Amended in Assembly May 13, 2014

Amended in Assembly May 1, 2014

Amended in Assembly March 20, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1922

Introduced by Assembly Member Gomez

February 19, 2014

An act to amend Section 815.3 of the Civil Code, to amend Section 65560 of the Government Code, and to add Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 5845) to Division 5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to open-space lands.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1922, as amended, Gomez. Greenway Development and Sustainment Act.

Existing law establishes various plans and programs intended to preserve, protect, and rehabilitate lands adjacent to rivers in the state.

This bill would enact the Greenway Development and Sustainment Act, which is intended to promote the development of greenways along rivers in the state, including the development of a greenway along the Los Angeles River. The bill would define the term “greenway” for purposes of the bill and would authorize a city, county, city and county, or other local government entity to designate lands along a river in its jurisdiction begin insert as a greenway end insert , upon approval of its legislative body by ordinance or resolution, or by incorporating such a designation into an adopted general plan element or adopted river master plan, and to apply for public or private funding available for the development of a greenway in its jurisdiction, to be used in a manner consistent with applicable state laws.

Existing law authorizes certain entities and organizations to acquire and hold conservation easements, including a tax exempt nonprofit organization qualified to do business in this state that has as its primary purpose the preservation, protection, or enhancement of land in its natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, forested, or open-space condition or use.

This bill would also authorize such a tax exempt nonprofit organization to acquire and hold a conservation easement if the organization has as its primary purpose the development of a greenway.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares
all of the following:

(1) Open-space land is necessary not only for the maintenance
of the economy of the state, but for, among other purposes, the
enjoyment of scenic beauty, recreation, and the use and
preservation of natural resources. Moreover, the growing
population of the state makes it important that existing open-space
resources be preserved and well maintained, and that access to
those resources be ensured for the health benefits and well-being
of the state’s population. The preservation of open-space land is
especially critical in urban areas where the amount of usable
open-space land is limited.

(2) Open-space land provides relief from the effects of urban
congestion and opportunities for relaxation, exercise, community
interaction, and the observation and appreciation of wildlife, which
helps to combat both physical and psychological stress. Trees
located on open-space land also provide shade and help reduce
ambient temperatures and restore oxygen to the atmosphere.

(3) Greenways are public infrastructure located along natural
landscape features such as urban watercourses, which, because of
their linear structure, help to physically and psychologically
connect various neighborhoods with one another while providing
a means of habitat connectivity.

(4) Greenways can directly improve the quality of life in
communities by providing important recreational, open-space land,
wildlife, flood management, water quality, air quality,
transportation, emergency response, and urban waterfront
revitalization benefits to those communities.

(5) Greenways can foster livable communities by utilizing public
lands for multiple, complementary purposes, such as placemaking,
connecting diverse communities, reducing dependence on
automobiles, expanding nonmotorized transportation networks
with safer routes to jobs, homes, and schools, encouraging more
transit-oriented development, and facilitating healthier behaviors
by providing opportunities for exercise and the maintenance of a
healthy, active lifestyle.

(6) Greenways can complement and enhance public amenities
and public-serving retail services that provide additional access to
historically underserved communities by attracting residents and
visitors to these areas. Greenways can increase public safety and
foster improved civic vigilance. Greenways in cities throughout
the world have demonstrated the effectiveness and benefits of
sustainable and successful public-private partnerships.

(7) Greenways encourage healthier residential communities by
facilitating development that allows people to live closer to job
centers and use public transportation alternatives.

(8) Greenways reduce the amount of parking necessary for small
businesses because of reduced automobile traffic, encourage the
development of affordable housing in urban areas, and promote
walking and cycling and increased community interaction.

(9) Greenways encourage economic investment and community
revitalization by connecting people in new ways.

(b) The Legislature finds and declares the following with regard
to the development of a greenway along the Los Angeles River:

(1) The Los Angeles River is a site that is particularly suited
for the development of a greenway. A Los Angeles River greenway
that focuses on public-private partnerships aimed at establishing
a continuous pedestrian bikeway along the Los Angeles River and
its key tributaries would foster job creation, economic development,
and community revitalization.

