Every city and county is required by state law to have a General Plan, and those General Plans must be updated periodically. Updates include, among other “elements,” conforming plans to state laws put into place, revisions due to changes in technology or scientific understanding like the effects of climate change, updating public safety protocols, recreation, and land use. Of these, land use is among the most important.
The Land Use element in a General Plan provides the legal framework for how parcels of land can be used and to what degree of intensity. Land uses are broadly divided into types, ie: Housing, Commercial, Mixed Use (housing and commercial combined), Agricultural, Public, and Recreational. These types of uses are then further refined into sub-categories. Housing, for example, is subdivided into low-density, medium density, high-density, etc.
The specific regulations covering each land use are detailed within a Development Code which provides quantitative, objective standards that must be applied in the consideration of any land use application. The use of objective standards has been mandated by state law, and local decisions about land use that used to be considered in the light of qualitative evaluations like neighborhood compatibility, historical context, and community character are no longer considered valid criteria, ie: too subjective. Overall, state law has progressively removed the degree to which a jurisdiction can regulate land use, particularly for housing…