SB 1369

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Under that law, supportive housing, as defined, is a use by right in zones where multifamily and mixed uses are permitted if the developer provides the planning agency with a plan for providing supportive services and the proposed housing development meets specified criteria. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. This bill would make an adaptive reuse project a use by right in all areas regardless of zoning. The bill would define "adaptive reuse project" to mean any commercial, public, industrial, or office building or structure that has 25-percent occupancy or less, which is converted into a housing development project. The bill would define "use by right" to mean that the city or county's review of the adaptive reuse project may not require a conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other discretionary city or county review or approval that would constitute a "project" for purposes of CEQA, as specified. This bill would prohibit a city or county from imposing various requirements on an adaptive reuse project, including a requirement that the adaptive reuse project provide more parking than the amount of on-site parking for the existing building or structure. The bill would provide that an adaptive reuse project is subject to the California Existing Building Code. By imposing new requirements of cities and counties in the review and approval of adaptive reuse projects, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by these provisions address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (2) Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code, which is required to be published once every 3 years. This bill would require the California Building Standards Commission, in consultation with the Department of Housing and Community Development, to update, adopt, approve, codify, and publish building standards in the California Existing Building Code that revise and clarify fire, safety, health, structural, seismic, and environmental elements that apply to adaptive reuse projects, as specified. The bill would require the building standards to facilitate the development of adaptive reuse projects. (3) Existing law establishes the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program of 2019, which requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, to establish and administer a grant program to allocate those funds to capital improvement projects that are an integral part of, or necessary to facilitate the development of, a qualifying infill project or qualifying infill area, as those terms are defined, pursuant to specified requirements. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt guidelines for the operation of the grant program, as specified. This bill would require the department's guidelines to include provisions that grant an unspecified application bonus to an adaptive reuse project that otherwise meets the requirements of the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program of 2019. (4) 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.