BILL ANALYSIS
AB 494
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Cathleen Galgiani, Chair
AB 494 (Caballero) - As Amended: April 23, 2009
Corrected: May 21, 2009
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 6-0
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|Ayes:|Caballero, Knight, | | |
| |Arambula, Davis, | | |
| |Krekorian, Skinner | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUBJECT : Local planning: farmworker housing.
SUMMARY : Prohibits any local government to enforce a required
minimum parcel size when Williamson Act (Act) contracted land is
to be subdivided and sold or leased for the purpose of
farmworker housing, and creates other specified requirements.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Permits a landowner, subject to other conditions, to subdivide
land that is currently under the Act if the parcel to be sold
or leased has access to existing drinking water and sanitary
sewer service.
2)Provides an exception, when an applicant proposes to subdivide
land that is under the Act for the purposes of developing
farmworker housing, to existing local government parcel size
requirements, prohibiting enforcement or the imposition of any
local ordinance, regulation, or development standard, if the
farmworker housing meets all of the following:
a) The parcel to be created is on land currently zoned for
agricultural use or on land zoned for open space but
currently in agricultural use;
b) The parcel to be sold or leased is five acres or
smaller;
c) The parcel shall be sold or leased to a nonprofit
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organization, a city, a county, a housing authority, or a
state agency; and,
d) The parcel to be sold or leased shall be subject to a
deed restriction that limits the use of the parcel to
farmworker housing facilities for not less than 30 years or
it will be merged back to the original parcel prior to the
30 years, once it is no longer used for farmworker housing.
3)Limits this exception to no more than 100 acres per any
jurisdiction.
EXISTING LAW creates the Act, also known as the California Land
Conservation Act of 1965, which enables local governments to
enter into contracts with landowners to restrict the land in
order to prevent development for no less than a period of 10
years. Provides, under the Act, for conditions that allow a
landowner to subdivide land that is currently designated as an
agricultural preserve, if the parcel to be sold or leased; is no
more than five acres; shall be sold or leased to a nonprofit
organization, a city, a county, a housing authority, or a state
agency; shall be subject to a deed restriction that limits the
use of the parcel to agricultural laborer housing facilities for
not less than 30 years; has a written agreement between the
parties to the sale or lease and their successors to operate the
parcel under joint management of the parties; and, is (A) within
a city or (B) in an unincorporated territory or sphere of
influence that is contiguous to one or more parcels that are
already zoned residential, commercial, or industrial and
developed with existing residential, commercial, or industrial
uses.
Current law specifies that a subdivision of land under an Act
contract shall not affect the contract and the parcel shall
remain subject to that contract. Permits the legislative body
of any county or city the power to adopt ordinances that
regulates the use of buildings, structures, and land, as
specified. Statute requires a local government to analyze
special housing needs in their housing element, including that
of farmworkers, and requires that if the housing element does
not provide adequate sites for farmworkers that it shall provide
for sufficient sites to meet the need with zoning that permits
farmworker housing use by right. It provides for certain
limitations on a city or county's planning and zoning ordinances
in cases where there is a statewide concern and authorizes the
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legislative body of a city or county to deny approval of a
tentative map, or a parcel map, if it finds that either the
resulting parcels following a subdivision of that land would be
too small to sustain their agricultural use; or the subdivision
will result in residential development not incidental to the
commercial agricultural use of the land; and, if the legislative
body finds that the land is subject to any of the following: an
Act contract, or an agricultural conservation easement; an
open-space easement; an agricultural conservation easement; or,
a conservation easement.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. Legislative Counsel has keyed this
bill fiscal.
COMMENTS : California has a shortage of affordable and adequate
housing for farm labor which has created abuse of some workers
while others live as the homeless do, in tents or other poor
conditions. Many attempts have been made to address this
problem both locally and through legislation but with little
success. AB 494 takes a different tack by overriding local
government's authority for subdividing land under the Act for
only farmworker housing projects. Therefore, should a farmer
with land under the Act agree to sell or lease to a non-profit
or government entity a parcel five acres or smaller, a local
government cannot deny the actions, if all other conditions are
met.
This is an unusual step for the state to override local control
of land use and specifically for subdivision of parcels. This
may cause unanticipated consequences to the intent of the Act,
that being the conserving of agricultural lands for production
purposes while attempting to provide less pressure on the land
owners to succumb to development pressures. AB 494 would
permit, with agreement of a land owner and a third party, just
such development on agricultural producing lands.
While AB 494 will usurp local authority, it does limit such
actions to no more than 100 acres per jurisdiction. This would
provide the opportunity for this development option to be tried
but not let it become overburdening to any individual county.
Opposition has expressed major concerns over the approval of
residential subdivisions, at urban density levels, on
agricultural property and in agricultural zones. They state
that an urban density of 15 units per acre is inappropriate for
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farm zones and that it could have significant negative impacts
on neighboring agricultural operations. While they support the
farmworker housing, they disagree with usurping local
governments' implementation of subdivision decisions.
The committee may wish to clarify the issue regarding the
merging back of a parcel into the original parcels, if the
farmworker housing is not maintained for 30 years. AB 494
requires a parcel sold to a third party have a restricted title
that requires that parcel to maintain the farmworker housing.
If the farmworker housing on that parcel ends after 20 years,
and the parcel is to be merged back into the original, does the
new owner's name remain on the title or is the owner's name
dropped?
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (Sponsor)
California Building Industry Association
California Catholic Conference
California Coalition for Rural Housing
Community Housing Improvement Program
Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association,
Inc.
Mercy Housing, California
Self-Help Enterprises
Western Growers Association
Opposition
American Planning Association
California State Association of Counties
California Farm Bureau Federation
Regional Council of Rural Counties
Analysis Prepared by : Jim Collin / AGRI. / (916) 319-2084