BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2428
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2428 (Ting)
As Amended May 31, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |10-5 |Frazier, Bloom, |Linder, Baker, Kim, |
| | |Brown, Chu, Daly, |Mathis, Melendez |
| | |Dodd, Gomez, Medina, | |
| | |Nazarian, O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |14-6 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Obernolte, Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Directs the California Department of Transportation
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(Caltrans) to lease to the City and County of San Francisco (San
Francisco) up to 10 airspace parcels under or adjacent to a
freeway or other real property acquired for highway purposes
that is within a priority development area, as defined, for
park, recreational, or open-space purposes. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Makes legislative findings and declarations:
a) Regarding the San Francisco Bay Area's sustainable
communities strategies, entitled "Plan Bay Area," that was
adopted in 2013 and that provides a strategy for meeting
80% of the area's future housing needs in priority
development areas (PDAs).
b) Describing the relationship between planning for
population growth in PDAs and the provision of open space
and other amenities that are required to support the growth
and provide greater public health and quality of life
benefits for citizens and the workforce.
c) Asserting that many parcels and rights-of-way beneath
and adjacent to the freeways are within PDAs and could be
used for open space purposes except that that cost of
leasing these parcels from Caltrans is prohibitively
expensive.
d) Proposing a strategy to support greenhouse gas emission
reduction goals by decreasing the cost of providing open
space in PDAs via low-cost leases between Caltrans and San
Francisco for areas under freeways.
2)Directs Caltrans to offer first right of refusal to lease air
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space or other property to San Francisco, a political
subdivision of the city and county, or a state agency for
park, recreational, or open-space purposes.
3)For up to 10 parcels, sets the lease amount for park,
recreational, or open-space purposes at 10% or less of the
average fair market lease value; prescribes how this value is
to be calculated.
4)Requires the lessee to fund associated infrastructure, to
accept full liability for non-highway uses of the
infrastructure, and to fund all non-highway-related
maintenance costs associated with the uses.
5)Directs the lease to authorize the lessee, at its discretion,
to subsidize its associated maintenance costs by generating
revenue under a "limited revenue generation model" so long as
any excess revenue is shared 50/50 with Caltrans.
6)Defines "priority development area" to mean a neighborhood
within walking distance of frequent transit service that
offers a wide variety of housing options and that features
various amenities, including grocery stores, community
centers, open space, and restaurants.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Appropriations Committee,
Caltrans indicates that of the 77 airspace lots in San Francisco
that can be leased, 75 are currently leased, including 66 to
private entities at market rate for parking or storage. These
leases generate $9.25 million annually in revenue to the General
Fund, which would be an average of $140,000 per lease. If 10
expiring leases were instead leased for open space or park
purposes at 10% of market value, the annual revenue General Fund
loss would be $1.25 million. It is unclear to what extent the
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limited revenue generation model would provide additional,
offsetting state revenue.
COMMENTS: The author introduced this bill to encourage San
Francisco to leverage existing Caltrans property so San
Francisco can implement its sustainable community
strategies by providing green spaces and recreational
opportunities for the people of San Francisco.
Specifically, the author seeks to ensure San Francisco has
first right of refusal to lease state-owned space at 10% of
the current market rate.
San Francisco is sponsoring this bill. As one of the
nation's most densely populated cities, San Francisco lacks
the open space needed to provide opportunities to implement
its sustainable communities strategies, required by the
California Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection
Act of 2008, [SB 375, (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of
2008], including its robust housing development plan of
which open spaces are a critical component. San Francisco
is looking to leverage unused right-of-way and airspace
below and adjacent to state freeways in order to develop
green spaces, parks, and recreational facilities.
While the authority to enter into these leases is already in
existing law, the challenge, apparently, is that Caltrans is
obligated to secure fair market value lease rates for these
parcels, based on the estimated highest and best use of the
property. Not only is this rate too expensive for new open
space development, it reportedly tends to attract commercial
activities not particularly conducive to San Francisco's plans
for its priority development areas, such as parking lots.
Committee comments: Although this bill would likely result in
lost revenue for Caltrans, it could improve San Francisco's
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ability to successfully implement its greenhouse gas
emission-reducing strategies and provide much needed housing for
the area.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0003231