Greenway easements.

(1) The Greenway Development and Sustainment Act applies certain creation and transfer provisions similar to those of conservation easements to greenway easements. The act defines various terms for purposes of the act, including "greenway," to mean certain types of travel corridors that, among other requirements, incorporate an array of amenities for users of the corridor and nearby communities, and "greenway easement," to mean a limitation in a deed, will, or other instrument for the purpose of developing greenways adjacent to urban waterways. The act provides that a recorded greenway easement constitutes an enforceable restriction for purposes of certain property tax provisions. This bill would instead require a greenway to incorporate an array of amenities only within an urbanized area, as defined. The bill would include easements created for the purpose of preserving greenways adjacent to urban waterways as greenway easements. The bill would require greenway easements created for the purpose of developing greenways to be consistent with restoration efforts undertaken at the adjacent urban waterways at the time of the creation of the easement. The Greenway Development and Sustainment Act requires that a greenway reflect specified design standards applicable for each affected local agency as documented in the local agency's applicable planning document. This bill would require that these design standards be consistent with plans and facilities for controlling the floodwater of rivers and their tributaries, as applicable. Because this bill, by revising these terms for purposes of the act and by expanding the definition of a greenway easement, would change the manner in which county assessors assess property for property taxation purposes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a land use element and an open-space element. Existing law includes greenways, as defined in the Greenway Development and Sustainment Act, in the definition of "open-space land" for the purposes of the open-space element. This bill would instead specify that greenways be included in the land use element of a general plan. By revising the contents of the mandatory elements of a general plan, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65302 of the Government Code proposed by SB 974 and SB 1000 that would become effective only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become operative on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.