Editorial: Huntington Beach finally relents, but state needs to keep watching

02 Jul 2026, 13:04 · The Fresno Bee

The Huntington Beach City Council voted 5-2 to finally adopt a court-ordered general plan that zones the city for additional housing and allows it to avoid paying $50,000 a month in fines. Who could have predicted this surrender? Actually, this Editorial Board - and anyone not caught up in local MAGA politics - saw this one coming as the city's Republican council and city attorney spent years waging pointless lawsuits against the state.

We chuckled at the headline announcing that the city approved its housing plan after a "bruising legal battle." It was bruising, but only to the degree that repeatedly punching oneself in the face solely for attention leads to bruises. Our editorial in October called the latest court rebuke "entirely predictable" and found it "odd that conservatives, who traditionally promote less government regulation have doubled-down on left-leaning climate-change arguments to oppose deregulation."

Every city in California, charter cities included, is required to provide the state with a housing element detailing their plans to permit more housing, including affordable housing. Cities aren't forced to build anything - that's a private-sector function - but merely to zone for it. The state also has passed several laws that allow developers to build housing on a "by right" basis, without discretionary approvals. HB sued to avoid following them.

These are useful laws given that California localities’ anti-housing policies helped create an affordability crisis. Don't believe the council’s claim that the lawsuits were based on anything high-minded, as the goal was to maintain its power over private development decisions. These lawsuits never had a real chance anyway, but were politically performative.

Two councilmembers - Chad Williams and Andrew Gruel - voted against the plan. Mayor Casey McKeon supported it, kicking and screaming. Per the Register, he said he voted "yes" to avoid further fines and vowed to find other ways to protect local control. Given these reactions, state officials are advised to trust, but verify. If the city doesn't act in good faith, they need to head back to the courts until the city learns to follow the law.