BILL ANALYSIS �
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| SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER |
| Senator Fran Pavley, Chair |
| 2011-2012 Regular Session |
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BILL NO: SB 1241 HEARING DATE: March 27, 2012
AUTHOR: Kehoe URGENCY: No
VERSION: As Introduced CONSULTANT: Bill Craven
DUAL REFERRAL: Governance and FinanceFISCAL: Yes
SUBJECT: Land use: general plan: safety element: fire hazard
impacts.
BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
The state government pays for wildland fire protection on
non-federal lands outside cities. These lands are designated as
"state responsibility areas" (SRA) and the boundaries of those
SRA lands are reviewed and amended every five years by the Board
of Forestry and Fire Protection. Within SRA lands, the
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) designates fire
hazard severity zones. SRA landowners must follow specified fire
prevention practices including compliance with defensible space
regulations.
In 1991, following the fire in the Oakland hills, CDF was
required to designate very high fire hazard severity zones in
urbanized areas. Like their rural counterparts, landowners in
these areas must also follow specified fire prevention
practices.
Existing law also requires every county and city to adopt a
general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use,
circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and
safety. The purpose of these plans is to guide major land use
decisions so that such decisions that affect the siting
subdivisions, zoning decisions, public works projects, land use
permits, etc., are consistent with those general plans.
This bill amends the safety element of general plan law. A
safety element describes how local governments will protect the
public against risks from specified hazards, including fires.
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The Legislative Analyst Office reported that SRA lands encompass
31 million acres in California and that local land use decisions
have resulted in increasing development and residential density
in many SRA areas. Census data indicates that in inland Southern
California, population has increased by 50% during the past
decade.
The budget of CDF reflects these land use decisions and
population growth. Its budget has increased more than 150% since
1997-98.
Governor Schwarzenegger's Climate Action Team estimated in 2009
that because of climate change, the number of wildfires could
double in the next several decades. While perhaps not
conclusively linked to climate change, 23 major fires occurred
in southern California in one week in October, 2007. Similarly,
in the spring of 2008, more than 1,000 separate fires occurred
across northern California.
PROPOSED LAW
1. The Planning and Zoning Law says that the safety element's
purpose is to protect the
community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards,
flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In 2007, the
Legislature expanded the safety elements' contents for flood
hazards, requiring these documents to contain: Information about
flood hazards, listing 11 types
of information. Based on that information, a set of
comprehensive goals, policies, and objectives to protect against
unreasonable flood risks is established. To carry out those
goals, a set of feasible implementation measures is required.
This bill adopts a similar structure for wildland fire risks
that must appear in safety elements as cities and counties
revise their safety elements.
2. SB 1241 would require cities and counties to review and
update their safety elements to address fire risks on land
classified as State Responsibility Area (SRA) and very high fire
hazard severity zones. Local officials must act before January
1, 2015 and, after that, each time they revise their housing
elements.
When reviewing their safety elements, SB 1241 requires cities
and counties to consider the advice in "Fire Hazard Planning,"
published by the Governor's Office of Planning and Research.
The bill also expands the required contents of safety elements
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that cover SRA lands and very high fire hazard severity zones to
require: information about fire hazards, including fire
hazard severity zone maps, historical data on wildfires,
information about wildfire hazard areas
available from the U.S. Geological Survey, the general location
and distribution of existing and planned development, and public
fire protection agencies. Based on that information, a set of
goals, policies, and objectives, would be required to be
included in the safety element that includes all of the
following: avoiding or minimizing wildfire risks to new
development, identifying construction design or methods to
minimize fires, locating new essential public facilities outside
SRA lands and very high fire hazard severity zones, and working
cooperatively on these matters with public fire protection
agencies. To carry out those goals, policies, and objectives, a
set of feasible implementation measures is also required.
3. A county with SRA lands and a city or county with very high
fire hazard severity zones must send, under existing law, their
draft documents to the State Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection and to the local fire agencies for comment. If the
recommendations are not available in time, the local officials
can act without them. SB 1241 makes a technical change to this
provision by acknowledging that the Board of Forestry will not
always make such recommendations.