(2) A Los Angeles River greenway that establishes a continuous
pedestrian bikeway along the Los Angeles River and its key
tributaries would encourage community revitalization by investing
in an efficient cycling and walking recreational transit route
following the 51-mile Los Angeles River corridor. The greenway
would also connect existing communities along the Los Angeles
River to a network of parks and multiuse public trails.

(3) A Los Angeles River greenway would build upon a long
history of support for a multiuse greenway network along the most
significant river in the nation’s second largest city. Since the 1980s,
residents of the Los Angeles area have been advocating for the
development of a trail network along the Los Angeles River. The
County of Los Angeles’ Los Angeles River Master Plan in 1996,
the City of Los Angeles’ Los Angeles River Revitalization Master
Plan in 2007, the City of Los Angeles Bicycle Plan in 2010, the
County of Los Angeles Bicycle Plan in 2012, and President
Obama’s prioritization of the Los Angeles River trail system in
the President’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative in 2012 all
promote the development of a river trail system along the Los
Angeles River.

(4) A Los Angeles River greenway would build upon a long
history of investment by the state in the development of parks and
trails along the Los Angeles River, including Rio de Los Angeles
State Park and Los Angeles State Historic Park. Moreover, a Los
Angeles River greenway would complement the work of key state
entities, including the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and
various other state rivers and mountains conservancies.

(5) Because of its ability to leverage private investments to
match commitments of public funds, the development of a Los
Angeles River greenway by the City of Los Angeles would allow
the state to concentrate and streamline investments it has already
made in communities adjacent to the Los Angeles River, and would
provide a funding model for types of investments funding
greenways that may be replicated in other priority urban waterways
in the future.

begin delete

(6) Because a greenway is a transportation corridor that
promotes sustainability, it is eligible for alternative fuels funding,
transportation funding, and other nontraditional river funding.

end delete begin delete

(7)

end delete

begin insert (6) end insert  Given the current fiscal constraints facing public agencies,
it is time for the state to acknowledge and take advantage of the
ability of private sector investments to sustain public infrastructure
at all levels. Efforts to promote investment in the Los Angeles
River trail system should be encouraged to prevent partial,
disjointed, and inefficient development of the trail system.

begin delete

(8)

end delete

begin insert (7) end insert  A Los Angeles River greenway would provide a social and
natural resource amenity that would be complete and accessible
to the public in the next seven years, and would be a resource that
could be utilized and enjoyed by children in the Los Angeles area
during their childhood years.

begin delete

(9)

end delete

begin insert (8) end insert  A Los Angeles River greenway would improve the
conditions of daily life in Los Angeles’ urban communities and
would increase the value of the state’s investments while providing
critically needed, tangible urban waterway revitalization in the
Los Angeles area.

begin delete

(10)

end delete

begin insert (9) end insert  A greenway should be established in the area encompassing
the Los Angeles River from its headwaters in the Community of
Canoga Park to a point of discharge into the Pacific Ocean at San
Pedro Bay in the City of Long Beach, with a width of one-quarter
to one mile on both banks and at least one mile upstream along
both banks of its tributaries, as feasible. Within the City of Los
Angeles, the greenway could be coterminous with the area included
in the Los Angeles River Improvement Overlay district.

begin delete

(11)

end delete

begin insert (10) end insert  The County of Los Angeles’ Los Angeles River Master
Plan and the City of Los Angeles’ Los Angeles River Revitalization
Master Plan call for the development of a greenway along the Los
Angeles River.

(c) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature in enacting Chapter
10.5 (commencing with Section 5845) of Division 5 of the Public
Resources Code to promote the development of greenways along
rivers in the state through public and private partnership, including
the development of a greenway along the Los Angeles River.

SEC. 2.  

Section 815.3 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

815.3.  

Only the following entities or organizations may acquire
and hold conservation easements:

(a) A tax-exempt nonprofit organization qualified under Section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and qualified to do business
in this state that has as its primary purpose the preservation,
protection, or enhancement of land in its natural, scenic, historical,
agricultural, forested, or open-space condition or use, or the
development of a greenway, as defined in Section 5846 of the
Public Resources Code.

(b) The state or any city, county, city and county, district, or
other state or local governmental entity, if otherwise authorized
to acquire and hold title to real property and if the conservation
easement is voluntarily conveyed. No local governmental entity
may condition the issuance of an entitlement for use on the
applicant’s granting of a conservation easement pursuant to this
chapter.

