65040.16.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “City” means any incorporated chartered or general law city, including any city the name of which includes the word “town.”
(2) “Director” refers to the Director of State Planning and Research.
(3) “Fully surrounded” means the entire perimeter of the unincorporated area adjoins, or is separated only by an improved public right-of-way from, parcels that are developed with qualified urban uses.
(4) “Program” refers to the Unincorporated Area Annexation Incentive Program.
(5) “Qualified urban use” means any residential, commercial, public institutional, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use, or any combination of those uses.
(6) “Substantially surrounded” means at least 75 percent of the perimeter of the unincorporated area adjoins, or is separated only by an improved public right-of-way from, parcels that are developed with qualified urban uses.
(7) “Unincorporated area” means inhabited territory, as defined by Section 56046, that is not part of a city or that a city has annexed according to the process described in the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (Division 3 (commencing with Section 56000) of Title 5).
(b) The Office of Planning and Research shall establish,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Unincorporated Area Annexation Incentive Program.
(c) Pursuant to the program, the office may issue, subject to approval by the director, a grant to a city for the purpose of funding projects related to the proposed or completed annexation of an unincorporated area into the city.
(1) The director shall not issue a grant to a project unless that project is related to the annexation of a substantially surrounded unincorporated area.
(2) The director may issue grants that fund projects related to municipal infrastructure including, but not limited to, roads, street lighting, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, stormwater management infrastructure, parks, and greenways.
(3) The director shall prioritize the issuance of
grants to applications to fund projects related to any of the following:
(A) Annexation of fully surrounded unincorporated areas.
(B) Annexations that would result in the improvement of public health and safety infrastructure.
(C) Annexation of disadvantaged unincorporated communities, as defined in Section 56033.5.
(d) The director shall require a city to submit an application to the office in order to participate in the program. The application shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) A description of the unincorporated area and the population that resides in the unincorporated area.
(2) A statement
on the infrastructure that the project proposes to construct or improve, including the estimated capital cost of the infrastructure and the timeline for the development of the infrastructure.
(3) A funding plan, including estimated funds from the program, for the costs and ongoing maintenance of the infrastructure.
(e) A project funded by the program shall not receive funding pursuant to this section that exceeds a maximum threshold determined by the director.
(f) Any dollar contribution a city makes toward a project funded by the program shall be matched by the office on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Matching funds from the office shall be subject to the maximum threshold determined pursuant to subdivision (e).
(g) (1) The office
shall develop guidelines for purposes of implementing the program no later than September 1, 2023. In preparing the guidelines, the office shall consult with representatives of all of the following:
(A) Local agency formation commissions.
(B) Counties.
(C) Cities.
(D) Residents of disadvantaged unincorporated communities, as defined in Section 56033.5.
(2) The guidelines developed pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not be subject to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2.