Today's Law As Amended


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AB-837 Surplus land: exempt surplus land: sectional planning area.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Section 54222.3.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:

54222.3.3.
 Subject to subdivisions (b) and (c), this article shall not apply to land that meets all of the following conditions:
(1) The land is subject to a sectional planning area document that meets all of the following:
(A) The sectional planning area was adopted prior to January 1, 2019.
(B) The sectional planning area document is consistent with county and city general plans applicable to the land.
(2) The land identified in the adopted sectional planning area document was acquired prior to January 1, 2019.
(3) On January 1, 2019, the parcels on the land met at least one of the following conditions:
(A) The land was subject to an irrevocable offer of dedication of fee interest requiring the land to be used for a specified purpose.
(B) The land was acquired through a land exchange subject to a land offer agreement that grants the land’s original owner the right to repurchase the land acquired by the local agency pursuant to the agreement if the land will not be developed in a manner consistent with the agreement.
(C) The land was subject to a grant deed specifying that the property shall be used for educational uses and limiting other types of uses allowed on the property.
(4) At least 25 percent of the units are dedicated to lower income households, as defined in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code, at an affordable rent, as defined by Section 50053 of the Health and Safety Code, or an affordable housing cost, as defined by Section 50052.5 of the Health and Safety Code, and subject to a recorded deed restriction for a period of 55 years for rental units and 45 years for owner-occupied units.
(5) The land is developed at an average density of at least 10 units per acre, calculated with respect to the entire sectional planning area.
(6) No more than 25 percent of the nonresidential square footage identified in the sectional planning area document receives its first certificate of occupancy before at least 25 percent of the residential square footage identified in the sectional planning area document has received its first certificate of occupancy.
(7) No more than 50 percent of the nonresidential square footage identified in the sectional planning area document receives its first certificate of occupancy before at least 50 percent of the residential square footage identified in the sectional planning area document has received its first certificate of occupancy.
(8) No more than 75 percent of the nonresidential square footage identified in the sectional planning area document shall receive its first certificate of occupancy before at least 75 percent of the residential square footage identified in the sectional planning area document has received its first certificate of occupancy.
(b) (1) The local agency, by April 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, shall submit a report to the department that includes, for any land disposed of pursuant to subdivision (a), all of the following information:
(A) The location of the disposed land.
(B) The number of units approved to be developed on the land.
(C) The number of units produced on the land.
(D) The square footage of residential uses produced on the land.
(E) The square footage of nonresidential uses produced on the land.
(2) The department may request additional information from the agency regarding land disposed of pursuant to subdivision (a).
(3) This subdivision does not authorize the department to require the submission of data related to land disposed of pursuant to subdivision (a), or its review thereof, as a precondition of disposition.
(c) (1) If the agency disposes of land in violation of this section, the agency shall be liable for a civil penalty calculated as follows:
(A) For a first violation, 30 percent of the greater of the final sale price or the fair market value of the land at the time of disposition.
(B) For a second or subsequent violation, 50 percent of the greater of the final sale price or the fair market value of the land at the time of disposition.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), fair market value shall be determined by an independent appraisal of the land.
(3) An action to enforce paragraph (1) may be brought by any of the following:
(A) An entity identified in subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section 54222.
(B) A person who would have been eligible to apply for residency in affordable housing had the agency not violated this section.
(C) A housing organization, as that term is defined in Section 65589.5.
(D) A beneficially interested person or entity.
(E) The department.
(4) A penalty assessed pursuant to this subdivision shall, except as otherwise provided, be deposited into a local housing trust fund. The local agency may elect to instead deposit the penalty moneys into the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund or the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund. Penalties shall not be paid out of funds already dedicated to affordable housing, including, but not limited to, Low and Moderate Income Housing Asset Funds, funds dedicated to housing for very low, low-, and moderate-income households, and federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program and Community Development Block Grant Program funds. The local agency shall commit and expend the penalty moneys deposited into the local housing trust fund within five years of deposit for the sole purpose of financing newly constructed housing units that are affordable to extremely low, very low, or low-income households.
(5) Five years after deposit of the penalty moneys into the local housing trust fund, if the funds have not been expended, the funds shall revert to the state and be deposited in the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund or the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund for the sole purpose of financing newly constructed housing units located in the same jurisdiction as the surplus land and that are affordable to extremely low, very low, or low-income households. Expenditure of any penalty moneys deposited into the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund or the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to appropriation by the Legislature.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Department” means the Department of Housing and Community Development.
(2) “Local agency” means every city, whether organized under general law or by charter, county, city and county, district, including school, sewer, water, utility, and local and regional park districts of any kind or class, joint powers authority, successor agency to a former redevelopment agency, housing authority, or other political subdivision of this state and any instrumentality thereof that is empowered to acquire and hold real property.
(3) “Sectional planning area” means an area composed of identifiable planning units, within which common services and facilities, a strong internal unity, and an integrated pattern of land use, circulation, and townscape planning are readily achievable.
(4) “Sectional planning area document” means a document or plan that sets forth, at minimum, a site utilization plan of the sectional planning area and development standards for each land use area and designation.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2034, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 2.
 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances surrounding the City of Chula Vista’s long-term plan for a regional university and innovation district and the privately imposed covenants requiring the land to be used for those purposes.