BILL NUMBER: AB 1897 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 12, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Campos
FEBRUARY 22, 2012
An act to amend Section Sections 65040.2
and 65302 of the Government Code, relating to land use.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1897, as amended, Campos. Land use: general plan:
healthy food element. access to healthy food.
The
(1) The Planning and Zoning Law
requires that a city or county general plan consist of various
elements, including, among other things, a land use element that
designates the proposed general distribution and general location and
extent of the uses of the land for housing, business, industry, open
space, education, public buildings and grounds, solid and liquid
waste disposal facilities, and other categories of public and private
uses of land, as specified.
This bill would additionally require the land use element to
identify food deserts, as defined, within the city or county and
consider zoning changes to mitigate those areas currently designated
as food deserts.
(2) Existing law requires the Office of Planning and Research to
implement various long-range planning and research policies and goals
that are intended to shape statewide development patterns and
significantly influence the quality of the state's environment and,
in connection with those responsibilities, to adopt guidelines for
the preparation and content of the mandatory elements required in
city and county general plans.
This bill would authorize the office to prepare and amend the
guidelines to contain advice, developed in consultation with the
Department of Food and Agriculture, for improving the health of
Californians by increasing access to healthy affordable food.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares that in certain
parts of California there exists a shortage of fresh, healthy, and
affordable food, especially for persons and families of low and
moderate income, and that there is an immediate need to encourage the
access of to healthy food for persons
residing in California, not only through the provision of grocery
stores, farmers markets, urban agriculture, mobile vendors, or other
methods, but also through changes in law designed to do all of the
following:
(a) Expedite the local and state residential development process
locating new or rehabilitated grocery stores in food deserts.
(b) Ensure that local governments zone sufficient land to include
grocery stores and urban agriculture.
(c) Ensure that local governments make a diligent effort through
the administration of land use and development controls and the
provision of regulatory concessions and incentives to significantly
reduce barriers to grocery store development and thereby facilitate
the development of affordable and accessible food.
SEC. 2. Section 65040.2 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
65040.2. (a) In connection with its responsibilities under
subdivision (l) of Section 65040, the office shall develop and adopt
guidelines for the preparation of and the content of the mandatory
elements required in city and county general plans by Article 5
(commencing with Section 65300) of Chapter 3. For purposes of this
section, the guidelines prepared pursuant to Section 50459 of the
Health and Safety Code shall be the guidelines for the housing
element required by Section 65302. In the event that additional
elements are hereafter required in city and county general plans by
Article 5 (commencing with Section 65300) of Chapter 3, the office
shall adopt guidelines for those elements within six months of the
effective date of the legislation requiring those additional
elements.
(b) The office may request from each state department and agency,
as it deems appropriate, and the department or agency shall provide,
technical assistance in readopting, amending, or repealing the
guidelines.
(c) The guidelines shall be advisory to each city and county in
order to provide assistance in preparing and maintaining their
respective general plans.
(d) The guidelines shall contain the guidelines for addressing
environmental justice matters developed pursuant to Section 65040.12.
(e) The guidelines shall contain advice including recommendations
for best practices to allow for collaborative land use planning of
adjacent civilian and military lands and facilities. The guidelines
shall encourage enhanced land use compatibility between civilian
lands and any adjacent or nearby military facilities through the
examination of potential impacts upon one another.
(f) The guidelines shall contain advice for addressing the effects
of civilian development on military readiness activities carried out
on all of the following:
(1) Military installations.
(2) Military operating areas.
(3) Military training areas.
(4) Military training routes.
(5) Military airspace.
(6) Other territory adjacent to those installations and areas.
(g) By March 1, 2005, the guidelines shall contain advice,
developed in consultation with the Native American Heritage
Commission, for consulting with California Native American tribes for
all of the following:
(1) The preservation of, or the mitigation of impacts to, places,
features, and objects described in Sections 5097.9 and 5097.993 of
the Public Resources Code.
(2) Procedures for identifying through the Native American
Heritage Commission the appropriate California Native American
tribes.
(3) Procedures for continuing to protect the confidentiality of
information concerning the specific identity, location, character,
and use of those places, features, and objects.
(4) Procedures to facilitate voluntary landowner participation to
preserve and protect the specific identity, location, character, and
use of those places, features, and objects.
