Appendix B

Selected Statutes

(Excerpted From The California Government Code)




TITLE 7. Planning and Land Use
DIVISION 1. Planning and Zoning
CHAPTER 3. Local Planning

Article 8. Specific Plans


Section 65450. Preparation of specific plans

After the legislative body has adopted a general plan, the planning agency may, or if so directed by the legislative body, shall, prepare specific plans for the systematic implementation of the general plan for all or part of the area covered by the general plan.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 1984. Ch. 1009.)

Section 65451. Content of specific plans
(a) A specific plan shall include a text and a diagram or diagrams which specify all of the following in detail:
(1) The distribution, location, and extent of the uses of land, including open space, within the area covered by the plan.
(2) The proposed distribution, location, and extent and intensity of major components of public and private transportation, sewage, water, drainage, solid waste disposal, energy, and other essential facilities proposed to be located within the area covered by the plan and needed to support the land uses described in the plan.
(3) Standards and criteria by which development will proceed, and standards for the conservation, development, and utilization of natural resources, where applicable.
(4) A program of implementation measures including regulations, programs, public works projects, and financing measures necessary to carry out paragraphs (1), (2), and (3).
(Repealed and added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1009; Amended by Stats. 1985, Ch. 1199.)

Section 65452. Optional subjects
The specific plan may address any other subjects which in the judgment of the planning agency are necessary or desirable for implementation of the general plan.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1009.)

Section 65453. Adoption/amendment procedure
(a) A specific plan shall be prepared, adopted, and amended in the same manner as a general plan, except that a specific plan may be adopted by resolution or by ordinance and may be amended as often as deemed necessary by the legislative body.
(b) A specific plan may be repealed in the same manner as it is required to be amended.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1009; Amended by Stats. 1985, Ch. 1199.)

Section 65454. Consistency with the General Plan
No specific plan may be adopted or amended unless the proposed plan or amendment is consistent with the general plan.
(Added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1009)

Section 65455. Zoning, tentative map, parcel map, and public works project consistency with specific plans
No public works project may be approved, no tentative map or parcel map for which a tentative map was not required may be approved, and no zoning ordinance may be adopted or amended within an area covered by a specific plan unless it is consistent with the adopted specific plan.
(Added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1009)

Section 65456. Fees and charges
(a) The legislative body, after adopting a specific plan, may impose a specific plan fee upon persons seeking governmental approvals which are required to be consistent with the specific plan. The fees shall be established so that, in the aggregate, they defray but as estimated do not exceed, the cost of preparation, adoption, and administration of the specific plan, including costs incurred pursuant to Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code. As nearly as an be estimated, the fee charged shall be a prorated amount in accordance with the applicant's relative benefit derived from the specific plan. It is the intent of the Legislature in providing for such fees to charge persons who benefit from specific plans for the costs of developing those specific plans which result in savings to them by reducing the cost of documenting environmental consequences and advocating changed land uses which may be authorized pursuant to the specific plan.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 60016, a city or county may require a person who requests adoption, amendment, or repeal of a specific plan to deposit with the planning agency an amount equal to the estimated cost of preparing the plan, amendment, or repeal prior to its preparation by the planning agency.
(c) Copies of the documents adopting or amending the specific plan, including the diagrams and text, shall be made available to local agencies and shall be made available to the general public as follows:
(1) Within one working day following the date of adoption, the clerk of the legislative body shall furnish the requested copy to the person making the request.
(2) Within two working days after receipt of a request for a copy of the documents adopting or amending the plan, including the diagrams and text, accompanied by payment for the reasonable cost of copying, the clerk shall furnish the requested copy to the person making the request.
(d) A city or county may charge a fee for a copy of a specific plan or amendments to a specific plan in an amount that is reasonably related to the cost of providing that document.
(Added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1009; Amended by Stats. 1985, ch. 338 and Ch. 1199; Amended by Stats. 1990, Ch. 1572.)

Section 65457. CEQA Exemption
(a) Any residential development project, including any subdivision, or any zoning change that is undertaken to implement and is consistent with a specific plan for which an environmental impact report has been certified after January 1, 1980, is exempt from the requirements of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code. However, if after adoption of the specific plan, an event as specified in Section 21166 of the Public Resources Code occurs, the exemption provided by this subdivision does not apply unless and until a supplemental environmental impact report for the specific plan is prepared and certified in accordance with the provisions of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code. After a supplemental environmental impact report is certified, the exemption specific in this subdivision applies to project undertaken pursuant to the specific plan.
(b) An action or proceeding alleging that a public agency has approved a project pursuant to a specific plan without having previously certified a supplemental environmental impact report for the specific plan, where required by subdivision (a), shall be commenced within 30 days of the public agency's decision to carry out or approve the project.
(c) This section does not supersede but provides an alternative procedure to Section 21080.7 of the Public Resources code.
(Added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1009.)


Land Projects

(Excerpted from the Business and Professional Code)

DIVISION 4: Real Estate
PART 2
CHAPTER 1
ARTICLE 1

Section 11000.5. Land projects; conditions
A "land project" is a subdivision or subdivided land within this state which satisfies all of the following conditions:
(a) The subdivision or subdivided lands contain 50 or more parcels of which any 50 are both:
(1) Not improved with residential, industrial, commercial, or institutional buildings.
(2) Offered for sale, lease, or financing for purposes other than industrial, commercial, institutional, or commercial agricultural uses.
(a) The subdivision or subdivided lands are located in an area in which reside less than 1,500 registered voters within the subdivision or within two miles of the boundaries of the property described in the final public report.
(b) Not constituting a community apartment project as defined in Section 11004, a project consisting of condominiums as defined in Section 783 of the Civil Code, or a stock cooperative as defined in Section 11003.2.
For purposes of subdivision (a), lands owned or beneficially controlled by substantially the same entities or interests shall be deemed to be part of the same subdivided land or subdivision.

Section 1100.6. Conditions exempting subdivision from treatment as land projects
A subdivision which would otherwise be treated as a land project under Section 11000.5 shall not be so treated, if the subdivider submits evidence satisfactory to the commissioner that any one the following conditions exists:
(a) All lots within the subdivision are to be offered for sale only to builders or developers.
(b) The lots are not to be offered by means of substantial direct mail advertising, and overall sales promotion costs in connection with the sales thereof are nominal. For the purposes of this section, sales promotion costs shall be deemed nominal if they include a conventional real estate brokerage commission which commission shall not exceed similar commissions for similar services in non-land projects in the area where such services are rendered or a comparable area as determined by the commissioner plus an allowance of not more than 10 percent of the projected selling price of all of the lots for overhead and advertising.
Other characteristics of the subdivision render such treatment unnecessary in order to provide protection to the public as determined in accordance with reasonable regulations adopted by the commission to carry out the provision of this chapter.


Return to Index

Next: Appendix C -- Local Specific Plan Guidelines

document is prepared by:
State of California
Governor's Office of Planning and Research
1400 Tenth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-455-0613