Amended in Assembly April 26, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 29, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2356

Introduced by Assembly Member Gomez

February 18, 2016

An act to add Section begin delete 21081.3 end delete begin insert 65583.3 end insert to the begin delete Public Resources end delete begin insert Government end insert Code, relating to begin delete environmental quality. end delete begin insert land use. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2356, as amended, Gomez. begin delete California Environmental Quality Act: infill planning projects. end delete begin insert Planning and zoning: housing element: extremely low income housing. end insert

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The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires the housing element to include an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints relevant to the meeting of these needs. That law requires this assessment and inventory to include the identification of a zone or zones where emergency shelters are allowed as a permitted use without a conditional use or other discretionary permit, as provided.

end insert begin insert

This bill would authorize a city or county to additionally include in its assessment and inventory the identification of housing for extremely low income households, as defined. If a local government elects to include this identification in its assessment and inventory, the bill would impose certain requirements, including that the identified zone or zones include sufficient capacity to accommodate the need for housing for extremely low income households, that the local government demonstrate that existing or proposed permit processing, development, and management standards are objective and encourage and facilitate the development of housing for extremely low income households, and that housing for extremely low income households generally be subject only to the development and management standards that apply to residential or commercial development within the same zone. The bill would also provide that the permit processing, development, and management standards applied under these provisions would not be discretionary acts within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act.

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Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act, requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect, unless the project is exempt from the act.

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This bill would authorize the lead agency to determine whether an infill planning project, as defined, has a significant impact on the environment based on a comparison of the potential change in physical conditions resulting from the infill planning project with the change in physical conditions that would reasonably be expected at build-out under the general plan or zoning designation existing at the time of the lead agency’s determination.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 65583.3 is added to the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 65583.3. end insert   

The assessment and inventory adopted pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 65583 may include the identification of
a zone or zones where housing for extremely low income
households, as defined in Section 50106 of the Health and Safety
Code, is allowed as a permitted use without a conditional use or
other discretionary permit. If the local government elects to identify
a zone or zones pursuant to this section, all of the following shall
apply:

(a) The identified zone or zones shall include sufficient capacity
to accommodate the need for housing for extremely low income
households. If the local government cannot identify a zone or zones
with sufficient capacity, the local government shall include a
program to amend its zoning ordinance to meet the requirements
of this section within one year of the adoption of the housing
element. The local government may identify additional zones where
housing for extremely low income households is permitted with a
conditional use permit.

(b) The local government shall also demonstrate that existing
or proposed permit processing, development, and management
standards are objective and encourage and facilitate the
development of, or conversion to, housing for extremely low income
households. Housing for extremely low income households may
only be subject to those development and management standards
that apply to residential or commercial development within the
same zone except that a local government may apply written,
objective standards.

(c) The permit processing, development, and management
standards applied under this section shall not be deemed to be
discretionary acts within the meaning of the California
Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section
21000) of the Public Resources Code).

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SECTION 1.  

Section 21081.3 is added to the Public Resources
Code, to read:

21081.3.  

(a) For the purposes of this section, “infill planning
project” means any activity related to, or approval by a local
government of, amendments to the general plan or changes in zone
designation that meet all of the following criteria:

(1) The proposed amendments or changes collectively increase
planned or zoned housing capacity or jobs capacity within areas
already designated for residential or commercial use.

(2) The area of change proposed by the project occurs within
city limits and is substantially surrounded by urban uses.

(3) Approval of the project does not affect or otherwise modify
the preexisting thresholds for environmental review for subsequent
projects that are within the scope of the project.

(b) The lead agency, in determining whether the infill planning
project has a significant impact on the environment, may base that
determination on a comparison of the potential change in physical
conditions resulting from the infill planning project with the change
in physical conditions that would reasonably be expected at
build-out under the general plan or zoning designation existing at
the time of the lead agency’s determination.

end delete