Overview

SB 330, effective January 1, 2020, makes various changes to California’s Housing Accountability Act (HAA) and Permit Streamlining Act, establishing greater limits on local governments’ ability to deny or modify proposed housing projects, expedited timelines for review and approval of housing projects, and various other provisions intended to facilitate production of housing, particularly lower-income housing, and to limit local governments’ ability to delay or deny such housing. 

SB 330 establishes new application procedures, review procedures, review timelines, hearing processes, and other requirements relating to residential development projects.

This overview is not intended as a complete statement of the law, which is available in full at the California Legislative Information site. 
 

Eligibility Requirements

SB 330 applies to eligible projects in specific “affected” jurisdictions. Affected jurisdictions are cities and counties meeting certain eligibility criteria determined by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). San Mateo County is an affected county, as determined by HCD.

Eligible projects are projects that propose:

  • residential units only; 
  • mixed-use development in which at least two thirds of the square footage is residential; or 
  • transitional, supportive, emergency, or farmworker housing.

For eligible projects, SB 330 establishes the processes and timelines described below. Note that these processes are voluntary on the part of the applicant; applicants do not have to rely on the processes established by SB 330 in order to apply for a proposed project. However, the County must accept an SB 330 application for an eligible project, and must adhere to the processes and timelines established by the law.
 

Implementation

Preliminary Application and Vested Rights

SB 330 establishes a preliminary application process. Applicants can submit a preliminary application, that establishes vested rights under the standards applicable on the day of application submittal, regardless of subsequent changes to zoning and other standards. This allows project applicants to “lock in” the rules currently in place, in advance of submitting a complete application. 

The California Department of Housing and Community Development provides template preliminary application forms that may be used for submittal. 

Full Application Submittal

After submittal of the preliminary application form, an applicant has 180 days to submit a full application. If the full application is not submitted within 180 days, the preliminary application expires, and rights are no longer vested. 

Completeness Review

  • After full application submittal, the County has 30 days to determine completeness and notify the applicant of completeness status. 
  • If incomplete, the applicant has 90 days to correct deficiencies. 
  • If the application is incomplete by third review, the applicant may appeal the determination.
    • 30 days if the project has less than 150 housing units
    • 60 days if the project 150 or more housing units

Consistency Review

Once a full application for a housing development project is submitted, SB 330 requires the County to inform the applicant of any inconsistencies or nonconformities the project has with applicable plans, programs, policies, ordinances, standards, requirements or other similar provisions within the following time frames from the date the application is determined to be complete:

Written documentation must be provided supporting these determinations. Failure to comply with these deadlines means the project may be automatically deemed consistent.

Five Hearing Limit

No more than 5 hearings can be held on a proposed housing development project subject to SB 330. “Hearing” is defined broadly and includes any meeting conducted by any legislative body, subcommittee, or hearing officer regarding the project. If a hearing is continued to another day, the continued hearing counts as its own hearing.

No Net Loss / Protected Units

In addition to modifying permitting review and approval processes, SB 330 also prohibits any reduction in the number of existing residential units on a project site through a “no net loss” provision with respect to residential housing. It applies to both rental and for-sale units. A proposed project must match or exceed the greatest number of dwelling units that existed on the project site within the past five (5) years. This applies whether the units are vacant or occupied.).
 

Resources

Links to legislation, other agency resources (e.g., ABAG technical summaries, or other).
 

Related Documents

Contact

Will Gibson