By Liam Dillon, Los Angeles Times. April 24, 2019.
SB 50 will be amended to do all of the below. SB 4 will be held in committee.
Statewide provisions:
- Sensitive communities agreement with housing advocates:
- Include at a minimum those areas: designated high segregation and poverty and low-resource in TCAC opportunity maps; top 25% Cal EnviroScreen scores; 2019 HUD qualified census tracts; potentially others
- COGs run process to identify sensitive communities with minimum requirements for outreach to disadvantaged populations
- Opt in before July 1, 2025 to planning process based on petition with 20% population in census tract signing and specified outreach requirements
- Changes to ensure offsite affordable housing is actually built: no certificate of occupancy on market rate without building permit, and has to be near transit and within half mile of original project site.
- Technical amendments to clarify how density bonus works.
- Commitment to include inclusionary percentages that are worked out with housing advocates and agreeable to SGF committee.
- Creation of fourplexes by right (regardless of jurisdiction population) in residential areas on vacant land and allows conversions of existing structure—but no demolition, as follows:
- 75% of exterior walls must be intact and no more than +15% increase square footage. Also has to abide by all other local regulations (setbacks, lot coverage, FAR, height, etc).
- Must include SB 35 limitations on eligible parcels.
- Exempt very high fire hazard severity zones.
- Exempt coastal zone in cities with populations less than 50,000.
- Restrict bill to infill parcels in coastal zone regardless of jurisdiction size.
In counties over 600,000 population:
- SB 50 zoning provisions regarding rail, ferry, job rich, and bus stop (as modified below):
- Exempt contributing parcels in legislatively-adopted historic districts in existence as of 2010, and density bonus language going forward
- Bus stops: Shorten headways to 10 minutes during peak times to qualify. Clarify that it’s each line going in each direction. Must have met the headway standard for the past 5 years.
- SB 50 parking (no parking around rail, 0.5 spaces per unit minimum elsewhere)
In counties 600,000 population or less, modify equitable communities incentive to:
- Grant waiver from density (with minimum of 30 units/acre in urban jurisdictions and 20/units acre in suburban jurisdictions, as defined in existing law), height limits of zoning on the parcel plus one story, and floor area ratio of 0.6 times the # of stories for projects within half-mile around rail/ferry in cities over 50,000
- Continue to work with Senate EQ on identifying a definition of “infill” that doesn’t induce sprawl.
- Exempt floodplains per SB4
- SB 4 parking applies: no parking minimum within ¼ mile of rail in cities over 100,000, 0.5 spaces per unit minimum elsewhere