(c) A federally recognized California Native American tribe or
a nonfederally recognized California Native American tribe that
is on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage
Commission to protect a California Native American prehistoric,
archaeological, cultural, spiritual, or ceremonial place, if the
conservation easement is voluntarily conveyed.

SEC. 3.  

Section 65560 of the Government Code is amended
to read:

65560.  

(a) “Local open-space plan” is the open-space element
of a county or city general plan adopted by the board or council,
either as the local open-space plan or as the interim local
open-space plan adopted pursuant to Section 65563.

(b) “Open-space land” is any parcel or area of land or water that
is essentially unimproved and devoted to an open-space use as
defined in this section, and that is designated on a local, regional,
or state open-space plan as any of the following:

(1) Open space for the preservation of natural resources
including, but not limited to, areas required for the preservation
of plant and animal life, including habitat for fish and wildlife
species; areas required for ecologic and other scientific study
purposes; rivers, streams, begin delete bays end delete begin insert bays, end insert and estuaries; and coastal
beaches, lakeshores, banks of rivers and streams, greenways, and
watershed lands.

(2) Open space used for the managed production of resources,
including, but not limited to, forest lands, rangeland, agricultural
lands, and areas of economic importance for the production of
food or fiber; areas required for recharge of groundwater basins;
bays, estuaries, marshes, begin delete rivers end delete begin insert rivers, end insert and streams which are
important for the management of commercial fisheries; and areas
containing major mineral deposits, including those in short supply.

(3) Open space for outdoor recreation, including, but not limited
to, areas of outstanding scenic, historic, and cultural value; areas
particularly suited for park and recreation purposes, including
access to lakeshores, beaches, and rivers and streams; and areas
that serve as links between major recreation and open-space
reservations, including utility easements, banks of rivers and
streams, trails, greenways, and scenic highway corridors.

(4) Open space for public health and safety, including, but not
limited to, areas that require special management or regulation
because of hazardous or special conditions such as earthquake
fault zones, unstable soil areas, flood plains, watersheds, areas
presenting high fire risks, areas required for the protection of water
quality and water reservoirs, and areas required for the protection
and enhancement of air quality.

(5) Open space in support of the mission of military installations
that comprises areas adjacent to military installations, military
training routes, and underlying restricted airspace that can provide
additional buffer zones to military activities and complement the
resource values of the military lands.

(6) Open space for the protection of places, features, and objects
described in Sections 5097.9 and 5097.993 of the Public Resources
Code.

SEC. 4.  

Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 5845) is added
to Division 5 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

 

Chapter  10.5. Greenway Development and Sustainment
Act

 

5845.  

This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Greenway Development and Sustainment Act.

5846.  

For purposes of this chapter, “greenway” means a
pedestrian and bicycle, nonmotorized vehicle transportation, and
recreational travel corridor that meets the following requirements:

(a) Is separated and protected from shared roadways, parallels
an urban waterway, and incorporates both ease of access to adjacent
communities and an array of amenities and services for the users
of the corridor and nearby communities.

(b) Is publicly accessible and located on a combination of public
and private lands, if public access to those lands is provided by
lands owned in fee simple, leases, or easements.

(c) Reflects design standards with appropriate widths,
clearances, setbacks from obstructions, and centerlines protecting
directional travel, where appropriate.

(d) Incorporates appropriate landscaping, lighting, public
amenities, and art.

5847.  

(a) A city, county, city and county, or other local
government entity may designate lands along a river in its
jurisdiction as a greenway, upon approval of its legislative body
by ordinance or resolution, or by incorporating such a designation
into an adopted general plan element or an adopted river master
plan.

(b) A city, county, city and county, or other local government
entity may adopt ordinances or resolutions that regulate public
health and safety or traffic within a designated greenway in its
jurisdiction.

5848.  

A city, county, city and county, or other local government
entity may apply for public or private funding available for the
development of a greenway in its jurisdiction, and any funds
secured for that purpose shall be used in a manner consistent with
applicable state laws. Funding that may be secured for the purposes
of this chapter is not limited to parkway, riverway, or other
water-related funds. A city, county, or city and county may also
seek transportation, alternative fuel, greenhouse gas reduction, or
other land use funds for the purposes of this chapter.