A LEGAL challenge to two new housing bills will be considered at Tuesday’s meeting of the Huntington Beach City Council. Above, an aerial view of a Huntington Beach neighborhood (Shutterstock).

From a staff writer

The new majority of the Huntington Beach City Council will consider another effort to push back on what it sees as efforts to force more crowded housing on Surf City.

City Councilmember Pat Burns, one of the four elected in November on a conservative “Save Huntington Beach” slate is proposing that city staff analyze two recent state laws – Senate Bills 9 and 10 – for their impact on Huntington Beach and direct City Attorney Michael Gates to “take any legal action necessary to challenge SB 9 and 10.”

Senate Bill 9 calls for subdividing an existing single-family zoned lot into two new parcels. Senate Bill 10 allows cities to permit construction of up to 10 units on a single parcel without requiring an environmental review.

Backers of these bills call them necessary to help ease the state’s housing shortage; opponents claim the state is taking away local control on land use and forcing urbanization on suburban communities.

“The city has a duty to protect the quality and lifestyle of the neighborhoods that current owners have already bought into,” said Burns in a report to the council.

The council has already voted to challenge in court the state’s regional housing needs assessment that Huntington Beach must zone for – but not necessarily allow – over 13,000 new housing units.

The council will meet at 3:30 in a closed session and 6 p.m. for the regular session, both in the council chambers at 2000 Main St. (at Yorktown Avenue).