State leaders charged with enforcing California’s housing laws recently weighed in on a court case to support Newport Beach, which is being sued by local community groups that argue the city breached its obligation to put a proposal for significant development to a vote of the people.
California cities, including Newport Beach, are required to adopt planning and zoning to accommodate future housing needs at all income levels. In 2022, the Newport Beach City Council adopted its housing element, the required document that lays out how its state-mandated allocation of more than 4,800 new homes would be achieved by developers across five areas of the city. The state approved the city’s housing element in the same year.
Several local groups, headed by Still Protecting Our Newport (SPON) and filed under the Newport Beach Stewardship Association, sued the city in September in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, arguing that the zoning changes approved by the City Council must first be put before the voters before they can take effect. The groups say that the increased development density and added traffic potential should trigger the city’s Greenlight Initiative, which was approved by voters in 2000.
Ahead of a June 17 court hearing, state officials were granted permission to file a brief in support of the city.
“Too often, my office finds itself needing to hold local governments accountable for failing to follow our state’s housing laws,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Right now, Newport Beach is attempting to do the right — and legal — thing, and I want to commend them for it.
“California is continuing to deal with a housing crisis of epic proportions,” he added. “Now is the time for leaders at every level of government to say yes to cooperation and yes to more homes.”
In its housing element, Newport Beach approved more zoned areas, especially near John Wayne Airport and at Fashion Island, than were required to provide some flexibility should some projects not go through. The council also added development standards for these areas while amending its local coastal plan to be consistent with the planned residential additions.
The Greenlight Initiative’s supporters argued before the 2000 vote that residents had lost faith in the city’s ability to make fair land-use decisions. Because the initiative was successful, a public vote is now required if a development would increase peak-hour car trips by more than 100, add more than 100 dwelling units or 40,000 square feet of floor space.
The lawsuit is asking the court to decide that if the city were to back up to hold the public vote required by the Greenlight Initiative, the city would still be considered in compliance with the housing laws. The lawsuit also wants the court to say that while the Greenlight process plays out, the city wouldn’t face a provision of California’s Housing Accountability Act, commonly referred to as “builder’s remedy,” which allows developers to bypass local zoning and general plan requirements when a locality’s housing element does not substantially comply with state law.
SPON filed its lawsuit after the council voted last July not to hold a Greenlight public vote on the housing element.
The city had promised for two years to hold the vote, said Nancy Scarbrough, a member of SPON’s board of directors. “We believed them until the last minute when they did a complete 180.”
In their discussion at the time, councilmembers decided the requirement for a citywide vote is preempted by state law. Councilmembers also expressed concerns at the time that if the housing element were not approved, it could result in significant fines from the state.
Scarbrough said she and others are very confident in the legal team SPON has hired and in the judge who is hearing the case.
SPON attorneys are arguing that the state brief should be given “little weight.”
“As framed by the state, this case requires the court to evaluate the tension between a long-standing fundamental right (voting) and a pressing public policy concern of the moment (housing),” its attorneys wrote in their brief to the court this week. “SPON disagrees with that framing — it is possible here for the court to respect the state’s concerns about housing without violating the basic voting rights of the citizens of Newport Beach.”
Mayor Joe Stapleton said that while he doesn’t want to lose local control, and prior councilmembers who dealt with much of the housing element issue looked at every way to litigate and fight this as a chartered city, city leaders realized there was no path to victory in fighting the housing element requirements.
“The city looked at getting into compliance as quickly as possible,” he said. “We had countless meetings with the public to figure out where to put these units, and the community came out and strongly supported putting these units in Fashion Island and the airport area, and that’s exactly what we intend on doing.”
“To be on the same side as the state of California is not something I pride myself in as the mayor of Newport Beach,” he added, “but the reality is we want to maintain local control and the only way we can see to do that at the moment is through having an approved housing element.”
“The last thing I want is Sacramento coming into our building department and dictating where we put these units,” he said.
Beyond the two areas that would be zoned to have the highest density, Stapleton said there are three other areas identified for accommodating more housing, including the location of a former hospital, Coyote Canyon and around Port Streets.
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Newport Beach council majority not on board with tweaking housing element for ENC Newport Beach council majority not on board with tweaking housing element for ENC Most cities still falling behind affordable housing mandate, state numbers show Housing approved for two aging commercial properties in Newport Beach near John Wayne Airport Newport Beach City Council to consider plans for 312-apartment development near John Wayne AirportThe airport area and Fashion Island are already higher-density areas, he said. “We have an opportunity to reimagine a district like the airport area, maybe it’s called ‘Uptown Newport.’”
“Newport has always been good at coming up with a common-sense approach,” he said.
Stapleton said he and the city leaders are confident in their position, adding that the city’s charter is very clear.
“There’s a greenlight initiative and it goes to the vote of the people unless it’s state-mandated,” he said. “None of us wants this, but this is where we’re at, and we’re all going to deal with it, and we think we have the correct approach.”
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