04/19/2021
PLEASE read this entire post, then share it. Why?
Because it forever changes how you and your neighbors live…
State Senate Bills 9 & 10, proposed by CA State Senators Toni Atkins and Scott Weiner, forever eliminate single family neighborhoods, ruin our quality of life, and speed the flight of taxpayers from California.
OVERVIEW:
• SB-9 IS A “LOT-SPLITTING” BILL, though often misreported as a “duplex” bill. It lets developers split single-family lots into two lots and build 6-8 units—a mix of houses, duplexes, and granny flats—where 1 single-family home now stands. (See UnitedNeighbors.net “SB 9 & 10 Review” for what this means for our neighborhoods);
• SB-9 ends single-family zoning statewide
• SB-9 takes away our local zoning rights & gives it to Sacramento
• SB-9 will make our choking traffic gridlock even worse (remember pre-Covid traffic?) and worsen our water shortages. Remember, we live in a "desert by the sea."
• SB-9 has no requirement for affordable housing
• SB-9 waives fees for developers & incentivizes them to build AWAY from main transit and INTO single family neighborhoods to avoid infrastructure fees. This usually leads to market-rate or high-end housing near main transit routes, pushing out working- and low-income families further away from transit lines.
• SB-9 makes us taxpayers pay for the infrastructure upgrades needed for the new density in what WERE single-family neighborhoods.
• SB-9 waives required CEQA environmental reviews
• SB-9 clear-cuts "urban and suburban forests." (80% of sub/urban trees are on residential properties) To make room for multi-unit structures on single-family lots, residential yards will become concrete and heat-inducing hardscapes. This prevents water from draining naturally through the soil to replenish our aquifers
• SB-9 Creates parking nightmares. No parking spots are required within ½ mile of “major transit” (which includes bus stops!). This is not just near train/light-rail stations
• SB-9 allows just 4-foot setbacks, crowding up against neighbors. No yards required!
• SB-9 requires NO public notice. You won’t know until the developer builds an apartment complex next door to you!
• SB-9 lets speculators squeeze density and pack people in with lots as small as 1,200 sq. feet.
• SB-10 allows construction of 10-unit apartment buildings on a 7,500 sq.ft. residential lot located in a “transit-rich, jobs-rich, or urban infill” area—which is so loosely defined it apples to most neighborhoods. This means a HUGE apartment building can pop up next to you on a residential lot where a single-family house now sits.
THERE ARE BETTER SOLUTIONS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING:
Don’t be fooled into thinking that destroying our residential neighborhoods is the solution. Instead, our main transit corridors should be utilized as vibrant live/work corridors with abundant affordable housing instead of underutilized land or outdated single-story storefronts.
Under SB-9 and 10, single family neighborhoods become cheap, low-hanging fruit for developers, resulting in a domino-effect of market-rate and high-end, high-density development. Remember, these bills gut our local zoning and bypass CEQA review.
For SENSIBLE solutions to affordable housing & common sense growth, see the video and diagrams on UnitedNeighbors.net. It’s important to be informed on these bills before it’s too late.
TAKE THESE EASY STEPS if you agree this is the WRONG solution for California’s housing issues:
1. SHARE this post and info, and these two websites with your friends and neighbors: UnitedNeighbors.net and LivableCalifornia.org
2. CONTACT Toni Atkins (or your state rep) and tell them you strongly OPPOSE these bills. DEMAND sensible housing solutions that don't forever destroy our cherished single family neighborhoods. Call, email or write a personal letter to your state rep. For most San Diegans, that rep is Toni Atkins, (619) 645-3133, [email protected]
You can find your State Rep here: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov
Info for this post was collected from SB-9, SB-10, livablecalifornia.org, and unitedneighbors.net. Please read the bills for yourself.. My intention is to bring awareness to this very important issue.
If we don't stop it now, it will be too late!
