Huntington Beach officials have about four months to get a housing plan approved by state leaders.

In the meantime, they can’t turn down most developer’s projects. 

It’s the newest chapter in Surf City’s yearslong battle with state leaders over mandated zoning requirements, which city leaders have argued violates their rights as a charter city. 

[Read: California’s Battle With Huntington Beach Over Housing Goals Heads To Court]

But that argument didn’t hold up in court after San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal decided last year that the city needed to create a housing plan. 

City attorneys appealed that decision up to the California Supreme Court, but after they declined to hear the case earlier this month, Bacal issued a new order on Friday evening that gives the city a 120 day deadline to get a plan approved. 

To read the ruling, click here. 

Bacal also noted in her ruling that as long as the city doesn’t have a housing plan, it can’t use most of its zoning power to decide how developers build on land set aside for housing in the city’s old housing plan as part of the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, also known as RHNA. 

“The City shall not enforce its planning and zoning laws to disapprove or reduce the density of any proposed housing development meeting the minimum densities … on the sites identified by the City to satisfy its obligation to accommodate its regional housing needs allocation,” Bacal wrote. 

After publication, Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon said that the city avoided facing any financial penalties requested by the state in a statement. 

“The California Attorney General requested that the trial court include in its order an award of civil penalties of $50,000 per month against the City.  The trial court rejected that request.  The Court’s order does not impose any penalties against the City.  The housing element the State is mandating the City adopt is inconsistent with the California Environmental Quality Act and that issue is pending before the trial court.”

Bacal ordered a suspension of “the City’s authority to permit any new development on any RHNA site that would not satisfy the minimum residential density requirements,” and removed the city’s ability to grant zoning changes on those sites. 

She also ordered the city to greenlight any builder’s remedy projects they receive within 60 to 90 days, which means if a developer builds in affordable units, they can largely ignore the city’s zoning laws. 

Read: Will Builder’s Remedy Create Housing Without Local Approval in Orange County?

“The Court…hereby mandates that the City approve all applications it receives for builder’s remedy projects,” Bacal wrote. “Failure to adhere to the timelines in this paragraph will result in the project being deemed approved.” 

The move was praised by both Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta in a joint press release on Friday night, with Bonta calling it “the relief that we sought all along.” 

“Huntington Beach is not above the law. Its leaders must comply with all our laws, including our state’s housing laws,” Bonta wrote. “We remain fully committed to ensuring that Huntington Beach does its part to address our state’s housing crisis. It has been squandering public money for far too long trying to shirk that responsibility.”

Newsom called out the city for “pathetic NIMBY behavior” in his statement. 

“No more excuses, you lost once again,” Newsom wrote. “It’s time to get building.”

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.