BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: AB 494 HEARING: 7/1/09
AUTHOR: Caballero FISCAL: No
VERSION: 6/23/09 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
WILLIAMSON ACT AND FARMWORKER HOUSING
Background and Existing Law
The Planning and Zoning Law requires every city and county
to adopt a general plan that is internally consistent.
Major local land use decisions must be consistent with
general plans: subdivisions, zoning, public works, and use
permits. The Subdivision Map Act spells out the procedures
that cities and counties must follow when dividing property
into parcels for sale, lease, or financing. Leases of
agricultural land for agricultural purposes are exempt from
the Map Act. The Williamson Act allows landowners to sign
contracts with cities and counties, enforceably restricting
their land to agriculture, open space, and compatible uses.
The Act declares that agricultural labor housing
facilities are a compatible use and can't be excluded from
agricultural preserves.
Local officials must deny proposed subdivisions if the
resulting parcels will be too small to sustain their
agricultural use or result in residential uses that are not
incidental to the property's commercial agricultural use.
This ban applies to land that is subject to a Williamson
Act contract, an open space easement, an agricultural
conservation easement, or a conservation easement. The
minimum parcel sizes needed to sustain agricultural uses
are 40 acres for prime agricultural land and 10 acres for
nonprime land.
However, land in a Williamson Act agricultural preserve can
be subdivided into smaller parcels when five conditions
exist (AB 1505, Ducheny, 1999):
The parcel to be sold or leased must be no more
than five acres.
The parcel will be sold or leased to a nonprofit
organization or a public agency.
The parcel to be sold or leased must be subject to
a deed restriction limiting its use to agricultural
laborer housing for at least 30 years. When the
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parcel is no longer used for housing, it must be
merged with the other property.
There must be a written agreement to jointly
operate the properties for the duration of the
Williamson Act contract.
The parcel to be sold or leased must be located
either :
o Within a city, or
o In an unincorporated territory or sphere
of influence that is contiguous to existing
residential, commercial, or industrial uses.
Changes in agricultural practices have changed farm labor
practices. While there is an increasing need for permanent
housing for farmworkers, the need for housing migrant
laborers continues. The State Department of Housing and
Community Development's Office of Migrant Services runs
1,865 housing units in 25 migrant centers in 15 counties,
serving about 9,500 migrant farmworkers and their families.
The State's Farmworker Grant Program offers 50% matching
grants to build housing for low-income, year-round
farmworkers. Since 1977 the grant program has assisted
9,200 units. Proposition 1C (2006) contained an additional
$135 million for this program.
When nonprofit groups want to build farmworker housing,
they first have to find willing landowners and then get
local officials' approvals. Because local land use
regulations can make it hard to site new housing for
farmworkers, housing advocates want legislators to help.
Proposed Law
I. Zoning standards . Assembly Bill 494 prohibits a city
or county from enforcing or imposing minimum parcel sizes
on the subdivision of land for agricultural laborer
housing.
AB 494 amends the state laws on local zoning ordinances to
declare that agricultural laborer housing is an allowable
use in any agricultural zone unless a city council or
county board of supervisors holds a noticed public hearing
and finds, based on substantial evidence in the record,
either :
The locality's general plan has a revised housing
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element that substantially complies with state law and
there is no existing need for agricultural laborer
housing, or
The agricultural laborer housing on agriculturally
zoned land would have a specific, adverse impact on
public health and safety that can't be mitigated
without making the development infeasible.
AB 494 requires the agricultural laborer housing to meet
five conditions:
The parcel to be created must be either :
o Land currently zoned for agricultural
use, or
o Land zoned for open space, but currently
in agricultural use provided that where the land
is subject to a conservation easement, the
proposed housing is consistent with that
easement.
The parcel to be created is five acres or smaller.
The parcel must be sold or leased to a nonprofit
organization or a public agency.
The parcel to be sold or leased must be subject to
a deed restriction limiting its use to agricultural
laborer housing for at least 30 years. When the
parcel is no longer used for housing, it must be
merged with the other property.
After the parcel is subdivided, the remaining
property must be at least 10 acres.
The bill declares that the development of agricultural
laborer housing under its provisions must be considered an
agricultural use of the land. The project must be designed
to abate or mitigate impacts on adjacent landowners'
husbandry practices. The final plan for the housing must
explain those features.
AB 494 does not apply to a jurisdiction after more than 100
acres of land have been developed with agricultural laborer
housing pursuant to its provisions.
II. Williamson Act . Assembly Bill 494 adds a third
location of Williamson Act land that is eligible to be
subdivided into smaller parcels. AB 494 says that a parcel
is eligible if it has access to an existing source of
potable drinking water and sanitary sewer service.
AB 494 -- 6/23/09 -- Page 4
Comments
1. Gimme shelter . Farmworkers --- migrant and permanent
--- endure some of California's worst housing conditions.
