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Surf City goes all in to push NIMBY agenda

March 2, 2023

Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland has apparently forgotten that he no longer serves in the state Legislature given his plan to defy state laws that make it easier for developers to build housing. Strickland and the GOP council majority voted 4-3 to direct the city attorney to challenge Senate Bills 9 and 10 – setting up Surf City for a costly and doomed legal battle.

We have no problem with realistic legal challenges to state laws, but we only support those lawsuits that uphold some high-minded or liberty oriented principle. SB 9 allows property owners to build duplexes on a “by right” basis in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. SB 10 allows developers to build higher-density housing along transit routes. They promote property rights and deregulation.

The Legislature isn’t known for loosening up regulations, but the depth of the state’s housing crisis convinced lawmakers to do the right thing. They reduced onerous California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) restrictions and eliminated subjective criteria by which localities reject development proposals.

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“Really the issue is a matter of local control,” said Councilman Casey McKeon, according to published reports. “It should be incumbent on the residents who live here to decide how they zone their city, and if they want to allow ADUs.” That is a perfect encapsulation of the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) position, which uses “local control” to empower local bureaucrats rather than property owners.

It also shows why the state passed these laws. The Legislature realized that cities, in an attempt to placate existing residents who oppose new construction, are a prime cause of the state’s unaffordable housing prices. Previously, Mayor Strickland whined about efforts to “urbanize Huntington Beach.”

Councilman Dan Kalmick, who opposed the challenge, wrote that, “the city has not received a single SB 9 application for a lot split.” The law isn’t changing the character of Huntington Beach – but it has provided slow-growthers with a soapbox. Strickland and his allies ought to spend more time tending to the city’s problems and less time pretending to be state legislators.

Orange County Register

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Surf City goes all in to push NIMBY agenda

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