SOUTH SHORES COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 922, San Pedro, CA 90733
March 10, 2021
Senate Government and Finance Committee
Subject: South Shores Community Association Opposes Senate Bill 10
Dear Senators,
The South Shores Community Association (SSCA) opposes SB 10, a California State Senate bill that would allow 10-unit apartments in single-family neighborhoods. SB 10’s premise is that the abundance of any type of housing will eventually produce affordable housing. Other cities have implemented this theory in a similar, heated housing market and have not seen a reduction in housing prices. More density increases the value of land and therefore, does not lower the cost of housing. California need not go down a path already proven wrong.
The housing bills coming out of Sacramento note that affordable housing is of “statewide concern”, but the state is not concerned enough to mandate even one affordable unit in a 10-unit apartment development.
We find the following SB 10 criteria troubling:
• The bill’s sole purpose is to deregulate the zoning of single-family zones, and willingly compromise the integrity and character of California’s diverse single-family neighborhoods for the benefit of developers over California residents.
• SB 10 exempts developers of 10-unit apartments in single-family neighborhoods from infrastructure or off-site improvements. The financial burden for these improvements falls on local jurisdictions not the developer. Our single-family neighborhoods do not have the infrastructure for such a potential increase in demand. With no CEQA review these projects will be piecemealed into existence with no “big picture” oversight. Further, an unintended consequence of this bill will be to encourage developers to focus their developments away from commercial corridors that require costly entitlements and/or infrastructure improvements, and instead focus apartment development in single-family neighborhoods that require none.
• Targeting cities for densification with the disingenuous definition “job rich” is deceitful. The term “Job Rich” qualifies nearly every community in California for upzoning. The bill states any area is “job rich” that “would enable shorter commute distances for residents”. A drive thru community that is located between an individual’s home and their job qualifies as “job rich”. This bill casts a sweeping net that falsely identifies communities as “job rich” only for the benefit of developers and land speculators.
• The bill further overrides any local ordinances and voter initiatives, ending the democratic processes. These ordinances and initiatives were meant to protect sensitive areas identified by communities of which Sacramento has no knowledge. Have we lost all our rights? The destruction of our open space, urban canopy, permeable surfaces, and aquifers is a far worse environmental catastrophe than the urban sprawl vilified by SB 10’s authors.
California has an affordable housing crisis, yet Sacramento continues to introduce legislation, like SB 10 that allows more market-rate housing to be built by developers who reap the benefits of this increased density with no affordable housing benefit back to the community. SB 10 encourages land speculation that will destabilize our single-family communities. Single-family neighborhoods are not the problem, they are the victim.
SB 10 claims to allow local control. We have learned from prior similar bills that this is just a place holder bill that will be followed by another bill next year that will “mandate” SB 10’s actions. Under the guise of helping Californians, this is a major wink to development interests and a total disregard for the well-being of all Californians.
We respectfully demand that you allow local leaders to identify specific locations in their own communities to satisfy local housing needs. THE MASS DEREGULATION OF ZONING LAWS MUST STOP!
Please stand up for the tens of millions of Californians that will be adversely impacted by SB 10.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard F. Scandaliato
President, South Shores Community Association
