SB 330

California Senate Bill 330, “The Housing Crisis Act of 2019,” was signed into law by Governor Newsom on October 9, 2019, and became effective on January 1, 2020.   SB 330 makes changes to land use and zoning law to remove barriers and impediments to building new housing in urban areas of the state. To increase transparency and certainty in the development application process, SB 330 allows a housing developer to submit a “preliminary application” to a local agency for a housing development project.

What types of projects are eligible for a Preliminary Application under SB 330?

A Project must meet any of the following criteria per California Government Code Section 65589.5(h)(2)(B) in order to be vested through a Preliminary Application:

  • The project is residential only (not including hotels) and creates two or more new dwelling units on a project.
  • The project is a mixed-use development consisting of residential and nonresidential uses with at least two-thirds of the square footage of the project designated for residential use (not including hotels), including dwelling units and any uses accessory to the residential.
  • The project is transitional housing or supportive housing.

What is a preliminary application?

Submittal of a preliminary application allows a developer to provide a specific subset of information on the proposed housing development ahead of providing the full amount of information required by the local government for a housing development application. Upon submittal of an application and payment of the filing fee, a housing developer is allowed to “freeze” the applicable fees and development standards that apply to their project while they assemble the rest of the material necessary for a full application submittal.

 

Close window