BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
                         Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

                              
          
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          |Bill No:  |AB 2651                          |Hearing    |6/8/16   |
          |          |                                 |Date:      |         |
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          |Author:   |Gomez                            |Tax Levy:  |No       |
          |----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------|
          |Version:  |5/25/16                          |Fiscal:    |Yes      |
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          |Consultant|Favorini-Csorba                                       |
          |:         |                                                      |
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                                  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.








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          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  








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               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  








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          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.


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