Mariposa County fortunately stayed off California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s list of 15 communities he is threatening to sue because they don’t have updated housing plans.
But Mariposa County cut it very close.
In fact, the county was late by nearly two years in submitting a plan and there have been consequences for that too, like exposing the county to so-called “builder’s remedy” projects.
The Mariposa County Board of Supervisors approved what is known as a “housing element” update to its general plan on March 17.
Supervisors were somewhat taken aback by the tardiness.
“Why are we working on it now? Why didn’t we make the deadline?” Supervisor Shannon Poe asked pointedly.
Senior Planner Ben Goger blamed staffing issues and other deadlines for contracts and grants.
Outgoing Planning Director Steve Engfer, who retired later that week, said it was a matter of other priorities. “The responsibility was mine,” Engfer said.
Engfer said it was very important for the supervisors to “adopt it today and move it forward.”
It was unanimously approved.
Just in time
One week later, March 24, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) sent Mariposa County a letter saying that as of that date, the county was in “substantial compliance” with the State Housing Element Law.
It may have been just under the wire.
The next day, March 25, Newsom issued what he called a “final warning” to 15 communities that were more than 60 days from having a certified housing plan.
“There’s no carve-out here. No community gets a pass when it comes to addressing homelessness or creating more housing access,” Newsom said.
The 15 jurisdictions that received Notices of Violation were mostly in the Central Valley and include Merced and Kings counties as well as the cities of Atwater, Avenal, California City, Corcoran, Escalon, Hanford, Lemoore, Oakdale, Patterson, Ridgecrest and Turlock.
Builder’s Remedy
A mysterious and highly litigious developer, Camp Yosemite LLC, was keenly aware Mariposa County had not met the deadline.
Camp Yosemite is exploiting a provision in state law known as “builder’s remedy.”
In counties that don’t have a state approved housing element, a developer may circumvent local building codes and regulations to build housing so long as at least 20 percent is considered affordable.
Camp Yosemite submitted a proposal in December to place 110 factory built homes on a 31 acre property adjacent to Yosemite West, near the boundary of Yosemite National Park.
The development would also be adjacent to 900 acres recently acquired on Henness Ridge by the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation (SSMN).
More than two dozen neighbors have written letters opposing the project.
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks and the National Wildlife Federation issued a statement urging the Mariposa Planning Department to reject the proposal because of public health, environmental and wildfire concerns.
“Its a nightmare for the folks who live over there,” said Supervisor Rosemarie Smallcombe, whose district includes the area.
Smallcombe said, “I have not seen information about public safety …”
Then, Goger, the planner, urgently interrupted Smallcombe, noting that the project was not on the agenda and supervisors might want to restrain themselves in talking about it.
Goger deferred, he said, to the county’s legal counsel.
Smallcombe wrapped up quickly and said she was only making a point that her successor as District 1 supervisor will be keeping a close eye on the issue.
But to keen listeners a not so subtle point was made by county planners. The project may very well become the subject of costly litigation and it might be best not to have statements from supervisors that are part of the public record.
(See related story on Mariposa County’s response to the Camp Yosemite Project).
Lost opportunities
There were other consequences of not having a housing element in place.
The county lost out on the opportunity to apply for a number of grants specifically because it did not have a state approved housing element, especially housing and transportation grants.
“There’s a whole list of carrots that they want to give to jurisdictions that are compliant,” Goger said.
County Administrative Officer Joe Lynch said the opportunity lost was significant.
“The consequences of not having this on time far exceeds $100,000 to $200,000” in lost grant opportunities, Lynch said.
“It makes us less viable to get funding for housing. Then you have builders remedy and some of these things causing major consternation.”
“There’s a lot of moving parts to get us back on solid ground, because we are not at this time,” Lynch lamented.
What’s a Housing Element?
The housing element, which is now available on the county’s website, is 240 pages in length and is essentially the county’s “blueprint and long term vision for housing.”
It is packed with demographics and data providing a comprehensive snapshot of housing affordability in the county.
But as the report makes clear, there is a shortage of all kinds of housing in Mariposa County.
The situation is somewhat unique.
Wildfire destroyed nearly 200 homes between the Detwiler (2017) and Oak fires (2022), creating a housing deficit.
More than 75 percent of Mariposa County’s land mass is not available for residential development due to federal ownership or land conservation status, but that still leaves 246,178 acres available for residential development.
The problem, as the report notes, is that any housing development outside municipal water and sewer districts must rely on private wells and septic systems.
With fractured rock geology, well water can be unpredictable.
Several local municipal water and sewage utilities have had problems since the 1990s and are currently operating in the red.
The report, for reasons that may have more to do with state requirements and classifications, can read as disconnected from the reality of living in Mariposa County.
For example, the county’s Regional Housing Needs Plan — based on shrinking population trends and employment growth projections — is for two lower income units over the five year period.
That’s right, just two.
The county, which is not responsible for construction of the units, hopes to greatly exceed that number and will be relying on ADU construction to meet the need of low income renters.
The report also lists a total residential vacancy rate of around 23 to 24 percent, which includes short term vacation rentals as well as unoccupied second homes and investment properties.
Lynch scoffed at a 23 percent vacancy rate.
“We are choked without housing,” he bristled.
Next time 2029
Putting the housing element together is an onerous and bureaucratic process, one the county had been working on intermittently for a few years, but other projects got in the way.
The county considered enlisting a consultant to do the work, but that would’ve cost as much as $200,000, so the decision was made to take it “in house.”
A plan was submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in June 2025, leading to eight months of review and revisions back and forth between the county and state.
By Feb. 20, HCD told the county its plan met all statutory requirements, but it still needed approval from the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors.
Under state law, the “housing element” is required to be updated every five years.
The current housing element covers the period between 2024 through 2029.
Because of the two-year delay in adopting the plan, it means a new plan will need to be adopted three years from now.
So it’s all done, just in time to do it all over again.
“The next one will be done on time,” Lynch promised.
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