2005 California Government Code Sections 65891-65891.12 Jobs and Housing

GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 65891-65891.12

65891.  This article may be cited and shall be known as the
Inter-Regional Partnership (IRP) State Pilot Project to Improve the
Balance of Jobs and Housing.
65891.1.  For the purposes of this article, the following terms have
the following meanings:
   (a) "Inter-Regional Partnership" or "IRP" means an organization of
elected officials from the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa
Clara, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus and a number of cities therein,
that was formed under the sponsorship of the three regional councils
of government, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), the
San Joaquin Council of Governments, and the Stanislaus Council of
Governments, that oversee regional land use and transportation
planning for the five counties.
   (b) "Incentives" include, subject to negotiations with appropriate
state and local agencies, the following:
   (1) Providing tax credit priority for development of multifamily
residential construction in areas with job surpluses and for job
generating projects in areas with housing surpluses.
   (2) Providing a return of property tax for development of
affordable housing in areas with job surpluses and for job generating
projects in areas with housing surpluses.
   (3) Pooling of redevelopment funds.
   (4) Tax-increment financing for jobs-housing opportunity zones
based on the redevelopment model.
   (c) "Jobs-housing opportunity zone" means a zone selected by the
IRP State Pilot Project for the purpose of mitigating current and
future imbalances of jobs and housing in the Counties of Alameda,
Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus that has the
following characteristics:
   (1) Is no smaller than 50 acres and no larger than 500 acres.
   (2) Contains significant portions of land that are vacant,
underutilized, and suitable for urban use.
   (3) Is created for the purpose of either providing needed
workforce housing if there is a surplus of jobs or providing jobs for
the area's workers if there is a surplus of housing.
   (4) Is eligible to receive incentives, subject to negotiation with
appropriate resource agencies.
   (5) Is serviced by adequate infrastructure and transit service, or
has commitments to provide adequate infrastructure and transit
service, to support significant proposed development.
   (6) Is intended to support development that will improve the
jobs-housing imbalance across the five-county IRP area.
65891.2.  It is the intent of the Legislature to establish the
Inter-Regional Partnership (IRP) as a state-supported pilot project
to test and evaluate a variety of policies and incentives designed to
mitigate current and future imbalances of jobs and housing in the
Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Joaquin, and
Stanislaus.
65891.3.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) California will experience significant population growth in
the coming decades.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, one million new
residents are forecast by the year 2020.  An equal number of new jobs
are expected during the same time period.  However, less than
500,000 new housing units are expected to be built in an already
costly and competitive housing market.
   (b) Under the current land use and policy framework, central
valley communities expect to double or triple in size, but most of
them will not attract equivalent numbers of new jobs.  Instead,
thousands of central valley residents are expected to commute far
into the bay area, often driving two hours or more each way.  The
challenges to transportation, air quality, and social quality of life
are enormous.  Projections estimate the current number of less than
100,000 daily Altamont Pass commuters will more than double to
250,000 by the year 2020.
   (c) These growth-related issues cut across county and regional
boundaries.  The Inter-Regional Partnership is intended to provide a
forum for neighboring jurisdictions governed by different regional
councils of government to deal collaboratively with land use,
transportation, and air quality issues that affect a five county
region, while also complementing existing collaborative regional
organizations, including, but not limited to, the Bay Area Alliance
for Sustainable Development, the Bay Area Council, the Silicon Valley
Manufacturing Group, the Great Valley Center, and others, in order
to support optimal intra-regional accountability for growth.
   (d) The IRP State Pilot Project will stand as an important example
for other regions in the state in dealing with multijurisdictional
problem solving and addressing land use planning across metropolitan
borders.
   (e) The need for communication and cooperation among these
jurisdictions is underscored by the fact that Alameda County recently
sued the City of Tracy in San Joaquin County concerning the
environmental impacts of a planned housing development on the western
edge of the county where a majority of residents would be assumed to
commute into the San Francisco Bay Area through Alameda County.
