Housing Crisis Act of 2019: City of San Jose.

The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 prohibits an affected county or affected city, as defined, from enacting a development policy, standard, or condition that would change the general plan land use designation, specific plan land use designation, or zoning of a parcel or parcels of property to a less intensive use below what was allowed under the land use designation and zoning ordinances of the affected county or affected city in effect on January 1, 2018. The act does not prohibit an affected county or an affected city from changing a land use designation or zoning ordinance to a less intensive use if the city or county concurrently changes the development standards, policies, and conditions applicable to other parcels within the jurisdiction to ensure that there is no net loss in residential capacity. This bill would authorize the City of San Jose to proactively change a zoning ordinance to a more intensive use and use the added capacity to subsequently change a zoning ordinance applicable to an eligible parcel, as defined, to a less intensive use as long as there is no net loss in residential capacity. The bill would require that the change to a zoning ordinance to a less intensive use pursuant to these provisions occur within one year of the change to the zoning ordinance to a more intensive use. The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to, among other entities, the Department of Housing and Community Development that includes, among other specified information, the number of net new units of housing that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy, thus far in the housing element cycle, as provided. This bill would require the City of San Jose to report each zoning ordinance amendment establishing a less intensive use pursuant to these provisions on an internet website by the time the zoning ordinance amendment is in effect and in its annual report, and would require the City of San Jose to send the annual report to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature, as specified. The Planning and Zoning Law requires each local government to review and revise its housing element according to specified deadlines. This bill would provide that the provisions described above that authorize the City of San Jose to change zoning ordinances become inoperative upon the date that the City of San Jose's housing element update for the sixth cycle is due. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of San Jose.