(h) Commencing January 1, 2009, but no later than January 1, 2014,
upon the next revision of the guidelines pursuant to subdivision
(i), the office shall prepare or amend guidelines for a legislative
body to accommodate the safe and convenient travel of users of
streets, roads, and highways in a manner that is suitable to the
rural, suburban, or urban context of the general plan, pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 65302.
(1) In developing guidelines, the office shall consider how
appropriate accommodation varies depending on its transportation and
land use context, including urban, suburban, or rural environments.
(2) The office may consult with leading transportation experts
including, but not limited to, bicycle transportation planners,
pedestrian planners, public transportation planners, local air
quality management districts, and disability and senior mobility
planners.
(i) (1) Upon the next revision of the guidelines pursuant to
subdivision (j), the office may prepare and amend the guidelines to
contain advice, developed in consultation with the Department of Food
and Agriculture, for improving the health of Californians by
increasing access to healthy affordable food. This advice may
include, but is not limited to, information on how a city or county
may choose, if relevant, to address the following issues:
(A) Access to full and discount grocery stores.
(B) Access to urban farming.
(C) Access to community or school gardens.
(D) Access to farmers' markets.
(E) Access to affordable food, including food retail spaces that
accept CalFresh benefits received under the federal Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program of the federal Food and Nutrition Act of
2008 pursuant to Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part
6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or benefits
received under the California Special Supplemental Food Program for
Women, Infants, and Children, as provided for in Article 2
(commencing with Section 123275) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division
106 of the Health and Safety Code.
(F) Access to transportation near grocery stores, including, but
not limited to, bus stops or other mass transportation stops near the
grocery store, free or low-cost shuttles to and from the grocery
store, taxi vouchers, and carpool programs.
(2) The information included in the next revision of the
guidelines pursuant to this subdivision shall be made applicable to a
city or county only at the discretion of its legislative body.
(i)
(j) The office shall provide for regular review and
revision of the guidelines established pursuant to this section.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 65302 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
65302. The general plan shall consist of a statement of
development policies and shall include a diagram or diagrams and text
setting forth objectives, principles, standards, and plan proposals.
The plan shall include the following elements:
(a) A land use element that designates the proposed general
distribution and general location and extent of the uses of the land
for housing, business, industry, open space, including agriculture,
natural resources, recreation, and enjoyment of scenic beauty,
education, public buildings and grounds, solid and liquid waste
disposal facilities, and other categories of public and private uses
of land. The location and designation of the extent of the uses of
the land for public and private uses shall consider the
identification of land and natural resources pursuant to paragraph
(3) of subdivision (d). The land use element shall include a
statement of the standards of population density and building
intensity recommended for the various districts and other territory
covered by the plan. The land use element shall identify and annually
review those areas covered by the plan that are subject to flooding
identified by flood plain mapping prepared by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) or the Department of Water Resources. The
land use element shall also do all of the following:
(1) Designate in a land use category that provides for timber
production those parcels of real property zoned for timberland
production pursuant to the California Timberland Productivity Act of
1982 (Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 51100) of Part 1 of
Division 1 of Title 5).
(2) Consider the impact of new growth on military readiness
activities carried out on military bases, installations, and
operating and training areas, when proposing zoning ordinances or
designating land uses covered by the general plan for land, or other
territory adjacent to military facilities, or underlying designated
military aviation routes and airspace.
(A) In determining the impact of new growth on military readiness
activities, information provided by military facilities shall be
considered. Cities and counties shall address military impacts based
on information from the military and other sources.
(B) The following definitions govern this paragraph:
(i) "Military readiness activities" mean all of the following:
(I) Training, support, and operations that prepare the men and
women of the military for combat.
(II) Operation, maintenance, and security of any military
installation.
(III) Testing of military equipment, vehicles, weapons, and
sensors for proper operation or suitability for combat use.
(ii) "Military installation" means a base, camp, post, station,
yard, center, homeport facility for any ship, or other activity under
the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Defense as
defined in paragraph (1) of subsection (e) of Section 2687 of Title
10 of the United States Code.
(3) (A) At the next update of the land use element following the
effective date of the act that added this paragraph, identify food
deserts within the city or county and consider zoning changes to
mitigate those areas currently designated as food deserts.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(i) "Food desert" means a low-income census tract where at least
500 people or at least 33 percent, whichever is less, of the
population within the census tract reside more than two miles from a
supermarket or large grocery store.
