SECTIONS 65864-65869.5 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 65864-65869.5

65864. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) The lack of certainty in the approval of development projects
can result in a waste of resources, escalate the cost of housing and
other development to the consumer, and discourage investment in and
commitment to comprehensive planning which would make maximum
efficient utilization of resources at the least economic cost to the
public.
(b) Assurance to the applicant for a development project that upon
approval of the project, the applicant may proceed with the project
in accordance with existing policies, rules and regulations, and
subject to conditions of approval, will strengthen the public
planning process, encourage private participation in comprehensive
planning, and reduce the economic costs of development.
(c) The lack of public facilities, including, but not limited to,
streets, sewerage, transportation, drinking water, school, and
utility facilities, is a serious impediment to the development of new
housing. Whenever possible, applicants and local governments may
include provisions in agreements whereby applicants are reimbursed
over time for financing public facilities.

65865. (a) Any city, county, or city and county, may enter into a
development agreement with any person having a legal or equitable
interest in real property for the development of the property as
provided in this article.
(b) Any city may enter into a development agreement with any
person having a legal or equitable interest in real property in
unincorporated territory within that city's sphere of influence for
the development of the property as provided in this article. However,
the agreement shall not become operative unless annexation
proceedings annexing the property to the city are completed within
the period of time specified by the agreement. If the annexation is
not completed within the time specified in the agreement or any
extension of the agreement, the agreement is null and void.
(c) Every city, county, or city and county, shall, upon request of
an applicant, by resolution or ordinance, establish procedures and
requirements for the consideration of development agreements upon
application by, or on behalf of, the property owner or other person
having a legal or equitable interest in the property.
(d) A city, county, or city and county may recover from applicants
the direct costs associated with adopting a resolution or ordinance
to establish procedures and requirements for the consideration of
development agreements.
(e) For any development agreement entered into on or after January
1, 2004, a city, county, or city and county shall comply with
Section 66006 with respect to any fee it receives or cost it recovers
pursuant to this article.

65865.1. Procedures established pursuant to Section 65865 shall
include provisions requiring periodic review at least every 12
months, at which time the applicant, or successor in interest
thereto, shall be required to demonstrate good faith compliance with
the terms of the agreement. If, as a result of such periodic review,
the local agency finds and determines, on the basis of substantial
evidence, that the applicant or successor in interest thereto has not
complied in good faith with terms or conditions of the agreement,
the local agency may terminate or modify the agreement.

65865.2. A development agreement shall specify the duration of the
agreement, the permitted uses of the property, the density or
intensity of use, the maximum height and size of proposed buildings,
and provisions for reservation or dedication of land for public
purposes. The development agreement may include conditions, terms,
restrictions, and requirements for subsequent discretionary actions,
provided that such conditions, terms, restrictions, and requirements
for subsequent discretionary actions shall not prevent development of
the land for the uses and to the density or intensity of development
set forth in the agreement. The agreement may provide that
construction shall be commenced within a specified time and that the
project or any phase thereof be completed within a specified time.
The agreement may also include terms and conditions relating to
applicant financing of necessary public facilities and subsequent
reimbursement over time.

65865.3. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivisions (b) and
(c), Section 65868, or Section 65869.5, notwithstanding any other
law, if a newly incorporated city or newly annexed area comprises
territory that was formerly unincorporated, any development agreement
entered into by the county prior to the effective date of the
incorporation or annexation shall remain valid for the duration of
the agreement, or eight years from the effective date of the
incorporation or annexation, whichever is earlier. The holder of the
development agreement and the city may agree that the development
agreement shall remain valid for more than eight years, provided that
the longer period shall not exceed 15 years from the effective date
of the incorporation or annexation. The holder of the development
agreement and the city shall have the same rights and obligations
with respect to each other as if the property had remained in the
unincorporated territory of the county.
(b) The city may modify or suspend the provisions of the
development agreement if the city determines that the failure of the
city to do so would place the residents of the territory subject to
the development agreement, or the residents of the city, or both, in
a condition dangerous to their health or safety, or both.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (d), this section
applies to any development agreement which meets all of the following
requirements:
(1) The application for the agreement is submitted to the county
prior to the date that the first signature was affixed to the
petition for incorporation or annexation pursuant to Section 56704 or
the adoption of the resolution pursuant to Section 56800, whichever
occurs first.
(2) The county enters into the agreement with the applicant prior
to the date of the election on the question of incorporation or
annexation, or, in the case of an annexation without an election
pursuant to Section 57075, prior to the date that the conducting
authority orders the annexation.
(3) The annexation proposal is initiated by the city. If the
annexation proposal is initiated by a petitioner other than the city,
the development agreement is valid unless the city adopts written
findings that implementation of the development agreement would
create a condition injurious to the health, safety, or welfare of
city residents.
(d) This section does not apply to any territory subject to a
development agreement if that territory is incorporated and the
effective date of the incorporation is prior to January 1, 1987.

