Huntington Beach is looking to contest a provision of state law known as “builder’s remedy” that would allow developers to bypass local zoning laws on some projects.
The provision is part of the state’s 1982-passed Housing Accountability Act and kicks in if a city fails to have a state-mandated affordable housing plan.
Huntington Beach’s plan—known as a Housing Element—is still not approved, after missing deadlines in both 2021 and 2022.
As a consequence, under state law, the builder’s remedy provision kicked in for the city in October of 2022 and now allows developers to ignore local zoning laws if their projects include 20 percent low-income or all moderate-income units….