Campbell policy history
Navigating Vacancy and Demolition Rules
Campbell currently requires a qualifying single-family parcel to be vacant on the day a formal Starter Home application is filed. In practice, a standing habitable home generally must be demolished before the City will review that application, even without an approved replacement project. This requirement comes from the City’s current interpretation after HCD’s July 17, 2026 guidance. The written text of Ordinance No. 26-2347 instead sets a later vacancy deadline. The chronology below explains that distinction.
April 2026: Ordinance 26-2347 moved the vacancy deadline to application submission
On April 21, 2026, the City adopted Interim Ordinance No. 26-2347, effective April 22. Section 4(C) revised the local vacancy provision so that an R-1 or comparable low-density residential parcel could qualify if it would meet the ordinance’s definition of “vacant” no later than final-map recordation or issuance of a building permit, whichever occurred first. In other words, the ordinance text did not require the house to be gone when the Starter Home application was filed.
The ordinance remains Campbell’s listed interim SB 1123 ordinance and, after extension by Ordinance No. 26-2349, is listed by the City as effective through April 20, 2027.
Why demolition became a policy issue
Campbell had received a concentration of Starter Home applications involving single-family-zoned parcels with existing residences. On April 16, five days before adoption of Ordinance No. 26-2347, the City asked HCD whether the SHRA requires vacancy at application submittal and whether the earlier “no later than final map or building permit” approach was consistent with state law. The City then amended that deadline in Ordinance 26-2347.
This raised a separate question: could a property owner obtain a standalone demolition permit, remove the existing house, and later submit a Starter Home application for the now physically vacant parcel?
Campbell asked HCD
On April 16, 2026, Campbell requested technical assistance from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Among its seven questions, the City specifically asked whether Government Code section 66300.6(a) applies to a standalone demolition permit where no replacement housing application accompanies the demolition request. Campbell also asked whether, if that state provision did not apply, the City could adopt its own demolition-control ordinance requiring an approved replacement housing project before demolition.
Proposed demolition ordinance moves to Council — October 2026
The Planning Commission reviewed the proposed Replacement Housing and Demolition Control Ordinance (Item 4, PLN-2026-83) on October 27, 2026. Commissioners split evenly between yes and no votes. The Commission serves in an advisory role on this ordinance; the draft moves to the City Council with the commissioners’ comments. The ordinance has not been adopted. City Council consideration remains tentatively expected December 1, 2026. The meeting outcome is resident-reported as of October 28, pending confirmation against the official record. No new ordinance has been adopted; the tentative date is not a confirmed Council decision. The White Oaks Manor community is proposing preliminary-application screening before demolition, five-year occupancy checks, safeguards for vacant lots and advance public notice. These are proposals, not existing legal requirements. Read the proposed safeguards →
HCD’s July 17 response
HCD answered that section 66300.6(a) does not prohibit approval of a standalone demolition permit because that permit does not itself contain a replacement housing development project. HCD simultaneously emphasized that a later development remains subject to applicable five-year lookback provisions.
HCD did not decide whether Campbell may adopt the proposed local demolition-control restriction. It declined to provide a determination at that time and cautioned that a restrictive demolition-control ordinance could have unintended effects on redevelopment and housing-production goals.
What this means for the Holmes Avenue record
The City’s May 20 review stated that, if the preliminary application was not valid, Campbell would treat the existing residence as preventing eligibility under its application-date vacancy interpretation. The letter described withdrawal, demolition, vacancy and a new application as a possible procedural route. That sequence is consistent with the application-date vacancy rule adopted in Section 2 of Ordinance No. 26-2347.
Demolition permit applications for both 1115 and 1124 Holmes were filed June 1. The 1124 development application was voluntarily withdrawn June 2. HCD issued its technical-assistance letter July 17. Campbell issued both Holmes demolition permits August 13. The residence at 1124 was subsequently demolished; as of the September 17 photographic record, the residence at 1115 remained standing.
Physical vacancy is not the whole eligibility test
Demolishing a permanent structure can change whether a parcel is physically vacant at the time of a future application. It does not erase the separate statutory history of tenant occupancy or protected housing. Campbell’s current Starter Home guidance requires a Housing Crisis Act compliance form and states that parcels may be ineligible when housing occupied by tenants or lower-income households was demolished during the applicable five-year period.
Separate from SB 9
Campbell Ordinance 26-2354 concerns the separate SB 9 / SB 450 / AB 1061 framework for single-family residential development and urban lot splits. It should not be treated as the ordinance governing Starter Home projects under SB 1123. Campbell lists Interim Ordinance 26-2347, as extended by 26-2349, as its current interim SB 1123 ordinance.