The Housing Element approval process is still ongoing.
The city has issued a public notice of preparation of a draft of an environmental impact report for the Housing Element and the Zoning Codes update project. The notice was published in the legal notice section of the Nov. 16 Sun.
“The Initial Study/Notice of Preparation (IS/NOP) will be available for public review and comment for 30 days commencing Thursday, November 16, 2023, and ending Friday, December 15, 2023,” according to the notice.
State law requires city governments to update the Housing Element of its General Plan at regular intervals. To meet state mandates, including the requirement that Seal Beach Plan for 1,243 places for people to live.
You can find copies of the initial study at the Mary Wilson Library Branch, the Rossmoor Los Alamitos Library Branch (which is actually located on the Seal Beach side of Montecito Road) or online at the city’s website.
The Sun recently asked the following questions of Community Development Director Alexa Smittle:
• What’s next for the Housing Element?
• What is the timeline for changing the Seal Beach Zoning Code?
• Also, what’s the timeline for looking at the Main Street Specific Plan?
On Nov. 8, Smittle wrote back.
“The City entered into a contract with Lisa Wise Consulting, a firm that has helped other communities achieve certification from the State, to support us in Housing Element revisions. With their assistance, we continue to get feedback from the Department of Housing and Community Development and make changes to the Element deemed necessary to receive certification. Before every submittal to the State, the Element must be made available to the public for review and comment,” Smittle wrote.
“The Zoning Code update is tied to completion of an Environmental Impact Report. We hope to have the EIR completed by Summer 2024, though the timeline is contingent upon a number of factors,” Smittle wrote.
“The Main Street Specific Plan does not have an update timeline,” Smittle wrote.
According to the Frequently Asked Questions page of the city website:
“State Law requires that all cities in California designate sites and create policies to accommodate their share of the regional housing need for households of all income levels.”
In Seal Beach’s case, the regional housing needs assessment is 1,243 places for people to live.
“To meet the State mandate, the City needs to designate sites where housing can be developed without additional approvals from the Planning Commission or the City Council. The City calls these “housing opportunity sites” and there are 11 such sites throughout Seal Beach. Any opportunity site not currently zoned to allow housing must be re-zoned.”
The fact that zoning changes are being mandated doesn’t necessarily mean anything will actually be built.
As a matter of (current) law, the state can’t force the city to build a single solitary residential unit. As a matter of (current) law, the city can’t force property owners to build anything either.
“It is the property owner’s choice whether to build housing. Any property owner wishing to build must present a development application to the City,” according to the Seal Beach city government website.
“The private market is responsible for any development that occurs,” according to the city website.
“The State mandate requires only that the City allow for residential development at the opportunity sites if a project [is] proposed by the property owner,” according to the city website.
In related news, the Orange County Business Council this week released the 2023-24 Orange County Community Indicators Report.
According to the report, 2018-2023 Housing Unit Growth in Orange County had increased by 1% while 2018-2023 Home Value Growth had increased by 45.8%.
“As of Q1 2023, Orange County home buyers would need a minimum qualifying income of $296,400 for a ‘traditional’ median priced home of $1,195,520. First-time home buyers would need a minimum qualifying income of $192,600 for a $1,016,190 ‘entry-level’ home compared to $157,500 required for a $1,071,000 ‘entry-level’ in Q1 2022,” according to the Business Council report.
According to a June 2034 memo from the California Department of Housing and Community Development—the agency that has authority to certify the city’s Housing Element—median income in Orange County is $127,800 for four-person household. A low income, four-person household, would have income of $114,800, according to the same memo.
According to the Seal Beach Full Time Pay Schedule Matrix, a Step 1 police recruit would be paid $69,477.17 annually.
