CP&DR News Briefs May 19, 2026: Redondo Beach Housing; San Diego Reforms; Palisades Tahoe Base; and More

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Redondo Beach Adopts Housing Element after Years of Tension with State

The Redondo Beach City Council unanimously adopted a revised Housing Element Tuesday night in an effort to comply with California housing law and avoid triggering Builder’s Remedy. The new plan replaces the city’s previous proposal for “overlay areas” that allow alternative development uses, instead increasing density on five designated housing sites and removing a sixth site, as well as requiring that 50% of its floor space in these buildings be residential. At South Bay Marketplace, located at Hawthorne Boulevard and 182nd Street, the city approved the largest density increase in the plan, raising allowable residential capacity from 55 to 80 dwelling units per acre while keeping the existing seven-story height limit unchanged. City officials said the revisions were necessary after a California appeals court ruled last year that Redondo’s 2022 Housing Element failed to identify “realistic” sites capable of meeting the city’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment requirement of 2,490 new housing units by 2029.

San Diego Finalizes Diverse Package of Development Reforms

The San Diego City Council unanimously adopted a 134-item zoning and land-use code update Monday, including wide-ranging updates that soften development rules, loosen rules for Old Town sidewalk cafes, roll back an incentive for building small apartments, ban cannabis outlets from using leaf images in their signage, allow more child care businesses in Miramar and clarify that property owners may have to honor wider setbacks to help fight wildfires. Three controversial proposals were removed prior to the vote, including requirements for some hotels and apartments to upgrade pool heaters, new restrictions on shrubs, and requirements for softer transitions from high-rise housing to low-rise housing and open space. Thirty-one of the code changes apply only to downtown, including more lax rules for farmers markets, rules to preserve old-growth trees, and incentives for buildings with rooftop gardens. The package significantly increases fines that had not been changed since 2006, raising maximum penalties for municipal and building code violations to $10,000 per violation and up to $100,000 annually for abandoned properties. Appeals fees for planning decisions were also raised, though reduced rates will apply to appellants from low-income neighborhoods.

Settlement Enables Palisades Tahoe to Proceed with Scaled-Down Base Redevelopment

After more than a decade of conflict, conservation groups League to Save Lake Tahoe and Sierra Watch reached an agreement with Alterra Mountain Company and Palisades Tahoe after significantly scaling back redevelopment plans for the base area of the Olympic Valley ski resort near Lake Tahoe. The revised project, which includes 1,500 hotel rooms, 896 lodging units and 222,000 square feet of commercial space, cuts the number of bedrooms by 40% from the most recent proposal and nearly 60% from the original 2011 plan, reduces commercial space by 20%, permanently protects sensitive open space near Shirley Canyon, and eliminates the controversial indoor waterpark in favor of a smaller Mountain Adventure Center. The agreement prevents Alterra from pursuing additional development on the property for 25 years while maintaining plans for 296 workforce housing beds for resort employees. Conservation groups said the scaled-back project could reduce projected daily vehicle trips by as much as 38%, lowering anticipated environmental impacts on the Lake Tahoe Basin. In exchange, the conservation groups agreed to withdraw their 2024 lawsuit, pending county approval of the revised proposal.

HCD Drafts Guidelines for Conversion of Commercial Sites to Housing

The  Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) released Draft AB 2011 Guidelines designed to make it easier to build housing on commercial sites near jobs and transit. AB 2011, known as the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act, first took effect in 2023 and has since been updated through additional legislation in 2025 and 2026. The law aims to address California’s housing shortage by allowing eligible housing developments to go through a faster, streamlined approval process instead of lengthy discretionary reviews. The guidelines clarify requirements and explain areas of the law that have previously caused confusion in an effort to support more consistent implementation across California cities and counties.

