BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2316
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 19, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2316 (Eng) - As Amended: April 5, 2010
SUBJECT : Route 710: excess property
SUMMARY : Directs the net proceeds from the sale of excess
property in a specific transportation corridor to a
transportation improvement program in the area. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Directs the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to
allocate the net proceeds from the sale of excess properties
within State Route (SR) 710 corridor to fund a transportation
improvement program approved by the Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).
2)Exempts these net proceeds from existing formulae that govern
the distribution of transportation funds statewide.
3)Limits application of this bill's provisions to the portion of
SR 710 located to the north of SR 10 in the Cities of Los
Angeles, Pasadena, South Pasadena, and Alhambra within the
County of Los Angeles.
EXISTING LAW:
4)Allows the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
to acquire any real property that it considers necessary for
state highway purposes.
5)Allows Caltrans, whenever it determines that any real property
acquired by the state for highway purposes is no longer
necessary for those purposes, to sell or exchange it in the
manner and upon terms, standards, and conditions established
by the CTC.
6)Requires Caltrans, to the greatest extent possible, to offer
to sell or exchange excess real property within one year from
the date that it determines the property is excess.
7)Generally requires state and local agencies, prior to
disposing of excess lands, first to offer property for sale or
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lease to local public agencies, housing authorities, or
redevelopment agencies within whose jurisdiction the property
is located. Requires Caltrans to give priority first to
entities agreeing to use the land for low- or moderate-income
housing then to entities for open-space purposes, school
facilities construction, enterprise zone purposes, and infill
opportunities, in that order.
8)Provides an exception from these provisions for the disposal
of excess residential properties in the un-constructed portion
of the SR 710 corridor, i.e., the portion of SR 710 addressed
in this bill. According to this exception, referred to as
"Roberti provisions," excess residential properties in this
corridor are to be sold as follows:
a) First, homes presently occupied by their former owners
must be offered for sale to the occupant at fair market
value. (Caltrans reports that there are no longer any
properties in the SR 710 corridor occupied by previous
owners.);
b) Second, homes are to be offered to present occupants
that have lived in the property for at least two years and
who are persons and families of low or moderate income;
c) Third, homes must be offered for sale to present
occupants that have lived in the home for more than five
years and whose household income does not exceed 150% of
the area median income;
d) Homes are not to be offered to present occupants if the
present occupant has had an ownership interest in real
property in the last three years;
e) Homes offered pursuant to b) and c) above are to be
offered at an affordable price, but not less than the
acquisition price or more than fair market value. Homes
sold at less than fair market value must have deed
restrictions to assure that the house remains available to
families and households of low or moderate income;
f) Prior to selling these properties, Caltrans must provide
repairs required by lenders and government housing
assistance programs;
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g) Homes not sold under these terms must then be offered to
housing-related private and public entities for a price
which is best suited economically to using the property for
low- or moderate-income housing; and,
h) Any excess homes not sold pursuant these provisions are
then to be sold at fair market value with first priority
given to purchasers who are present occupants and then to
purchasers who will be owner occupants.
9)Proceeds from the sale of excess property are deposited first
to the State Highway Account (SHA) and then transferred to the
Public Transportation Account, with few exceptions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown but likely in the hundreds of millions
of dollars; proceeds from the sale of excess properties in the
SR 710 corridor are not calculated in current programming
documents so the diversion of these funds to the SR 710 freeway
gap closure corridor would not have a direct impact on
transportation projects already programmed.
Caltrans owns 559 properties in the applicable segment of the SR
710 corridor.
COMMENTS : SR 710 is a major north-south interstate freeway
running 23 miles through Los Angeles County. The freeway runs
from Long Beach to Alhambra, stopping short of the originally
planned terminus in Pasadena. Construction of the segment
between Alhambra and Pasadena, through South Pasadena, has been
delayed for decades due to community opposition. The freeway
gap is seen by many as a source of significant traffic
congestion in northeastern Los Angeles and the northwestern San
Gabriel Valley as there are no north-south freeways in this
area.
Over the past forty years, alternative concepts have been
proposed and evaluated to complete the SR 710 freeway and close
the 4.5 mile gap in the corridor. To date, none of the
previously proposed and evaluated alternatives have been
successful in satisfying the regional mobility needs and
community/environmental concerns. The previous alternatives
considered would traverse highly developed urbanized
neighborhoods and require substantial amounts of right-of-way
along the alignments.
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Many members of the community were concerned with the impact of
these right-of-way intensive, surface alternatives and,
consequently, opposed the extension of the SR 710. In response
to this reaction and to lessen the potential impact of
completing the SR 710, a tunnel concept was proposed for
assessment as a potential option to the surface alternatives.
Metro has completed the feasibility assessment of a tunnel
alternative to extend the SR 710 from its current terminus at
Valley Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles to Interstate 210 in
the City of Pasadena. Generally, the study concluded that the
tunnel concept is feasible. Although potential environmental
impacts were identified, preliminary assessments concluded that
these impacts could be minimized, eliminated, or mitigated. The
report concluded that no insurmountable environmental issues
were identified that would preclude further consideration of the
tunnel alternative.
AB 2316 does not pre-determine the results of any study. Its
provisions directing proceeds from the sale of excess property
to Metro will apply regardless of the outcome of whatever
studies are completed-to the extent that the outcome eventually
results in declaring property in the corridor to be excess.
Furthermore, this bill does not affect the process and
procedures governing the sale of excess properties.
AB 2316 is not without precedent. Similar provisions were
enacted directing the proceeds from the sale of excess homes in
the Hayward SR 238 bypass corridor to a locally selected
alternative project. Similar to the SR 710 freeway gap closure
project, Caltrans began acquiring properties in the SR 238
corridor decades ago and, like the SR 710 freeway gap closure
project, the SR 238 bypass project faced community opposition
and subsequently stalled for years. Communities along both the
SR 238 and SR 710 corridors have endured years of uncertainty,
less than exemplary management of Caltrans-owned properties, and
reduced tax rolls from these long-stalled projects. Like SR
238, exempting the SR 710 freeway gap corridor from existing
requirements to return the proceeds of excess properties to the
SHA for eventual distribution elsewhere is warranted given these
unique circumstances.
The 710 Freeway Coalition supports this bill and asserts that
the properties in the SR 710 corridor were purchased by Caltrans
several decades ago, and when they are sold the proceeds should
be put to use to benefit those in the SR 710 freeway corridor
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that paid for them.
Author's amendment: The author intends to take two amendments
in committee:
10)Correct a drafting error . This amendment would limit the use
of the proceeds from excess property to a transportation
improvement within the corridor from which the proceeds were
derived-that is, within the vicinity of SR 710 located to the
north of SR 10 in the Cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena, South
Pasadena, and Alhambra within the County of Los Angeles, as
follows:
On page 3, line 5, strike "program" and insert "project in the
corridor as"
11)Ensure sales according to Roberti. The Western Center on Law
and Poverty has requested that the bill be amended to
explicitly state that the excess properties are to be sold
pursuant to Roberti provisions to provide housing for low- and
moderate-income families, as is provided for in current law.
The specific amendment will read as follows:
On page 3, after the period on line 11, insert
"All sales shall comply with the requirements, priorities, and
procedures set forth in Title 5, Division 2, Part 1, Chapter
5, Article 8.5 (commencing with Section 54235) of this code"
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
710 Freeway Coalition
California State Council of Laborers
California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers
Jerry M. Patterson, United States Congressman, Retired
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093