PROTECT THE RIGHT TO MIGRATE AND SETTLE AS A FUNDAMENTAL LIBERTY TO HELP SOLVE THE HOUSING CRISIS

Written by Aaron N. Gruen¹

INTRODUCTION

Overcoming the crisis of a lack of affordable housing could draw on the foresight and wisdom of a district court judge who invalidated a first-generation 1972 "growth management" plan ordinance in Construction Industry Association of Sonoma County v. City of Petaluma.² The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal overturned this decision³, and the "Petaluma Plan" ordinance became a poster child for exclusionary zoning by many other communities seeking to limit additional housing in their communities.

The Petaluma Plan ordinance limited approval for the construction of new housing to 500 units per year over a five-year period.⁴ Under the Petaluma Plan, the city adopted a policy of refusing to annex or extend city facilities for at least 15 years to territory outside a newly defined "urban extension line"⁵ The city sought the assistance of the county and the Local Agency Formation Commission to prohibit residential development outside of the urban extension line.⁶ The city also limited the amount of housing any single developer could construct to 100 units.⁷ A cap on the total amount of population for the city was set at 55,000. (The 1962 General Plan anticipated an eventual population of 77,000).⁸