   (f) These interjurisdictional planning issues are not unique to
the IRP's five county area; several other expanding metropolitan
areas in California are beginning to experience similar problems.
However, the geographic imbalance in housing and job growth in the
IRP area is among the country's most extreme examples, and, driven by
continued employment growth in the Silicon Valley, is predicted to
worsen significantly in the coming years.
   (g) The housing market in the Silicon Valley is now the most
expensive in the nation.  Land being developed for housing in the San
Joaquin Valley is some of the highest quality agricultural land in
the world.
   (h) The IRP area is the best place in the state, and probably one
of the best in the country, to implement a pilot program designed to
mitigate the myriad of problems associated with unbalanced and
uncoordinated growth.
   (i) By implementing this pilot program, the state will play an
important role in creating a more sustainable future pattern of land
use in the IRP area.
   (j) Active investment of state resources to balance job growth and
housing growth will reduce the need for costly transportation
infrastructure investments in the future.
   (k) The current path of land development in the five county area
will have very costly transportation and environmental impacts if
efforts are not made soon to link job growth to housing production.
65891.4.  (a) The Inter-Regional Partnership (IRP) State Pilot
Project to Improve the Balance of Jobs and Housing is hereby
established.
   (b) The Department of Housing and Community Development shall be
the state agency responsible for monitoring the IRP State Pilot
Project.
   (c) The pilot project shall consist of two phases:  (1) research
and development, as specified in Section 65891.5, and (2)
implementation, as specified in Section 65891.7.
65891.5.  (a) During the first year after the date that funding is
received, the IRP shall complete all the necessary research,
outreach, and negotiation to allow the successful establishment of
jobs-housing opportunity zones throughout the five IRP counties.  The
IRP shall collaborate with local governments and existing regional
and subregional organizations committed to improving inter-regional
jobs-housing balance.  During this phase, a series of outreach
meetings shall be held with local jurisdictions and the public to
review and comment on the data and make recommendations for locations
of jobs-housing opportunity zones.  Public input and participation
shall be encouraged throughout phase one of the IRP pilot project.
Local jurisdictions wishing to participate in the pilot project shall
enter into agreements with the IRP to pursue the regional goals and
objectives of opportunity zones within their jurisdictions.
   (b) The first phase shall provide all of the following:
   (1) An integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) designed,
where feasible, to be compatible with existing regional GIS systems.
The IRP's GIS system shall enable easy comparison of data on land
use and transportation trends and alternative scenarios across the
five county area.  The GIS mapping shall focus on obtaining existing
data from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to, the
Bay Area Regional Livability Footprint Project that integrates land
use with transportation, housing, job, economic, social equity, and
environmental overlays, and integrating them into a single system to
allow accurate analysis and scenario work on an interregional scale.
The Legislature finds and declares that the IRP's GIS system will be
a crucial tool for use in determining the location of proposed
jobs-housing opportunity zones.
   (2) General types of data to be assembled in the GIS system shall
include:
   (A) Demographic data, including population and employment by
census tract.
   (B) Projected growth data consisting of information on where
growth, including jobs generation and new housing location, is
predicted to occur over a 20-year period.
   (C) Transportation information such as traffic capacity and usage,
transit access and usage, and journey- to-work data.
   (D) Land use information, including general plan layers and zoning
designations.  It is the intent of the Legislature that to reduce
costs and setup time, the IRP's GIS undertaking shall not include
parcel-level data.
   (E) Basic environmental data, including floodplains, slopes,
contamination, prime soils, open space, and important natural
resources both inside and outside of urbanized areas.
   (3) A refined description of the incentive program for application
to the jobs-housing opportunity zones within the IRP counties.  This
list shall include thorough descriptions of fiscal and nonfiscal
policy and regulatory incentives.  A variety of state departments
shall be involved in determining what incentives might be made
available, including, but not limited to, the Office of Planning and
Research, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the
California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Transportation,
and the Department of Conservation.
