Bill Text: CA AB1886 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: California Environmental Quality Act: transit priority projects.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From Senate committee without further action. [AB1886 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB1886-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1886 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member McCarty
(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom and Gonzalez)
FEBRUARY 11, 2016
An act to amend Section 21155 Sections
21155 and 21155.2 of the Public Resources Code, relating to
environmental quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1886, as amended, McCarty. California Environmental Quality
Act: transit priority projects.
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 (EIR)
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 also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated
negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect
on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or
mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the
project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the
environment.
CEQA provides for limited CEQA review or
exempts from its requirements transit priority projects meeting
certain requirements, including the requirement that the project be
within 1/2 mile of a major transit stop or high-quality transit
corridor included in a regional transportation plan. CEQA specifies
that a project is considered to be within 1/2 mile of a major transit
stop or high-quality transit corridor if, among other things, all
parcels within the project have no more than 25% of their area
farther than 1/2 mile from the stop or corridor.
This bill bill, for a transit priority
project to meet the requirements for limited CEQA review, would
increase that percentage to 50%.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 21155 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
21155. (a) This chapter applies only to a transit priority
project that is consistent with the general use designation, density,
building intensity, and applicable policies specified for the
project area in either a sustainable communities strategy or an
alternative planning strategy, for which the State Air Resources
Board, pursuant to subparagraph (H) of paragraph (2) of subdivision
(b) of Section 65080 of the Government Code, has accepted a
metropolitan planning organization's determination that the
sustainable communities strategy or the alternative planning strategy
would, if implemented, achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction
targets.
(b) For purposes of this chapter, a transit priority project shall
(1) contain at least 50 percent residential use, based on total
building square footage and, if the project contains between 26
percent and 50 percent nonresidential uses, a floor area ratio of not
less than 0.75; (2) provide a minimum net density of at least 20
dwelling units per acre; and (3) be within one-half mile of a major
transit stop or high-quality transit corridor included in a regional
transportation plan. A major transit stop is as defined in Section
21064.3, except that, for purposes of this section, it also includes
major transit stops that are included in the applicable regional
transportation plan. For purposes of this section,
chapter, a high-quality transit corridor means a corridor
with fixed route bus service with service intervals no longer than
15 minutes during peak commute hours. A
Except as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 21155.2, a
project shall be considered to be within one-half mile of a major
transit stop or high-quality transit corridor if all parcels within
the project have no more than 50 25
percent of their area farther than one-half mile from the stop or
corridor and if not more than 10 percent of the residential units or
100 units, whichever is less, in the project are farther than
one-half mile from the stop or corridor.
SEC. 2. Section 21155.2 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
21155.2. (a) A Notwithstanding su
bdivision (b) of Section 21155 and for purposes of this section,
a project shall be considered to be within one-half mile of a major
transit stop or high-quality transit corridor if all parcels within
the project have no more than 50 percent of their area farther than
one-half mile from the stop or corridor and if not more than 10
percent of the residential units or 100 units, whichever is less, in
the project are farther than one-half mile from the stop or corridor.
(b) A transit priority project
that has incorporated all feasible mitigation measures, performance
standards, or criteria set forth in the prior applicable
environmental impact reports and adopted in findings made pursuant to
Section 21081, shall be eligible for either the provisions of
subdivision (b) or (c). (c) or (d).
(b)
(c) A transit priority project that satisfies the
requirements of subdivision (a) (b) may
be reviewed through a sustainable communities environmental
assessment as follows:
(1) An initial study shall be prepared to identify all significant
or potentially significant impacts of the transit priority project,
other than those which that do not need
to be reviewed pursuant to Section 21159.28 based on substantial
evidence in light of the whole record. The initial study shall
identify any cumulative effects that have been adequately addressed
and mitigated pursuant to the requirements of this division in prior
applicable certified environmental impact reports. Where the lead
agency determines that a cumulative effect has been adequately
addressed and mitigated, that cumulative effect shall not be treated
as cumulatively considerable for the purposes of this subdivision.
(2) The sustainable communities environmental assessment shall
contain measures that either avoid or mitigate to a level of
insignificance all potentially significant or significant effects of
the project required to be identified in the initial study.
(3) A draft of the sustainable communities environmental
assessment shall be circulated for public comment for a period of not
less than 30 days. Notice shall be provided in the same manner as
required for an environmental impact report pursuant to Section
21092.
(4) Prior to acting on the sustainable communities environmental
assessment, the lead agency shall consider all comments received.
(5) A sustainable communities environmental assessment may be
approved by the lead agency after conducting a public hearing,
reviewing the comments received, and finding that:
all of the following:
(A) All potentially significant or significant effects required to
be identified in the initial study have been identified and
analyzed.
(B) With respect to each significant effect on the environment
required to be identified in the initial study, either of the
following apply:
(i) Changes or alterations have been required in or incorporated
into the project that avoid or mitigate the significant effects to a
level of insignificance.
(ii) Those changes or alterations are within the responsibility
and jurisdiction of another public agency and have been, or can and
should be, adopted by that other agency.
(6) The legislative body of the lead agency shall conduct the
public hearing or a planning commission may conduct the public
hearing if local ordinances allow a direct appeal of approval of a
document prepared pursuant to this division to the legislative body
subject to a fee not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500).
(7) The lead agency's decision to review and approve a transit
priority project with a sustainable communities environmental
assessment shall be reviewed under the substantial evidence standard.
(c)
(d) A transit priority project that satisfies the
requirements of subdivision (a) (b) may
be reviewed by an environmental impact report that complies with all
of the following:
(1) An initial study shall be prepared to identify all significant
or potentially significant effects of the transit priority project
other than those that do not need to be reviewed pursuant to Section
21159.28 based upon substantial evidence in light of the whole
record. The initial study shall identify any cumulative effects that
have been adequately addressed and mitigated pursuant to the
requirements of this division in prior applicable certified
environmental impact reports. Where If
the lead agency determines that a cumulative effect has been
adequately addressed and mitigated, that cumulative effect shall not
be treated as cumulatively considerable for the purposes of this
subdivision.
(2) An environmental impact report prepared pursuant to this
subdivision need only address the significant or potentially
significant effects of the transit priority project on the
environment identified pursuant to paragraph (1). It
The lead agency is not required to analyze
off-site alternatives to the transit priority project. It
The lead agency shall otherwise comply with the
requirements of this division.
