New housing bills target parking rules, commercial sites

Almanac News
By Gennady Sheyner

While the majority of the Democrats in the Legislation supported the proposal, Sen. Josh Becker was one of six Senate members who voted against it. In an interview Tuesday, he said he was concerned that the bill chips away at local control at the very moment when mayors and city councils throughout the region are working to meet the state's housing targets.

"They are working in good faith to do so," Becker said. "My philosophy is, let's give them a chance to do that without the state also coming in and saying, 'You've got the Housing Element sites and now you have all these other parcels up for the development too.'"

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