BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: SB 505 HEARING: 4/15/09
AUTHOR: Kehoe FISCAL: Yes
VERSION: 4/2/09 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
FIRE HAZARDS AND LAND USE PLANNING
Background and Existing Law
The state government pays for wildland fire protection on
non-federal lands outside cities. To meet this duty, the
State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection designates the
State Responsibility Area (SRA). Within SRA lands, the
Director of the State Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection must designate fire hazard severity zones. SRA
landowners must follow specified fire prevention practices.
After the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley fire storm, the
Legislature required the Department to designate very high
fire hazard severity zones. Landowners in these areas must
follow specified fire prevention practices (AB 337, Bates,
1992).
Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven
mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing,
conservation, open space, noise, and safety. Except for
the housing elements, the Planning and Zoning Law does not
require counties and cities to regularly revise their
general plans. Cities and counties' major land use
decisions --- proposed subdivisions, zoning designations,
public works projects, and use permits --- must be
consistent with their general plans. Planners call these
legal requirements "vertical consistency," meaning that
development decisions must be based on the policies
embedded in local general plans.
In the aftermath of the recent wildfires, state and local
officials have thought about how to reduce the loss of
lives and property. They also worry about the high costs
that state and local fire protection agencies face when
they fight wildfires in developed areas. One way to avoid
or mitigate these losses and costs is to use land use
planning to guide decisions about future development.
Proposed Law
SB 505 -- 4/2/09 -- Page 2
I. Safety Element Contents . The Planning and Zoning Law
says that the safety element's purpose is to protect the
community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards,
flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In 2007, the
Legislature expanded the safety elements' contents for
flood hazards, requiring these documents to contain:
Information about flood hazards, listing 11 types
of information.
Based on that information, a set of comprehensive
goals, policies, and objectives to protect against
unreasonable flood risks.
To carry out those goals, a set of feasible
implementation measures.
These changes must appear in safety elements the next time
that cities and counties revise their housing elements (AB
162, Wolk, 2007).
Senate Bill 505 expands the required contents of safety
elements that cover SRA lands and very high fire hazard
severity zones to require:
Information about fire hazards, including fire
hazard severity zone maps, historical data on
wildfires, information about wildfire hazard areas
available from the U.S. Geological Survey, the general
location and distribution of existing and planned
development, and public fire protection agencies.
Based on that information, a set of comprehensive
goals, policies, and objectives, including avoiding or
minimizing wildfire risks to new development,
evaluating whether new development should be located
on SRA lands or very high fire hazard severity zones,
supporting appropriate methods to reduce risks,
locating new essential public facilities outside SRA
land and very high fire hazard severity zones, and
working cooperatively with public fire protection
agencies.
To carry out those goals, policies, and objectives,
a set of feasible implementation measures.
Cities and counties must include these changes in their
safety elements the next time that they revise their
housing elements, but not later than January 1, 2015. In
making these changes, SB 505 requires cities and counties
to take into account the advice in "Fire Hazard Planning,"
published by the Governor's Office of Planning and
SB 505 -- 4/2/09 -- Page 3
Research.
II. Safety Element Review . Current law requires a county
with SRA lands and a city or county with very high fire
hazard severity zones to send their draft documents to the
State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and to the
local fire agencies at least 90 days before they adopt or
amend their safety elements.
A county with SRA lands and a city or county with very high
fire hazard severity zones must send its safety element to
the State Board and to the local fire agencies every five
years, starting on:
December 31, 2010, for the cities and the County
within the San Diego Association of Governments.
December 31, 2011, for the cities and counties
within the Southern California Association of
Governments.
December 31, 2012, for the cities and counties
within the Association of Bay Area Governments.
June 30, 2013, for the cities and counties within
the County of Fresno County Governments, the Kern
County Council of Governments, and the Sacramento Area
Council of Governments.
December 31, 2014, for the cities and counties
within the Association of Monterey Bay Area
Governments.
December 31, 2015, for all other cities and
counties.
The State Board and the local fire agencies have 60 days to
review these documents and may make recommendations. The
city councils and county boards of supervisors must
consider these recommendations before they adopt or amend
their safety elements. If the city councils or county
supervisors don't accept all or some of the
recommendations, they must explain their reasons in
writing. If the recommendations are not available in time,
the local officials can act without them (SB 186, Dills,
1989 and AB 3065, Kehoe, 2004).
Senate Bill 505 adds the State Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection to the list of public agencies that must
review and report written recommendations to cities and
SB 505 -- 4/2/09 -- Page 4
counties regarding their draft and existing safety
elements. SB 505 requires local fire protection agencies
to review draft and existing safety elements within 60 days
of receiving them.
III. Planning Advice . The Governor's Office of Planning
and Research (OPR) must adopt and regularly revise the
"General Plan Guidelines" which advise cities and counties
on how to prepare local general plans. Unlike the "CEQA
Guidelines" which are administrative regulations adopted by
the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, OPR's
"General Plan Guidelines" are merely advisory. OPR also
publishes other advisory reports, including the November
2003 document, "Fire Hazard Planning." Senate Bill 505
requires the Governor's Office of Planning and Research to
update its "Fire Hazard Planning" on or after January 1,
2001.
IV. Environmental Review . The California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) requires public officials to consider a
proposed project's environmental effects and to avoid or
mitigate environmental impacts when feasible. To help
public agencies carry out their duties, the Governor's
Office of Planning and Research (OPR) drafts and the
Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency adopts
administrative regulations called the "CEQA Guidelines."
The "CEQA Guidelines" explain how lead agencies and
responsible agencies carry out their duties.