Especially in rural areas, families and single workers need
safe, decent, and affordable housing. Even when public
agencies and nonprofit groups find the money to build
farmworker housing, they still need to persuade willing
landowners and get local permits. The 1999 Ducheny bill
made it easier to subdivide Williamson Act land for
farmworker housing, but local zoning ordinances still get
in the way. AB 494 helps those who want to build more
farmworker housing by prohibiting minimum parcel sizes and
by declaring that farmworker housing is allowed in
agricultural zones. Relying on criteria that are similar
to those in existing law, the bill complements what
legislators did a decade ago.
2. More state intervention . AB 494 is another attempt by
legislators to impose detailed land use solutions on cities
and counties. Unlike the state laws that require general
plans and land use decisions that fit local conditions and
circumstances, the bill prescribes very specific
conditions, locations, and designs. This prescriptive
approach will create conflicts between housing advocates
and landowners, similar to what happened after the
Legislature mandated density bonuses and second-unit
projects. Those precedents show what lies ahead; sorting
out AB 494's details will require even more detailed bills
in the future. Legislators shouldn't use statewide laws to
micromanage land use decisions that are better left to
local ordinances.
3. Vertical consistency . For nearly 40 years, city
councils and county supervisors have followed the vertical
consistency principle; state law requires their land use
decisions to be consistent with local general plans. AB
494 departs from that established rule by prohibiting
cities and counties from enforcing their zoning ordinances
when it comes to farmworker housing. A state law that
requires local officials to ignore the parcel sizes in
their zoning ordinances also means ignoring the goals,
policies, and objectives set by their general plans. In
the name of promoting needed farmworker housing, AB 494
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radically departs from a key principle of California land
use law. If legislators write an exemption for farmworker
housing, how will future legislators react when other
industries ask for similar favored treatment? If
farmworker housing projects can ignore general plans and
zoning ordinances, why not factories, shopping centers, or
auto malls?
4. An alternative . There is a simpler way for legislators
to promote farmworker housing without telling local
officials to ignore their general plans and prohibiting
them from enforcing their local zoning ordinances. The
Subdivision Map Act already exempts leases of agricultural
land for agricultural purposes. Because agricultural
leases aren't lot splits, those leases don't bump into the
minimum parcel size rules in either the Williamson Act or
the Map Act, nor do leases trigger CEQA reviews. Following
that policy precedent, the Committee may wish to consider
replacing the detailed standards in AB 494 with a single
section which declares that the Subdivision Map Act doesn't
apply when a nonprofit organization leases agriculturally
zoned land to operate agricultural labor housing when:
The property is less than five acres.
The lease lasts at least 30 years.
The lease is signed before January 1, 2015.
This five-year window gives nonprofit groups and willing
landowners enough time to experiment with the simpler
approach.
5. Noble motives, unpredictable consequences . Making it
easier to build employee housing on farms and ranches is a
worthy goal. The workers avoid long and sometimes unsafe
trips from distant housing and the growers have a reliable
workforce. But new housing needs new facilities and new
services. State legislators and local officials should be
wary of projects that need growth-inducing public
facilities and growth-supporting public services in remote
locations. Installing sewers and expanding water supplies
will promote farmworker housing, but their very existence
may also accelerate land speculation and rural sprawl.
It's one thing to help nonprofit groups build more housing
for farmworkers, but it's quite another problem if these
pockets of rural development become a speculator's excuse
to justify leapfrog development. What's worse is that
today's farmworker enclaves could become tomorrow's
colonias.
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6. Why cities ? Because charter cities have constitutional
authority over ordinances concerning their municipal
affairs and because zoning decisions are made by ordinance,
charter cities are generally exempt from the statutory
requirement that their zoning decisions be consistent with
their general plans. Therefore, AB 494's amendments to the
state laws on zoning ordinances don't apply to the
approximately 110 charter cities. Further, few of the
approximately 370 general law cities have much
agriculturally zoned land. The Committee may wish to
consider an amendment that limits the bill just to
counties' unincorporated territory.
7. Technical amendments needed . To avoid confusion and
ambiguity, the Committee should adopt these technical
amendments:
Clearly designate the new location criterion for
Williamson Act property as a separate paragraph (page
3, line 27).
Replace the nonstandard term "locality" with the
accepted terms of "city" and "county" (page 4, lines 8
and 12).
Add references to open space easements and
agricultural conservation easements to the limits on
farmworker housing (page 4, lines 32 & 33).
Replace the nonstandard term "jurisdiction" with
the accepted terms of "city" and "county" (page 5,
line 21).
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government Committee: 6-0
Assembly Agriculture Committee: 5-1
Assembly Floor: 63-11
Support and Opposition (6/25/09)
Support : California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation,
California Building Industry Association, California
Catholic Conference, California Coalition for Rural
Housing, Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning
Association, Community Housing Improvement Program,
Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, Housing
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California, Mercy Housing, Nonprofit Housing Association of
Northern California, Self-Help Enterprises, Western Center
on Law & Poverty, Western Growers.
Opposition : American Planning Association-California
Chapter, California Farm Bureau Federation, California
State Association of Counties, Regional Council of Rural
Counties, Counties of Santa Barbara and Tulare.