Land Use and Housing Committee Meeting - June 11, 2026: Homeownership Bills, Fee Update
Land Use and Housing Committee Meeting - June 11, 2026
The Land Use and Housing Committee met on June 11, 2026, to discuss and vote on a resolution supporting three state bills aimed at expanding homeownership, hear an informational presentation on local homeownership strategies, and approve an update to the General Plan Maintenance Fee. The meeting was chaired by Council President Pro Tem Lee, with Councilmember Whitburn and Vice Chair Elo Rivera present; Councilmember Marino was absent.
Consent Calendar
- Item 1: Approval of the committee minutes from May 14, 2026. Approved unanimously (3-0) with no items pulled.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Consent Agenda: Max Schmidt opposed the minutes, alleging Freemason influence; Blair Beekman commented on affordable housing fund annual plans; Judy Strang advocated for smoke-free policies in housing and mentioned pending AB 455.
- Item 3 (Resolution): Many speakers expressed support, including Arya (Circulate San Diego), Guthrie Leonard, Ian Grooms, Manny Rodriguez, Jeffrey Huder (Neighbors for a Better San Diego), Luisana Gonzalez (San Diego Regional Chamber), Kenneth Bush Moreno, Krishna Hammond, Tyler, and Justin. Opposition came from Max Schmidt (alleging Freemason conspiracies) and Jay Goldberg (concerned about removal of legal recourse for construction defects). Kathleen Lippett cautioned against weakening public oversight. Hector voiced general distrust of state legislation.
- Item 4 (Information): Speakers supported the presentation while raising concerns: Leslie Morgan encouraged more modest housing options; Joy Sanyata warned against condo conversions; Max Schmidt opposed; Guthrie Leonard, Manny Rodriguez, Michelle Torby, Krishna Hammond, Stephanie Benvenuto (Building Industry Association), and Blair Beekman supported the ideas, with some urging local action. Kathleen Lippitt reminded of the 2007 housing crisis. John Brady noted 75% of residential land is zoned single-family.
- Item 2 (GPMF Update): Joyce Sanyata gave mixed remarks; Max Schmidt opposed, alleging inflation and conspiracy; Blair Beekman supported but suggested balancing fees for large vs small projects; John Brady shared an anecdote on permit confusion; Natalie Rashke questioned intent.
- Non-Agenda Public Comment: Speakers addressed fair housing data, homeless acceptance, Flock camera concerns, affordable housing evictions, mental health response teams, and smoke-free policies.
Discussion Items
- Item 3: Resolution Supporting AB 1903, AB 1406, and AB 1070 – Presented by Madison Coleman, Director of Policy for Chair Lee. The resolution supports state bills to reduce homeownership barriers: AB 1903 (construction defect liability reform), AB 1406 (raising deposit caps for new home developments), and AB 1070 (study building codes for small multifamily homes). Chair Lee, Councilmember Whitburn, and Vice Chair Elo Rivera spoke in favor, emphasizing the need to increase for-sale housing supply and address the homeownership gap (San Diego’s rate at 47% vs. 55% statewide and 65% nationally). The motion passed 3-0.
- Item 4: Homeownership Informational Presentation – Mohammed Almadeen (California YIMBY) presented on state and local strategies to boost homeownership, including reducing litigation risk, improving financing via pre-sales, and right-sizing building codes. He noted that condo construction dropped from 7,000 units in 2005 to ~500 in 2022 (a 95% decrease). Local recommendations included shrinking minimum lot sizes, streamlining permits, equalizing fees for for-sale vs. rental housing, and adopting a “culture of yes.” Committee members discussed the role of private equity and large investors; Vice Chair Elo Rivera stressed the need to address commodification of housing. No vote was taken.
- Item 2: General Plan Maintenance Fee Update – Heidi Von Blum and Scott Mercer (City Planning) proposed replacing the flat $737 fee with a variable 11.25% surcharge on plan check fees to improve equity and cost recovery. The change is projected to generate $7.5M/year at full implementation (up from $6M), with smaller projects (e.g., ADUs, remodels) seeing fee reductions (as low as $20–$100) and larger projects paying proportionately more (e.g., $45/unit for a 432-unit apartment). The motion to approve staff’s recommendation passed 3-0.
