At our Dec. 4 meeting, Livable Sunnyvale will be discussing whether to endorse SB 50, a bill
pending in the State Senate authored by Sen. Scott Wiener. SB 50 would amount to a sweeping reform of California’s land use laws, with the intention of legalizing high density housing in transit-rich areas, while also legalizing missing middle housing in other areas.
There are a lot of moving parts to SB 50, because a number of compromises were worked out to get it through key committees before it was unilaterally stalled by the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. However, only a few affect Sunnyvale.
The broad strokes of SB 50 are this. Within a quarter mile of a rail station, minimum heights are increased to 55 feet, and parking minimums are abolished. Minimum Floor Area Ratio(FAR) could be no lower than 3.25. The next quarter mile from the rail station, minimum heights increase to 45 feet, with minimum FAR no less than 2.5 and parking minimums no higher than 0.5 spaces per home. SB 50 preserves existing inclusionary zoning requirements for cities that have them(Sunnyvale just passed them for rental housing—yay!).
The next category affected by SB 50 is areas that either have high-quality bus service or are jobs-rich(defined as areas with strong job markets and good schools). In these areas, building size and form are not changed, but density limits are removed and minimum parking requirements reduced to 0.5 spaces per home. This essentially legalizes missing-middle housing(e.g., duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings) in traditionally single family neighborhoods, so long as they fit the existing built form of the neighborhood.
There are a number of other provisions, which have been added as part of the committee process and through dialogue with various stakeholders. Alfred Twu’s masterful illustration, above, provides a good summary of the statewide impact.
Exemptions
There are a number of exemptions to SB 50.
Any property that has been rented out in the past 7 years
Any property that has had an Ellis Act eviction in the past 15 years
“Sensitive areas”(essentially, heavily minority neighborhoods that have faced segregation or discrimination) are exempt for 5 years, and allowed to come up with their own plans.
Hazardous Areas—e.g., fire zones.
Counties with under 600,000 people have many of the key provisions of the bill softened(see Alfred Twu’s illustration above). This was necessary to get the bill through the Government and Finance Committee, chaired by the State Senator from Marin, Mike McGuire. Not coincidentally, Marin has a population of fewer than 600,000 people.
Finally, SB 50 can only be used to build multi-family housing; a local billionaire could not, for instance, buy a lot in Washington Park and use it to build a 5 story mansion.
Proposed Amendments
Redwood City Councilmember Shelly Masur, currently one of our state senate candidates, has proposed two amendments to the current framework of SB 50:
Allow cities to develop their own TOD plan that’s in line with SB 50 within a limited time frame. If they fail to do so, SB 50 applies.
Abolish the Marin carve-out, and apply SB 50 to all counties.
Sen. Wiener has said that he is amenable to these amendments; given that he’s endorsed CM Masur’s candidacy for State Senate, I think it’s very likely we’ll see these amendments added to SB 50.
Introduction
How does SB 50 work?
Exemptions
Proposed Amendments
Key Endorsements
How will SB 50 affect Sunnyvale?
Northeast Sunnyvale