The Building Industry Association Southern California Baldy View Chapter honored local leaders and government entities that help make San Bernardino County more business-friendly during their Holiday Charity Gala on December 5.
The recipients of the awards recognize the array of economic and quality of life benefits that housing provides and continuously work with the building industry to promote sound policies that ensure more families attain the dream of home ownership.
The recipients are:
- Senator Norma Torres – for her support of the passage of Assembly Bill 116, legislation that provides an automatic 24-month extension to existing and unexpired tentative tract and parcel maps and builds upon the previous extension granted in 2011.
- City of Hesperia – To help attract new home development and job creation the City of Hesperia reduced development impact fees by 25 percent or $6,200 per unit for 18-months through October of next year.
- City of Upland – This year the City of Upland launched a Blue Ribbon Committee to help increase the efficiency of the city’s development process. The BIA worked with the committee to provide the city with recommendations for procedural changes, development code and department structural changes to help streamline the entitlement/development processes for applicants. Moving forward in 2014, the BIA anticipates improvements to the City’s Planning, Engineering and Off & On-site Inspection policies.
- City of Highland – The BIA seeks to ensure there are housing options for all families at all socioeconomic levels. The BIA staff has worked with the City of Highland since October 2012, to reform their current inclusionary housing ordinance as part of an update to their Housing Element. Under this ordinance, a homebuilder has been required to build at least 15 percent affordable units into every project or pay a $3,750 in-lieu fee per unit. Working together with the BIA, the city identified a strategy whereby a market-based approach can produce workforce housing and keep Highland’s Housing Element in compliance with state requirements. As a result, the City of Highland voted unanimously on November 26 to suspend their housing ordinance.
