A state bill exempting Altadena from state housing laws that allow denser development passed two key committee votes in the state Assembly on Wednesday, July 1.
Senate Bill 1090, the Keep Altadena Lands in Altadena Hands Act, would prevent corporate developers from using existing state land-use laws such as SB 9 and SB 1123 to buy up burned lots in the Eaton fire area until 2030. Local advocates argue that developers are using the two laws to densify a community that is trying to rebuild and turn a profit.
The bill, introduced by state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, and Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, passed the Local Government Committee 10-0 and the Housing and Community Development Committee 11-1 on Wednesday. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and local advocates traveled to Sacramento to advocate for the bill.
“I know about people being solicited and pressured to sell their homes. I know a 70-year-old woman who was told, in exact words, that if you don’t sell, it’s inevitable. It’s coming. This cannot happen. SB 1090 fixes those problems temporarily, so that people who have lived here most of their lives can come home,” said Altadena Town Council Treasurer Darlene Green during the Housing and Community Development Committee hearing. “We are asking for a chance to come back home and to be able to rebuild.”
SB 9 allows up to four housing units on single-family-zoned land, and SB 1123 expanded SB 684 to allow the subdivision of vacant single-family-zoned lots into as many as 10 parcels for residential development.
SB 1090 would provide an exemption from SB 9 and SB 1123 being applied in the Altadena area based on ZIP code to make sure it applies to the entire community.
The bill would provide Altadena the same exemption that was given to Pacific Palisades by Gov. Gavin Newsom via executive order after the January 2025 wildfires.
One by one, fire survivors approached the committee microphone on Wednesday to express their support for the bill, while developers and other housing advocates fought against it.
Housing advocates argue that SB 1090 would limit homeowners’ options in financing reconstruction by selling off marginal land or adding additional homes on their property.
Matthew Lewis, communications director of California YIMBY, said that homeowners rebuilding in a high fire severity zone face the rising costs of inflation, stricter building codes and higher insurance costs, and SB 1090 would limit homeowners who are not wealthy.
The version of SB 1090 that passed on Wednesday includes an affordable housing amendment that would exempt “deed-restricted, 100% affordable housing development projects for lower and moderate-income households proposed by nonprofit housing developers or community land trusts” from SB 9 and SB 1123, something community members have fought for.
Current affordable housing projects being planned by the Altadena Community Land Trust and Greenline Housing Foundation that rely on SB 9 could be delayed until 2030 without the amendment, said Katie Clark, board treasurer of the Altadena Community Land Trust.
However, the bill also contains language under which the moratorium on developments using SB 1123 and SB 9 would not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2027, and allows development applications to proceed as long as they are submitted within 180 days.
Local advocates say the provision could give developers a window to act while fire survivors are still recovering and deciding whether to rebuild or sell.
“Today’s vote is an important step forward, but it’s not the victory lap,” said community organizer and Beautiful Altadena podcast host Shawna Dawson Beer, who traveled to Sacramento to advocate for the bill. “If that provision stays in the bill, it creates a window for speculative developers to rush in before the law takes effect, triggering exactly the kind of fire sale of a land grab this legislation is supposed to prevent. We’re simply asking for the same level of protection that was provided to the Palisades.”
In a Thursday interview, a spokesperson for Pérez said that she intends on adding language to SB 1090 that would have it take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature.
“Adding urgency is the strongest legal standard that will offer the most immediate protection for Altadena,” Pérez said.
Urgency language increases the threshold for passage to two-thirds of the state Assembly rather than a simple majority.
Housing and Community Development Committee Chair Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, said during the committee vote that he believed helping Altadena rebuild was important, and hoped to continue amending the bill to address the urgency clause.
“We can pass this and recognize this is needed for this period of time and also understand that the conversations have to continue about the many residents who are concerned that housing will not be built that will allow them to return and that the diversity of housing needs need to be met as we move forward. And that’s a responsibility that we all have,” Haney said.
After passing both committees, SB 1090 will go before the full state Assembly. Lawmakers can amend the bill up to three days before Aug. 31 – the Legislature deadline to pass bills.
Sam Mulick is a correspondent with the Southern California News Group.