BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 551
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 24, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 551 (Ting) - As Amended: April 9, 2013
SUBJECT : Local government: urban agriculture incentive zones.
SUMMARY : Enacts the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act to
authorize a county and a landowner to enter into a contract to
restrict the use of specified lands for the production of
agricultural crops. Specifically, this bill :
1)Creates the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones Act.
2)Finds and declares that it is in the public interest to
promote sustainable urban farm enterprise sectors in urban
centers.
3)Defines "Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone" to mean an area
within a county that is comprised of individual properties
designated as agriculture preserves by the county for farming
purposes.
4)Allows a county, after a public hearing, to establish by
ordinance an Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone within its
boundaries for the purpose of entering into enforceable
contracts with landowners, on a voluntary basis, for the use
of vacant, unimproved, or otherwise blighted lands for
small-scale production of agricultural crops.
5)Allows, after the county adopts an ordinance to establish an
Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone, a county to enter into a
contract with a landowner to enforceably restrict the use of
the land subject to the contract to uses consistent with urban
agriculture.
6)Requires a contract to include, but not be limited to, all of
the following provisions:
a) An initial term of not less than 10 years;
b) A restriction on property that is at least 0.10 acres in
size;
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c) A requirement that the entire property subject to the
contract shall be dedicated toward agricultural use; and,
d) A prohibition against commercial uses, except as those
uses comply with the terms of the contract, on the property
subject to the contract.
7)Prohibits a contract from prohibiting the use of structures
that support agricultural activity, including, but not limited
to, toolsheds, greenhouses, produce stands, and instructional
space.
8)Requires a contract to permit those pesticides or fertilizers
allowed by the United States Department of Agriculture's
National Organic Program.
9)Requires property subject to a contract entered into pursuant
to the bill's provisions to be assessed pursuant to Section
402.1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code during the term of the
contract.
10)Adds a contract entered into pursuant to the Urban
Agriculture Incentive Zones Act to the section of law that
requires the assessor to consider the effect upon value of any
enforceable restriction to which the use of land may be
subjected.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Enables cities and counties to enter into contracts with
private landowners for the purpose of restricting specific
parcels of land to agricultural or related open space use
(Williamson Act).
2)Creates Farmland Security Zones which authorizes cities and
counties to allow agricultural land preservation contracts
with landowners who agree to restrict the use of their land
for a minimum of 20 years in exchange for lower-assessed
valuations for property tax purposes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)According to the author, "Many properties in urban areas lie
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undeveloped for several years due to various reasons - for
instance, development project delays or difficulty building
upon the land due to parcel size or shape. Oftentimes these
properties blight the surrounding neighborhood. This bill
would create an incentive for the owners of these properties
to use their land parcels for urban agriculture, which would
provide green space and a local food source for the community,
improving neighborhood desirability and nearby property value.
"Modeled after the Williamson Act, AB 551 creates this
incentive by allowing a county to enter into a contract with
the landowner under which the property must be used for urban
agriculture, whereby the county assessors would assess the
property at an agricultural use rate. This lowered use
assessment rate would reduce the landowner's property tax
burden. The reduced tax rate would serve as an incentive to
lease the land for urban agriculture rather than leaving the
property unused until development of the land begins or
resumes."
This bill is sponsored by the San Francisco Urban Agriculture
Alliance.
2)The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (known as the
Williamson Act) enables local governments to enter into
contracts with private landowners for the purpose of
restricting specific parcels of land to agricultural or
related open space use. In return, those landowners received
property tax assessments which are much lower than normal
because they are based upon farming and open space uses as
opposed to full market value. The Open Space Subvention Act
of 1971 provided local governments an annual subvention of
foregone property tax revenues from the state through the year
2009 - these payments have been suspended in more recent years
due to revenue shortfalls.
This bill sets up a similar program in which the land in the
Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone would be enforceably
restricted, for purposes of the assessment of the property.
1)While Williamson Act lands are generally those that are in the
county unincorporated area, there are a few cities that have
Williamson Act contracts. Williamson Act statute allows "any
city or county [to] by contract limit the use of agricultural
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land for the purpose of preserving such land?."
As currently drafted, this bill is not specific to county
unincorporated land, rather it is anywhere within a county's
boundaries, which means that conceivably the county could
enter into a contract for an Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone
on land within a city's boundaries. Since cities retain their
own land use authority through zoning ordinances, this could
cause complications and problems between the city and the
county.
2)Committee Amendments : To correct the issue raised in Comment
#3, the Committee may wish to add the following subdivision to
the bill's language in Government Code Section 51042:
(f)A county shall not establish an Urban Agriculture
Incentive Zone within any portion of a
city or the city's spheres of influence unless that city has
adopted that portion of the
County's Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone ordinance that falls
within the city's
boundaries or spheres of influence.
3)The author and sponsor may also wish to define the term
"urban" for purposes of the bill in order to give greater
clarity as to what types of land within a county's boundaries
would be applicable for the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone
program. The American Planning Association of California
notes that the bill should "specifically identify what 'urban'
zones of the county are appropriate for these new types of
contracts, or allow the county to define the urban zones."
4)Support arguments : Supporters argue that this legislation
will provide an incentive to private landowners to make more
land available for urban agriculture, helping to expand the
number of Californians who benefit from city farming.
Opposition arguments : In order to create clarity in the
bill's provisions, the bill should limit what a county can do
within a city's boundaries and also clarify what urban zones
are appropriate for these types of contracts.
5)This bill was heard by the Agriculture Committee on April 17,
2013, and passed with a 7-0 vote.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance [SPONSOR]
Alchemist Community Development Corporation
American Planning Association, California Chapter
City Slicker Farms
Elysian Valley Community Garden
Hunger Action Los Angeles
Little City Gardens
Mission Pie
Oakland Food Policy Council
Oakland Roots, the School of Urban Sustainability
Phat Beets Produce
Planting Justice
Sacramento Natural Foods Cooperative, Inc.
San Diego Hunger Coalition
Santa Clara County Open Space Authority
Social Justice Learning Institute of Inglewood
Soil Born Farms
SPUR
Supervisor David Chiu, District 3, City and County of San
Francisco
Sustainable Agriculture Education
Sustainable Economies Law Center
Ubuntu Green
Victory Gardens San Diego
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Women Organizing Resources, Knowledge & Services (WORKS)
Individual letters (4)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958