GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (State of California).

By Jim Tortolano/Orange County Tribune

The ongoing legal battle between the State of California and City of Huntington Beach heated up this week when Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a motion to amend the state’s lawsuit against Surf City for failing to submit a required housing element that would meet state requirements.

At issue is the decision by the city council last week on a 4-3 vote to not submit the housing element, since the state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment would require in that document the city’s plan to zone for – but not necessarily build – 13,338 new residences within a 10-year period.

TONY STRICKLAND, Huntington Beach mayor.

“Huntington Beach continues to fail its residents,” said Newsom. “Every city and county needs to do their part to bring down the high housing and rent costs that are impacting families across the state.”

The amendment is to the original lawsuit in which Huntington Beach declared – and then backed off – on a refusal to accept and process new applications for accessory dwelling units and lot splits in single family zones.

Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland replied that amending the lawsuit was improper and that a whole new lawsuit regarding the housing element was required.

Additionally, he noted that many other California cities have not submitted their housing elements, and that “announcing legal actions against Huntington Beach may grab headlines, but they do not intimidate or deter the city, and they have no effect in the court of law, where these conflicts of law will ultimately be decided.”

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