Los Angeles area cities are rallying against a bill introduced in the state Senate that could lead to greater housing density around transit corridors.

The bill, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), aims to promote more density around transit corridors to maximize ridership on new and existing public transportation, reduce dependence on automobiles and address the housing crisis.

But city officials have said it will inhibit local control of city planning. If passed, it would exempt residential development from local limits on residential density, floor-area ratio, minimum automobile parking requirements and other building requirements if they’re located within a quarter-mile radius of a high-quality transit corridor (a route that has bus service intervals of 15 minutes or less during peak commuter hours) or a half-mile radius of a major transit stop.

Over the past two months, the Beverly Hills and West Hollywood city councils voted to oppose the bill as it’s currently written. In Los Angeles, Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, introduced a motion during a Feb. 7 council meeting denouncing the bill.

“I don’t believe a state legislator from Northern California should dictate the zoning policies of the second-largest city in the United States,” Ryu said.

The councilman added that the bill would “wipe out our efforts to craft thoughtful community planning and eradicate our local zoning control, ignoring the character and history of our unique neighborhoods as well as the voices of the residents who live there.”

“I am all for thoughtful development and more affordable housing options, but eviscerating planning rules across most of Los Angeles is not a responsible way to get there,” Ryu said.

Councilman Paul Koretz, 5th District, said the bill has too much ambiguity for building minimums in the designated areas.

“The worst interpretation seems to say that someone seeking to add a simple bathroom extension to their single family home would instead be required to build a skyscraper, at minimum,” he said. “Either way, imagine a neighborhood that currently has little 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s single-family homes looking like Dubai in 10 years.”

Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, 13th District, has spoken about the need for infill development in Los Angeles, and the obstacles posed by Nimby-ism at the local level. But O’Farrell said that SB 827 “needs to be more in line with the realities of planning and zoning in Los Angeles.”

“I am eager to see significant modifications to this bill as it moves through the Senate committee before opposing it outright,” O’Farrell added. “In the 13th Council District, we are building affordable, permanent supportive, and market rate housing along transit corridors. But in order to address the magnitude of our housing crises, we need to work in tandem with our state, county, and housing partners.”

The Beverly Hills City Council voted in January to oppose the bill, with council members describing it as overreaching, idiotic and Orwellian.

“We’re looking at a potentially very disruptive bill,” Beverly Hills Councilman John Mirisch said during a Feb. 6 study session. “In my opinion it’s a Big Brother-style bill that would completely change the face, the nature of the city, which in my opinion is well-planned, is balanced.”

Mirisch said he thinks the rationale for the bill perpetuates negative stereotypes about Beverly Hills.

“This council has voted to strenuously oppose it, but we’re not sure that a lot of residents know,” the councilman said. “You have a lot of stereotyping and a lot of name-callings of Beverly Hills. ‘We just don’t want to change zoning because we don’t want people of color coming here, we’re racists’ – all of these sort of stereotypes.”

During a January meeting, Mirisch called Wiener a “liberal latte” politician.

“It really makes one seriously think that perhaps we should form a separate state,” he said. “Where does someone who’s from San Francisco come off telling us how we should live our lives down here?”

Wiener, however, said the bill would expedite the creation of much needed housing throughout California.

“Last year, we pivoted from a housing-last policy to a housing-first policy for California,” Wiener said in a statement last month, when he announced SB 827 as part of a “Housing First Legislative Package” designed to address the state’s housing shortage. “After nearly 50 years of bad housing policy – policy designed to make it incredibly hard and expensive to create housing – we began the long process of righting the ship and recognizing that housing must be a high priority for our state. Yet, even with last year’s fantastic progress, much work remains, and we must continue our momentum toward a better housing future for the residents of our state. Whether in transit-rich city centers, suburbs, or rural areas, people throughout California need better access to housing. California’s housing shortage is statewide, and we need statewide housing solutions.”

A district representative for state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) said that Allen does not support the bill. A spokesman for Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said Mitchell does not yet have a position on the bill.

The bill is pending in the Transportation and Housing, and Governance and Finance committees.