Lakewood: No more housing mandates, SPEAKER RENDON!
Council urged residents to demand local state assemblyman, Anthony Rendon, oppose SB 9.
Lakewood City Council asked residents to contact fellow resident and California Speaker Anthony Rendon to demand he oppose a housing mandate that would increase squalor.
SB 9 passed the state senate and is under consideration by the state assembly before heading to the governor’s desk. The bill aims to alleviate the state’s housing shortage by forcing local cities to allow for everything from duplexes to 6-plex housing complexes in all of Lakewood’s single-family homes.
“Folks in Sacramento have lost their minds,” said Councilman Todd Rogers after the Council received a staff report. He asked Lakewood residents to “remind Rendon we expect a no vote from him.”
“Where are we going to park?” asked Councilwoman Vicki Stuckey in regards to the massive increase in residents sure to come should SB 9 pass.
In it’s presentation on SB 9, staff explained that current housing laws allowed homeowners to install one accessory dwelling unit (ADU, such as a garage turned into a small house), and one junior ADU. The new law would still allow for those ADUs per single-family home, but it would also allow for the main home to be turned into a duplex, resulting in four homes per housing lot.
SB 9 would also allow for 4-plexes to be installed at each single-family home and for as many as 6-plexes, depending on the type of housing units that developers plan to build.
Currently, proposed housing developments must go through an approval process and be subject to local zoning regulations. SB 9 would do away with all that by requiring Lakewood to ministerially approve such development, meaning there would be no residential or Council input on future developments.
This may very well result in Lakewood’s infrastructure—water, gas and sewer pipes—becoming overwhelmed and breaking down since they were not designed for so many people as SB 9 would place in Lakewood, staff reported.
The removal of yards and trees would also increase Lakewood’s temperature due to all the asphalt and concrete that would be used in the proposed mandated development.
Rogers said many representatives voted for the bill in the state senate since there is a thinking that single-family homes are racist.
“Single-family housing is not racists today,” said Rogers, explaining such homes allow for persons to get a piece of the American dream.
After telling Council how he texted Rendon on how he opposed such a housing-density mandate, Rogers made a plea to residents: “I would love for all 80,000 residents in Lakewood to do the exact same thing.”
The rest of Council agreed.
Vice Mayor Steve Croft said he met with Rendon twice to say he did not approve of SB 9. Mayor Jeff Wood also voiced his dissent with the law.
“Your voice does matter on this issue,” said Councilman Ariel Pe. “So please use your voice.”