A state bill exempting Altadena from a key state housing law that promotes denser development is headed to the governor’s desk after the Legislature approved the measure Sunday, Aug. 30.
But it’s going there with a key revision that narrowed its initial scope — a scope that advocates still hope strikes a balance between pushing back on unrestrained, speculative development and the need to get fire survivors back living in the area.
Senate Bill 1090, the Keep Altadena Lands in Altadena Hands Act, seeks to prevent corporate developers from using existing state land-use laws such to buy up burned lots in Altadena’s Eaton fire area until 2030.
It passed unanimously out of the Legislature on Sunday, in what it proponents cast as a win, albeit “not perfect.”
“I think we are moving forward on a really meaningful piece of legislation,” state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, calling the measure a “thoughtful approach” to what has been a flashpoint issue in an Altadena trying to hold onto elements of its pre-Eaton fire self.
Such state laws, such as one called SB1123, spurred by the state’s housing crisis, double down on promoting the ability for property owners to subdivide vacant lots. In the case of SB1123, vacant lots zoned for single-family homes could be sliced into a property with 10 homes on them.
Amid a massive rebuild after the Eaton fire, local advocates argued that developers are using such laws to densify a community and turn a profit.
With Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, they say that that will change in a town wary of big developers swooping in, buying land at or below cost and building apartments on small streets that may not have the capacity to handle them.
“This community-driven legislation would protect Altadena from real estate speculators seeking to take advantage of California’s existing housing density laws to develop the area in ways that could undermine local recovery efforts following the Eaton Fire,” said Pérez.
This bill contains urgency language and would take effect on Oct. 1, if the governor signs it.
Pérez added that the legislation will help survivors of the Eaton fire return to their homes.
The bill, introduced by Pérez and Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, and lobbied for by Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and local advocates, had initially included an exemption from SB9, a law that was taken out in this bill’s final version. That housing density law enabled homeowners across the state to build up to two primary dwelling units on single-family zoned lots.
Underpinning the bill, among many of its early supporters, was the need to provide Altadena the same exemption that was given to Pacific Palisades by Gov. Gavin Newsom via executive order after the January 2025 wildfires.
But it took a negotiation among community interests to make 1090 in its finished form happen – that is, suspend SB1123 until 2023. And its final form is different than how it started.
Housing advocates had argued that SB 1090 would limit homeowners’ options in financing reconstruction by selling off marginal land or adding additional homes on their property.
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.
Ultimately, months of hashing out the legislation led to what leaders in the area found to be a good compromise.
“While the legislation isn’t perfect, it is is a step in the right direction for Altadena,” said Shawna Dawson Beer, a community organizer at the group Beautiful Altadena.
Beer sat in those community meetings, where along with the pushback against massive push of corporate developers swooping in, she also saw the need to maintain a certain “YIMBY” character for the area, she said.
That’s because Altadena was and should continue to be a hub for fire-displaced Altadena renters, who she noted represents between 35% and 40% of the community.
She said SB1123 — the bill that the fire footprint would be exempt from — is being leveraged mostly by “outside, speculative investors looking to capitalize on a community still recovering from disaster.”
But she noted SB9 served a different role, and thus was taken out of the bill, to strike that balance “that gives us some very necessary protection we need right now,” she said. “It’s an incredible start and I’m incredibly thankful that it’s passed.”
Last stop: The governor’s desk.