BILL NUMBER: AB 904 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 27, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 11, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner
( Coauthor: Senator
Berryhill )
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to add Article 2 (commencing with Section 65200) to Chapter
3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, relating to local
government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 904, as amended, Skinner. Local government: parking spaces:
minimum requirements.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires specified regional
transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt a regional
transportation plan directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced
regional transportation system, and requires the regional
transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable
communities strategy, for the purpose of using local planning to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This bill, commencing on January 1, 2014, would prohibit a city or
county from requiring a minimum number of off-street
parking standard spaces in
transit-intensive areas, as defined, greater than one
2 parking space spaces
per 1,000 square feet in nonresidential projects of 20,000
square feet or less on a single property , one parking space
per unit in non-income-restricted residential projects,
and specified portions, as applicable, of a parking space per unit
for certain affordable housing projects, except as specified. The
bill would also make a statement of legislative findings regarding
the application of its provisions to charter cities.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Sustainable Minimum Parking Standards
Requirements Act of 2012.
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) The state, cities, and counties have invested billions of
dollars in transit infrastructure. Land use policies that reduce the
cost and complexity of transit-oriented development help ensure a
return on that investment.
(2) Consistent with Senate Bill 375 and Assembly Bill 32, it is
state policy to promote transit-oriented infill development.
(3) Existing minimum off-street parking requirements
throughout the state are based on low-density and segregated single
land uses.
(4) Parking is costly to build and maintain and can substantially
increase the cost of constructing and operating infill projects.
(5) The high cost of the land and improvements required to provide
parking significantly increases the cost of transit-oriented
development, making lower cost and affordable housing development
financially infeasible and hindering economic development strategies.
(6) Increasing public transportation options and developing more
walkable and bikeable neighborhoods reduce the demand for parking.
(7) Excessive governmental parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development reduce the viability of transit
development by limiting the number of households and workers near
transit, increasing walking distances, and degrading the pedestrian
environment.
(8) Reducing excessive minimum parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development and allowing builders and the market to
decide how much parking is needed can may
do all of the following:
(A) Ensure sufficient but not excessive amounts of parking are
provided.
(B) Significantly reduce Reduce
the cost of development and increase the number of
transit-accessible and affordable housing units.
(C) Increase density in areas with the most housing demand, and
improve the viability of developing alternate modes of
transportation, such as public transit, ridesharing, biking, and
walking.
(D) Reduce green house gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled by
removing an incentive to drive.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to reduce unnecessary
government regulation and to reduce the cost of development by
eliminating excessive minimum parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development.
(c) The Legislature further finds and declares that the need to
address infill development and excessive parking requirements is a
matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair, as that
term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California
Constitution. Therefore, this act shall apply to all cities,
including charter cities.
SEC. 3. Article 2 (commencing with Section 65200) is added to
Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, to read:
Article 2. Sustainable Minimum Parking
Standards Requirements Act of 2012
65200. (a) Commencing on January 1, 2014, in transit-intensive
areas, a city, county, or city and county, including a charter city,
shall not require projects to provide a minimum number of
off-street parking spaces greater than the following
:
(1) One Two parking space
spaces per thousand square feet of
commercial, industrial, institutional, or other
nonresidential projects of 20,000 square feet or less on a
single property .
(2) One parking space per unit for non-income-restricted
residential projects.
(3) Seventy-five one hundredths
Three-quarters parking spaces per unit for projects that
include both income-restricted and non-income-restricted units, and
which meet the standards in subdivision (b) of Section 65915.
(4) Five-tenths One-half parking
spaces per unit for units that are restricted by a recorded covenant
or a deed that lasts at least 55 years to rents or prices affordable
to persons and families making less than 60 percent of the
area median income.
(b) This section shall not be construed as setting a maximum
number of spaces a project may provide.
(c) This section shall not be construed to limit any local agency'
s authority to regulate parking impacts from development through
exactions, fees, conditions of approval, or other valid exercise of
its police power beyond the specific limitations provided in
subdivision (a).
(c)
(d) This section shall not apply to any property that
meets any of the following criteria:
(1) The property and immediately adjoining properties are
restricted to development or redevelopment at a floor area ratio of
below 0.75.
(2) The property includes a parcel or parcels whose dwelling units
are subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts
rents to levels affordable to persons and families of low-
or moderate-income low or moderate income , or
are subject to other forms of rent or price control imposed through a
public entity's valid exercise of its police power, that will be
destroyed or removed, unless any proposed development on the property
is to include an equal number of bedrooms that shall be made
available at affordable housing costs to, and will be occupied by,
persons and families in the same or lower income category (extremely
low, very low, or low) in the same proportion as the units occupied
or last occupied by extremely low, very low, or low-income households
in the property. Rental replacement units provided pursuant to this
paragraph shall be made available at affordable housing costs for at
least 55 years, or at the remaining term of the existing recorded
covenants or deed restrictions that require maintenance of affordable
housing costs, which are consistent with the parties meeting their
contractual obligations. Ownership replacement units provided
pursuant to this paragraph shall be made available at affordable
housing costs for at least 45 years.
