The town of Los Gatos could stand to make some notable housing gains from California’s recent CEQA rollback.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of two bills limiting the California Environmental Quality Act last month will make it easier for developers to build high-density housing in communities like Los Gatos, the Mercury New reported.
Assembly Bill 130 exempts housing-rich infill developments smaller than 20 acres or builder’s remedy projects under 5 acres from CEQA analysis, while Senate Bill 131 protects any rezoning required by a municipality’s Housing Element from CEQA analysis.
Under Los Gatos’ Housing Element, certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development in July of last year, the South Bay town must build about 2,000 new housing units by the beginning of 2032.
The town is processing 11 builder’s remedy applications, with projects like the Capri Fruitstand, the proposed housing redevelopment of an Ace Hardware location, and the Oswalt Building positioned to receive CEQA exemptions as a result of the new laws.
The Walnut Orchard project on the north end of town, for example, is a builder’s remedy project that would be expedited under the new laws. The proposed development would create 138 townhomes including 28 affordable housing units.
“Instead of spending six months, it’ll take me four months to create my application,” Erik Hayden, manager of the real estate equity fund Urban Catalyst behind the project, told the outlet. Previously, it would’ve taken six months for the city to process the application and then a year for the CEQA process, he said.
The legislation will also save developers money, as they have to foot the bill for CEQA analysis. Hayden said developers can fork over as much as $1 million for the process to create an environmental impact report.
About 75 percent of Los Gatos has a low vulnerability to pollution sources like ozone, particulate matter, toxic release, hazardous waste, groundwater threats and solid waste sites, the outlet said. No neighborhoods in the town are ill-equipped to respond to disasters, and there’s no anticipation that housing development would constrain the provision of public services like water, sewer and storm drains.
“Los Gatos almost uniformly had the lowest possible scores according to the CalEnviroScreen metric for 2021, meaning the town has more positive environmental factors,” the Housing Element stated.
The town is on the hook for 1,993 new housing units by the end of 2031. — Chris Malone Méndez
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