Senate Bill 505 requires the Governor's Office of Planning
and Research to recommend changes to the "CEQA Guidelines"
to the Natural Resources Agency to include fire hazard
impacts on the initial study checklist. SB 505 also
requires lead agencies to consult with the State Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection and the State Board of
Forestry and Fire Protection regarding projects located on
State Responsibility Area land or in a very high fire
hazard severity zone.
Comments
1. Fire is the new flood . Comprehensive land use planning
SB 505 -- 4/2/09 -- Page 5
serves two purposes. First, it helps public officials
avoid problems when they make decisions about the future.
Second, it helps public officials solve past problems. The
Legislature promoted both of those purposes in 2007 when it
increased the local planning requirements for flood
hazards. Legislators required local general plans' safety
elements to present information, set goals and policies
based on that information, and come up with feasible
measures to carry out those goals and policies. That
three-part approach will help city councils and county
supervisors make better land use decisions that avoid or
minimize the risks of flooding. SB 505 applies the same
three-part approach to the problems of wildfires on State
Responsibility Area land and in very high fire hazard
severity zones. The state government has both a policy
interest and a fiscal interest in the decisions that cities
and counties make about land use for land that's prone to
wildfires. Not only does the state want to protect the
SRA's watershed resource values, but the State Department
of Forestry and Fire Protection is responsible for battling
wildland fires. Because the costs of fire prevention and
fire suppression are linked to local land use decisions,
the state government wants to encourage wise land use
planning that prepares local officials to make future land
development decisions. Using the accepted three-part
approach to land use planning, SB 505 helps local officials
make better land use decisions.
2. Yet another mandate . The Legislature first required
cities and counties to adopt general plans in 1937 (AB 722,
Weber, 1937). Over the last 70 years, legislators have
insisted on increasingly detailed local plans. The recent
trend has been to require general plans to pay more
attention to specialized topics: San Joaquin Valley's air
quality (AB 170, Reyes, 2003), wildland fires (AB 3065,
Kehoe, 2004), tribal cultural places (SB 18, Burton, 2004),
military operating areas (SB 926, Knight, 2004), and flood
hazards (AB 162, Wolk, 2007). As land use problems hit the
headlines, they capture the attention of legislators who
react by imposing new planning chores on cities and
counties. But, unlike other states, California doesn't
invest State General Fund money in long-range,
comprehensive, local planning. The burden of funding these
new state mandated local programs falls on local general
funds and on the property owners who apply for development
SB 505 -- 4/2/09 -- Page 6
permits. Communities that live with wildland fire hazards
already know who they are. SB 505 is just another
well-intentioned, but unfunded, state mandated local
program.
3. Say what you mean, mean what you say . When SB 505
requires local safety elements to establish goals,
policies, and standards for SRA land and very high fire
hazard severity zones, the bill lists five topics for
wildland fire concerns. Although patterned after the five
topics that the Legislature adopted for flood hazards, the
topics don't make as much sense when applied to wildland
fires. For example, evaluating whether new development
should be located in documented "flood hazard zones" is
quite different than considering whether to allow any new
development on any SRA land (page 9, lines 37 & 38).
Further, the consideration of mitigation policies really
shouldn't be a separate thought (page 10, lines 4-6). The
Committee may wish to consider an amendment that revises
these two topics (from page 9, line 37 to page 10, line 6)
into a single requirement for "Identifying construction
design or methods, including fire resistive construction
methods, fuels management methods, or other methods, to
minimize damage if new development is located in a state
responsibility area or in a very high fire hazard severity
zone."
4. Last year's bills . SB 505 is not the first measure to
propose better land use planning for wildland fires. SB
1500 (Kehoe, 2008) would have prohibited counties from
approving development on SRA lands unless there was
sufficient structural fire protection. SB 1500 died on the
Assembly Floor without a vote. AB 2447 (Jones, 2008) would
have required county supervisors to deny development on SRA
lands without sufficient structural fire protection.
Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 2447 because it may have
directly involved the State Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection in local development decisions. Unlike last
year's bills, SB 505 does not directly affect local
officials' development decisions in SRA lands. Instead,
the bill requires more wildland fire planning in general
plans. However, following the vertical consistency
doctrine, local officials' development decisions will have
to be consistent with the newly-revised general plans.
SB 505 -- 4/2/09 -- Page 7
5. Clarifying and technical amendments . After amending SB
505 on April 2, but during the Legislature's spring recess,
the author identified seven clarifying and technical
amendments to improve the bill's language:
Page 3, line 3, strike out "after" and insert
"before"
Page 9, line 11, strike out "take into account" and
insert "consider"
Page 9, line 19, strike out "locally prepared maps"
strike out lines 20 and 21, and insert "maps prepared
by local agencies displaying areas that have been
historically subject to wildfires."
Page 9, line 25, strike out "fire hazard zones" and
insert "very high fire hazard severity zones"
Page 9, line 30, strike out "comprehensive"
Page 9, line 35, after "the" insert "unreasonable"
Page 10, line 9, strike out "fire stations,"
6. Double-referred . Because SB 505 adds two sections to
the California Environmental Quality Act, the Senate Rules
Committee has ordered a double-referral of the bill ---
first to the Senate Local Government Committee which has
policy jurisdiction over the land use planning and
development statutes, and then to the Senate Environmental
Quality Committee which has jurisdiction over CEQA bills.
Support and Opposition (4/9/09)
Support : California Fire Chiefs Association, California
Professional Firefighters, Fire Districts Association of
California, Sierra Club-California.
Opposition : American Council of Engineering
Companies-California, California Building Industry
Association, California Business Properties Association,
California Chamber of Commerce, California Forestry
Association, California Major Builders Council, Resource
Landowners Coalition.