CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The City of Irvine regulates the development of residential multi-family projects and mixed-use projects through a variety of documents, including the General Plan, Zoning Ordinance, and other topic-specific ordinances. Following the passage of several California State bills, the City of Irvine is required to adopt Objective Design Standards and streamline its housing development and review process to ensure high quality design and facilitate the efficient delivery of new residential units. 1.1 State Housing Laws State housing laws rely upon Objective Design Standards and emphasize the need for this document. The following paragraphs summarize the laws, which when layered together, create the policy context within which the City of Irvine must develop its own Objective Design Standards.
Senate Bill 35 (SB 35): The “Affordable Housing Streamlined Approval Process” was passed in 2017. It creates an opt-in program for developers that allows a streamlined ministerial process (i.e., not subject to a discretionary review, and therefore California Environmental Quality Act [CEQA]-exempt) for developments in localities that have not yet made sufficient progress toward meeting their regional housing need allocation (RHNA). Eligible developments must include a specified level of affordability; be located on an infill site; and comply with existing residential and mixed-use general plan or zoning provisions. The streamlined, ministerial entitlement process created by SB 35 relies on Objective Design Standards. Senate Bill 6 (SB 6): The “Middle Class Housing Act” was passed in 2022. It allows residential development on property zoned for retail and office space without the need to rezone the site and allows project applicants to invoke the Housing Accountability Act (HAA, 1982) to limit local discretion to deny or implement a conditional approval. SB 6 does not provide a ministerial approval pathway and requires applicants to commit to both prevailing wage and more costly “skilled and trained workforce” requirements for project labor but does not rely on Objective Design Standards. SB 6 does not contain any affordability requirements. Senate Bill 167 (SB 167): The “Housing Accountability Act” was first passed in 1982, with an amendment passed in 2017 to strengthen the initial bill to ensure cities and counties do not unfairly obstruct legally compliant housing projects. SB 167 clarifies "objective standards" and increases the evidence required for jurisdictions to legally reject applications, enforcing only the standards in effect when the application was deemed complete. Senate Bill 330 (SB 330): The “Housing Crisis Act” was passed in 2019 and was supplemented by Assembly Bill 8 (AB 8) in 2021. SB 330 made changes to existing legislation intended to streamline housing development, such as the Permit Streamlining Act and the Housing Accountability Act. It allows a housing developer to submit a “preliminary application” to a local agency for a housing development project. Submittal of a preliminary application allows a developer to provide a specific subset of information on the proposed housing development before
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