(ii) "Low-income census tract" means any census tract where either
of the following apply:
(I) The poverty rate for that census tract is at least 20 percent.
(II) For census tracts not located within a metropolitan area, the
median family income for the tract does not exceed 80 percent of
statewide median family income, or for tracts located within a
metropolitan area, the median family income for the tract does not
exceed 80 percent of the greater of statewide median family income or
the metropolitan area median family income.
(iii) "Supermarket" means a retailer that has annual sales of at
least two million dollars ($2,000,000) and contains all the major
food departments found in a traditional supermarket, including, but
not limited to, fresh meat and poultry, produce, dairy, dry and
packaged foods, and frozen foods.
(b) (1) A circulation element consisting of the general location
and extent of existing and proposed major thoroughfares,
transportation routes, terminals, any military airports and ports,
and other local public utilities and facilities, all correlated with
the land use element of the plan.
(2) (A) Commencing January 1, 2011, upon any substantive revision
of the circulation element, the legislative body shall modify the
circulation element to plan for a balanced, multimodal transportation
network that meets the needs of all users of streets, roads, and
highways for safe and convenient travel in a manner that is suitable
to the rural, suburban, or urban context of the general plan.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, "users of streets, roads, and
highways" means bicyclists, children, persons with disabilities,
motorists, movers of commercial goods, pedestrians, users of public
transportation, and seniors.
(c) A housing element as provided in Article 10.6 (commencing with
Section 65580).
(d) (1) A conservation element for the conservation, development,
and utilization of natural resources including water and its
hydraulic force, forests, soils, rivers and other waters, harbors,
fisheries, wildlife, minerals, and other natural resources. The
conservation element shall consider the effect of development within
the jurisdiction, as described in the land use element, on natural
resources located on public lands, including military installations.
That portion of the conservation element including waters shall be
developed in coordination with any countywide water agency and with
all district and city agencies, including flood management, water
conservation, or groundwater agencies that have developed, served,
controlled, managed, or conserved water of any type for any purpose
in the county or city for which the plan is prepared. Coordination
shall include the discussion and evaluation of any water supply and
demand information described in Section 65352.5, if that information
has been submitted by the water agency to the city or county.
(2) The conservation element may also cover all of the following:
(A) The reclamation of land and waters.
(B) Prevention and control of the pollution of streams and other
waters.
(C) Regulation of the use of land in stream channels and other
areas required for the accomplishment of the conservation plan.
(D) Prevention, control, and correction of the erosion of soils,
beaches, and shores.
(E) Protection of watersheds.
(F) The location, quantity and quality of the rock, sand and
gravel resources.
(3) Upon the next revision of the housing element on or after
January 1, 2009, the conservation element shall identify rivers,
creeks, streams, flood corridors, riparian habitats, and land that
may accommodate floodwater for purposes of groundwater recharge and
stormwater management.
(e) An open-space element as provided in Article 10.5 (commencing
with Section 65560).
(f) (1) A noise element that shall identify and appraise noise
problems in the community. The noise element shall recognize the
guidelines established by the Office of Noise Control and shall
analyze and quantify, to the extent practicable, as determined by the
legislative body, current and projected noise levels for all of the
following sources:
(A) Highways and freeways.
(B) Primary arterials and major local streets.
(C) Passenger and freight online railroad operations and ground
rapid transit systems.
(D) Commercial, general aviation, heliport, helistop, and military
airport operations, aircraft overflights, jet engine test stands,
and all other ground facilities and maintenance functions related to
airport operation.
(E) Local industrial plants, including, but not limited to,
railroad classification yards.
(F) Other ground stationary noise sources, including, but not
limited to, military installations, identified by local agencies as
contributing to the community noise environment.
(2) Noise contours shall be shown for all of these sources and
stated in terms of community noise equivalent level (CNEL) or
day-night average level (Ldn). The noise contours shall be prepared
on the basis of noise monitoring or following generally accepted
noise modeling techniques for the various sources identified in
paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive.
(3) The noise contours shall be used as a guide for establishing a
pattern of land uses in the land use element that minimizes the
exposure of community residents to excessive noise.
(4) The noise element shall include implementation measures and
possible solutions that address existing and foreseeable noise
problems, if any. The adopted noise element shall serve as a
guideline for compliance with the state's noise insulation standards.
