Mayor Letter for Glendale Apartments

City of Glendale, California

September 11, 2025
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor of California
1021 0 Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: State Housing Mandates and AB 130’s Impact on Local Communities

Dear Governor Newsom,

Since the elimination of redevelopment agencies (RDA5) in 2012, the City of Glendale’s ability
to retain local control over development has been chipped away year after year by a litany of
housing bills designed to expand ministerial or by-right approval processes. While we respect
the urgency of California’s housing crisis, the way forward must be through collaboration with
cities to allow growth in ways that make sense for our communities. Instead, cities have been
virtually shut out of the process.

Recent laws have weakened local control, overridden adopted general plans, community
plans, specific plans and zoning, and has left residents seeking explanations from officials
when state mandates limit their options.

The Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process exemplifies this disconnect. RHNA
assigns impossible housing targets that do not, in practice, produce the level of affordable
housing intended. Housing Elements across the state have been locked in limbo for years,
leaving cities like Glendale exposed to draconian penalties—loss of critical funding, legal
challenges, and the Builder’s Remedy. Despite years of compliance efforts, these laws have
failed to deliver affordability while increasing distrust between residents, their local
government, and government in general.

Most recently, Assembly Bill 130, signed into law on June 30, 2025, has further stripped cities
of their ability to manage growth responsibly. By creating new statutory CEQA exemptions for
qualifying infill housing projects, AB 130 eliminates one of the last meaningful tools cities had
to study and mitigate environmental and neighborhood impacts.

Projects like the Glendale Garden Apartments demolition and redevelopment housing
project—and soon, the former Sears site on Central Avenue—now move forward without
Environmental Impact Reports and without the City’s ability to address neighborhood impacts
on a case-by-case basis.

Local control over development continues to erode. Each year, numerous bills are signed into
law that override locally adopted general plans, disregard zoning and land use standards, and
chip away at the ability of residents and elected officials to shape growth in a coordinated,
community-driven manner.

Laws such as SB 423, SB 4, SB 9 and SB 1D have already diminished local planning authority.
AB 130 is now another example of Sacramento removing discretion and silencing local voices.
Even more troubling, proposals like SB 79 will override General Plans altogether and dictate
height and density without regard to local zoning or community input. Glendale residents
deserve better than one-size-fits-all mandates imposed without regard for context or
consequence.

Significant and dramatic changes to policy continue to erode trust in local government,
compromising the City’s ability to craft policies that meet State objectives and respect local
goals. The City has been proactive in housing production, and these measures have been
punitive despite significant success. From the largest affordable housing development under
construction in the state, to significant production of housing units and ADUs, to an awardwinning
Section 8 team; Glendale has been committed to its role and responsibility in
producing housing while only receiving punitive approaches akin to cities that have avoided
their responsibility.

Governor, Glendale is committed to doing its part to address California’s housing crisis, and
prior to the dissolution of redevelopment agencies was best positioned to undertake affordable
housing development. But the steady stream of laws stripping away local control is
undermining public trust, disempowering residents, and producing outcomes that are not
aligned with community needs. We urge your administration to pause, reassess, and work with
cities to restore balance—supporting housing growth while respecting local planning authority.

Respectfully,

Ara Najarian

Mayor

City of Glendale