What is AB 1397 By-Right Approval?

The Housing Element is one chapter of the City’s General Plan which describes the goals, policies, and programs to build and preserve housing in the City. Specifically, local governments are required to update the Housing Element with a list of sites that could adequately provide housing to accommodate population growth. Cities are required to update the Housing Element every 8 years; in compliance with Housing Element Law, Redwood City completed the 6^th Cycle of the Housing Element in early 2023.

In 2017, Assembly Bill 1397 was passed by the State legislature to update Housing Element Law by clarifying and requiring local governments to prove that identified sites could realistically build new housing development. As part of the bill, the State established a by-right approval process to incentivize and spur housing development on specific sites that were listed in previous cycles of the Housing Element but were not redeveloped during the previous cycle. The by-right approval process allows for ministerial project approval (i.e. not subject to discretionary review by a decision-making body such as Planning Commission) and does not require environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Eligible Sites & Requirements 

The sites in Redwood City subject to the by-right approval process adopted as part of AB 1397 are listed here. In order to be eligible for this by-right approval, housing development projects on these sites must:

• Provide at least 20% of the units as affordable housing for lower-income households (up to 80% the Area Median Income or AMI)

• Obtain all required permits, and

   

• Comply with all applicable city development standards and regulations.

Questions? 

For more information, read the full text of AB 1397. If you have any questions about AB 1397 eligibility, please email Redwood City staff at planning@redwoodcity.org.