Project Summary
California’s Senate Bill 79 (2025), taking effect July 1, 2026, marks a historic shift in land-use policy by directly preempting local zoning near high-quality transit stations. However, the law allows affected jurisdictions to delay implementation via complex environmental, spatial, and zoning-capacity deferrals, or to circumvent default standards by adopting local alternative plans. This project evaluates the administrative and spatial equity trade-offs between direct state preemption and state-supervised local planning (the housing element process). Combining geospatial analysis, parcel-level capacity modeling, and comparative policy analysis across roughly 100 affected cities, the study will produce: (1) a unified statewide SB 79 eligibility map incorporating independent pedestrian walkshed data; (2) baseline parcel, station, and municipal housing capacity estimates under SB 79; (3) an interactive public dashboard illustrating capacity and deferral thresholds at the station and city level; and (4) a coded dataset tracking local implementation strategies. These outputs will serve state regulators (HCD), transit agencies, and community advocates as vital compliance monitoring and accountability tools. Ultimately, by measuring capacity differences and mapping distributions across neighborhood opportunity levels, this research informs ongoing policy debates regarding the effectiveness of direct zoning overrides versus locally led planning mandates in advancing fair housing and transit equity.
