Wildfires: local general plans: safety elements: fire hazard severity zones.

(1) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify areas of the state as very high fire hazard severity zones, as provided. Existing law requires each planning agency to prepare, and the legislative body of each county and city to adopt, a comprehensive, long-term general plan, including a safety element, for the physical development of the county or city, as provided. Existing law requires the draft element of, or draft amendment to, the safety element of a county or city's general plan to be submitted to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and to every local agency that provides fire protection to territory in the city or county at least 90 days before the adoption or amendment to the safety element of its general plan for each city or county that contains a very high fire hazard severity zone. This bill would require the director to also identify areas of the state as moderate and high fire hazard severity zones, as provided. The bill would also require the draft element of, or draft amendment to, the safety element of a county or city's general plan to be submitted to the state board and to every local agency that provides fire protection to territory in the city or county at least 90 days before the adoption or amendment to the safety element of its general plan for each city or county that contains a moderate or high fire hazard severity zone, as provided. To the extent this would require a higher level of service from a local agency with respect to the submission of a draft element of, or a draft amendment to, a safety element of a county or city's general plan, the bill would impose state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the state board to, and authorizes a local agency to, review the draft or an existing safety element and recommend changes to the planning agency regarding uses of land and policies in state responsibility areas and very high fire hazard severity zones and regarding methods and strategies for wild land fire risk reduction and prevention within state responsibility areas and very high fire hazard severity zones, as provided. This bill would also require the state board to, and authorize a local agency to, review the draft or an existing safety element and recommend changes to the planning agency regarding uses of land and policies in moderate and high fire hazard severity zones and regarding methods and strategies for wild land fire risk reduction and prevention within moderate and high fire hazard severity zones. (2) Existing law, the Subdivision Map Act vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency, and sets forth procedures governing the local agency's processing, approval, conditional approval, or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps, and the modification thereof. The act generally requires a subdivider to file a tentative map or vesting tentative map with the local agency, as specified, and the local agency, in turn, to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove the map within a specified time period. Before approving a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, for an area located in a state responsibility area or a very high fire hazard severity zone, existing law requires a legislative body of a county to make specified findings. Existing law requires a legislative body of a county to transmit these findings to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. This bill would also require a legislative body of a county to make specified findings before approving a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, for areas located in moderate and high fire hazard severity zones, as provided, and would require these findings to be transmitted to the state board. By requiring new duties on a county, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.