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January 27, 2020 Page 2  The draft ordinance limits attached ADUs to the height of the primary dwelling. This is not allowed; ADUs must be allowed up to 16 feet. Gov. Code § 65852.2(c)(2)(C).  The draft ordinance requires the Historic Resources Commission to review ADUs that might impact historic resources. Because ADUs must be approved ministerially, with no hearing or discretionary review, this is unlawful. Gov. Code § 65852.2(a)(3); see Gov. Code § 65852.2(a)(5) (“No other local ordinance, policy, or regulation shall be the basis for the delay or denial of a building permit or a use permit under this subdivision.”). To address an ADU’s impact on historic properties, the City may have staff review the ADU for compliance with the ministerial standards published by the Secretary of the Interior, or another set of ministerial standards.  The draft ordinance does not provide the required special treatment for the categories of ADUs listed in Government Code Section 65852.2(e)(1). These ADUs must be ministerially permitted “notwithstanding” the provisions allowing cities to pass local ADU ordinances, meaning that these ADUs must be approved without applying any local development standards, such as front-yard setbacks. According to guidance from the Department of Housing and Community Development regarding the prior version of Section 65852.2(e), these ADUs “do[] not necessitate a zoning clearance and must not be limited to certain zones or areas or subject to height, lot size, lot coverage, unit size, architectural review, landscape or parking requirements,” and the Department has issued non-compliance letters to cities that have improperly applied local development standards to these ADUs. To assist the City in crafting appropriate language, we are providing (below) example language from the template ordinance being used in other cities advised by Best Best & Krieger. We suggest that you to continue this item to a later meeting and to ask staff to come back with an ordinance that meets the City’s legal obligations. We would like to be part of that process. To that end, we request that you include us on the notice list for all future public meetings regarding the City’s ADU policies, and we request that this letter be included in the correspondence file for those meetings. We look forward to working with you. Sincerely, Matthew Gelfand cc: Minh Thai, Exec. Director, Planning and Building (by email to mthai@santa-ana.org) Vince Fregoso, Planning Manager (by email to vfregoso@santa-ana.org) Ricardo Soto, Associate Planner (by email to rsoto@santa-ana.org) Sonia R. Carvalho, Esq., City Attorney (by email to sonia.carvalho@bbklaw.com)