This announcement came hours after the state announced a lawsuit to sue the city.
Huntington Beach has struck back.
The city announced its own lawsuit against the state of California on March 9 regarding the number of housing units it is being forced to accommodate. The lawsuit was filed in federal court. This came just hours after California state officials announced their own plans to sue Huntington Beach over its own housing decisions.
Huntington Beach Mayor Tony Strickland explained the state is attempting to “urbanize” the city. Strickland asserted mandating housing across affordability levels would transform Huntington Beach into something that looked more like Los Angeles or San Francisco.
“Our citizens don’t want to live in an urban coastal community,” said Strickland.
The city’s 60-page lawsuit hinges on two key arguments. First, the lawsuit points out Huntington Beach is a charter city. As a result, it claims the city has more autonomy than a typical city or town, thus making it immune to state housing laws. Secondly, the complaint asserts the mandate violates both the U.S. and state constitutions.
It argues that if the mandate is permitted to proceed, California “will continue with an unbridled power play to control all aspects fo the City Council’s land use decisions in order to eliminate the suburban character of the city and replace it with a high-density mecca.” The suit says this crowded mecca would be attained through “forced rezoning.”
Huntington Beach City Councilman Casey McKeon blasted the mandate, saying the number of housing requested in the city was not realistic.
“The (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) numbers are fraudulent,” he said, adding the city is not against reasonable development. “We want to be good neighbors and help housing needs.”
McKeon specifically pointed to the 8,000 units requested of San Bernardino City, which houses about the same population as Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach has been asked to allocate more than 13,000 units.
“California is by far the most expensive state to build in,” McKeon continued. “The overreach is driving up the cost of housing. We want to work with the local economy and make the job market strong, so we can create an environment where people can live here. We want to do that through our own local economy.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta blasted Huntington Beach officials, arguing they were violating laws intentionally.
“Huntington Beach is required to plan for 13,368 new housing units over the next eight years. They are also required to follow state housing law, just like every other place in California. They are refusing to do both of these things,” a governor’s office release said.
