should go along narrow roads and at the end of cul de sacs.   

Perhaps worse... SB 9 seems to say that the denser new housing will be held to new fire-hardening rules if built in the most severe fire hazard safety zones. Yet when the bill’s wording is unwound...— the language says quite the opposite: no new fire hardening is required of developers who choose to build SB 9 density in any of California’s fire hazard zones...   

To be clear: SB 9 does not restrict developers in the state's most dangerous fire zones unless the project fails to follow existing building codes.  The bill itself refers to a strict fire rule, then takes it away".   "Another word puzzle in SB 9 is... that the bill is aimed at helping homeowners provide housing, for the kids for example. Maybe someday. But currently, in order to split your lot as envisioned in SB 9 —  you can build four homes, and even add two ADUs, on land where one home now stands — a homeowner must first pay off the existing mortgage. Under law, you cannot owe the bank a mortgage, and then just split away half of the land that the bank still owns..." 

(Amy's note here: if your bank gives you permission, this can be done. But then you are also faced with raising funds for the new construction)  

"SB 9 is not primarily written for homeowners.  It is another developer giveaway for large investors, including rental giants and pension funds."

Montañez continues: "The most interesting messaging around SB 9 is that this bill helps us avoid sprawl, by housing more people in already built-out neighborhoods served by roads, sewers, water and trees. (As an aside, SB 9 will likely destroy a significant number of urban trees and other greenhouse gas-absorbing greenery as yards are covered with foundations and a mere 4-foot setback from the neighbors is adopted by developers, as per the bill.). " 

Why is the state so determined to override local controls to build housing? It is assumed that the land is being underutilized by serving one family, and that mixing neighborhoods up is good practice. Views, sunlight, parking ... all are now unimportant. Nobody asked Californians what they thought about this. 

WOULD YOU LIKE THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR TO ADD THREE RENTAL UNITS? SB 9 allows the owner to easily, without neighborhood input, to add a Jr ADU and two larger ADUs, with only 4' setbacks, requiring little to no extra parking.

WOULD YOU LIKE THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR TURNED INTO SIX, with no approvals required, and no parking requirements? That's what SB 9 allows: lot splits and duplexes where the original home once stood, on each lot.  

WOULD YOU LIKE A TEN-UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING NEXT DOOR?  That's what SB 10 allows on any lot in an area deemed “high opportunity," "jobs-rich," or "transportation-rich."  Marin is near to SF, so a commute somehow meets this requirement. Ministerial approval is all the homeowner needs -- basically filing a form. No interference from city government or neighbors. No reviews or input.   

This is a massive developer giveaway, will cause real estate speculation, and will not increase affordable housing. There is no requirement for a developer to create any units below market rate. They just receive bonuses if they do add some low-income units.

If you want to build housing now, its ridiculously easy, because the state is forcing localities to make it easy. That means no traffic studies, no public comment... only the slightest oversight from the city. 

It’s easy to add up to three ADUs on your property, with only 4’ easements from the building to the fence line. You don’t have to rent them as low income. You don’t have to rent them at all. 

You can split your lot now, too, if the bank lets you, and you have a couple hundred thousand bucks to build on both. If not, there’s a developer with cash reserves ready to take it off your hands and make it into four small buildings. That’s eight units where there was one home. Or, in the right area, a ten-unit apartment building.  No low-income housing requirements. No requirements to rent. No responsibility to the neighborhood for parking.      

This is called residential infill, density. Single family homes are out

The state has passed laws that force streamlining of our local permitting for us with several new laws.   SB 9/10 opened the floodgates for developers to do what they like here.   This is supposed to be a push for low-income housing --- about a quarter of the units will qualify --- but the rest is just gravy, for developers.   The brakes are off. No more CEQA, setbacks, tree canopy, parking conditions, or infrastructure upgrades. Lots can be subdivided (if your bank allows it and you have the funds for rebuilding) and overbuilt, In most neighborhoods, large  ADUs are now a piece of cake.   When our Board of Supervisors questioned the viability of the numbers, expressed concerns about fire safety and evacuation, and pointed out that we are in a serious drought, they got two answers from the consultants hired to bring us into compliance:    “It won’t be possible to select only sites that are free of such environmental hazards as wildfires, flooding due to global warming and lack of water due to drought.”   “The stance that California … takes is that the communities need to provide this housing. If that means they need to figure out how to supply the water, then that’s the situation these municipalities are facing.'