BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
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|Bill No: |AB 1251 |Hearing | 7/1/15 |
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|Author: |Gomez |Tax Levy: |No |
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|Version: |6/24/15 |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Favorini-Csorba |
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GREENWAY DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINMENT ACT
Authorizes nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and
tribes to acquire deed restrictions for the purpose of
developing greenways along urban rivers.
Background and Existing Law
General Plans and Open Space Elements. Each city and county is
required to prepare and periodically update a comprehensive,
long-range general plan to guide future decisions. That plan
must address each of seven elements, including land use,
circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and
safety elements. Cities and counties may also include optional
elements that address other aspects of their communities, such
as parks and recreation, public facilities, and economic
development.
Local open space plans may include unimproved land or water that
is devoted to open space for any of the following:
The preservation of natural resources.
The managed production of resources, including but not
limited to, forest lands, rangeland, agricultural lands and
other areas of economic importance.
Areas for outdoor recreation, such as areas of
outstanding scenic, historic and cultural value.
Areas for the protection of public health and safety,
AB 1251 (Gomez) 6/24/15 Page 2
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such as, areas requiring special management because of
hazardous or other special conditions.
Areas for the support of the mission of military
installations that comprises areas adjacent to military
installations, military training routes, and underlying
restricted airspace.
Areas for the protection of places, features, and
objects relating to Native American artifacts or heritage.
Conservation Easements. State law authorizes specified
non-profit organizations to hold conservation easements for the
preservation or protection of land. Conservation easements are
provisions placed into a deed, will, or other legal instrument
that binds current and future successive owners for the purpose
of retaining land predominantly in its natural, scenic,
historical, agricultural, forested, or open-space condition.
Property Taxes and County Assessors. Section One of Article
XIII of the California Constitution provides that all property
is taxable unless explicitly exempted by the Constitution or
federal law. County assessors reappraise property to determine
its value whenever it is newly constructed, or when ownership
changes. To determine value, the law effectively presumes that
a property's purchase price in the transaction is its full cash
or fair market value. However, assessors must also consider
enforceable restrictions on the use of the property, such as
zoning restrictions and conservation easements, when coming up
with a property value. So, assessors estimate the value of the
property based on the uses allowed by the enforceable
restriction.
Some groups want to expand the mechanisms that governments and
nonprofit organizations can use to encourage the development of
greenways.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 1251 authorizes certain entities to acquire
easements for the purpose of developing greenways along urban
waterways. The bill defines a greenway as a separate path for
bikes and pedestrians that must be located within 400 yards of
an urban waterway where access to the property has been granted
through some sort of agreement with the property owner or
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operator of any facilities on the land. Additionally, a
greenway must:
Contain landscaping that (1) "improves" rivers and
streams, (2) provides flood protection benefits, and (3)
incorporates the significance and value of natural,
historical, and cultural resources as documented in the
local agency's applicable planning document;
Provide nearby communities with easy access to the path
and include features that allow the use of the path;
Meet any design standards for greenways that are set by
a relevant local agency's planning documents.
AB 1251 further defines an urban waterway to be a creek, stream,
or river that crosses developed property or open space where the
relevant local agency's planning document designates the land as
residential, commercial, or industrial.
The bill also finds and declares the importance of greenways,
including that (1) greenways provide greenhouse gas reduction
benefits, (2) the area along the Los Angeles River and its
tributaries are particularly suited for developing a greenway,
and (3) developing a greenway allows a city, county, or city and
county to apply for greenhouse gas reduction funds and other
sources of funds.
AB 1251 borrows from the statutory definition of conservation
easement to create a new type of enforceable restriction on the
use of property, called a "greenway easement," that dedicates
the land for the purpose of developing greenways along urban
waterways. These greenway easements are permanent (perpetual)
provisions placed into a deed, will, or other legal instrument
and are binding on successive owners of the land. The bill says
that greenway easements are voluntarily-created interests in
real property and includes provisions specifying how they are to
be recorded and enforced. It also requires assessors to
consider the effect of greenway easements (as enforceable
restrictions) on the value of property and corrects a cross
reference in the same section of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
Under AB 1251, three types of entities may acquire and hold
greenway easements: state and federal agencies, tribes, and
nonprofit organizations created specifically for the purpose of
developing greenways. The bill allows local agencies include
greenways in the open space element of their general plans.
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State Revenue Impact
No estimate. Greenways can promote economic development,
environmental conservation, public health, and the overall
quality of life by enhancing the ability of residents to connect
with natural spaces near and along urban waterways. AB 1251
promotes the development of greenways by providing government
agencies and nonprofit organizations with a new tool-greenway
easements-to ensure that land developed as a greenway stays that
way in perpetuity, instead of being converted to other, more
intensive uses in the future. It further provides an economic
incentive to keep land near urban waterways as a greenway by
lowering the property tax bills of landowners who allow the use
of their property for greenways.
2. What's the problem ? AB 1251 creates a new type of easement
to encourage the development of greenways. However, it is
unclear whether the lack of this tool has hindered the
development of greenways up to this point. Local agencies
currently have the authority to do land use planning consistent
with this bill, and there are other ways of ensuring access to
the land necessary for the development of greenways, such as
purchasing the land. There may be other, more significant
obstacles to the development of greenways, such as funding
challenges, that this bill does not address.
3. Square peg . The open space element in a general plan is
typically reserved for protecting undeveloped land, instead of
land with improvements on it. Because the bill requires
greenways to have transportation or recreational uses-and the
amenities to support those uses-there are other general plan
elements that better align with the uses of greenways. The
Committee may wish to consider amending AB 1251 to allow local
agencies to instead consider the development of greenways in
other elements of their general plans, such as the circulation
element, which must include a plan for multimodal transportation
that considers the needs of cyclists and pedestrians.
4. Related legislation . AB 1251 is substantially similar to AB
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1922 (Gomez, 2014), which would have allowed conservation
easements to be acquired in order to develop greenways. AB 1922
included nearly identical definitions of greenways and urban
waterways, and some of the same findings and declarations. AB
1922 passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee by a
vote of 5-2, but was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee: 10-4
Assembly Local Government Committee: 9-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-4
Assembly Floor: 61-15
Support and
Opposition (6/25/15)
Support : California League of Conservation Voters; California
Trout; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors; Los Angeles
Mayor Eric Garcetti; Sierra Club California.
Opposition : Central Coast Forestry Association.
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