_{Thumbnail photo: The Redwood Downtown is a 36-unit residential and retail development that’s slated to go in space that’s currently occupied by the vacant Daly’s department store building in Downtown Crescent City. | Image courtesy of Crescent City.}

At least one city councilor said he would support a bill that would allow local governments to “claw back” authority from the state. 

But, while representatives of State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, author of State Senate Bill 1216, say Crescent City would be eligible for the greater discretion his proposed legislation offers, councilors were reluctant to offer their support just yet.

Though he liked the idea of regaining some of the authority he feels is lost to state government, Councilor Jason Greenough on Monday recommended that he and his colleagues table the proposed letter of support. Mayor Isaiah Wright seconded this recommendation, saying he didn’t have a full grasp of what SB 1216 would do.

“Usually when it comes to bills, I look at who supports them and I couldn’t really find a good list on who supports it and who doesn’t,” Wright said. “I was going to say the same thing (as Greenough) — to wait and see until we get something that’s fixed and permanent and then see who comes out and supports it.”

Cabaldon, a Democrat, represents California State Senate District 3, which includes the communities of Napa, Fairfield, Vacaville and Vallejo as well as Davis and parts of Sacramento..

Currently, counties and cities are required to adopt a general plan, including a housing element, that guides its future growth. According to a CalMatters analysis, the housing element contains an assessment of a county or city’s housing need as well as an inventory of resources and constraints when it comes to meeting those needs.

Cabaldon’s proposed legislation would require the California Department of Housing and Community Development to publish a list of housing leadership designated jurisdictions on its website.

Cabaldon introduced his legislation to the State Senate on Feb. 19. It was referred to the State Senate Committee on Housing on April 13 and had been scheduled for a second hearing for Tuesday. However, the author asked for that hearing to be canceled, according to CalMatters.

On Monday, City Manager Eric Wier told councilors that SB 1216 would also allow communities greater discretion including the ability to modify the state density bonus requirement related to parking. 

Another component of the bill is it would grant municipalities with a housing leadership designation 90 days to cure any potential violations of the state’s housing reform laws instead of being subjected to immediate fines, Wier said.

“We were reached out to by Timothy Knox, apparently he’s the legislative aid to Sen. Christopher Cabaldon and he’s asking for the Council to write a letter of support for SB 1216,” Wier said. “This would establish a housing leadership designation for jurisdictions that establish a strong commitment to housing. He feels Crescent City would meet that criteria.”

City Attorney Martha Rice said one of the legislation’s components that stood out was the flexibility it would offer “certain jurisdictions.”

“That’s been one of the questions we’ve gotten from the public quite a bit, was once we reached these greater (Regional Housing Need Allocation) numbers, do we still have to follow this stuff,” Rice said, referring to the state housing laws. “I think some of our legislators are getting more questions and trying to alleviate some of those mandates when progress has been made.”

Rice noted that she’s not yet sure what will come out in the final bill, but said she and Wier were told that it wouldn’t add any more requirements municipalities would have meet to comply with state housing laws.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development recognized Crescent City with a Prohousing Designation in 2024. Coming at a time when more than 300 housing units within the city limits was in development, the designation included $650,000 in Prohousing Incentive Program grant funding.

In December 2025, the Crescent City Council loaned that $650,000, along with $350,000 in Permanent Local Housing Allocation dollars, to Community System Solutions, which is developing The Redwood Downtown. 

Crescent City is also pursuing a further $650,000 in Prohousing Incentive Program dollars, which, if awarded, will loan to CSS for the Redwood Downtown.

The Redwood Downtown is a 36-unit mixed-use development that will replace the old Daly’s building at 3rd and J streets. 

At a March 16 City Council meeting, Ethan Lawton, contracted planner with SHN Consulting, said CSS and its CEO, Mike Bahr, were taking advantage of California’s State Density Bonus law to build the Redwood Downtown. The State Density Bonus law allows developments to exceed the maximum density local land use designation if the housing is 100% affordable.

Since The Redwood Downtown is within a mile and a half of a major transit stop, under the State Density Bonus law, the city can’t impose minimum parking requirements, according to Lawton. As a result, CSS’s proposed development calls for two off-street parking spaces instead of the 54 spaces that would have been required under local zoning laws.

On Monday, despite criticizing the Crescent City Council at previous meetings for being dependent on state grants, residents who spoke were skeptical of Cabaldon’s proposed legislation. One resident, Doug Dye, called SB 1216 “globalist gobbledegook” and that sending a support letter would be the City Council’s blessing for the state’s “one-size fits-all dictates.”

Another resident, Cate Classen, who is originally from Encinitas, said she thought Cabaldon’s proposed legislation is meant to put the city into a better position to receive more state funding. Classen criticized the city’s downtown-specific masterplan, which states that a mixture of residential, retail and commercial uses would create a more vibrant city center.

Classen rejected the notion of a masterplan, saying that its goal was to urbanize Crescent City.

“We want to grow organically through the people who live here, who have programs to be trained in jobs, who want to be trained in making themselves better,” she said. “We want to give the community support… because you are going to see a working clock of love and support and production, that is what we want to create.”

Frequent public commenter Sam Strait, who lives in the county, also urged the City Council to table their letter of support until they know what SB 1216 would actually do. It may not provide the level of public comment they think it will, he warned the City Council. 

Before he and his colleagues decided to put the support letter on hold, Councilor Steve Shamblin said it sounds like other jurisdictions are wanting greater discretion over the housing development in their communities, not just Crescent City.

Councilor Ray Altman and Mayor Pro Tem Candace Tinkler were absent on Monday.