BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 931
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 931
AUTHOR: Dickinson
AMENDED: April 15, 2011
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: July 6, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor
SUBJECT : CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT
SUMMARY :
Existing law under the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA):
1) Requires lead agencies with the principal responsibility
for carrying out or approving a proposed discretionary
project to prepare a negative declaration, mitigated
declaration, or environmental impact report (EIR) for this
action, unless the project is exempt from CEQA (CEQA
includes various statutory exemptions, as well as
categorical exemptions in the CEQA guidelines). (Public
Resources Code §21000 et seq.).
2) Provides a statutory exemption for a residential project on
an infill site under certain conditions, and defines
"residential" to be either:
a) Residential units only.
b) Residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving
goods, services, or retail uses that do not exceed 15%
of the total project floor area.
This bill revises the residential infill exemption by
increasing the amount of allowable neighborhood-serving goods,
services, or retail uses from 15% to 25% of the total project
floor area.
COMMENTS :
AB 931
Page 2
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, AB 931 "seeks to
increase the amount of commercial in a development seeking
Ýa residential infill exemption]. Existing law allows only
15% of a project to be commercial, based upon the total
floor space. This will increase that limit to 25%.
2) Brief background on CEQA . CEQA provides a process for
evaluating the environmental effects of a project, and
includes statutory exemptions, as well as categorical
exemptions in the CEQA guidelines. If a project is not
exempt from CEQA, an initial study is prepared to determine
whether a project may have a significant effect on the
environment. If the initial study shows that there would
not be a significant effect on the environment, the lead
agency must prepare a negative declaration. If the initial
study shows that the project may have a significant effect
on the environment, the lead agency must prepare an EIR.
Generally, an EIR must accurately describe the proposed
project, identify and analyze each significant
environmental impact expected to result from the proposed
project, identify mitigation measures to reduce those
impacts to the extent feasible, and evaluate a range of
reasonable alternatives to the proposed project. Prior to
approving any project that has received environmental
review, an agency must make certain findings. If
mitigation measures are required or incorporated into a
project, the agency must adopt a reporting or monitoring
program to ensure compliance with those measures.
If a mitigation measure would cause one or more significant
effects in addition to those that would be caused by the
proposed project, the effects of the mitigation measure
must be discussed but in less detail than the significant
effects of the proposed project.
1) Background on residential infill exemption . SB 1925 (Sher)
Chapter 1039, Statutes of 2002, consolidated provisions
relating to housing, established a residential infill
exemption, revised affordable housing exemptions, and
revised certain definitions, terms and conditions.
AB 931
Page 3
The SB 1925 residential infill exemption applies if certain
conditions are met (e.g., project site is not more than 4
acres, project does not contain more than 100 residential
units, project promotes higher density development). Under
this exemption, "residential" is either: a) residential
units only; or b) residential units and primarily
neighborhood-serving goods, services, or retail uses that
do not exceed 15% of the total project floor area.
SB 375 (Steinberg) Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008, contains
provisions in CEQA for certain projects that are consistent
with a sustainable communities strategy or alternative
planning strategy, including a provision where a
residential or mixed-use project consists of at least 75%
of the total building square footage for residential use
(§21159.28). By increasing the SB 1925 residential infill
exemption percentage from 15% to 25% for the allowable
non-residential uses, AB 1931 makes this provision more
consistent with the percentage specified under SB 375.
2) Technical amendment needed . To be further consistent with
the above SB 375 provision, amendments are needed on page
4, line 18, to strike "floor area" and insert "building
square footage."
SOURCE : California State Association of Counties
SUPPORT : County of Sacramento Board of Supervisors
OPPOSITION : None on file