At its Nov. 20 meeting, the Atherton City Council directed town staff to begin working on a proposed charter for the city and to further study the possible advantages and drawbacks of becoming a charter city. The discussion was spurred by a desire from residents to gain more independence from the state, specifically from certain state housing requirements.
However, as the state has been closing housing loopholes over the past few legislative sessions, it is not clear that charter city status would have a large impact on Atherton’s housing requirements, according to City Manager George Rodericks.
“The benefits are getting slimmer and slimmer with respect to becoming a charter city,” said Rodericks at the meeting. “In fact the only real significant benefit at this point is probably financial. … The options that are there with respect to land use decisions and ‘home rule’ are slowly being eroded by the state, and particularly with respect to housing.”
Atherton previously considered becoming a charter city in 2012 and again in 2015 in order to gain the ability to levy a real estate transfer tax to plug a hole in the town’s budget.
Atherton’s council was prompted to look into the matter by a recent court ruling in southern California where five charter cities were declared exempt from California’s controversial Senate Bill 9 law, which took effect in 2022. The Atherton Housing Coalition, a group which proposed their own plan for the town’s housing element, suggested the conversion to charter city, said Rodericks in a previous meeting on the topic.
There are two kinds of cities in California: general law cities and charter cities. A general law city is bound to follow the state’s general law in all matters, including in matters of municipal affairs. Charter cities operate under a charter, which gives them “home rule,” or supreme powers over municipal affairs.
The state has the power to determine whether something is a municipal affair or a matter of statewide concern. If an issue is of statewide concern, the state legislature can override home rule.
A staff report for the meeting states that while there are “no actual legal disadvantages with charter city status,” the drafting of a charter and holding an election will cost the town time, effort and money. The report also states that a local charter will not be a barrier to any matters determined to be of statewide importance, and could instead create extra work for town staff to determine whether matters are municipal or statewide concerns.
Mayor Diana Hawkins-Manuelian said she felt as though pursuing charter city status at this point would be a “waste of time and money.” Council member Bill Widmer said that he agreed, and that further pursuing charter city status was a waste of staff time.
However, the other three council members were in favor of exploring the possibility, and directed town staff to begin preparing a sample charter for a future City Council meeting, likely in early 2025.
“I do think that home rule is a real issue, and I don’t think that home rule is something the state can completely do away with,” said Council member Rick DeGolia. “Why wouldn’t we want more home rule?”
The council will appoint a subcommittee to continue exploring the possibility of charter city status at that time.
To become a charter city, Atherton would have to put the matter to a vote during a General Municipal Election, and it would have to be approved by the majority of voters in the town. The town could not put the issue on the ballot until the November 2026 General Municipal Election. Once adopted, the charter could only be changed or repealed by a majority vote.
The final version of the charter to be submitted for voter consideration would have to be written and prepared no later than June 2026, according to the staff report prepared for the meeting.
Watch a video of the meeting on the town’s YouTube channel:
