Bonta

AIDS Healthcare Foundation v. Bonta

Good Law
Court of Appeal of CaliforniaMarch 29, 2024B321875California7,794 words

Opinion

Opinion

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Senate Bill 10, On Its Face

By its plain text, Senate Bill 10 authorizes local legislative bodies, including those of “charter cities,” to “adopt an ordinance to zone a parcel for up to 10 units of residential density per parcel” as long as (1) “the parcel is located in” either (a) “[a] transit-rich area,” or (b) “[a]n urban infill site”; (2) the parcel is not located in “a very high fire hazard severity zone”; and (3) the local legislative body “find[s] that the increased density . . . is consistent with [its] obligation to affirmatively further fair housing.” (§ 65913.5, subds. (f), (a)(1), (a)(4)(A) & (b)(3); see id., subds. (e)(2) & (e)(3) [defining “[t]ransit-rich area” and “[u]rban infill site”].) What is more, Senate Bill 10 empowers legislative bodies to enact such parcel-specific zoning ordinances “[n]otwithstanding any local restrictions” on housing density limits, whether those limits were enacted by ordinance or adopted by local voter initiative, except that Senate Bill 10 does not empower them to supersede “initiative[s] that designate[] publicly owned land as open-space land . . . or for park or recreational purposes.” (Id.,…

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