Mitigation Fee Act: land dedications: mitigating vehicular traffic impacts.

Existing law, the Mitigation Fee Act, imposes various requirements with respect to the establishment, increase, or imposition of a fee by a local agency as a condition of approval of a development project. Existing law requires a local agency that imposes a fee on a housing development for the purpose of mitigating vehicular traffic impacts to set the rate for the fee to reflect a lower rate of automobile trip generation if the housing development satisfies specified characteristics, including that the housing development is located within 12 mile of a transit station, as specified. Existing law defines transit station for these purposes to mean a rail or light-rail station, ferry terminal, bus hub, or bus transfer station. This bill would instead require, for purposes of a local agency setting the rate for a mitigating vehicular traffic impacts fee to reflect a lower rate of automobile trip generation, the housing development to be located within a transit priority area, as defined, and the major transit stop, if planned, is programmed to be completed before or within one year from the scheduled completion and occupancy of the housing development. This bill would prohibit a local agency from imposing a land dedication requirement, as defined, on a housing development to widen a roadway if the land dedication requirement is for the purpose of mitigating vehicular traffic impacts, achieving an adopted traffic level of service related to vehicular traffic, or achieving a desired roadway width. The bill, notwithstanding that prohibition, would authorize a local agency to, among other things, impose a land dedication requirement on a housing development if the housing development is not located in a transit priority area and the housing development has a linear street frontage of 500 feet or more. By imposing a mandate on local agencies that approve housing development projects with regard to impact fees, this 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 66005.1 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2553 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2553 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.