   (4) Recommendations for establishing five to 10 official
Inter-Regional Partnership Jobs-Housing Opportunity Zones located
throughout the five county area.  Using the GIS system and conferring
with interested regional organizations and with local jurisdictions,
the IRP shall propose a series of jobs-housing opportunity zones.
Each zone shall have specific goals and a description of the type of
action desired to attain these goals, including recommended state
sponsored incentives intended to encourage the desired results.  The
types of incentives requested may vary by zone location and type.
Zones located near, or with good transit access to, existing major
employment centers may receive incentives designed to promote
reasonably priced housing development.  Zones located far from
existing employment centers, but near, or with good transit access
to, significant work force housing supply, may receive incentives
designed to promote employment development.  Adoption of land use
policies that protect agriculture and natural resources and promote
compact, higher density, mixed use, transit-oriented development may
be required as selection criteria for jobs-housing opportunity zones.
65891.7.  (a) During the second phase of the pilot project,
opportunity zones shall be established.  Negotiation between the
state, the IRP, and local jurisdictions shall result in formal
agreements to implement specific jobs-housing opportunity zones.
   (b) Results of the second phase shall include:
   (1) Final selection of not less than 5 nor more than 10 official
IRP Jobs-Housing Opportunity Zones that shall be equitably
distributed among each of the five IRP counties.
   (2) Reports that include results of GIS analysis and clearly
illustrate the benefits of prescribed developments toward creating an
interregional jobs-housing balance.  Desired outcomes and actions
for each zone shall be included in the report.
   (3) The IRP shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with
each jurisdiction having one or more of the selected zones for the
pilot program and with appropriate state agencies outlining outcomes
and incentives to be awarded for stated outcomes.
65891.8.  (a) The goals of the IRP and the pilot project are to:
   (1) Encourage economic investment, including job creation, near
available housing.
   (2) Encourage housing to be located near major employment centers.
   (3) Encourage development along corridors served by transit and
near transit stations.
   (4) Encourage more sustainable and effective transportation
between job and housing centers.
   (b) The IRP shall contract with a qualified consultant to conduct
an evaluation of the pilot project.  Ongoing monitoring and
evaluation shall be conducted throughout the implementation of phases
one and two.  After zones have been selected and projects begin on
each of the zones, the progress of each project shall be evaluated.
The evaluation shall assess the gap between jobs and housing by
comparing the ratio between the number of jobs and the number of
housing units in a local jurisdiction with a designated IRP
Jobs-Housing Opportunity Zone, before an opportunity zone project has
been approved and after it has been completed.  The comparison shall
be based on an optimum balance of jobs and housing being one and
one-half jobs for one housing unit, as determined by the Department
of Finance.  The following data shall be used in determining that a
jobs-housing balance has been mitigated in a jurisdiction:
   (1) The number of building permits issued as provided by the
California Industrial Research Bureau.
   (2) The number of jobs generated, as determined by the Employment
Development Department.
   (c) An interim report shall be submitted by the IRP to the
Department of Housing and Community Development on or before July 31,
2004.  A final report shall be submitted by the IRP to the
department on or before July 31, 2008.
65891.9.  Funding for the IRP State Pilot Project shall be provided
in the 2000-01 Budget Act.  The IRP State Pilot Project shall begin
on January 1, 2001.
65891.10.  No local jurisdiction shall be required to participate in
the pilot project.  This article shall have no fiscal impact on any
local jurisdiction.
65891.11.  The department may administer the programs set forth in
this article, and the funds transferred by Item 2240-112-0001 of the
Budget Act of 2000 to the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund
established by Section 50661 of the Health and Safety Code, pursuant
to guidelines that shall not be subject to the requirements of
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Division 3 of Title 2.
65891.12.  This article shall become inoperative on July 31, 2008,
and, as of January 1, 2009, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2009, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.


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