(3) The property includes a parcel where the owner withdrew
residential rental units pursuant to Chapter 12.75 (commencing with
Section 7060) of Division 7 of Title 1, from rental or lease, or
offering for rental or lease , pursuant to paragraph (2)
of subdivision (a) of Section 7060.2.
(4) The property includes a parcel or parcels subject to a
specific plan, station area plan, zoning ordinance, or other form of
local land-use control that provides for minimum off-street parking
requirements for residential, commercial, and mixed-use new
construction and reuse projects that are lower than the minimum
off-street parking requirements in the same jurisdiction for the same
uses outside the transit-intensive area.
(d)
(e) For purposes of this section, "transit-intensive
area" means an area that is within one-half mile of a major transit
stop or within one-quarter mile of the center line of a high-quality
transit corridor included in a regional transportation plan
. A major transit stop is as defined in Section 21064.3 of
the Public Resources Code , except that, for purposes of
this section, it also includes major transit stops that are included
in the applicable regional transportation plan . For
purposes of this section, a high-quality transit corridor means a
corridor with a fixed route bus service with service intervals no
longer than 15 minutes during peak commute hours. A property shall be
considered to be within one-half mile of a major transit stop or
within one-quarter mile of the center line of a high-quality transit
corridor if all parcels within the property together have no more
than 25 percent of their area farther than one-half mile from the
stop or within one-quarter mile of the center line of a corridor, and
if not more than 10 percent of the residential units or 100 units,
whichever is less, in any proposed project are farther than one-half
mile from the stop or within one-quarter mile of the center line of a
corridor.
(e)
(f) Consistent with subdivision (f)
(g) , a city, county, or city and county, including a
charter city, may require higher minimum parking standards
for new development in a transit-intensive area other than those
established pursuant to subdivision (a) that is
otherwise subject to this section, shall not be required to apply the
minimum off-street parking requirements in subdivision (a) in a
transit- intensive area in place of those set forth in its
zoning code if it makes at least one of the following
written findings, specific to that transit-intensive area,
based upon objective criteria and substantial
evidence in the record that:
(1) The transit-intensive area in question does
not currently have or cannot reasonably expect to have sufficient
walkability , as defined by proximity to services such as
grocery stores or other neighborhood amenities within one-half mile
of the transit-intensive area to justify reduced
off-street parking requirements .
(2) The transit-intensive area in question does
not currently have or cannot reasonably expect to have a sufficient
level of transit service or bike access to provide for viable
alternatives to the car for a significant proportion
of the trips generated by new development .
(3) The parking standards minimum parking
requirements set forth in this act would undermine
existing parking standards that create effective incentives for
transit-oriented development or affordable housing production, or
both reduce the number of low-income housing units
produced in that transit -intensive area through density
bonus programs such as the program set forth in Sections 65915 to
65918, inclusive .
(4) The parking standards set forth in this section conflict with
a plan that is specific to a station area and is in effect as of
January 1, 2013, that includes a major transit stop and provides for
reduced off-street automobile parking requirements in comparison to
the standard zoning requirements in the same jurisdiction outside the
transit-intensive area.
(4) The transit-intensive area in question will be adversely
affected by a reduction in minimum off-street parking requirements.
(f)
(g) Any action by a city, county, or city and county,
including a charter city, to increase parking requirements
in a transit-intensive area pursuant to subdivision (e)
pursuant to subdivision (f) to exempt transit-
intensiv e areas from the minimum parking
requirements set forth in subdivision (a) and maintain the minimum
parking requirements set forth in its local code shall be in
the form of an ordinance that complies with a local zone,
plan, or other generally applicable development standard within that
transit area a resolution adopted by the legislative
body of a city, county, or city and county .
Development projects whose applications the city or county has deemed
complete after January 1, 2014, but before the adoption of any
increased minimum parking requirements made pursuant to this
subdivision, shall not be subject to those increased minimum parking
requirements.
(g) A city, county, or city and county that has adopted an
ordinance pursuant to subdivisions (e) and (f) may repeal that
ordinance at any time without any requirement for new findings or
analysis.
(h) Multiple transit-intensive areas may be exempted from the
requirements of subdivision (a) by a single resolution, provided that
the resolution includes at least one of the findings set forth in
subdivision (f) applied to each transit-intensive area to be
exempted.
(h)
(i) (1) Before January 1, 2014, a
city, county, or city and county may evaluate and approve projects
pursuant to the parking standards minimum
parking requirements under this section.
(2) After January 1, 2014, but before the adoption of a resolution
pursuant to subdivision (g), development projects shall not be
subject to minimum off-street parking requirements higher than those
set forth in subdivision (a).
(j) This section shall not apply to any city, county, or city and
county that has no transit-intensive areas within its jurisdiction.