Community Plans - Local Planning - Government - CA

Section § 65458

This law defines what a 'community plan' is for urban planning purposes. A community plan must be created by a local government to guide land use in a specific area. It needs to have certain elements like covering two or more transit priority areas and it shouldn't have been updated in the last 10 years. The local government must have a general plan that includes a circulation or mobility element and enough housing capacity for regional needs. It should also cover urbanized areas and have certain environmental and safety regulations, like fire hazard and floodplain ordinances. Additionally, it must adopt a method to measure vehicle miles traveled in the area.

Other terms defined are 'development project' meaning as specified by another law, 'local jurisdiction' meaning cities or counties, and 'update' meaning comprehensive plan changes to align with current policies.

For purposes of this article:

(a) “Community plan” means a plan that meets all of the following requirements:

(1) The plan was adopted by a local jurisdiction for a defined geographic area within its jurisdictional boundaries.

(2) The plan serves as the land use element, pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 65302, for the area covered by the plan.

(3) The plan has not been updated for more than 10 years from the date the plan was adopted or last updated, whichever is later.

(4) The plan includes two or more transit priority areas, as defined in Section 21099 of the Public Resources Code.

(5) The local jurisdiction that adopts the plan has adopted or amended, on or after January 1, 2015, a circulation or mobility element as a part of the general plan.

(6) The local jurisdiction that adopts the plan has a housing element that includes housing capacity to sufficiently accommodate regional housing needs projects as set forth in Section 65584.01.

(7) The local jurisdiction that adopts the plan has adopted a vehicle miles traveled threshold of significance for the area covered by the plan in compliance with Section 15064.3 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.

(8) The area covered by the plan update is located within an urbanized area, as defined by Section 21071 of the Public Resources Code.

(9) The local jurisdiction that adopts the plan has also adopted any required ordinances or regulations related to either of the following:

(A) The designation of very high fire hazard severity zones pursuant to Section 51179.

(B) Flood plain management in accordance with the National Flood Insurance Program, pursuant to Part 60 (commencing with Section 60.1) of Subchapter B of Chapter I of Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(b) “Development project” has the same meaning as defined in Section 65928.

(c) “Local jurisdiction” means a city, county, or city and county.

(d) “Update” means a comprehensive amendment to a community plan that is intended to bring the community plan up to date with the most current land use policies and that includes amendments to both the plain text and plan land use map, as well as the adoption or amendment of any zoning ordinances necessary to bring zoning into consistency with the community plan.

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Section § 65458.1

This law states that if a court action questions the legality of local decisions on updating a community plan due to environmental issues, the court cannot overturn decisions to approve specific development projects based solely on this compliance issue. This protection applies if the projects were approved or their applications were considered complete before the court ordered a stop or made a ruling to rethink the report related to the plan update. This rule is relevant for community plan updates adopted after January 1, 2025.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 21168.9 of the Public Resources Code, in any order that results from an action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the acts or decisions of the local jurisdiction, in adopting an update to a community plan on the grounds of noncompliance with Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code, the court shall not, on the basis of that noncompliance, invalidate, review, void, or set aside the approval of any development project for which either of the following applies:

(1) The development project is approved before the court issues a stay in connection with the action or proceeding or an order or writ requiring the challenged environmental impact report or community plan update to be rescinded or set aside.

(2) The application for the development project is deemed complete, pursuant to Section 65943, before the court issues a stay, order, or writ described in subdivision (a).

(b) This section applies to an update to a community plan that is adopted on or after January 1, 2025.

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Section § 65458.2

This section explains what is not affected by the article. Firstly, it doesn't change the requirement for development projects, which fit an approved community plan, to adhere to environmental review laws. Secondly, unless specifically stated, it doesn’t stop actions challenging or reviewing the approval of such projects if they follow an approved community plan, according to certain rules in the Public Resources Code.

This article does not do either of the following:

(a) Affect or alter the obligation for the approval of a development project that is consistent with an approved community plan to comply with Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code.

(b) Except as expressly provided in Section 65458.1, preclude or limit an action to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the approval of a development project that is consistent with an approved community plan pursuant to Section 21167 of the Public Resources Code.

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Section § 65458.3

This law states that the rules in this article affect development projects if the project application is submitted to and completed by the relevant local authority by January 1, 2036.

This article applies to a development project for which an application has been filed with, and accepted as complete by, the local jurisdiction on or before January 1, 2036.

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Section § 65458.4

This law states that speeding up the approval process for development projects is important because it helps address housing and homelessness issues and provides economic opportunities across the state. It is deemed a statewide concern, which means it affects all cities in California, even those with their own charters.

The Legislature finds and declares that the expedited approval of development projects to address the state’s ongoing housing and homelessness crisis and to provide economic opportunities is a matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, this article applies to all cities, including charter cities.

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