65658.2.
(a) An office conversion project that meets the requirements of subdivision (b) shall be a use by right in all zones, regardless of the zoning of the site, and subject to ministerial review, as provided in this article.(b) (1) (A) An office conversion project shall dedicate at least 10 percent of the total amount of housing units created by the project to persons and families of low or moderate income.
(B) The project proponent shall commit to record, prior to the issuance of the first building permit, a land use restriction or covenant providing that any lower or moderate income housing units required pursuant to paragraph (1) shall remain available at affordable housing costs or rent to persons and families of low or moderate income for no less than the following periods of time:
(i) Fifty-five years for units that are rented.
(ii) Forty-five years for units that are owned.
(2) The project proponent provides the local government with an enforceable commitment that all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the project will use a skilled and trained workforce for any proposed rehabilitation, construction, or major alterations in accordance with Chapter 2.9 (commencing with Section 2600) of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code.
(3) The city or county shall require the recording of covenants or restrictions implementing this paragraph for each unit included in the project.
(c) (1) An office conversion project subject to this section shall not be subject to any review by a city council, county board of supervisors, planning commission, or other planning oversight board. If a local government’s planning director or any equivalent local government staff, including all relevant planning and permitting departments, determines that an office conversion project submitted pursuant to this article is consistent with subdivision (b), it shall approve the project.
(2) Upon a determination that an office conversion project is in conflict with any of the standards specified in subdivision (b), the local government shall provide the project proponent written documentation of which standard or standards the project conflicts with, and an explanation for the reason or reasons the project conflicts with that standard or standards, as follows:
(A) Within 60 days of the submission of the office coercion project to the local government if the project contains 150 or fewer housing units.
(B) Within 90 days of the submission of the office coercion project to the local government if the project contains more than 150 housing units.
(d) A local government shall not impose either of the following on an office conversion project:
(1) Any new parking requirements that were not imposed on the original office use.
(2) Any new open space requirements that were not imposed on the original office use.
(e) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, an office conversion project shall be exempt from all impact fees that are not directly related to the construction of an office building into residential dwelling units.
(2) Notwithstanding any other law, a local government shall not impose any fee on an office conversion project to cover the cost of code enforcement or inspection services, or to other fees collected to pay for the cost of enforcement of local ordinances or state law.
(3) (A) Notwithstanding Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 66000), any impact fees imposed pursuant to this article shall, at the request of the project proponent, be collected over a 10-year period, with the first payment being due upon the date of the final inspection, or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first.
(B) The payment of impact fees paid over the 10-year period pursuant to this subdivision shall be distributed evenly over the payment term.
(4) (A) A project proponent that utilizes paragraph (3) shall be required to execute a contract to pay the fees, or applicable portion thereof, within the time specified.
(B) The obligation to pay the fees shall inure to the benefit of, and be enforceable by, the local government that imposed the fee or charge, regardless of whether it is a party to the contract. The contract shall contain a legal description of the property affected, shall be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county and, from the date of recordation, shall constitute a lien for the payment of the fees, which shall be enforceable against successors in interest to the property owner or lessee at the time of issuance of the building permit. The contract shall be recorded in the grantor-grantee index in the name of the public agency issuing the building permit as grantee and in the name of the property owner or lessee as grantor. The local government shall record a release of the obligation, containing a legal description of the property, in the event the obligation is paid in full, or a partial release in the event the fee or charge is prorated.
(C) The contract may require the property owner or lessee to provide appropriate notification of the opening of any escrow for the sale of the property for which the building permit was issued and to provide in the escrow instructions that the fee or charge be paid to the local government imposing the same from the sale proceeds in escrow prior to disbursing proceeds to the seller.
(f) A local government shall not adopt or impose any requirement, including, but not limited to, increased fees or inclusionary housing requirements, that applies to a project solely or partially on the basis that the office conversion project is subject to this section.