A progress update on the city’s Housing Element will be submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) following a review by the Beverly Hills City Council at its March 18 Study Session. City staff presented progress updates and future plans to the council, the same information that was presented to the city’s Planning Commission on Feb. 27.
Beverly Hills’ Housing Element was certified by the state in May 2024 after three years of back and forth during which the city attempted to draft a document that met the state’s requirements. Four formal versions were rejected by HCD between 2021 and 2023, and dozens of amendments were requested by state officials.
The final version agreed to by all parties requires that the city allow for approximately 3,100 new housing units by 2029.
At the March 18 meeting, staff reported that Beverly Hills issued building permits for 82 new units in 2024. Staff also stated that 727 new units are in the pipeline for the near future.
“I’ve been here for about 18 years or so,” said Ryan Gohlich, assistant city manager. “I will say … it is far and away the most number of units we’ve ever had in progress in the city. I would argue that probably what we have going on in present day is probably more than the combined number of units in the last 15 years.”
The progress update will be submitted to HCD by April 15.
In other business, the council reviewed proposed changes to its 2025 Legislative Platform. The changes were developed on Feb. 20 by the Legislative/Lobby Liaison Committee, consisting of Vice Mayor Sharona Nazarian and Councilmember John Mirisch.
The council discussed at length whether to include language about sponsoring and co-sponsoring legislation. Mayor Lester Friedman noted that his understanding of the platform is to support legislation, not seek sponsorship or co-sponsorship.
“Shouldn’t this platform be a quick way to have matters that we can respond to?” he said. “It’s always been, ‘oppose certain types of legislation’ or ‘support,’ and I’m seeing for the first time ‘seek sponsorship.'”
Nazarian responded that during a recent visit to the state capitol, she had several conversations with legislators who mentioned they would welcome co-sponsorship opportunities with the city.
“Recently, I was in Sacramento and that was a request from some of our assembly members and state representatives,” she said. “[They] mentioned that they would be happy to cosponsor bills, or at least for us to say that we give our support.”
The council also spent time discussing whether or not to address sanctuary city laws. The language was suggested by Mirisch, who noted that some cities in California have declared themselves sanctuary cities and he sought to disassociate Beverly Hills from that effort.
Other councilmembers said that the city already cooperates with federal law enforcement, and it therefore doesn’t need to be explicitly stated.
Councilmember Mary Wells requested adding language to the platform that would allow the state to hold cities accountable for enforcing their fire codes and upgrading aging infrastructure.
City staff will take the suggestions and rework the document. It will come in front of the full City Council again at the April 22 Regular Meeting.
