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Albert Herring
Pending law, AB-1934, mandates commercial development bonuses with affordable housing
While everyone has been focused on Governor Brown's "by right" affordable housing trailer bill, Assemblyman Santiago has been quietly moving another impactful bill through the State Legislature. AB -1934 has already been passed by the State Assembly and approved by Senate committees, and is now heading for its 3rd reading in the Senate, and final vote.
The bill would significantly override local control of commercially zoned areas in any county or city, and mandate that intensive commercial development bonuses be given to any commercial developer that forms a partnership with an affordable housing developer, if the project met certain criteria and percentage of affordable units. Its language is also sufficiently vague and ambiguous to invite endless lawsuits against cities, by developers and advocacy groups.
Those bonuses include but are not limited to:
(1) Up to a 20-percent increase in maximum allowable intensity in the General Plan.
(2) Up to a 20-percent increase in maximum allowable floor area ratio.
(3) Up to a 20-percent increase in maximum height requirements.
(4) Up to a 20-percent reduction in minimum parking requirements.
(5) Use of a limited-use/limited-application elevator for upper floor accessibility.
(6) An exception to a zoning ordinance or other land use regulation.
This bill is yet another example of how local control of zoning continues to be eroded by "top down" state planners and special interests, fully supported by Governor Brown.
The State Legislative Digest summaries the bill as follows:
AB 1934, as amended, Santiago. Planning and zoning: development bonuses: mixed-use projects.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires, when an applicant proposes a housing development within the jurisdiction of the local government, that the city, county, or city and county provide the developer with a density bonus and other incentives or concessions for the production of lower income housing units or for the donation of land within the development if the developer, among other things, agrees to construct a specified percentage of units for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or qualifying residents.
This bill, when an applicant for approval of a commercial development has entered into an agreement for partnered housing with an affordable housing developer to contribute affordable housing through a joint project or 2 separate projects encompassing affordable housing, would, until January 1, 2022, require a city, county, or city and county to grant to the commercial developer a development bonus, as specified. The bill would define the development bonus to mean incentives mutually agreed upon by the developer and the jurisdiction that may include but are not limited to, specified changes in land use requirements. This bill would also require a city or county to submit to the Department of Housing and Community Development information describing an approved commercial bonus. By increasing the duties of local officials relating to the administration of development bonuses, this bill would create 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.
To read the legislation in its entirety, CLICK HERE NOW