Pro-Development Long Beach Aims for New ADU, SB 9 Policies

The City of Long Beach seeks to pass new ordinances intended to help streamline ADU and SB 9 construction.

The proposals, announced by the city last week, come as part of Long Beach’s broader, decade-long development push — which ranks among the most notable in Southern California — will be developed by the city’s Development Services Department and could be adopted in 2024. The measures still need City Council approval.

Along with promoting the city’s construction goals, city officials see the ordinances as a boon to the city’s homeowners. One councilmember, Al Austin II, said in a release that the measures “will provide more options for families to maintain and build intergenerational wealth, which we know is crucial to combatting inequity and creating social mobility.”

In recent years the development of ADUs, also called accessory dwelling units or granny flats, has exploded across California, thanks in part to a flurry of state laws that have incentivized construction of them. This year Long Beach launched a pre-approved ADU program that’s meant to save owners who want to build the units time and hassle; the new ordinance would work in conjunction with that program and update the city’s ADU-related regulations.

The impact of SB 9, a state law that came into effect in 2022, has proved more elusive. The law eliminates most single-family zoning in the state by allowing property owners to split their lots and build duplexes. Before it came into effect, critics — particularly wealthy homeowners and cities — floated mostly baseless theories that the changes would ruin neighborhood character and create all kinds of havoc, including safety and environmental problems.

But the law was always intended as a modest way to increase density, and so far it has barely been noticed. One study published early this year found that SB 9 had barely been used in the 13 cities analyzed by researchers.

Long Beach’s ordinance will move city policies in line with the law and is intended to encourage homeowners to use it.