For City Council Meeting [August 13, 2019]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Rod Foster, City Administrator
FROM: Fred Galante, City Attorney
Title
Request City Council to Adopt Resolution No. 7551, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Rialto Opposing Assembly Bill 1486, a Bill Amending the Surplus Land Act, and request the City Clerk to distribute the adopted resolution to the League of California Cities and the City's State Legislators.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The City is a member of the California League of Cities ("League"). The League has listed Assembly Bill 1486 ("AB 1486") as a bill before the California Legislature to "watch". This bill amends portions of the Government Code relating to local agency use, management, and disposition of surplus land, and will introduce new regulations in addition to the current statutory scheme for surplus land.
AB 1486 was introduced on February 22, 2019. The Surplus Land Act is an attempt to address California's growing housing shortage by re-directing surplus land to qualified organizations to use for affordable housing purposes. AB 1486 widens the scope of the Surplus Land Act by introducing new regulations described below.
The League's position on AB 1486 is to "watch". The bill is currently in the Senate Appropriations committee, having passed out of committee and approved on the Assembly floor.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION:
The Surplus Land Act is intended to address the growing housing crisis in California by introducing regulations which would lead to surplus land being passed from local agencies to low-income housing developers. AB 1486 would impose additional restrictions in addition to the existing scheme. While this is an important objective, the increased restrictions on local agency control of surplus land are far too burdensome and overreaching.
The current surplus land statutory scheme requires that when a local agency, including a city, desires to dispose of their surplus land, it m...
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