MONARCH VILLAS - Steps for redevelopment of Monarch Villas located at 23731 and 23781 Mariner Drive are being taken by the property owner with the submittal of Preliminary Applications in accordance with Senate Bill 330 (SB330).  To date, the City has not received a formal application and, therefore, has taken no action regarding redevelopment of the property. Links to the preliminary applications submitted to date are provided below.

• Project Fact Sheet
• Preliminary Application, May 18, 2023 (expired)
• Resubmittal, August 4, 2023 (expired)
• Preliminary Application, January 31, 2024 (active) 

Click here to request to be added to the interested parties list >> 

Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (HCA)

On October 9, 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (HCA) into law, commonly known as Senate Bill (SB) 330 (Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019) to respond to the California housing crisis. On September 16, 2021, Gov. Newsom signed SB 8 (Chapter 161, Statutes of 2021), which is an extension of the HCA. The HCA aims to increase residential unit development, protect existing housing inventory, and expedite permit processing. This new law makes a number of modifications to existing legislation, such as the Permit Streamlining Act and the Housing Accountability Act. Under this legislation, municipal and county agencies are restricted in ordinances and polices that can be applied to residential development. The revised definition of “Housing Development” now contains residential projects of one or more units, mixed-use projects (with two-thirds of the floor area designated for residential use), transitional, supportive, and emergency housing projects.

What are the benefits the new Preliminary Application Process?

HCA establishes a requirement for the City to implement a preliminary application process. The intent of this process is to make the development review process faster and provide certainty to an applicant by locking in the development requirements, standards, and fees at the time a complete application is submitted. By doing so, the City is prohibited from applying new ordinances, policies and standards to a development with a complete preliminary application.

The application checklist can be found by clicking here. From the time the preliminary application is submitted, applicants have 180 days to submit a complete development application.

What are the new Public Hearing limitations?

The HCA limits review of a housing development project to no more than five (5) hearings after the application is deemed complete. The definition of “Hearing” covers a broad range of meetings of a board, commission, council, department, or subcommittee, including workshops, continued meetings, and most appeals. However, “Hearing” does not include a hearing to review a legislative approval required for a proposed housing development project, including, but not limited to, a general plan amendment, a specific plan adoption or amendment, a planned community adoption or amendment, or a zoning amendment.

CEQA and Coastal Commission hearings are also excluded.

How soon is the City required to review a housing development project application?

Within 30 calendar days of receiving an application for housing development project, a public agency is required to determine in writing whether the application is complete or incomplete. If incomplete, the agency shall provide the applicant an exhaustive list of items that were not complete. In any subsequent review of the application, the agency shall not request any new information that was not stated in the initial list of items that were not complete.

What are shortened timeframes for approving or disapproving a development under the Permit Streamlining Act?

The City has 90 days from the time an environmental impact report is certified to approve the project.  For housing development pursuing tax credits or other public funding (e.g. affordable housing grants), the approval window must be within 60 days. The existing 60-day timeframe remains for projects where a negative declaration has been adopted or a determination that a project is exempt from CEQA.

How long does the City have to inform an applicant that their project is inconsistent with an applicable plan, program, policy, ordinance, standard, requirement, or similar provision?

Within 30 days of the date that an application is deemed complete for residential developments proposing 150 units or fewer, and within 60 days for residential developments proposing greater than 150 units. If the agency fails to meet these deadlines, the housing development project shall be automatically deemed consistent.

Can the City deny a housing development project?

HCA strengthens the Housing Accountability Act (Government Code Section 65589.5), which states that a housing development project that complies with the objective standards of the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance must be approved by the City, unless the City is able to make written findings based on the preponderance of the evidence in the record that either: (1) the City has already met its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) requirement; (2) there is an impact to the public health and safety and this impact cannot be mitigated; (3) the property is agricultural land; (4) approval of the project would violate State or Federal law and this violation cannot be mitigated; or (5) the project is inconsistent with the zoning and land use designation and not identified in the General Plan Housing Element RHNA inventory. 

“Objective” means involving no personal or subjective judgment by a public official and being uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant or proponent and the public official.

Can the City change land use plans or development standards that result in residential reduction of density or intensity?

No, HCA restricts the adoption of land use or zoning amendments that would result in the reduction of allowed residential density or intensity of land uses than what is allowed under the regulations in effect on January 1, 2018. The law defines “less intensive use” to include, but is not limited to, reductions to height, density, or floor area ratio, new or increased open space or lot size requirements, new or increased setback requirements, minimum frontage requirements, or maximum lot coverage limitations, or anything that would lessen the intensity of housing. The City is further prevented from establishing moratoriums or other restrictions on housing projects and cannot place new caps on the number of land use approvals or permits that will be issued for housing projects.