SB 35 Summary

• Establishes a streamlined, ministerial approval process for multifamily housing developments that meet objective planning standards, bypassing conditional use permits and subjective discretionary review.

• Requires developments to satisfy specific criteria including: location in urbanized areas, 75% perimeter adjacency to developed parcels, residential zoning, affordability requirements (10-50% of units below 80% area median income depending on local conditions), and compliance with objective design standards.

• Prohibits local governments from imposing parking requirements exceeding one space per unit on streamlined projects, with exceptions for transit-adjacent, historic districts, or permit-required areas where no parking is allowed.

• Requires local governments to notify developers of standard conflicts within 60-90 days; failure to respond deems the project compliant; approvals remain valid for three years and continue if vertical construction begins, with discretionary one-year extension available.

• Sunsets on January 1, 2026; applies to all cities and counties including charter jurisdictions; modifies housing element reporting requirements to include detailed production data by income level and streamlined project tracking.