The Marin Post

Letters

April 28, 2021

• Sustainable TamAlmonte Letter to Assembly Housing & Com. Dev. Committee re: Oppose AB-1486

  Sharon Rushton — Mill Valley April 28, 2021 - 6:22 PM

  

  April 27, 2021

  FROM: Sustainable TamAlmonte

  TO: Honorable David Chiu, Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, Legislative Office Building, 1020 N. Street, Room 156, Sacramento, CA 95814

  Re: Oppose Assembly Bill 1486 (Carrillo) “California Environmental Quality Act: housing”

  Dear Chair Chiu and Members of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development,

  We urge you to oppose Assembly Bill 1486 (Carrillo) “California Environmental Quality Act: housing”.

  About Assembly Bill 1486:

  AB-1401 Establishes alternative streamlined California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review procedures for housing elements and related projects undertaken by cities, including a temporary exemption for housing element and related general plan updates, as well as limited CEQA review for “housing element implementation projects,” such as rezoning.

  Reasons to Oppose Assembly Bill 1486:

  A. Weakening the California Environmental Quality Act is misguided.

  A CEQA exemption for the adoption or revision of a housing element and amendments to other general plan elements removes the ability of local governments to be fully informed of the ordinance’s potential environmental consequences. Without that review, a local government would not be properly informed of adverse environmental impacts, including traffic impacts, air impacts, or compatible use issues. It is unacceptable for the public to live with the consequences of a housing element or general plan that would not be fully vetted and whose impacts were not mitigated and alternatives not considered.

  The California Environmental Quality Act, which became law in 1970, is our state’s landmark environmental law. Its purpose is to foster transparency and integrity in public decision-making while ensuring land use decisions take the full impacts of development on our natural and human environments into account. It is one of the most powerful environmental protection laws in the nation.

  CEQA gives the community a voice in land use decisions. It requires decision-makers to adopt alternatives or mitigation measures to reduce significant adverse environmental impacts. As such, it plays a critical role in preserving and enhancing California’s public health, safety, and the environment.

  The Act was designed to ensure that a project applicant—not the public—bears the costs of providing the necessary infrastructure to support a project. It also provides the public and decision-makers with “the big picture” and helps ensure that many small projects are not considered separately, only to overwhelm a community when taken as a whole.

  CEQA protections should be strengthened rather than further weakened.

  B. Streamlining CEQA is unwise and unnecessary for jurisdictions to meet the Housing Element Update deadline.

  One of the author’s justifications for AB-1486 and streamlining the CEQA process is to help jurisdictions meet the Sixth Housing Element Update deadline. This is reckless and unnecessary and places jurisdictions at risk of experiencing significant adverse environmental impacts. Rather than a CEQA exemption, it would be much wiser to extend the Housing Element deadline.

  Once again, we urge you to oppose Assembly Bill 1486.

  Thank you in advance for your conscientious consideration.

  Very truly yours,

  /s/

  Sharon Rushton, President

  Sustainable TamAlmonte

• Sustainable TamAlmonte Letter to Assembly Housing & Com. Dev. Committee re: Oppose AB-1401

  Sharon Rushton — Mill Valley April 28, 2021 - 6:19 PM

  

  April 27, 2021

  FROM: Sustainable TamAlmonte

  TO: Honorable David Chiu, Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, Legislative Office Building, 1020 N. Street, Room 156, Sacramento, CA 95814

  Re: Oppose Assembly Bill 1401 (Friedman) “Residential & commercial development: parking requirements”

  Dear Chair Chiu and Members of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development,

  We urge you to oppose Assembly Bill 1401 (Friedman) “Residential and commercial development: parking requirements”.

  AB-1401 is an assault on the frail (who don’t yet qualify as disabled), families with children, working-class people that need their cars and trucks to make a living, and households in hazardous locations with inadequate emergency access and evacuation routes. Most transit users also have vehicles for all the necessary errands of life and therefore need convenient parking spaces. This bill reduces the livability of neighborhoods, degrades quality of life, and endangers public health and safety.

  I. About Assembly Bill 1401:

  AB-1401 prohibits local governments from imposing or enforcing a minimum automobile parking requirement for residential, commercial and other developments if the parcel is located within one-half mile walking distance of either of the following: a) A “high-quality transit corridor”, as defined; and b) A “major transit stop”, as defined.

  II. Reasons to Oppose Assembly Bill 1401:

  A. AB-1401 Takes Away Local Control Of Parking Requirements And Gives It To Housing Developers:

  Parking requirements are most appropriately established at the local level based on community needs. A one-size fits all approach to an issue that is project specific just does not work.

  B. AB-1401 Wrongly Assumes That Residents Who Live Near Public Transit Don’t Need Vehicles And Therefore Don’t Need Parking Spaces:

  AB-1401 presumes that residents who live within ½ mile of a “high-quality transit corridor” or a “major transit stop” would need less parking because they would rely on public transit instead of vehicles for their transportation needs. However, this is a false presumption in many counties, including Marin County.

  Due to Marin’s insufficient and inconvenient public transportation and the need to carry children, equipment or large purchases, the vast majority of Marin residents rely on their personal vehicles to travel within Marin. Infrequent bus service provides transportation primarily in the North/South direction. SMART also travels North/South. There is little public transportation available for West/East travel. Many members of Marin’s population cannot walk or bike very far (E.g. Marin’s growing elderly population) or else find these non- motorized forms of transportation to be inappropriate for where they are going (E.g. They need to transport children or carry heavy objects). Therefore, Marin residents will most likely continue to rely primarily on their personal vehicles for transportation and will need places to park these vehicles.

  Data from a recent Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) report confirms that most Marin residents use personal vehicles for their transportation needs and few use transit. MTC concluded that 73.5 % of Marin commuters drive to work and only 8.9 % of Marin commuters use transit to get to work.

  C. AB-1401 Jeopardizes High Fire Hazard Areas:

  There are many communities in the Wildland Urban Interface and in “high” and “very high” fire hazard zones that have steep, narrow, winding roadways and few routes out to safety. AB-1401 reduces or eliminates off-street parking requirements, which will lead to streets being overcrowded with parked vehicles. Dire consequences could result during an emergency when residents are unable to evacuate and fire trucks/ paramedics are unable to reach their destinations.

  D. AB-1401 Increases Traffic Congestion And Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

  AB-1401 would increase traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. The bill would force residents to park their vehicles on the street due to insufficient off-street parking spaces. Due to more cars on the road plus more circulation of those cars, as residents search for vacant on-street parking spaces, traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions would rise.

  E. AB-1401 adversely impacts the State’s Density Bonus Law:

  AB-1401 could negatively impact the State’s Density Bonus Law by providing developers parking concessions without also requiring developers to include affordable housing units in the project. The purpose of Density Bonus Law is to provide concessions and waivers to developers in exchange for affordable housing units.
  

  Once again, we urge you to oppose Assembly Bill 1401.

  Thank you in advance for your conscientious consideration.

  Very truly yours,

  /s/

  Sharon Rushton, President

  Sustainable TamAlmonte

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