SB 672

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan that includes, among other specified mandatory elements, a housing element. For the 4th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, that law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (department) to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, as provided, and requires the appropriate council of governments, or the department for cities and counties without a council of governments, to adopt a final regional housing need plan allocating a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county that furthers various specified objectives. Existing law requires each council of governments, or a delegate subregion, to develop a proposed methodology for distributing the existing and projected regional housing need, as provided. For cities and counties without a council of governments, that law requires the department to determine and distribute the existing and projected housing need, unless that responsibility is delegated to cities and counties, as provided. This bill, for the 5th and 6th cycle of the housing element planning period for the City of Brisbane, would prohibit the Association of Bay Area Governments from allocating to the City of Brisbane a share of the regional housing need that exceeds the share allocated to the city for the current planning period if specified conditions apply. Among these conditions, the bill would require that the City of Brisbane has taken action during the current planning period to zone or rezone sites sufficient to accommodate 615% or more of its regional housing need allocation for the current planning period. The bill would require the City of Brisbane to report to the department, as part of its annual report required by existing law, information regarding demonstrable progress on meeting the 615% of its regional housing need allocation required by these provisions. (2) The Planning and Zoning Law requires the planning agency of a city or county to submit, within specified time periods, a draft housing element or amendment of a housing element to the department for review. If the department finds that the housing element does not comply with specified provisions regarding that element, that law requires the legislative body of the city or county to either (A) change the draft element or amendment to substantially comply or (B) adopt the draft element or amendment without changes and include written findings explaining the reasons the legislative body believes the draft element or amendment complies with those provisions. That law requires the department to review the adopted housing element or amendment within 90 days. The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city, county, or city and county to ensure that its housing element inventory or its housing element program makes sites available, as provided, sufficient to accommodate, at all times throughout the planning period, its remaining unmet share of the regional housing need. That law requires a city, county, or city and county to identify and make available within 180 days additional adequate sites to accommodate the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need by income level, if the approval of a development project results in fewer units by income category than identified in the jurisdiction's housing element for that parcel and the jurisdiction does not find that the remaining sites in the housing element are adequate to accommodate the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need by income level. The Planning and Zoning Law requires the department to notify the city, county, or city and county, and authorizes the department to notify the office of the Attorney General, that the city, county, or city and county is in violation of state law if the department finds, among other things, that the housing element or amendment to a housing element does not comply with specified law or that the local government has taken action in violation of the above-described requirements. This bill, if the City of Brisbane fails to provide information regarding demonstrable progress on meeting the 615% of its regional housing need allocation, as described above, would require the department to determine that the city's housing element does not substantially comply with specified law regarding the housing element and to report that noncompliance to the Attorney General. The bill would specify that its provisions regarding allocations of regional housing need to the City of Brisbane, as described above, do not waive or reduce the requirement to ensure that the City of Brisbane's housing element inventory accommodates sufficient sites to meet the city's unmet share of regional housing need. If the site of a proposed housing development that is used to comply with the above-described requirement to accommodate 615% of the city's regional housing need allocation in the current planning period is no longer adequate to meet specified requirements under existing law and to accommodate the City of Brisbane's share of the regional housing need, the bill would require the city to comply with the requirement to identify and make available adequate sites, as described above. The bill would provide that if the City of Brisbane fails to comply with these actions, that failure will be deemed to be a violation of state law in accordance with an existing process described above, and would require the department to notify the Attorney General of that violation. (3) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Brisbane. (4) By adding to the duties of the Association of Bay Area Governments, which is a council of governments for purposes of the regional housing need allocation process, with respect to the allocation of regional housing need, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.