By Jorge Casuso

January 9, 2026 -- The City Council Tuesday will recast votes on housing items Councilmember Jesse Zwick voted on after being hired by a housing advocacy group, resulting in a conflict of interest.

The votes on the three agenda items come after the State's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) concluded that Zwick is disqualified from participating in "housing production decisions" made by the Council ("Zwick Can't Vote on Housing Development Issues, FPPC Rules," December 19, 2025).

In a report to the Council, staff notes that the commission's advice issued on December 8 does not cover past actions and that the commission did not find Zwick had "acted improperly, violated the law, or failed to disclose his employment."

It is "out of an abundance of caution," that staff is recommending that the Council reconsider the votes taken between August 12 and September 8 of last year, according to the report.

The items the Council will revisit, which are exempt from environmental review, are:

• A resolution adopted by the Council on August 12 directing the Planning Commission to amend the zoning ordinance "utilizing State law permitting small lot subdivisions under 10 units" and "projects consisting of duplexes and lot splits for parcels zoned for Single-Unit Residential." The proposed amendments would then be voted on by the Council;
  
  
• Proposed regulatory updates approved on September 9 to "align the City’s building and fire code definitions for high-rise buildings" with those set in the State Health & Safety Code and an updated process "for single-exit stairway multi-family residential buildings of up to six stories in height."
  
  
• A related ordinance approved on September 30 that "incorporated amendments to align the City’s building and fire code definitions for high-rise buildings to be consistent with the Statewide high-rise definition."

Zwick accepted the offer to become executive director of the Housing Action Coalition's (HAC) new chapter in Southern California on August 18 and assumed the post on September 8.

On October 28, 2025, Zwick "publicly announced that he would voluntarily recuse himself from all housing-production-related matters while seeking formal guidance from the FPPC, which the City Attorney's office did on November 10.

"Approval of these items would confirm Council’s prior decisions and remove doubt with respect to the prior actions," Community Development staff wrote.