La Habra, CA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Density Bonus Law (2026)

Chapter 18.80 does not set its own density bonus percentages; instead § 18.80.030 directs the city to grant density bonuses, concessions or incentives, and waivers or reductions of development standards and parking ratios strictly in accordance with the state Density Bonus Law, Government Code § 65915 et seq., and states that the state law prevails if it conflicts with the local chapter. What the chapter adds locally is process. Section 18.80.040 sets rounding rules unique to La Habra's administration of the law: any fractional unit in a base-density or bonus-density calculation is rounded up to the next whole number, as is any fraction of a required affordable unit, and the bonus units themselves are not counted toward the affordable-unit total needed to qualify.

Section 18.80.050 requires an affordable housing application to be filed concurrently with the housing development application and to include a site plan, a summary table comparing bonus units to the general-plan baseline, tenure information, a five-year rent history of existing units, and documentation supporting any requested incentive, concession, or waiver. Section 18.80.060 requires the applicant to sign a recorded regulatory agreement approved by the city attorney, to pay the city's costs for third-party consultants who help draft it, to build affordable units concurrently with market-rate units unless the agreement sets another schedule, and to disperse affordable units throughout the development rather than clustering them. Section 18.80.070 routes any appeal of a density bonus decision through the conditional use permit appeal procedure in § 18.66.080.