Marin County will continue to limit home building beyond what other regions of California are allowed under affordable housing laws after Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday afternoon.
The measure, Senate Bill 106, lets Marin’s largest cities and incorporated areas maintain extra restrictions on how many homes developers can build. Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) inserted the provision into the bill, which was tied to the state budget and didn’t have to go through the regular committee process.
Levine has argued that the measure would allow for more affordable housing in Marin, the state’s wealthiest county, because smaller buildings would lower construction costs. But housing advocates were universally opposed because they said it was counter to the state’s push for more development to stem a housing shortage.
Levine wrote a bill in 2014 that gave Marin an exemption from state housing laws until 2023. This measure extends that exemption for five more years.