Judge Orders Huntington Beach to Update Housing Plan

A judge has given Huntington Beach a year to come up with a state-mandated plan to build more than 13,000 homes by 2030.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal found that Surf City had violated state housing laws by refusing to plan for more homes, the Orange County Register reported. She gave the city 12 months to pass an updated Housing Element, a blueprint that lays out where new development can occur.

The decision comes after California State Attorney General Rob Bonta accused Huntington Beach in a lawsuit filed in March 2023 of knowingly violating state housing laws. The suit sought a court order for the city to certify its plan for homes, which was due in October 2021.

The state wanted to give the city 120 days to update its plan, but Bacal denied that request.

The judge has yet to issue the writ that would start the clock on her 12-month order for Huntington Beach.

If the city fails to update its housing plan after a year, the court will then determine what fines to impose, according to the Register. Bacal’s order doesn’t strip the city’s ability to issue building permits should it not meet the deadline, as the state requested.

The ruling represents a partial victory for Huntington Beach, which has strenuously challenged the state requirement it plan to build 13,368 homes by the end of the decade, nearly 6,000 of which must be affordable to low- or very-low-income households.

“Fighting these court battles is absolutely worth it,” City Attorney Michael Gates told the Register, adding that the city was evaluating its appeal options.

He said the city’s year-long reprieve wasn’t subject to any penalties, and called the order giving the city more time a setback for the state.

“Now we have breathing room to put together a Housing Element and bring it back to council and go to the court and show what we’ve done without high pressure, penalties and punitive mechanisms from the state,” Gates told the newspaper.

The state attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for comment by the Register.

Huntington Beach has placed a charter amendment on the November ballot that would require voter approval to carry out zoning changes required by a new Housing Element when there are “significant and unavoidable” environmental impacts.

Should that charter amendment pass, the city would have to get voter approval before a new Housing Element could be implemented. Ballot arguments filed against that charter amendment warn of unnecessary costs of hosting elections to update city zoning plans.

This year, the city will make arguments over a related case in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that seeks to prevent it from having to comply with state housing law.

A federal trial court judge dismissed the case last fall, saying Huntington Beach lacked standing to bring constitutional claims challenging state housing allocation laws. The city appealed.

— Dana Bartholomew