BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1319|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1319
Author: Pavley (D)
Amended: 6/3/10
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 4-1, 4/19/10
AYES: Aanestad, Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
NOES: Cox
SENATE FLOOR : 29-2, 4/22/10
AYES: Alquist, Ashburn, Calderon, Cedillo, Corbett,
Correa, Denham, DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Hancock,
Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado,
Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Romero,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Wolk, Wright, Wyland,
Yee
NOES: Huff, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Cogdill, Cox, Dutton, Florez,
Harman, Runner, Wiggins, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 8/5/10 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Subdivisions: parcels merger: renewable
energy facilities
SOURCE : The Nature Conservancy
DIGEST : This bill provides that specified provisions of
the Subdivision Map Act do not prohibit a landowner, local
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agency, or renewable energy corporation from seeking
financial assistance from the state to help defray the
costs of merging parcels.
Assembly Amendments allows renewable energy companies,
private landowners, or local governments to start using
state funding source to help defray some of the costs
associated with merging parcels on private lands.
ANALYSIS : The Subdivision Map Act controls how local
officials approve property owners' proposals to create
smaller lots out of larger parcels. The Map Act also
describes several methods for reversing that process,
including reversions to acreage, resubdivisions, local
options, and parcel merger.
Either the property owner or the city or county can start
proceedings to revert subdivided land back to acreage. The
statutory procedures for a reversion require the city
council or county board of supervisors to hold a publicly
noticed hearing and make findings.
As an alternative to reversion, a city council or county
board of supervisors can adopt an ordinance that allows
property owners to resubdivide their property by filing new
parcel maps or new tentative subdivision maps. This
procedure results in merging formerly separate lots without
reverting them to acreage.
Another alternative allows a city council or county board
of supervisors to adopt an ordinance that allows property
owners to merge contiguous parcels that are under common
ownership, requiring only the recordation of a merger
document.
The merger of previously subdivided parcels is a formal
proceeding that requires the city council or county board
of supervisors to adopt an ordinance that spells out the
conditions under which the city or county can force the
merger of contiguous parcels under the same ownership. At
least one of the affected parcels must be undeveloped,
developed with only an accessory structure, or developed
with a structure that straddles the property lines. One of
the parcels must meet at least one of seven named
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conditions.
Before local officials can order a merger, there must be
publicly noticed hearings.
This bill provides that specified provisions of the
Subdivision Map Act (Act) do not prohibit a landowner,
local agency, or renewable energy corporation from seeking
financial assistance from the state to help defray the
costs of merging parcels.
This bill:
1. Provides that nothing in the merger or reversion
provisions of the Act prohibits a landowner, local
agency, or renewable energy corporation authorized to
conduct business in this state from seeking financial
assistance from eligible state funding sources to defray
either of the following costs.
2. The costs of merging parcels, including, but not limited
to, escrow costs, on private or public lands.
3. The costs of establishing or administering a joint
powers authority established or authorized to merge
parcels on private or public lands, including, but not
limited to, all eligible costs, for the purpose of
siting renewable energy facilities.
4. Specifies that this bill does not authorize the use of
state funds for the acquisition of real property for
which a parcel merger will be initiated.
Comments
At an interim hearing in 1986, the Senate Local Government
Committee reviewed "California's Hidden Land Use Problem:
The Redevelopment of Antiquated Subdivisions." Legislators
learned that local officials had created more than 400,000
parcels that were still vacant, but "too small, too remote,
or too dangerous to build on." Private investors explained
the difficulties they faced in assembling parcels and
resubdividing them into marketable lots. A subsequent
proposal to enact a bold "land readjustment law" failed,
but legislators made other statutory improvements.
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Electrical utilities, both investor owned and public
agencies, want to expand their capacity to generate
electricity from renewable sources, including solar and
wind energy. Commercial scale alternative energy
generating facilities often require large pieces of flat
property near existing power lines. Conservationists want
to discourage alternative energy facilities from locating
on productive farmland or desert habitat. They want to
find alternative locations that would be suitable without
further disturbing habitat or agricultural land. Combining
the unbuildable lots in antiquated subdivisions could
create these sites.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/5/10)
The Nature Conservancy (source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, De La
Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, Norby, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Silva, Skinner, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John
A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Davis, Fletcher, Furutani,
Hill, Lieu, V. Manuel Perez, Smyth, Vacancy
AGB:mw 8/6/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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