BILL NUMBER: AB 931 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dickinson
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to amend Section 21159.24 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to the environment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 931, as introduced, Dickinson. Environment: CEQA exemption:
housing projects.
(1) 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 (EIR) 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 exempts infill housing projects meeting certain specified
criteria, including, among other things, a community-level
environmental review that was adopted or certified within 5 years of
the date that the application for the project is deemed complete and
that the project promotes higher density infill housing. CEQA
conclusively presumes that a project with a density of at least 20
units per acre promotes higher density infill housing.
This bill would extend the above time period to 20 years. The bill
would lower the density to at least 15 units per acre for the above
presumption to apply.
(2) For the purposes of the above exemption, CEQA defines
"residential projects" to mean, among other things, a use consisting
of residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods,
services, or retail uses that do not exceed 15% of the total floor
area of the project
This bill would increase the total floor area of the project used
for neighborhood-serving goods, services, or retail uses that does
not exceed 35% of the project.
(3) Because this bill would require a lead agency to determine
whether a housing project meets the above criteria to qualify for an
exemption from CEQA, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
(4) 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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 21159.24 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:
21159.24. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), this
division does not apply to a project if all of the following criteria
are met:
(1) The project is a residential project on an infill site.
(2) The project is located within an urbanized area.
(3) The project satisfies the criteria of Section 21159.21.
(4) Within five 20 years of the date
that the application for the project is deemed complete pursuant to
Section 65943 of the Government Code, community-level environmental
review was certified or adopted.
(5) The site of the project is not more than four acres in total
area.
(6) The project does not contain more than 100 residential units.
(7) Either of the following criteria are met:
(A) (i) At least 10 percent of the housing is sold to families of
moderate income, or not less than 10 percent of the housing is rented
to families of low income, or not less than 5 percent of the housing
is rented to families of very low income.
(ii) The project developer provides sufficient legal commitments
to the appropriate local agency to ensure the continued availability
and use of the housing units for very low, low-, and moderate-income
households at monthly housing costs determined pursuant to paragraph
(3) of subdivision (h) of Section 65589.5 of the Government Code.
(B) The project developer has paid or will pay in-lieu fees
pursuant to a local ordinance in an amount sufficient to result in
the development of an equivalent number of units that would otherwise
be required pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(8) The project is within one-half mile of a major transit stop.
(9) The project does not include any single level building that
exceeds 100,000 square feet.
(10) The project promotes higher density infill housing. A project
with a density of at least 20 15 units
per acre shall be conclusively presumed to promote higher density
infill housing. A project with a density of at least 10 units per
acre and a density greater than the average density of the
residential properties within 1,500 feet shall be presumed to promote
higher density housing unless the preponderance of the evidence
demonstrates otherwise.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), this division shall apply to
a development project that meets the criteria described in
subdivision (a), if any of the following occur:
(1) There is a reasonable possibility that the project will have a
project-specific, significant effect on the environment due to
unusual circumstances.
(2) Substantial changes with respect to the circumstances under
which the project is being undertaken that are related to the project
have occurred since community-level environmental review was
certified or adopted.
(3) New information becomes available regarding the circumstances
under which the project is being undertaken and that is related to
the project, that was not known, and could not have been known, at
the time that community-level environmental review was certified or
adopted.
(c) If a project satisfies the criteria described in subdivision
(a), but is not exempt from this division as a result of satisfying
the criteria described in subdivision (b), the analysis of the
environmental effects of the project in the environmental impact
report or the negative declaration shall be limited to an analysis of
the project-specific effect of the projects and any effects
identified pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b).
(d) For the purposes of this section, "residential" means a use
consisting of either of the following:
(1) Residential units only.
(2) Residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods,
services, or retail uses that do not exceed 15
35 percent of the total floor area of the project.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a
local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.