4. This bill also directs the Board of Forestry to develop
regulations that direct, when feasible, that subdivisions in SRA
or very high hazard severity zones have two separate access
roads under certain conditions. These conditions include the
geographical and topographical situation of a subdivision, the
feasibility of requiring two separate access roads, ownership
patterns, the ability of future phased of development to provide
access, and the predominant wind patterns.
5. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires
public officials to consider a proposed project's environmental
effects and to avoid or mitigate environmental impacts when
feasible. To help public agencies carry out their duties, the
Governor's Office of Planning and Research drafts and the
Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency adopts administrative
regulations called the "CEQA Guidelines." SB 1241 requires the
Office of Planning and Research to cooperate with the State
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in recommending
changes to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for the
initial study of the "CEQA Guidelines" regarding fire hazard
impacts on land classified as SRA and very high fire hazard
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severity zones.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
According to the author, it is in the state's best interest to
ensure that cities and counties do all they can to engage in
comprehensive and consistent fire prevention and fire protection
planning as early in the local land use planning process as
possible for projects in SRA and in very high hazard severity
zones. Among other fire policy bills from this author, Senator
Kehoe previously carried legislation that strengthened safety
element requirements for general plans that established the
principle that the Board of Forestry should have a review
function of those plans.
The California Fire Chiefs Association and the Fire Districts
Association of California support the front-end planning
provisions contained in SB 1241.
The California Professional Firefighters encourage the planning
discussions that occur at the local level that focus on fire
prevention efforts in vulnerable areas before new building sites
are approved. This organization contends that the already
challenging and risky job of firefighting would be made less
difficult while also enhancing the public's safety.
The Endangered Habitats League, a southern California
conservation group, supports all of the provisions in SB 1241 as
measures that would help California plan prudently for fire and
reduce risks to life, property, and the environment.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION
The California State Association of Counties and the Regional
Council of Rural Counties object to the proposed safety element
changes because they believe that many counties prepare those
safety elements with a worse-case scenario in mind that would
not require the proposed changes. These groups are concerned
about potential implementation costs given the fiscal condition
of many local governments, despite the availability of fee
revenues that are potentially possible pursuant to the bill.
COMMENTS
1. On page 9, line 11, the bill should be amended to ensure that
siting of houses within subdivisions does not require access to
public lands for the purpose of compliance with fuel reduction
or brush clearance requirements of state law or local
ordinances. Several local governments are familiar with the
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problem of having sited housing so close to a boundary with a
public agency that a landowner must seek permission to clear
public lands in order to comply with fuel reduction laws and
ordinances. As part of the planning reforms proposed in this
bill, that circumstance should be addressed.
2. On page 13, line 35, the bill provides that ingress and
egress for a new subdivision must meet the fire equipment access
provisions adopted by the Board of Forestry. It is not at all
clear that local governments, who traditionally have land use
authority over such considerations, have approved or adopted
those provisions. A quick look at those regulations indicates
all two lane roads would need to be 18 feet wide, with very wide
turning circles available, and that one-lane roads have to be a
minimum of ten feet wide. Roads would have to be within certain
grade limits and sharp corners are prohibited. These provisions
are clearly oriented toward the desires of fire departments, and
may or may not reflect the necessary balance that is achieved
when local governments consider the wishes of fire departments
and the wishes of local landowners. To that end, staff suggests
that the bill be amended to state that the Board of Forestry
regulations be followed to the extent practicable while also
adhering to local ordinances that establish criteria for ingress
and egress into rural subdivisions There is some unavoidable
tension in this suggestion that can perhaps be considered
further assuming the bill moves forward.
3. On page 14, line 32, the bill proposes that the board
initiate a rulemaking process to consider adopting a requirement
for two separate access roads for subdivisions in SRA or high
fire hazard severity zones. Similarly, this provision should
also include consideration of local ordinances.
The fire prevention and other benefits of two roads may seem
obvious, but those considerations could be offset if those two
roads are used to increase density, increase development or the
number of parcels on which development could occur, or increase
the number of structures in SRA or high fire hazard severity
zones.
This bill is double-referred and these amendments can be drafted
by the author and committee staff prior to the hearing in
Governance and Finance Committee.
SUPPORT
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Native Plant Society
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California Professional Firefighters
Endangered Habitats League
Fire Districts Association of California
OPPOSITION
California State Association of Counties
Regional Council of Rural Counties
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