(g) (1) A safety element for the protection of the community from
any unreasonable risks associated with the effects of seismically
induced surface rupture, ground shaking, ground failure, tsunami,
seiche, and dam failure; slope instability leading to mudslides and
landslides; subsidence, liquefaction, and other seismic hazards
identified pursuant to Chapter 7.8 (commencing with Section 2690) of
Division 2 of the Public Resources Code, and other geologic hazards
known to the legislative body; flooding; and wild land and urban
fires. The safety element shall include mapping of known seismic and
other geologic hazards. It shall also address evacuation routes,
military installations, peakload water supply requirements, and
minimum road widths and clearances around structures, as those items
relate to identified fire and geologic hazards.
(2) The safety element, upon the next revision of the housing
element on or after January 1, 2009, shall also do the following:
(A) Identify information regarding flood hazards, including, but
not limited to, the following:
(i) Flood hazard zones. As used in this subdivision, "flood hazard
zone" means an area subject to flooding that is delineated as either
a special hazard area or an area of moderate or minimal hazard on an
official flood insurance rate map issued by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency. The identification of a flood hazard zone does not
imply that areas outside the flood hazard zones or uses permitted
within flood hazard zones will be free from flooding or flood damage.
(ii) National Flood Insurance Program maps published by FEMA.
(iii) Information about flood hazards that is available from the
United States Army Corps of Engineers.
(iv) Designated floodway maps that are available from the Central
Valley Flood Protection Board.
(v) Dam failure inundation maps prepared pursuant to Section
8589.5 that are available from the California Emergency Management
Agency.
(vi) Awareness Floodplain Mapping Program maps and 200-year flood
plain maps that are or may be available from, or accepted by, the
Department of Water Resources.
(vii) Maps of levee protection zones.
(viii) Areas subject to inundation in the event of the failure of
project or nonproject levees or floodwalls.
(ix) Historical data on flooding, including locally prepared maps
of areas that are subject to flooding, areas that are vulnerable to
flooding after wildfires, and sites that have been repeatedly damaged
by flooding.
(x) Existing and planned development in flood hazard zones,
including structures, roads, utilities, and essential public
facilities.
(xi) Local, state, and federal agencies with responsibility for
flood protection, including special districts and local offices of
emergency services.
(B) Establish a set of comprehensive goals, policies, and
objectives based on the information identified pursuant to
subparagraph (A), for the protection of the community from the
unreasonable risks of flooding, including, but not limited to:
(i) Avoiding or minimizing the risks of flooding to new
development.
(ii) Evaluating whether new development should be located in flood
hazard zones, and identifying construction methods or other methods
to minimize damage if new development is located in flood hazard
zones.
(iii) Maintaining the structural and operational integrity of
essential public facilities during flooding.
(iv) Locating, when feasible, new essential public facilities
outside of flood hazard zones, including hospitals and health care
facilities, emergency shelters, fire stations, emergency command
centers, and emergency communications facilities or identifying
construction methods or other methods to minimize damage if these
facilities are located in flood hazard zones.
(v) Establishing cooperative working relationships among public
agencies with responsibility for flood protection.
(C) Establish a set of feasible implementation measures designed
to carry out the goals, policies, and objectives established pursuant
to subparagraph (B).
(3) After the initial revision of the safety element pursuant to
paragraph (2), upon each revision of the housing element, the
planning agency shall review and, if necessary, revise the safety
element to identify new information that was not available during the
previous revision of the safety element.
(4) Cities and counties that have flood plain management
ordinances that have been approved by FEMA that substantially comply
with this section, or have substantially equivalent provisions to
this subdivision in their general plans, may use that information in
the safety element to comply with this subdivision, and shall
summarize and incorporate by reference into the safety element the
other general plan provisions or the flood plain ordinance,
specifically showing how each requirement of this subdivision has
been met.
(5) Prior to the periodic review of its general plan and prior to
preparing or revising its safety element, each city and county shall
consult the California Geological Survey of the Department of
Conservation, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, if the city
or county is located within the boundaries of the Sacramento and San
Joaquin Drainage District, as set forth in Section 8501 of the Water
Code, and the California Emergency Management Agency for the purpose
of including information known by and available to the department,
the agency, and the board required by this subdivision.
(6) To the extent that a county's safety element is sufficiently
detailed and contains appropriate policies and programs for adoption
by a city, a city may adopt that portion of the county's safety
element that pertains to the city's planning area in satisfaction of
the requirement imposed by this subdivision.