Town hall focuses on Seal Beach Housing Element

SEAL BEACH TOWN HALL

by Emma DiMaggio

emmad@lwsb.com

Hundreds of residents filed into Clubhouse 4 to attend a Seal Beach Town Hall on Sept. 27. The hot topic of the afternoon was the Housing Element—a planning document required by the State that plans for housing and future growth.

The Housing Element is a “full spectrum plan,” said Community Development Director Alexa Smittle. The plan touches on housing preservation, rehabilitation, future growth, obstacles, and reduces barriers like restrictive zoning to help incentivize housing production.

Every city in California has a Housing Element, and every city must identify prospective sites for housing. The directive comes down from the State of California, which sets forth a Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) every eight years. Housing requirements are then doled out by regional planning bodies—in Seal Beach’s case, the directive comes down from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).

During the last cycle (adopted in 2012), Seal Beach was allocated just two units. In the most recent cycle (adopted in 2021), that number skyrocketed to 1,243 units. Seal Beach isn’t alone—cities across the region are facing doubled, even tripled allocations in the most recent RHNA cycle due to California’s ongoing housing crisis.

“All communities were assigned a number, and in all cases, that number was much higher than anyone had experienced [in past RHNA cycles],” Smittle said.

The Housing Element is not a guarantee that housing will be built, nor is it a prediction that it will be built. The State of California requires all cities to complete a housing element to reduce barriers to housing production—such as adjusting non-residential zoning on empty lots or streamlining the city’s permitting process.

“We cannot force any private property owner to develop their land,” Smittle said. “The City needs to demonstrate capacity for growth and simplify the process as an incentive to property owners. Whether or not it comes to fruition is entirely up to the private market.”

The City of Seal Beach must submit

Seal Beach Community Development Director Alexa Smittle (at podium) fields questions from residents.

Emma DiMaggio its Housing Element to the State for approval. Without a Statecertified Housing Element, the consequences could be “devastating” to the city, according to Smittle.

First, Seal Beach would be referred to the State attorney general for failing to follow the law, since the Housing Element is required by the legislature.

According to Smittle, a number of cities are facing lawsuits from housing groups for not properly planning for new housing.

Then would come the financial losses. The city could face fines of up to $100,000 per month—which could be increased by a court order. The city would also lose access to grant funding estimated at $2.6 million a year.

The cost is “not something [Seal Beach’s] general fund can just shoulder and continue to provide services in the same way,” Smittle said.

Seal Beach is in a uniquely difficult situation when it comes to identifying so-called “housing opportunity sites” for the Housing Element. The city is 97% built out, according to Councilmember Nathan Steele, meaning city officials have to get creative when identifying potential sites.

“We’ve been 97% built out for a long time, so when you toss in these Housing Element issues, when you start talking about housing, low income housing, market housing and the rest of this stuff, it starts to be very, very daunting,” Steele said.

In the current iteration of the draft Housing Element, all but one identified site is already used for another purpose. Leisure World’s RV Lot, which is Trust property owned by the GRF, is on that list.

During the town hall meeting, LW residents resoundingly voiced their opposition to the construction of housing in Leisure World to Seal Beach officials. Seal Beach officials, including the City Council, cannot decide to build housing in Leisure World.

“Seal Beach is not in the business of real estate development. Seal Beach does not have the constitutional authority to take property from anybody, for any reason whatsoever,” Steele assured residents.

Smittle explained that the main goal of the Housing Element is to make it easy for private property owners to build housing if they so choose.

The city is required to streamline this process, but its job stops there.

“Most of the sites [the city identified] are privately owned. The city does not control the land. That’s where our job stops,” Smittle said. “All we’re doing is the planning. It’s not our property. We do not come in and build housing on someone else’s site, and we cannot force anyone else to do it either. We just need to make it easy if someone wants to.”