Planning Commission forwards 2024–25 general-plan progress report and RHNA update to city council

The Whittier Planning Commission on March 17 voted to forward the city’s 2024–25 General Plan Annual Progress Report (APR) to city council and to the state offices named in the staff report.

Monique Gerebe, who presented the APR, said the report covers the planning period from Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025, and summarizes progress implementing the Envision Whittier general plan. Staff reported that Southern California Association of Governments’ RHNA allocation for Whittier originally required the city to accommodate 3,439 housing units for the 2021–2029 planning period. Responding to a November 2024 annexation of roughly 89 acres from Los Angeles County, staff said the RHNA allocation increased by an additional 750 units, bringing the city’s total RHNA to 4,189 units.

Gerebe said the housing APR (attachment B) documents entitlements and permits for the reporting year and that staff counted 540 units permitted or finalized during the period. "We still need 3,649 units to meet the RHNA number, and we currently have 540," she said. Commissioners asked how zoning and capacity demonstrate compliance; staff pointed to rezoning and tables in the certified housing element that identify sites and capacity, and noted that Whittier’s housing element is certified.

Commissioners discussed the penalties associated with failing to zone for RHNA (the "builder's remedy") and confirmed that Whittier’s recent rezoning added five zones intended to increase capacity. On staff recommendation, the commission voted to recommend the city council receive and file the APR and to forward it to the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and the State Department of Housing and Community Development.

The commission’s action records the APR in the public record and starts the staff process of distributing the report to the state and other agencies named in the staff report.