SB 79: Planning and zoning: housing development: transit-oriented development.

(1)Existing law prescribes requirements for the disposal of surplus land by a local agency. Existing law defines surplus land for these purposes to mean land owned in fee simple by any local agency for which the local agencys governing body takes formal action declaring that the land is surplus and is not necessary for the agencys use. Existing law defines agencys use for these purposes to include land that is being used for agency work or operations, as provided. Existing law exempts from this definition of agencys use certain commercial or industrial uses, except that in the case of a local agency that is a district, except a local agency whose primary purpose or mission is to supply the public with a transportation system, agencys use may include commercial or industrial uses or activities, as specified.

This bill would additionally include land leased to support public transit operations in the definition of agencys use, as described above. The bill would also revise the definition of agencys use with respect to commercial or industrial uses to instead provide that a district or a public transit operator may use land for commercial or industrial uses or activities, as described above.

(2)Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and specified land outside its boundaries, that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element include, among other things, an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints that are relevant to the meeting of these needs, including an inventory of land suitable for residential development, as provided. Existing law, for the 4th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, as specified, and requires the appropriate council of local governments, or the department for cities and counties without a council of governments, to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each locality in the region.

Existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, among other things, requires a local agency that proposes to disapprove a housing development project, as defined, or to impose a condition that the project be developed at a lower density to base its decision on written findings supported by a preponderance of the evidence that specified conditions exist if that project complies with applicable, objective general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards and criteria in effect at the time that the application was deemed complete. The act authorizes the applicant, a person who would be eligible to apply for residency in the housing development project or emergency shelter, or a housing organization may bring an action to enforce, as provided, and provides for penalties if the court finds that the local agency is in violation of specified provisions of the act.

This bill would require that a residential development proposed within a specified distance of a transit-oriented development (TOD) stop, as defined, be an allowed use on any site zoned for residential, mixed, commercial, or light industrial development, if the development complies with applicable requirements, as specified. The bill would establish requirements concerning height limits, density, and floor area ratio in accordance with a developments proximity to specified tiers of TOD stops, as provided. The bill would provide that a local government that denies a project meeting the requirements of these provisions located in a high-resource area, as defined, would be presumed in violation of the Housing Accountability Act, as specified, and liable for penalties, as provided. The bill would specify that the a development proposed pursuant to these provisions is eligible for streamlined, ministerial approval pursuant to specified law, except that the bill would exempt a project under these provisions from specified requirements under that law.

The bill would require a proposed development to comply with specified requirements under existing law relating to the demolition of existing residential units. The bill would also authorize a transit agency to adopt objective standards for both residential and commercial development proposed pursuant to these provisions if the development would be constructed on land owned by the transit agency or on which the transit agency has a permanent operating easement, provided that the objective standards allow for the same or greater development intensity as allowed by local standards or applicable state law.

The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to oversee compliance with the bills provisions, including, but not limited to, promulgating specified standards relating to the inventory of land included within a countys or citys housing element. The bill would permit a local government to adopt an ordinance to implement these provisions, as provided, and would require the local government to submit a copy of this ordinance to the department within 60 days of adoption and the department to review the ordinance for compliance, as specified. If the department finds an ordinance is out of compliance, and a local government does not take specified steps to address compliance, the bill would require the department to notify the local government in writing and authorize the department to notify the Attorney General, as provided.

The bill would define various terms for its purposes and make related findings and declarations.

The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.

(3)Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA, until January 1, 2030, exempts from its requirements certain transportation-related projects if specified requirements are met, as provided. CEQA includes within these exempt transportation-related projects a public project for the institution or increase of bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail service, or other passenger rail service, that will be exclusively used by low-emission or zero-emission vehicles, on existing public rights-of-way or existing highway rights-of-way.

This bill would exempt from CEQA a public or private residential, commercial, or mixed-used project that, at the time the project application is filed, is located entirely or principally on land owned by a public transit agency, or fully or partially encumbered by an existing operating easement in favor of a public transit agency, and meets specified requirements. The bill would provide that, for a project that requires the construction of new passenger rail storage and maintenance facilities at a publicly or privately owned offsite location distinct from the principal project site, that project would be considered a wholly separate project from the project described in these provisions and shall not be exempt from CEQA.

(4)By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.