BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2348|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2348
Author: Mullin (D)
Amended: 6/24/04 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HOUSING & COMM. DEV. COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/21/04
AYES: Ducheny, Hollingsworth, Ackerman, Alarcon, Cedillo,
Dunn, Florez, Torlakson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 12-0, 7/12/04
AYES: Alpert, Battin, Aanestad, Ashburn, Bowen, Burton,
Johnson, Karnette, Machado, Murray, Poochigian, Speier
NO VOTE RECORDED: Escutia
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/24/04 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Housing element: regional housing need
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes numerous changes to the
provisions of housing element law pertaining to land
inventory, adequate sites, and permitted use, based on the
work of the Housing Element Work Group.
ANALYSIS :
Housing element law . The Planning and Zoning Law requires
cities and counties to prepare and adopt a general plan to
guide the future growth of a community. Every general plan
CONTINUED
AB 2348
Page
2
must contain seven elements: land use, circulation,
housing, conservation, open-space, noise, and safety. A
housing element must identify and analyze existing and
projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with
appropriate zoning to meet the housing needs of all income
segments of the community, and ensure that regulatory
systems provide opportunities for, and do not unduly
constrain, housing development.
In order to identify adequate sites to meet its housing
needs, a community must conduct an inventory of land that
allows for new residential development or refill
development at higher densities. To the extent that the
inventory does not demonstrate enough capacity to meet the
community's fair share of the regional housing need (RHNA),
the community must adopt a program to provide appropriately
zoned sites early enough in the planning period to allow
for development of the sites. Frequently, this program
requires a commitment to rezone specific sites for
higher-density residential development by a specific date.
Any sites that must be rezoned to meet the RHNA must permit
development by right, which is defined as not requiring a
conditional use permit.
Under current law, a community may substitute up to 25
percent of its RHNA requirement with an express commitment
in the housing element that affordable low and very-low
income housing units will be provided through the
substantial rehabilitation of units at imminent risk of
loss to the housing stock, through the purchase of
affordability covenants that constitute a net increase in
affordable housing, and through the preservation of at-risk
affordable housing developments. With respect to counting
substantially rehabilitated units, the units must
previously have been vacant or subject to being vacant for
at least 120 days due to the existence of extensive code
violations.
Anti-NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) law . Before proceeding
with the construction or rehabilitation of a housing
project, a developer must submit development plans to the
city or county for approval. Under state law, a city or
county must make one of the following findings before
denying an affordable housing project:
AB 2348
Page
3
1. The city or county has adopted a housing element in
substantial compliance with the law, and the project is
not needed to meet the jurisdiction's share of regional
housing needs for lower-income households.
2. The project would have an adverse impact to the public
health or safety and there is no way to mitigate or
avoid adverse impacts.
3. The denial is required to comply with state or federal
law.
4. Approval of the project would increase the concentration
of lower-income households in a neighborhood that
already has a disproportionately high number of
lower-income households, and there is no feasible method
of approving the development at a different site.
5. The project is located on agricultural or resource
preservation land or land that does not have adequate
water or waste water facilities.
6. The jurisdiction has adopted a housing element, and the
project is inconsistent with the general plan and the
zoning ordinance.
Density bonus law . Existing law also requires a city or
county to grant a density bonus and at least one other
specified incentive, or other housing incentives of
equivalent value, to a developer who agrees to construct an
affordable housing development of five or more units unless
the local government makes a finding that the bonus and
incentives are not needed to achieve affordability. The
density bonus must be at least 25 percent over the existing
maximum density for the site. The incentives the local
government may offer include:
1. A reduction in site development standards.
2. A modification of zoning code requirements (including a
reduction in setbacks, square footage requirements, or
parking spaces, or architectural design requirements
that exceed the minimum building standards).
AB 2348
Page
4
3. Approval of mixed use zoning in conjunction with the
housing project if commercial, office, industrial, or
other land uses will reduce the cost of the housing
development, and if such nonresidential uses are
compatible with the project.
4. Other regulatory incentives or concessions proposed by
the developer or the city or county that result in
identifiable cost reductions.
This bill makes a number of changes to laws pertaining to
the planning and development of affordable housing,
including housing element law, the anti-NIMBY statute, and
density bonus law. Specifically, the bill:
Housing Element Adequate Site Requirement
1. Requires the land inventory to include (a) a listing of
properties by parcel number, (b) the size, general plan
designation and zoning of each property, (c) for
redevelopment sites, a description of existing uses for
the properties and an explanation of the methodology for
determining additional development capacity, (d) a
general description of infrastructure supply and
environmental constraints in the community, (e) a map
showing location of the sites, and (f) an analysis of
the number of units that can be accommodated on the
sites, based on the zoning as adjusted to accommodate
required development standards.
