Governor Newsom recently signed into law SB9 and SB10. You may be wondering what these bills are and how they impact San Jose’s pending “Opportunity Housing” proposal.
SB9 has eliminated single-family zoning everywhere in the state of California; however, it is less extreme than the San Jose “Opportunity Housing” proposal. SB9 allows single-family lots to be split into two parcels (each as small as 1200 square feet) and allows a duplex or more to be constructed on each subdivided parcel. It effectively means any piece of land with one house can be replaced with 4 units or more.
SB10 lets municipalities bypasses the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and allows up to 10 units plus 4 ADUs (up to 14 units) on single-family parcels in most neighborhoods. It would affect houses that are within a half mile radius of bus lines, impacting approximately 2/3 of the houses in San Jose.
The San Jose City Council is still planning to consider the more extreme “Opportunity Housing”. This proposal does not require developers to go through the lot-splitting process - a single-family house can be replaced with a 4-Plex plus 3 ADUs without subdividing the lot. Furthermore, unlike SB9, which requires the landowner to occupy one of the dwellings for three years, the San Jose proposal has no owner occupancy requirement. This shortens the time from demolition to permanently changing your neighborhood. There is no community notification requirement, no community meeting, no public hearing, and no appeal process. City Council consideration of Opportunity Housing is expected to occur during the holidays.
What can you do?
· Contact the Mayor and City Council. Express your opposition to Opportunity Housing and request that San Jose does NOT opt into SB10.
Mayor Liccardo - mayoremail@sanjoseca.gov
Chappie Jones - district1@sanjoseca.gov
Sergio Jimenez - district2@sanjoseca.gov
Raul Peralez - district3@sanjoseca.gov
David Cohen - district4@sanjoseca.gov
Magdalena Carrasco - district5@sanjoseca.gov
Dev Davis - district6@sanjoseca.gov
Maya Esparza - district7@sanjoseca.gov
Sylvia Arenas - district8@sanjoseca.gov
Pam Foley - district9@sanjoseca.gov
Matt Mahan - district10@sanjoseca.gov
· Make this the top issue for the 2022 election both for Mayor and City Council. Below are the candidates running for Mayor in 2022.
Matt Mahan - district10@sanjoseca.gov
Dev Davis - district6@sanjoseca.gov
Raul Peralez - district3@sanjoseca.gov
Cindy Chavez - Cindy.Chavez@bos.sccgov.org
· Contact Families & Homes - SJ via email (familiesandhomessj@gmail.com) or via the volunteer form on their website (FamiliesHomesSJ.org).
· A bipartisan organization called Californians for Community Choice has already drafted a statewide ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution and return local zoning and land use decisions to cities and counties where they belong. The ballot language has been submitted to the state Attorney General’s office for formal review, and the signature gathering effort will soon follow. To learn more and keep abreast of progress, you can visit the website https://www.communitiesforchoice.org/