Transit-oriented development.

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Transit-Oriented Development Changes

This law changes when and how cities with more than 40,000 people must follow rules for building housing near public transportation.

What This Bill Does

• Delays the start date of certain transit-oriented development requirements by one year.
• Increases the population threshold from 35,000 to 40,000 for cities that need to follow specific transit-oriented development rules.
• Expands the definition of 'historic resource' to include local, state, and national historic registers.
• Removes a limit on how many sites with historic resources can be excluded from density requirements in transit-oriented development zones.

Who It Names or Affects

• Cities with populations over 40,000
• Local agencies that manage housing developments near public transportation

Terms To Know

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

A type of urban planning where homes and businesses are built close to public transportation.

Historic Resource

A place or building that is listed on a local, state, or national historic register.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if a city with less than 40,000 people wants to follow the new rules.
• It's unclear how this change will affect existing housing projects that are already in progress.

Official Summary Text

AB 2576, as amended, Harabedian.
Transit-oriented development.
Existing law provides that a housing development project shall be an allowed use as a transit-oriented housing development if specified conditions and requirements are
met, including certain requirements pertaining to cities with a population of at least 35,000. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes.
met.
Existing law provides that these provisions do not apply to a local agency until January 1, 2026, unless the local agency adopts an ordinance or local transit-oriented development alternative plan, as defined, deemed compliant by the Department of Housing and Community Development before July 1,
2027.
2026.
Existing law specifies that, beginning on January 1, 2027, a local government that denies a housing development project meeting the requirements referenced above that is located in a high-resource area is presumed to be in violation of specified law and immediately liable for specified penalties.
This bill would delay each of those dates, and certain related dates, by one year. The bill would also increase the population threshold for certain requirements to apply to cities, as described above, from 35,000 to 40,000.
Existing law specifies exclusions from the provisions described above, including
that a site is covered by a local transit-oriented development alternative plan adopted by a local government, and
a site with a historic resource designated as of January 1, 2025, on a local register.
Existing law places specified limitations on the reduction of maximum allowed density for certain individual sites, except for sites that meet certain criteria, including a site with a historic resource designated on a local register, as specified. Under existing law, sites with historic resources excluded under
this latter provision may not cumulatively exceed 10% of the eligible area of any transit-oriented development zone.
This bill would define “historic resource” for these purposes to mean a historic resource listed on a local, state, or national historic register. The bill would remove the above-described limitation on the exclusion of sites with a historic resource to 10% of the eligible area of a transit-oriented development zone.
This bill would also exclude from the provisions described above, a contributing site within a historic district included on the State Historic Resources Inventory designated before January 1, 2025, and a parcel individually listed as a historical resource included on the State Historic
Resources Inventory designated before January 1, 2025.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF