BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The California Senate Housing Committee today (April 29) decided not to advance state Sen. Josh Becker’s bill to rein in the Builder’s Remedy, a provision in state law that allows housing developers to ignore local rules in cities that were late on their housing plans.
Committee members said the Builder’s Remedy was intended to force cities to turn in their Housing Element plans before the state’s deadline.
The Builder’s Remedy “is intentionally supposed to be something that is so awful that cities and counties will do what we want them to do … It is serving its purpose,” said Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Napa.
Becker argued his bill would close loopholes and prevent undesirable projects — none more prominent than a proposal for three towers reaching 37 stories at the former Sunset Magazine headquarters in Menlo Park.
Becker said the proposed development — with a 130-room hotel and more office space than housing — fails to deliver any meaningful benefits.
“This isn’t responsible planning. It’s opportunism,” said Jessica Wohlander, an environmental associate from the nonprofit Green Foothills who Becker asked to testify.
San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller said the development at 80 Willow Road will overwhelm Menlo Park’s safety infrastructure, jeopardizing good planning and public trust.
“It’s not affordable housing. It’s a speculative mega-project exploiting a procedural gap,” Mueller said at the hearing.
A group of Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton residents traveled to Sacramento to support Senate Bill 457.
Palo Alto Mayor Ed Lauing, Menlo Park fire board member Virginia Chang Kiraly and Los Altos Hills Councilwoman Linda Swan also voiced their support for Becker’s bill.
The Builder’s Remedy has been on the books for decades as a penalty for cities that were late on their state-mandated Housing Element, a plan that describes where housing could go and programs to make housing easier to build.
The Builder’s Remedy rose to prominence during the 2023-2031 Housing Element cycle, when the state imposed more requirements and review on cities than ever before.
The Housing Element was due on Jan. 31, 2023, and developers were free to file Builder’s Remedy applications from the due date until cities had their plans certified by the state.
SB457 would’ve closed the window between a city’s approval and the state’s certification.
For example, Menlo Park City Council approved its 2023-2031 Housing Element on Nov. 6, 2023, consultant Hank Brady said in a report for the Senate Housing Committee.
Developer Oisin Heneghan turned in plans for 80 Willow Road on Dec. 4, 2023, and the state certified the city’s Housing Element on March 20, 2024, Brady said.
Brady also looked at a proposal for 159 townhomes at 2300 Geng Road in Palo Alto, the city’s first housing development proposed east of Highway 101.
Palo Alto turned in its Housing Element on May 10, received the Builder’s Remedy application on July 3 and was certified by the state on Aug. 20.
By changing the timeline to the earlier approval date, SB457 would “strip the project of its status as a Builder’s Remedy project, allowing the city to deny this project,” Brady said in his report.
SB457 would’ve also required developers to submit complete applications rather than preliminary applications that give a general outline of their proposals.
Three state senators — Tim Grayson, D-Antioch; Dave Cortese, D-San Jose; and Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont — said they agreed with Cabaldon’s concerns about SB457 applying retroactively, stopping 40 Builder’s Remedy projects in their tracks.
“The retroactivity is a problem for this committee and the Legislature not becoming the city council in the sky,” Cabaldon said.
Representatives from the California Building Industry Association and California YIMBY argued against the bill.
“We’re not particular fans of the Builder’s Remedy … but the solution to that is to get the Housing Element to (the state) in ample time for them to review it,” said Anya Lawler with the Public Interest Law Project.
In a statement after the hearing, Becker said he was disappointed that his bill didn’t advance.
“This was a focused, practical bill,” he said. “I have worked to ensure that SB457 struck a fair balance to uphold accountability while giving cities that do the right thing the ability to plan responsibly. California’s housing crisis demands laws that are reliable, predictable and fair … I remain committed to pushing for reforms that support real affordability and restore confidence in our housing policies.”
Palo Alto City Council voted 4-3 on April 7 to support SB457.
“This bill simply asks legislators to correct their unintended consequences and not punish thousands of citizens in housing-compliant cities with egregious projects,” Lauing said in a statement after the hearing.
Mountain View City Council declined to support the bill on April 22. Councilman Lucas Ramirez said last year’s AB1893 by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, already prevents out-of-scale projects in the future by allowing cities to put caps on density.
Menlo Park’s next hope to stop the project at 80 Willow Road is on May 9, when the State Historical Resources Commission will consider adding the property to the National Register of Historic Places.
Developers are required to complete an environmental impact report for historic properties and make up for any impacts of their developments, according to the California Environmental Quality Act.
“Mitigation could include requiring the project proponent to preserve the existing building, or to adopt design modifications to avoid impacts … It is unclear what mitigation measures the city will be able to require to mitigate impacts to a site that is newly identified as historic,” Brady said in his report for the committee.
Julie Lythcott Haynes is uncorking a bottle of champagne with her fellow woke Dems!
When the 17 storey building goes in, to replace Mollie Stone’s, they need to put a plaque up dedicating the building to Julie Lythcott-Haines, George Lu and Vicky Veenker. I say we should recall them all!
I loved how Mayor Lauing put Vici Veenker in her place when she said she didn’t think she could support Becker’s bill because it “might lose.” You wouldn’t think she’d need reminding that one votes on the issue and NOT to be on the winning side.
VV sure showed her true colors — which have always been painfully obvious about Julie and Lu who as inexperienced freshmen candidates continue to rake in the TOP campaign funds from outsiders and developers who will so their bidding. DODOs — Developer Owned Developer Operated.
More campaign $$$$$$$ to Julie from the builders and developers who continue to destroy our town and our state, our downtown, our retailers, our long-time businesses and who don’t care that she ran under false pretenses. who lied about why she was forced to resign from Stanford.
Again, many thanks to her for diverting the votes from a REAL civil servant — Joe Simitian — to indulge her massive ego knowing she couldn’t possibly win.
Money talks and BS walks. This bill had no chance in passage because all of our local politicians make money from developers either funding their campaign or giving them jobs. Nobody in Sacramento is going to cut off the money going into their pockets.
Apologies for above misspelling, Vici = Vicki
And they continue to dismiss how these massive Builder Remedy projects adding thousands of new commuters will also drastically increase traffic which will also slow emergency vehicles’ response time.
Instead they “plead poverty” about funding fire engines due to “sales tax revenue short falls” while wasting millions to FURTHER slow traffic all over town as recommended by their pet consultants with their idiotic one-size-fits-all recommendations to their clients all over the state.
And yes for sure “money talks and bs walks” while adding PA’s special non-stop virtue-signalling spice to the mix.
And for their next act, they’re planning on destroying retail on ECR in South Palo Alto.
Julie is incredibly stupid too. She says in her most recent newsletter that we need to find places for all the housing the state expects from us. Well, stupid, we’ve already got a plan. It’s called the Housing Element. A number of thoughtful people in the community worked together on this plan including her colleague, Mayor Ed Lauing. It’s a good plan, but I’ll bet Julie has never looked at it, which is why she’s favoring skyscrapers. If she runs for re-election, she shouldn’t return to council just because of her sheer ignorance.