BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Bill No: |AB 1251 |Hearing | 7/1/15 | | | |Date: | | |----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------| |Author: |Gomez |Tax Levy: |No | |----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------| |Version: |6/24/15 |Fiscal: |Yes | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Favorini-Csorba | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- GREENWAY DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINMENT ACT Authorizes nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and tribes to acquire deed restrictions for the purpose of developing greenways along urban rivers. Background and Existing Law General Plans and Open Space Elements. Each city and county is required to prepare and periodically update a comprehensive, long-range general plan to guide future decisions. That plan must address each of seven elements, including land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety elements. Cities and counties may also include optional elements that address other aspects of their communities, such as parks and recreation, public facilities, and economic development. Local open space plans may include unimproved land or water that is devoted to open space for any of the following: The preservation of natural resources. The managed production of resources, including but not limited to, forest lands, rangeland, agricultural lands and other areas of economic importance. Areas for outdoor recreation, such as areas of outstanding scenic, historic and cultural value. Areas for the protection of public health and safety, AB 1251 (Gomez) 6/24/15 Page 2 of ? such as, areas requiring special management because of hazardous or other special conditions. Areas for the support of the mission of military installations that comprises areas adjacent to military installations, military training routes, and underlying restricted airspace. Areas for the protection of places, features, and objects relating to Native American artifacts or heritage. Conservation Easements. State law authorizes specified non-profit organizations to hold conservation easements for the preservation or protection of land. Conservation easements are provisions placed into a deed, will, or other legal instrument that binds current and future successive owners for the purpose of retaining land predominantly in its natural, scenic, historical, agricultural, forested, or open-space condition. Property Taxes and County Assessors. Section One of Article XIII of the California Constitution provides that all property is taxable unless explicitly exempted by the Constitution or federal law. County assessors reappraise property to determine its value whenever it is newly constructed, or when ownership changes. To determine value, the law effectively presumes that a property's purchase price in the transaction is its full cash or fair market value. However, assessors must also consider enforceable restrictions on the use of the property, such as zoning restrictions and conservation easements, when coming up with a property value. So, assessors estimate the value of the property based on the uses allowed by the enforceable restriction. Some groups want to expand the mechanisms that governments and nonprofit organizations can use to encourage the development of greenways. Proposed Law Assembly Bill 1251 authorizes certain entities to acquire easements for the purpose of developing greenways along urban waterways. The bill defines a greenway as a separate path for bikes and pedestrians that must be located within 400 yards of an urban waterway where access to the property has been granted through some sort of agreement with the property owner or AB 1251 (Gomez) 6/24/15 Page 3 of ? operator of any facilities on the land. Additionally, a greenway must: Contain landscaping that (1) "improves" rivers and streams, (2) provides flood protection benefits, and (3) incorporates the significance and value of natural, historical, and cultural resources as documented in the local agency's applicable planning document; Provide nearby communities with easy access to the path and include features that allow the use of the path; Meet any design standards for greenways that are set by a relevant local agency's planning documents. AB 1251 further defines an urban waterway to be a creek, stream, or river that crosses developed property or open space where the relevant local agency's planning document designates the land as residential, commercial, or industrial. The bill also finds and declares the importance of greenways, including that (1) greenways provide greenhouse gas reduction benefits, (2) the area along the Los Angeles River and its tributaries are particularly suited for developing a greenway, and (3) developing a greenway allows a city, county, or city and county to apply for greenhouse gas reduction funds and other sources of funds. AB 1251 borrows from the statutory definition of conservation easement to create a new type of enforceable restriction on the use of property, called a "greenway easement," that dedicates the land for the purpose of developing greenways along urban waterways. These greenway easements are permanent (perpetual) provisions placed into a deed, will, or other legal instrument and are binding on successive owners of the land. The bill says that greenway easements are voluntarily-created interests in real property and includes provisions specifying how they are to be recorded and enforced. It also requires assessors to consider the effect of greenway easements (as enforceable restrictions) on the value of property and corrects a cross reference in the same section of the Revenue and Taxation Code. Under AB 1251, three types of entities may acquire and hold greenway easements: state and federal agencies, tribes, and nonprofit organizations created specifically for the purpose of developing greenways. The bill allows local agencies include greenways in the open space element of their general plans. AB 1251 (Gomez) 6/24/15 Page 4 of ? State Revenue Impact No estimate. Greenways can promote economic development, environmental conservation, public health, and the overall quality of life by enhancing the ability of residents to connect with natural spaces near and along urban waterways. AB 1251 promotes the development of greenways by providing government agencies and nonprofit organizations with a new tool-greenway easements-to ensure that land developed as a greenway stays that way in perpetuity, instead of being converted to other, more intensive uses in the future. It further provides an economic incentive to keep land near urban waterways as a greenway by lowering the property tax bills of landowners who allow the use of their property for greenways. 2. What's the problem ? AB 1251 creates a new type of easement to encourage the development of greenways. However, it is unclear whether the lack of this tool has hindered the development of greenways up to this point. Local agencies currently have the authority to do land use planning consistent with this bill, and there are other ways of ensuring access to the land necessary for the development of greenways, such as purchasing the land. There may be other, more significant obstacles to the development of greenways, such as funding challenges, that this bill does not address. 3. Square peg . The open space element in a general plan is typically reserved for protecting undeveloped land, instead of land with improvements on it. Because the bill requires greenways to have transportation or recreational uses-and the amenities to support those uses-there are other general plan elements that better align with the uses of greenways. The Committee may wish to consider amending AB 1251 to allow local agencies to instead consider the development of greenways in other elements of their general plans, such as the circulation element, which must include a plan for multimodal transportation that considers the needs of cyclists and pedestrians. 4. Related legislation . AB 1251 is substantially similar to AB AB 1251 (Gomez) 6/24/15 Page 5 of ? 1922 (Gomez, 2014), which would have allowed conservation easements to be acquired in order to develop greenways. AB 1922 included nearly identical definitions of greenways and urban waterways, and some of the same findings and declarations. AB 1922 passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee by a vote of 5-2, but was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Assembly Actions Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee: 10-4 Assembly Local Government Committee: 9-0 Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-4 Assembly Floor: 61-15 Support and Opposition (6/25/15) Support : California League of Conservation Voters; California Trout; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; Sierra Club California. Opposition : Central Coast Forestry Association. -- END --