The San Benito County Board of Supervisors unanimously rezoned 12 properties in an effort to comply with California housing requirements. Officials said the rezoning was the last step toward gaining state certification for the county’s eight-year Housing Element, avoiding costly penalties and maintaining local control over development.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development requires most counties and cities in California to adopt and maintain an updated Housing Element, a document that details the local jurisdiction’s long-term plan to accommodate the future need for new homes.
The county’s latest draft version of the “6th Cycle Housing Element,” which covers 2023-31, has not been certified by HCD. As of April, the HCD has thus determined that San Benito County has not been in compliance with state housing law.
However, supervisors explained at the Dec. 16 board meeting that their approval of the “Housing Element Implementation Project” will satisfy the state’s requirements and result in certification.
Specifically, the HCD in April notified the county that its submitted Housing Element had not included enough property rezonings to accommodate future residential growth. The plan approved by the county board on Dec. 16 includes the rezoning of 12 unincorporated, privately owned properties to “Residential High.”
The new zoning designations, allowing 20-45 residential units per acre, collectively help the county reach its state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation numbers—specifically 168 units for lower-income residents. The rezonings do not equate to the approval of new homes or building permits, and will not require the property owners to develop or change the current uses of their land, San Benito County Director of Planning and Building Services Abraham Prado said.
Without the rezonings, Prado said the county would remain without a certified Housing Element, resulting in the loss of public and grant funding for local projects and, potentially, hefty fines.
“The county’s Health and Human Services Agency has already missed out on over $3 million in grant funding for programs involving social services and emergency shelter services, for not having a certified Housing Element,” Prado said.
He added that the state could also deny the county the use of up to $11 million in Community Development Block Grant funds for local public improvement projects.
Furthermore, the lack of a certified Housing Element can trigger the state’s “builder’s remedy” law, which allows developers to bypass local zoning laws to build affordable housing projects.
Prado said the county in recent months has received 13 applications for builder’s remedy housing development projects on different properties, with those plans totaling more than 2,600 residential units “including sprawl development.”
With a certified Housing Element, the county would no longer be subject to builder’s remedy, Prado explained. It is unclear if the 13 builder’s remedy projects already submitted would still be able to bypass local housing laws, as they were submitted while the HCD has deemed the county out of compliance.
Supervisors said the approval of the rezonings and thus the Housing Element was the best way to avoid the consequences of noncompliance—which could also even include lawsuits and fines that could surpass $100,000 per month.
“This plan is going to force developers to fill infill (that is) already located within the city (of Hollister) so there’s no additional infrastructure issues,” Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez said. “More importantly, it now starts to focus on housing for our own community and it puts an end to sprawl throughout our county.”
Prado explained that the 12 properties “strategically” chosen for rezoning include sites that are closer to the Hollister city limits and schools.
The county began the rezonings in May, when the board approved a General Plan amendment that subsequently required an environmental study. The county hired consultant Kimley-Horn to conduct the environmental study, which was completed in September.
The planning commission held a public hearing on the plan in November, but a majority of commissioners voted to recommend the board deny the rezonings. Some of the owners of property under consideration for rezoning had told the commission that they had not been notified about the county’s plan.
Prado noted at the Dec. 16 meeting that the county followed all of its requirements to notify the property owners and surrounding landowners.
The draft Housing Element approved by the board identifies where the county could plan to build its required RHNA assignment of 754 new homes by 2031. The units are broken down by income categories based on the area’s average median income (AMI), which in San Benito County is $140,200 for a family of four, according to the HCD’s 2023 income limits.
According to the HCD website, the cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista also lack a state-certified Housing Element and are thus out of compliance. A total of 63 cities and counties in California are out of compliance with state housing laws, and 475 jurisdictions are in compliance.
By the numbers
The San Benito County 6th Cycle Draft Housing Element includes rough plans to develop Regional Housing Needs Allocation units through 2031 in the following categories:
• Extremely Low/Very Low income: 246 units
• Low Income: 198 units
• Moderate: 103 units
• Above Moderate: 207 units
