BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 409| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: SB 409 Author: Kehoe (D) Amended: 5/11/05 Vote: 21 SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 5-4, 4/20/05 AYES: Kehoe, Kuehl, Machado, Perata Torlakson NOES: Cox, Ackerman, McClintock, Soto SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT : General plans: conservation element SOURCE : Attorney General DIGEST : This bill requires the water resources portion of a general plan's conservation element be correlated with the land use element. This bill requires counties and cities to correlate the water supply portion of their conservation elements with their land use elements by one year after the deadline for revising their housing elements after 2007. Senate Floor Amendments of 5/9/05: (1) extend the deadline for correlating the water resources portion of the conservation element with the land use element to one year after the deadline for revising their housing elements after 2007, (2) allow cities and counties to adopt written findings declaring that their general plans already comply with this requirement, and (3) clarify the bill's language CONTINUED SB 409 Page 2 and reformat the statute. ANALYSIS : Existing law: Since 1937, state law has required every county and city to adopt a general plan. All major local land use decisions (zoning, subdivisions, public works projects, conditional use permits) must be consistent with these general plans, which is why the courts call the general plan the constitution for future development. Every general plan must contain seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. Recognizing the wide differences among communities, the Planning and Zoning Law lets local officials address each of these seven elements to the extent that the subjects exist in their communities. The degree of specificity and level of detail must reflect local conditions and circumstances. General plan elements are supposed to be integrated, internally consistent, and compatible. For example, state law requires that the contents of the circulation element to be "correlated" with the land use element. The land use element must designate the various public and private land use categories, including land for housing, business, industry, open space, education, and public buildings. The land use element must include standards for population density and building intensity. The conservation element focuses on conserving, developing, and using natural resources, including water. Planners must coordinate these water-related provisions with public water agencies, discussing and evaluating water supplies covered by urban water management plans. The Legislature has also declared that it is vital that there be close coordination and consultation between water agencies and land use officials to ensure that planning for water supplies accommodates development projects. When a county or city applies, the Governor's Office of CONTINUED SB 409 Page 3 Planning and Research (OPR) must grant an extension of time for local officials to prepare and adopt a general plan. An initial OPR extension may last for two years; local officials can ask for another year. During an OPR extension, the county or city is immune from lawsuits challenging the general plan's adequacy. This bill requires the water resources portion of a general plan's conservation element be correlated with the land use element. This bill requires counties and cities to correlate the water supply portion of their conservation elements with their land use elements by one year after the deadline for revising their housing elements after 2007. This bill allows cities and counties to adopt written findings declaring that their general plans already comply with this requirement. Comments With an expanding population living in a semi-arid climate, California needs to be sure that water supplies will be available in the future. Local officials' long-range general plans already designate land for development and already coordinate water supplies with water agencies. What's missing is statutory language that links the land use and conservation elements. This bill creates that overt link, using the same language that already links the land use and circulation elements. By requiring local officials to "correlate" these important elements, the bill creates an elegant solution that prepares communities for their future. When the opponents of development projects can't muster the political influence to get a city council to turn down a subdivision, they often resort to the courts. Rather than challenge the project's substance, they file suits that attack the process. These so-called "collateral attacks" exalt process over substance. Every change to the already complex requirements for local general plans creates another opportunity for another collateral attack. A general plan with a solid land use element and a strong conservation element could be challenged because the planners failed to "correlate" them. CONTINUED SB 409 Page 4 This bill's requirement to "correlate" the land use and conservation elements uses the same verb as the existing requirement for local planners to correlate their land use and circulation elements. The 1982 Twain Harte Homeowners Association case faulted Tuolumne County's circulation element for failing "to describe or discuss the changes or increases in demand" on roads resulting from the growth projected in the County general plan's land use element. The 1985 Concerned Citizens of Calaveras County case said that the County's land use element allowed unlimited population growth, but provided no methods to finance transportation projects or limit growth if state highways were inadequate. In February 2005, the Federation of Hillside and Canyon Associations v. City of Los Angeles decision said "that the circulation element of a general plan must provide meaningful proposals to address changes in the land use element, and the land use element must provide meaningful proposals to reflect changes reflected in the circulation element." The Court then rejected the challenge to the City's correlation of its elements. To correlate the land use and the conservation elements, local planners will need to show that the water supplies described in their general plan match the future growth projected by the general plan's land use element. Every change to the general plan requirements results in a new state-mandated local program. This bill disclaims the state's responsibility to pay for these costs because counties and cities can charge fees to pay for the new duty. The Planning and Zoning Law allows local planners to charge fees to recover their costs of processing applications for development permits. In 2002, legislators allowed local planners to tack on a surcharge to pay for the cost of keeping their general plans up-to-date. If the duty to "correlate" the land use and conservation elements results in significant new costs, local officials have the power to recover their costs from applicants' fees. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 5/12/05) CONTINUED SB 409 Page 5 Attorney General Bill Lockyer (source) American Farmland Trust American Planning Association-California Chapter California Farm Bureau Federation California League of Conservation Voters Clean Water Action East Bay Municipal Utility District Natural Resources Defense Council Planning and Conservation League Sierra Club-California OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/12/05) California Building Industry Association California Business Roundtable California Business Properties Association California Chamber of Commerce California Manufacturers and Technologies Association Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California Home Ownership Advancement Foundation Regional Legislative Alliance of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties Resource Landowners Coalition Pardee Homes Chamber of Commerce of West Covina Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce AGB:nl 5/12/05 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED