New housing law trouble for Westlake
By Michael Picarella
Acorn Staff Writer

California State Senate Bill 910 has been the talk of the town lately, especially in Westlake Village.

SB 910 was written by Senator Joseph Dunn (D-Garden Grove) in the hopes that as California’s population grows, the cities across the state be required to build a certain amount of new housing. But cities like Westlake Village fear that if the bill passes, they will be forced to build apartments on land they’d prefer to keep as open space.

The bill creates penalties for those cities that do not provide the additional housing.

Punitive action would include charging any and all cities or counties $1,000 per unit of total projected housing need not provided. If Westlake Village failed to build the necessary units, the city could owe as much as $300,000.

Late last month, Westlake Village Mayor Mark Rutherford and City Councilmember Chris Mann went to Sacramento to talk to legislators about the bill in the hopes of preventing it from going to the Senate floor. According to Mann, the visit went well. He said he and Rutherford learned the legislators had received numerous letters expressing concern about the bill.

Mann said that he and Rutherford felt hopeful about the situation after talking with both Republicans and Democrats. There was talk of revising the bill, but Mann was of the opinion that if the amount of suggested changes were made, the bill would be gutted.

"I think they’ll just let it die," Mann said.

Mann said there are just too many people against SB 910. While Mann is opposed to the bill, he does believe something should be done about the city’s current housing need.

The original purpose behind SB 910 was to adequately address the existing need and new demand for housing. According to a Senate Housing and Community Development Committee bulletin, however, many local governments have not been complying with current laws. As a result, the price of housing for working families has become practically unaffordable.

Sources say roughly 30 percent of the state’s local jurisdictions have failed to comply with the law. Dunn is of the opinion that the current housing element law lacks teeth. Enforcement depends on private developers or nonprofit lawyers having to sue local governments for noncompliance. Moreover, the remedies for being "out of compliance" are limited.

Mann said something must be done, but wondered whether the new housing element law goes too far.