At the Culver City Council meeting on March 16, 2026, the council unanimously approved directing staff to create minimum standards on Senate Bill (SB) 79, as well as exploring a transit-oriented development alternative plan – Options 2 and 4, respectively.
The bill, called the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, establishes new development standards for “transit-oriented housing developments” (TOHDs) which are residential projects on land zoned for commercial, residential, and mixed uses within a half mile of qualifying transit stops. These standards will supersede otherwise applicable standards and will allow increased heights and densities to encourage residential and mixed-use development near transit stops. These new standards apply only to TOHDs with five or more units and a minimum 30 dwelling units per acre, while all other projects would be subject to existing zoning standards.
SB 79 identifies two tiers of transit stops. Culver City is affected only by Tier 2 stops (light rail and qualifying major transit stops).
Four potential Tier 2 locations in Culver City include La Cienega/Jefferson Station, and Culver City Station on the Expo Line, and the Venice/Overland Bus Stop, in addition to the planned Bus Rapid Transit stop at Venice/Lincoln.
The Council’s selection of Option 2, which is the direction to create minimum standards, would allow the increased SB 79 height and density across affected properties. In addition, it would allow the City to add new supplemental development standards to address the permissible larger scale developments.
City Council directed staff to explore Option 4, which would require the overall SB 79 increased housing development capacity citywide but allows a city to manage the allocation across transit-oriented development areas and sites.
The Southern California Association of Governments will prepare the final regulatory map by July 1, 2026.
. The SB 79 preliminary maps can be viewed on the City’s website.
City of Culver City