CP&DR Coverage: Cities Contemplate Massive Upzoning Wrought by SB 79

The largest upzoning in the history of California will drop on select cities July 1. Collectively, SB 79 will increase the state’s zoned capacity by several million units. Some cities will gain so much that, upon full build-out, their populations could more than double. The point of SB 79 is to force transit-heavy cities statewide to simultaneously accept more housing and sidestep anti-housing sentiment. It does, however, give cities some latitude through TOD Alternative plans, which allow cities to reduce densities in certain areas by up to 50% and increase them in other areas by up to 200% as long as the total new capacity does not diminish. While most affected cities appear to be either ramping up to comply with the law or quickly submitting TOD Alternative plans, the Los Angeles City Council stands in opposition to SB 79, and the board of L.A. Metro voted against implementing it.

Quick Hits & Updates

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments adopted Plan Bay Area 2050+, a long-term regional plan focused on transportation, housing, economic resilience, and environmental sustainability through 2050. Over 17,600 Bay Area residents and other organizations contributed to the plan’s development, which outlines 35 strategies aimed at making the region more affordable, connected, equitable, and climate-resilient, including investments in affordable housing, improved public transit, and protections against sea level rise and wildfires.

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved a new Lithium Valley Construction Workforce Ordinance establishing labor, hiring and workforce standards aimed at ensuring local residents benefit from jobs created by future lithium industry development. The ordinance requires covered projects to submit workforce plans with local hiring goals, apprenticeship participation, and strategies to support small businesses and disadvantaged workers. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

The Los Angeles County Supervisors voted unanimously to advance a housing ordinance update for unincorporated areas, including provisions that expand affordable housing incentives, create a new “Acutely Low Income” category for households earning under 15% of area median income, and require 1:1 replacement of demolished affordable units.

The city of San Diego and the San Diego Community College District will evaluate the potential redevelopment of a 62-year-old arena downtown that has been vacant since 2024. City leaders and community partners envision transforming Golden Hall into a space with classrooms, museums, arts programming, and public gathering areas as part of a broader effort to revitalize the Civic Center.

The Santa Maria City Council unanimously adopted the Santa Maria 2045 General Plan, a long-term development strategy designed to accommodate nearly 60,000 new residents and over 16,000 housing units by 2045. The plan emphasizes higher-density housing, downtown development, and annexing additional land while balancing growth with agricultural preservation and community needs like a new high school. The council also approved applying for a roughly $30 million grant from the California Department of Transportation to build a new transportation loop for pedestrians and cyclists.

President Trump appointed six new members to the Presidio Trust Board a month after removing the Biden-appointed trustees, selecting several political allies and prominent business figures, including Lynne Benioff, who previously served on the board during Trump’s first term. Trump previously threatened to significantly reduce Presidio operations, even though the Presidio Trust largely funds itself through real estate and hospitality revenue rather than federal appropriations.

A report from the California Policy Lab finds that hundreds of thousands of residents have left California in recent years in search of more affordable housing in other states. The study found that people who leave tend to have lower credit scores, more student and auto debt, and slightly weaker financial profiles than those who stay, however within about seven years of moving are about 11% more likely to own a home than similar people who remained in California.

Most Americans prefer less dense, more spread-out communities. About 55% of adults say they would rather live where homes are larger and farther apart, even if schools, stores, and restaurants are several miles away, according to a Pew Research study. 44% prefer smaller homes in walkable neighborhoods with nearby services. Nearly 59% of white adults prefer spread-out housing, compared with 69% of Asian adults who prefer denser, walkable areas, while Black and Hispanic adults are more evenly split. Republicans favor larger, more distant housing (71%), while Democrats are more likely to prefer smaller homes closer to services (60%).

Jared Huffman of the House Natural Resources Committee has launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s involvement in discussions about a Southern California water district potentially acquiring two dams on the Eel River in Northern California.

Los Angeles issued the Homes for L.A. Notice of Funding Availability, the first large-scale deployment of funds generated by Measure ULA, which adds a 4 percent property transfer tax on all real estate over $5.3 million and a 5.5 percent tax on sales over $10.6 million. The action will allow the Los Angeles Housing Department to assign $361 million to create over 5,200 units across 80 projects.