Community groups have lost their bid in court to force a public vote on Newport Beach’s plan for how it will address state-mandated housing development goals.
A ruling by Superior Court Judge Melissa R. McCormick issued on Wednesday, June 18, found that state mandates for housing trumped the city’s Greenlight Initiative, which would normally require changes resulting in larger development to go on a ballot for approval. Therefore, McCormick said the City Council’s decision last year to implement its housing element updates without voter approval was valid.
McCormick ruled in favor of the city over lawsuits filed by Still Protecting Our Newport (SPON) and the Newport Beach Stewardship Association.
“In what has been a difficult set of policy decisions in light of state mandates, we have stood on firm legal grounds,” Mayor Joe Stapleton said. “The decision (June 18) affirms that. We move forward today and every day doing what is right for our residents.”
On Thursday, State Attorney General Rob Bonta, Governor Gavin Newsom and California Department of Housing and Community Development Director Gustavo Velasquez issued a statement following McCormick’s ruling. State leaders responsible for enforcing California’s housing laws had recently filed a brief in the court case supporting Newport Beach.
Bonta said he “celebrated” the court’s decision to allow Newport Beach to continue its work to build its fair share of housing.
“As California continues to deal with a housing crisis of epic proportions, Newport Beach has said yes to more homes,” Bonta said in a statement. “Cities statewide are obligated to plan for their fair share of housing; my office will continue to hold accountable those who refuse and stick up for localities who are trying to do the right thing.”
In California, cities are required to adopt planning and zoning to accommodate future housing needs at all income levels. In 2022, the City Council adopted its housing element, the required document that lays out how its state-mandated allocation of more than 4,800 new homes could be achieved by developers, and the state approved the document the same year.
SPON filed the lawsuit in September, arguing the zoning changes approved by the City Council needed to have also been approved by voters before they could take effect. The groups said the increased development density and added traffic potential should have triggered the city’s Greenlight Initiative, which was approved by voters in 2000.
The initiative requires a public vote 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.
Charles Klobe, SPON board president, called the ruling a “sad day” for Newport Beach residents.
“We are profoundly disappointed,” he said, “but it was not unexpected.”
The city’s plan would allow developers to construct up to 8,174 units of mostly market-rate apartments, far greater than the state-mandated 4,845 units, he added. City officials have said they included extra potential, should some projects not go through.
The city currently has preliminary applications for more than 5,000 units of mostly apartments. No additional EIR or traffic mitigation is required under this approval process, Klobe said.
In its lawsuit, SPON focused on the date of the city’s deadline to comply with state law and argued that if the city had acted more promptly, it could have held a vote on the land use element and met the deadline, McCormick said, adding SPON also argued voters might have approve the amendments, so the outcomes of the election should not be presumed.
“These arguments miss the point,” McCormick wrote in her ruling. “The point is not the date by which the city was required to comply or that the voters might approve amendments, it is that the city was required to comply with the statute.”
Stapleton said the council — and previous councils — had considered all options to litigate and fight the state mandate, but realized in the end that there would be no path to victory.
The city could have faced severe consequences, he said, including court-imposed fines of as much as $600,000 a month, legal action by the state, and the loss of local control over where and how housing is developed in Newport Beach.
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