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The Seal Beach Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 18, to consider the update to the Housing Element of the city’s general plan. The Planning Commission meeting will start at 7 p.m.
The update is a state mandate the comes in eight-year cycles and this update will cover 2021-2029.
Last September, the City Council, following a joint session with the Planning Commission, directed Seal Beach staff to submit a draft of the Housing Element to the state government. That Housing Element must address another state mandate requiring that Seal Beach plan for 1,243 housing units.
Legally, the state can’t force Seal Beach to build those units.
Legally, the state can’t force private property owners to build those units either.
Legally, the city is compelled to plan and, if necessary, change land use policies to accommodate the potential location of those 1,243 housing units.
City Attorney Craig Steele, in a Monday, Sept. 20, 2021 email said that since 2013, state law requires the California Department of Housing and Community Development to report non-compliant cities to the state attorney general.