Key Outcomes
- Approved (3-0): Consent agenda (Item 1).
- Approved (3-0): Resolution supporting AB 1903, AB 1406, and AB 1070 (Item 3). The resolution will be forwarded to full City Council.
- Approved (3-0): General Plan Maintenance Fee update (Item 2), to be considered by City Council in July 2026. The new fee will take effect November 1, 2026, with first-year revenue unchanged at $6M.
- Recognized: Information item (Item 4) provided guidance for potential local policy actions; no formal action taken.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. Welcome to the land use and housing committee meeting of June eleventh, twenty twenty-six. Our committee lays on Natalie Kessler will go over instructions for today's meeting. Thank you, Chair. While members of the public are able to attend the meetings in person, this meeting is being televised and live streamed on the city's website, and council administration will continue to make arrangements for the public to comment using the Zoom webinar platform. Members of the public who wish to provide virtual testimony must enter the virtual queue by raising their hand before the queue closes. The queue will close when the last virtual speaker finishes speaking, or five minutes after in-person testimony ends, whichever occurs first. This will allow for better meeting management between the two platforms and ensure the committee is able to manage and conduct city business. Councilmember Whitburn. Councilmember Marino and Chair Council President Pro Tem Lee. Also attending the meeting today, Chris Ackerman Avila with Mayor Todd Gloria's office, Deputy City Attorney Karen Newfer with the City Attorney's Office, Amy Lee with the independent budget analysts office, and Angeli Hoyos, committee consultant. If you're in person, please complete a speaker slip located at the entrance of the committee room and place it in the box indicated at the front of the room next to the public comment microphone. Please do so in a timely manner to ensure proper meeting management. In-person testimony will conclude before virtual testimony begins. Members of the public can join the webinar by computer, tablet, or smartphone by accessing the link listed online in the preamble language of the agenda on the city's webpage. To join the Zoom webinar by phone, please dial one six six nine two five four five two five two. The webinar ID is one six one seven nine five one nine three three pound. This information is also available on the agenda. Please note that if you're watching via City TV 24 or online, there may be a delay. So please participate via the audio on your phone and mute your TV or computer when it is your turn to speak. If you wish to speak on a particular item, wait for that item to be called, and then raise your hand to speak by tapping the raise your hand icon, or if you're a column participant, press star nine on your phone. If you raise your hand during a non-comment period, your hand will be lowered. Chair. Thank you, Natalie, for reviewing those instructions for the benefit of the public. A quorum is now present. For public and staff's awareness, we will be hearing items out of order today. After the consent agenda, we'll be hearing item three, followed by item four, which is on our information agenda, and then we'll go back to item two on the discussion agenda. Nonagenda public comment will be heard at the end of today's uh meeting. Uh, do we have any committee members, mayoral staff, city attorney, and independent budget analyst comments? Hearing none. Do we have any requests for continuance? Hearing none. We will now take up the consent agenda. And once again, the order that we'll be going with is items one, three, four, and then two, followed by non-agenda public comment. Uh, do we have any requests to pull an item from consent? Seeing none, we'll move forward with public comment on the consent agenda. Thank you, Chair. The public comment period for the consent agenda is now open. The consent agenda includes item one approval of the committee minutes of May 14th, 2026. Each speaker will have one minute to speak to the consent agenda. We currently have one speaker who has submitted a speaker slip here in the committee room, and there's one hand raised in the virtual queue. Maximilian Schmidt, please approach the elector. You'll have one minute to speak to item one. Hi, my name is Max Schmidt, and I don't mean to be facetious. Um, I'm here in the belly of the beast of the New World Order, which is San Diego City Hall. And I just want to say I disapprove of the committee minutes because I believe the minutes need to have a special asterisk next to them for who's a Freemason. And the reason why is because uh Freemasons are a communist organization, and we need to figure out uh more clearly what's going on here with this occult gibberish. Um, and also I just want to say that um the reason this is also important is why I want to asterisk Freemasons because Freemasons are actually use using English word programming to try and get people to be afraid to say God is not dead. And if people repeat the state name Nevada, they can free their minds. And if they repeat and people are literally afraid to say God is not dead.
openpublica.com