BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Bill No: |AB 2651 |Hearing |6/8/16 |
| | |Date: | |
|----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------|
|Author: |Gomez |Tax Levy: |No |
|----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------|
|Version: |5/25/16 |Fiscal: |Yes |
------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant|Favorini-Csorba |
|: | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Greenway easements
Makes clarifying changes to state law authorizing the use of
greenway easements.
Background
General Plans and Open Space Elements. Each city and county must
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. Each
element defines how the city or county envisions particular
aspects of a community in the future. For example, the land use
element describes the general location and intensity of various
types of current and future land uses, such as industrial,
residential, and open space, while the open space element
designates land to be kept largely unimproved to serve uses that
require open spaces, including environmental preservation,
natural resource production, outdoor recreation, and protection
of historical sites. A general plan must be internally
consistent; all of the individual elements must use compatible
assumptions and cannot conflict with one another.
AB 2651 (Gomez) 5/25/16 Page 2
of ?
Greenway Easements. Last year, the Legislature enacted AB 1251
(Gomez, 2015), which authorizes certain entities to acquire
easements for the purpose of developing greenways along urban
waterways. These "greenway easements" act as an enforceable
restriction on the use of property that dedicates the land for
the purpose of developing greenways along urban waterways.
Greenway easements are permanent provisions placed into a deed,
will, or other legal instrument and are binding on successive
owners of the land.
AB 1251 defined 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 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, such
as lighting and other public amenities;
Meet any design standards for greenways that are set by
a relevant local agency's planning documents.
AB 1251 also defined 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. AB 1251 specified that
greenways could be designated in the open space element of a
city or county's general plan.
Some planners want to make sure that existing greenways are
preserved and that the development of new greenways does not
result in the loss of open space land.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 2651:
Allows greenway easements to be used to preserve
AB 2651 (Gomez) 5/25/16 Page 3
of ?
existing greenways.
Requires greenway easements that are used to develop new
greenways to be consistent with relevant restoration
efforts along the urban waterway, if any.
Allows local governments to designate greenways in the
land use element of their general plans.
Provides that greenways may only include public
amenities in "urbanized areas," as defined by the
California Environmental Quality Act.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . 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.
Last year, the Legislature took an important step to promote
their development by passing AB 1251 (Gomez, 2015), which allows
government agencies and nonprofit organizations to use 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. AB 2651 makes clarifying changes
to the greenway easements statute in order to limit the
development of amenities to within an urbanized area, clarify
that a greenway easement may be used to preserve greenways
adjacent to urban waterways as well as develop new ones, and
moves greenways from the open-space element to a more
appropriate location in the land use element of a general plan.
These changes further the intent of the original measure and are
consistent with existing laws regarding the development and
preservation of open space.
2. Mandate . The California Constitution generally requires the
state to reimburse local agencies for their costs when the state
imposes new programs or additional duties on them. According to
AB 2651 (Gomez) 5/25/16 Page 4
of ?
the Legislative Counsel's Office, AB 2651 creates a new
state-mandated local program because it revises the requirements
of mandatory local plans. AB 2651 disclaims this liability by
stating that no reimbursement is required under the Constitution
because local agencies have the authority to levy fees
sufficient to cover the cost of the increased services.
However, the bill also provides that if the Commission on State
Mandates determines there to be a reimbursable mandate, local
agencies must be reimbursed pursuant to an existing statutory
process.
3. Urgency . Regular statutes take effect on January 1 following
their enactment; bills passed in 2016 take effect on January 1,
2017. The California Constitution allows bills with urgency
clauses to take effect immediately if they're needed for the
public peace, health, and safety. AB 2651 contains an urgency
clause declaring that it is necessary for its provisions to go
into effect immediately in order to timely facilitate the
orderly and efficient implementation of AB 1251 (Gomez, 2015).
Assembly Actions
Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee: 12-0
Assembly Floor: 76-0
Support and
Opposition (6/2/16)
Support : Unknown.
Opposition : Unknown.
-- END --