The Yorba Linda City Council took action on January 16, 2024 to amend the Housing Element that had been submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in early December 2023. Per the City Council’s action, the Bryant Ranch Center site (S7-001), was removed from the housing sites inventory. The amendment modifies the resident-driven Housing Element to address actions taken by the ownership of the Bryant Ranch Center property who expressed in writing that they would not develop the property at the zoning recommended by the Resident Working Group. City Council’s action to amend the plan was taken based on feedback from HCD and consistent with identifying viable development opportunities in the Housing Element. Leaving the property in the Housing Element was highly likely to result in an amendment being required by HCD and restarting the Housing Element review clock for another sixty days.
Additionally, the property owner has initiated a ballot measure petition, which is currently circulating in Yorba Linda for the Bryant Ranch Center property to increase its zoning. As a result, the potential existed that the property would have simultaneously been on the November ballot for two different measures. By removing the property from the City’s submitted Housing Element it will create more voter clarity on ballot box options for the election.
As per best practices with development of the site list for the Housing Element, if a property owner objects to a site being upzoned, the site must be removed from consideration. In the case of the Bryant Ranch Center, the owner’s representative expressed that the site zoning should be increased to three times what the resident working group recommended or dropped entirely. Given those options, the City Council determined that dropping the site was the best policy choice.
The City submitted its revised Housing Element to HCD in early December 2023 and anticipates getting feedback and potential approval on the Housing Element from HCD in February 2024. If approved, an extensive resident outreach effort will relaunch to inform the public of the changes that have been developed by a resident working group and were approved by the City Council. Eventually, as with all significant zoning changes in the City per Measure B (Right-to-Vote Amendment), the zoning changes the City is proposing will need to be approved by the voters of Yorba Linda via an anticipated ballot measure vote in November 2024.
“Cities that fail to adopt a Housing Element that does not comply with State requirements face aggressive action from the State Attorney General’s office and the Office of the Governor. Worst, the ‘Builder’s Remedy’ option opens up for developers to place high density housing all over Yorba Linda with limited City control. Our resident working group worked hard to develop a vision that balanced the preservation of our community’s character with the reality that the first priority is to retain local control, and our City Council took unanimous action to advance that plan,” said David Brantley, Community Development Director for the CIty of Yorba Linda.
Extensive information about housing policy, court cases, media coverage, and the specifics of the City’s resident-driven Housing Element are available on YLLocalControl.com. Residents are encouraged to ask questions, watch the videos of the workshops, and tour the map of the sites affected by the Housing Element.
View staff report and view meeting recording (58:35-1:08:19).