2. Establishes "rule of thumb" guidelines for determining
the densities that will accommodate lower income
housing. These guidelines vary in accordance with a
community's classification as a metropolitan, suburban,
or nonmetropolitan.
3. Clarifies that the housing element program must commit
to rezone sites to make up any difference between the
RHNA and sites identified in the inventory.
4. Redefines "use by right," which is required for all
sites to be rezoned for lower income housing under the
housing element program, to mean that the use shall not
AB 2348
Page
5
require a conditional use permit or other local
government review or approval which constitutes a
project for purposes of the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA). The use may be subject to design
review which shall not constitute a project for purposes
of CEQA. Sites subject to the by right requirement
shall meet minimum density standards, and only half may
allow non-residential uses.
Counting Rehabilitated and Acquisition Units towards the
RHNA
1. With respect to counting rehabilitated units towards
meeting a community's RHNA obligation, removes the
requirement that the units be vacant or subject to being
vacated prior to rehabilitation and allows the community
to provide required relocation benefits outside of the
Relocation Assistance Law if the benefits equal at least
four months rent and moving expenses and comparable
replacement housing.
2. With respect to counting units newly made affordable
with affordability covenants towards its RHNA
obligation, allows units in developments of four or more
units, as opposed to 16 or more, to qualify, repeals the
requirement that the acquisition price be less than 120
percent of the median housing price for the community,
and increase the term of the required affordability
covenants from 30 to 55 years.
Anti-NIMBY Law
1. Provides that zoning inconsistency cannot be used to
deny or condition a development if the reason for the
inconsistency is the jurisdiction's failure to conform
the zoning and land use designation to the housing
element.
2. Removes overconcentration as a reason for developments
to be denied or conditioned.
3. Provides that a local government may apply objective,
quantifiable, written, development standards so long as
they accommodate development at the allowed densities
AB 2348
Page
6
and are consistent with meeting the jurisdiction's
housing need.
Density Bonus Law
1. At the request of the applicant, limits parking
requirements for density bonus developments to a
specified number of spaces per unit and allows the
spaces to be provided through tandem or uncovered
parking.
2. Allows a developer to seek further parking reductions as
one of the incentives or concessions required under
density bonus law.
Comments
Purpose of the bill . Developers of affordable housing
often cite the lack of adequately zoned sites and the
uncertainty of the land use entitlement process as two of
the major barriers to the development of new housing.
While housing element law requires communities to identify
adequate sites to accommodate their fair share of the
regional housing needs, the information in the element
often is too general to identify specific sites and fails
to account for serious constraints to development such as
lack of infrastructure capacity and existing uses of the
sites. Moreover, when developments are proposed for
specific sites, unrealistic development standards, such as
excessive parking requirements, and community opposition
can often derail the project. This bill is intended to
facilitate the development of affordable housing by making
planning more meaningful, limiting excessive parking
requirements for density bonus developments, and
strengthening protections against arbitrary project
denials.
A collaborative process . This bill and AB 2158 (Lowenthal)
were developed as a consensus package by the Housing
Element Working Group that was convened over the last year
by the State Department of Housing and Community
Development. Because these bills are a package but appeal
to different constituencies within the working group, it
may be prudent to make them contingent upon each other to
AB 2348
Page
7
ensure that their fates are linked.
Related Legislation
AB 2158 (Lowenthal) significantly revises the regional
housing needs assessment process under housing element law.
AB 2702 (Steinberg), among other things, amends the
definition of "by right" development required for sites to
be rezoned under the housing element program.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Bates, Benoit, Berg, Bermudez, Bogh,
Calderon, Campbell, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu,
Cogdill, Cohn, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz,
Dutra, Dutton, Dymally, Firebaugh, Frommer, Garcia,
Goldberg, Hancock, Harman, Haynes, Jerome Horton, Shirley
Horton, Houston, Jackson, Keene, Kehoe, Koretz, La Malfa,
La Suer, Laird, Leno, Leslie, Levine, Lieber, Liu,
Longville, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Matthews, Maze,
McCarthy, Montanez, Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nakano,
Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Pacheco, Parra, Pavley, Plescia,
Reyes, Richman, Ridley-Thomas, Runner, Salinas,
Samuelian, Simitian, Spitzer, Steinberg, Strickland,
Vargas, Wesson, Wiggins, Wolk, Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Maddox, Nation
NC:mel 7/13/04 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****