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When the San Benito County Planning Commission voted on Nov. 19 to reject the county’s long-term housing policy, it upended the San Benito County Board of Supervisors’ plan to approve it by year’s end.
At the Dec. 2 Board of Supervisors meeting, County Administrative Officer Esperanza Colio Warren said that the county had assured the state it would have its Housing Element ready for certification by the end of 2025, but the commission’s rejection left too little time for the board to meet that deadline under its regular schedule.
To avoid missing the deadline and remaining out of compliance—and thus losing access to state-funded grants and continuing to lack full control over development on agricultural land, the board discussed whether to hold another meeting in December to approve the housing policy.
Following the advice of County Counsel Gregory Priamos, the board unanimously decided not to schedule an additional meeting. Instead, supervisors will discuss the policy as planned on Dec. 16 and hold a second reading on Jan. 13, which wouldn’t have been necessary had the Planning Commission approved the Housing Element.
The board also agreed to send a letter to the state explaining why the Housing Element will not be approved in December, as promised.
Under California law, cities and counties must update their Housing Element every eight years to show how they will meet future housing needs, and San Benito County is one of the few jurisdictions that still lacks state certification after missing the deadline for two years.
Both supervisors and county planners initially approved the Housing Element in the spring. That approval triggered the rezoning of 12 parcels from agricultural or rural to higher density residential use, as part of a local plan to comply with the state and show that the county can effectively accommodate the more than 700 units it’s required to plan for.
But the path to final approval hit a snag on Nov. 19 when several landowners whose properties were slated for the changes said they had never been notified. After listening to their concerns, the Planning Commission rejected the Housing Element in a 4-1 vote.
Director of Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement Abraham Prado told the supervisors on Dec. 2 that the county had notified the affected property owners and all residents within 300 feet of the parcels. Prado said the county sent approximately 500 letters between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31 and received multiple calls in response.
Prado warned that failing to approve the Housing Element would hurt the county financially. He noted that an $11 million state grant currently allocated to the county can’t be used until the Housing Element is certified, and that for two years the county has not been able to apply for more than $3 million in grants for migrant and homeless housing because it has been out of compliance.
“The issue here is the need for affordable housing,” Prado told the board. “This Housing Element that you and the Planning Commission worked really hard on doing addresses those needs.”
Not having a state-certified Housing Element also leaves the county vulnerable to what’s known as the “builder’s remedy.” When imposed, it limits the county’s ability to reject developments that provide affordable housing, even if they go against local zoning rules. Because San Benito County remains out of compliance, 13 projects totaling more than 2,600 units have already been proposed on land designated as rural or agricultural, Prado said.
Supervisor Mindy Sotelo said the board was “between a rock and a hard spot.”
“I understand the implications of the builder’s remedy,” she said. “But I also think there’s an opportunity for us to really listen to our community. If the Planning Commission felt so strong and voted against this, maybe we need to have more conversation about this than just passing the status quo.”
She noted that she had spoken with several property owners within the 300-foot buffer of the rezonings, and none recalled receiving a notice from the county. She added that the board had received an email from an attorney representing property owners two days before the meeting. “I feel like we are opening ourselves up to litigation,” she said.
Supervisors Dom Zanger and Ignacio Velazquez said the board should move to approve the Housing Element so as not to lose the $11 million grant and to stop being subjected to the builder’s remedy.
“The more that we put this off, the longer there is opportunity for builder’s remedy projects to get grandfathered, and we don’t want that,” Zanger said.
Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki added that, as both consultants and county officials had explained in previous meetings, any change to the Housing Element at this stage would restart the process, require another round of public and state review, and thus delay the certification even further.
“I don’t think it’s anything that any of us are crazy about doing,” he said. “But these are state mandates.”
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