Land Use and Planning

AB 57 (Quirk) – Oppose 
As amended on August 18, 2015

Assembly Bill 57, by Assembly Member Bill Quirk, would deem approved any application for co-location or siting of a new wireless telecommunications facility if a city or county fails to approve or disapprove the application within time periods that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established for co-location and siting applications. Under the FCC rule, local governments were given 90 days to respond to co-location applications and 150 days for siting applications. Unlike AB 57, the FCC’s 90/150-day rule only provided wireless telecommunications carriers with a rebuttable presumption to be used in court if a local agency failed to act in a timely manner. 

CSAC opposes AB 57 because it goes beyond the requirements of federal law and regulations, limits the ability of local agencies to review projects, and may perversely result in more permit denials if adequate review cannot be completed within the prescribed timeframes. Moreover, CSAC feels that the wireless industry has failed to demonstrate that delays in siting or co-locating these facilities are primarily due to failure by local agencies to expeditiously process permits, which calls into question the necessity of the bill. 

AB 57 was approved on its final vote in the Assembly and will now be enrolled and presented to the Governor. CSAC urges counties who oppose AB 57 to write to the Governor and request a veto. 
 

AB 1236 (Chiu) – Oppose 
As amended on August 27, 2015

AB 1236, by Assembly Member David Chiu, would mandate all 58 counties and 482 cities adopt an ordinance to create a new expedited permitting and inspection process for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Specifically, this bill would require cities and counties with over 200,000 residents to adopt an ordinance by September 30, 2016 that creates an expedited and streamlined permitting process for EV charging stations that also includes a checklist of all requirements with which EV charging stations shall comply to be eligible for expedited review. Smaller jurisdictions would have an additional year to complete the ordinance. Further, AB 1236 would require every city and county to approve the installation of EV charging stations unless the city or county makes written findings, based on substantial evidence in the record, that the proposed installation would have an adverse impact upon the public health or safety and that those impacts cannot be mitigated.

CSAC opposes this overly-broad and prescriptive measure, which would require the costly and time-consuming adoption of a local ordinance. We are concerned that the approach will not allow for consideration of unique local circumstances, nor applications that may be more complicated than the installation of a single charging station. For instance, a station with multiple charging outlets that qualifies as a public accommodation may have accessibility issues and implications related to parking standards or other local ordinances. 

AB 1236 is on the Senate floor.