Voters Passed It, but HCD Says a Growth Cap Can't Touch ADUs

You own a lot in a town that voted — more than once — to slow down growth. Maybe there's a cap on how many homes get approved each year, or a rule that ties new building to a ballot measure. So when you go to add an ADU in the backyard, the obvious worry is: does my unit have to wait in that line? Does it count against the cap?

In Half Moon Bay, that's not hypothetical. Voters there passed two growth-control measures — Measure A and Measure D. And in November 2024, the state weighed in on what they can and can't do to ADUs.

Here's the thing: HCD's position is that neither measure can be applied to your ADU at all.

What the letter actually says

On November 6, 2024, HCD sent Half Moon Bay's Community Development Department written findings on the city's ADU Ordinance No. 2021-01. Most of the letter is a line-by-line teardown — 15 numbered findings where HCD says the ordinance doesn't match State ADU Law. Familiar stuff to anyone who's fought a plan check: a 16-foot height cap, a limit of one ADU per single-family lot, and a rule that, in Ocean Colony, "accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units are not permitted in garages."

Then, after the numbered list, HCD adds a separate point. Measure A and Measure D — described by HCD as the city's...

"voter initiatives to enact growth control, conflicts with state law and is prohibited from implementation."

Verified against: City of Half Moon Bay — HCD ADU ordinance findings letter under State ADU Law (Gov. Code §§ 66310–66342), dated November 6, 2024.

Why "the voters passed it" doesn't save it

The intuition a lot of homeowners have is that a ballot measure is stronger than a city-council ordinance — the people voted, so it must stick. On growth caps as applied to ADUs, HCD reads state law the other way. It points to the statute:

"Accessory Dwelling Units shall not be considered in the application of any local ordinance, policy or program to limit residential growth."

That's Government Code § 66319, and HCD's reading is that it doesn't carve out an exception for measures the voters approved. A growth-control program — however it got on the books — can't be used to ration or delay ADUs.

HCD also cites the Housing Crisis Act (Government Code § 66300), which, in the letter's words, "prohibits an affected local government from limiting the number of land use approvals or permits."

What this means if you're building

If your ADU is in a town with an annual permit cap, a growth-allocation system, or a voter-approved limit on new units, HCD's position is that your ADU sits outside all of it. It shouldn't count toward the cap, and it shouldn't be parked waiting for an allocation to free up.

Be precise about the weight of this, though. An HCD findings letter is the department's enforcement position — not a court ruling, and not automatically "the law." HCD gave the city 30 days to respond, by December 6, 2024, either by amending the ordinance or by adopting findings explaining why it thinks the ordinance already complies. If the city does neither, HCD wrote that it "may notify the California Office of the Attorney General that the City is in violation of State ADU Law."

The takeaway

The useful, portable lesson here isn't really about Half Moon Bay. It's that a growth-control measure — even one the voters passed — does not automatically override state ADU law, and HCD has now said so in writing to a city that had two of them on the books. If your ADU permit is being slowed, capped, or denied because of a local growth limit, that's a barrier worth questioning rather than accepting.

One caution that isn't optional: this isn't legal advice, and an HCD letter reflects the department's view rather than the last word — courts remain the final arbiter of how these preemption questions come out. Confirm your own jurisdiction's current rules, and run your situation past your building department or land-use counsel before you rely on any of it.

What CrossBeam does with it

When the letter lands on your desk, CrossBeam turns it around the same day: what each item is actually asking, the code or law behind it, and a written response you can hand to your team or your attorney — the back-and-forth that used to eat weeks, done in a couple of hours.