Land Use/Planning

AB 744 (Chau) – Request for Comments 
As amended on March 26, 2015

Assembly Bill 744, by Assembly Member Ed Chau, would amend density bonus law to prohibit, at the request of the developer, a city or county from imposing a minimum onsite parking requirement on a development that is both located within one-half mile of a major transit stop, and is a senior housing development or special needs housing development. The bill would also specify that a city or county may impose a maximum onsite parking requirement for a development. 

CSAC is interested in feedback from counties related to this measure. AB 744 will be heard in the Assembly Local Government Committee on April 29.

AB 779 (Garcia) – Support 
As amended on April 14, 2015

Assembly Bill 779, by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia, would provide that any guidelines issued to implement the provisions of SB 743 (Steinberg, 2013), which required the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to develop amendments to the CEQA guidelines to replace Level of Service (LOS) with a different metric for analyzing transportation-related impacts of projects shall not be effective until July 1, 2017. 

CSAC has expressed concerns with OPR’s discussion draft proposal, which would replace LOS with a vehicle miles travelled (VMT) metric for projects completed anywhere in the state. While, CSAC understands and supports the policy basis for transitioning from LOS to VMT in dense, urban areas with many transportation alternatives, we remain concerned with the feasibility and potential unintended consequences of requiring VMT analysis for projects with transportation impacts anywhere in the state. AB 779 would allow additional time to fully vet this proposed change. 

AB 779 will be heard in the Assembly Transportation Committee on April 20. 

AB 1236 (Chiu) – Request for Comment
As introduced on February 27, 2015

Assembly Bill 1236, by Assembly Member David Chiu, would require a city or county to approve the installation of electric vehicle charging stations unless the city or county can make findings based upon substantial evidence in the record that the proposed installation would have adverse impacts on public health or safety and there is no feasible method to mitigate or avoid these impacts.

Assembly Bill 1236 was passed by the Assembly Local Government Committee on March 23 and is awaiting a hearing the Assembly Transportation Committee. 

AB 1344 (Jones) – Oppose 
As amended on April 6, 2015

Assembly Bill 1344, by Assembly Member Brian Jones, would undermine local land use and zoning authority by enabling charter schools to site facilities in conflict with local general plans. Such an exemption can have profound effects on a community by hindering a city or county’s attempts to promote compact growth, as well as leading to pedestrian safety and traffic issues when transportation infrastructure planning has not been coordinated with a new school site. 

Assembly Bill 1344 will be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on April 22. 

Transportation

AB 323 (Olsen) – Support
As introduced on February 13, 2015

Assembly Bill 323, by Assembly Minority Leader Olsen, would extend until January 1, 2020 the provisions of AB 890 (Olsen, 2012) which allow a city or county with less than 100,000 population to exempt from CEQA review a project to repair, maintain, or make minor alterations to an existing roadway for public safety purposes. CSAC supported AB 890, and supports the extension of the current sunset date. 

AB 323 will be heard in the Assembly Transportation Committee on April 20.

ACA 4 (Frazier) – Support 
As introduced on February 27, 2105 

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4, by Assembly Member Jim Frazier, would provide that the imposition, extension, or increase of a special tax by a local government for local transportation projects requires the approval of fifty-five percent of the voters. While twenty counties, which comprise over eighty percent of the state’s population, have already adopted local transportation revenue measures, many other counties aspire to raise additional revenue to fund priority transportation projects. Initial estimates show that if voters in each of these additional counties approved a quarter-cent sales tax measure, they would generate approximately $300 million in new local transportation revenues. CSAC supports this measure, because in addition to helping counties institute new “self-help” measures, it would also facilitate the extension of expiring transportation funding measures, while still maintaining the high bar of super-majority voter approval.

ACA 4 has been referred to the Assembly Transportation Committee.