65865.4. Unless amended or canceled pursuant to Section 65868, or
modified or suspended pursuant to Section 65869.5, and except as
otherwise provided in subdivision (b) of Section 65865.3, a
development agreement shall be enforceable by any party thereto
notwithstanding any change in any applicable general or specific
plan, zoning, subdivision, or building regulation adopted by the
city, county, or city and county entering the agreement, which alters
or amends the rules, regulations, or policies specified in Section
65866.

65865.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the
amendments required by Sections 65302.9 and 65860.1 have become
effective, the legislative body of a city or county within the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley shall not enter into a development
agreement for property that is located within a flood hazard zone
unless the city or county finds, based on substantial evidence in the
record, one of the following:
(1) The facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control or other
flood management facilities protect the property to the urban level
of flood protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national
Federal Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in
nonurbanized areas.
(2) The city or county has imposed conditions on the development
agreement that will protect the property to the urban level of flood
protection in urban and urbanizing areas or the national Federal
Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in
nonurbanized areas.
(3) The local flood management agency has made adequate progress
on the construction of a flood protection system that will result in
flood protection equal to or greater than the urban level of flood
protection in urban or urbanizing areas or the national Federal
Emergency Management Agency standard of flood protection in
nonurbanized areas for property located within a flood hazard zone,
intended to be protected by the system. For urban and urbanizing
areas protected by project levees, the urban level of flood
protection shall be achieved by 2025.
(b) The effective date of amendments referred to in this section
shall be the date upon which the statutes of limitation specified in
subdivision (c) of Section 65009 have run or, if the amendments and
any associated environmental documents are challenged in court, the
validity of the amendments and any associated environmental documents
has been upheld in a final decision.
(c) This section does not change or diminish existing requirements
of local flood plain management laws, ordinances, resolutions, or
regulations necessary to local agency participation in the national
flood insurance program.

65866. Unless otherwise provided by the development agreement,
rules, regulations, and official policies governing permitted uses of
the land, governing density, and governing design, improvement, and
construction standards and specifications, applicable to development
of the property subject to a development agreement, shall be those
rules, regulations, and official policies in force at the time of
execution of the agreement. A development agreement shall not prevent
a city, county, or city and county, in subsequent actions applicable
to the property, from applying new rules, regulations, and policies
which do not conflict with those rules, regulations, and policies
applicable to the property as set forth herein, nor shall a
development agreement prevent a city, county, or city and county from
denying or conditionally approving any subsequent development
project application on the basis of such existing or new rules,
regulations, and policies.

65867. A public hearing on an application for a development
agreement shall be held by the planning agency and by the legislative
body. Notice of intention to consider adoption of a development
agreement shall be given as provided in Sections 65090 and 65091 in
addition to any other notice required by law for other actions to be
considered concurrently with the development agreement.

65867.5. (a) A development agreement is a legislative act that
shall be approved by ordinance and is subject to referendum.
(b) A development agreement shall not be approved unless the
legislative body finds that the provisions of the agreement are
consistent with the general plan and any applicable specific plan.
(c) A development agreement that includes a subdivision, as
defined in Section 66473.7, shall not be approved unless the
agreement provides that any tentative map prepared for the
subdivision will comply with the provisions of Section 66473.7.

65868. A development agreement may be amended, or canceled in whole
or in part, by mutual consent of the parties to the agreement or
their successors in interest. Notice of intention to amend or cancel
any portion of the agreement shall be given in the manner provided by
Section 65867. An amendment to an agreement shall be subject to the
provisions of Section 65867.5.

65868.5. No later than 10 days after a city, county, or city and
county enters into a development agreement, the clerk of the
legislative body shall record with the county recorder a copy of the
agreement, which shall describe the land subject thereto. From and
after the time of such recordation, the agreement shall impart such
notice thereof to all persons as is afforded by the recording laws of
this state. The burdens of the agreement shall be binding upon, and
the benefits of the agreement shall inure to, all successors in
interest to the parties to the agreement.

65869. A development agreement shall not be applicable to any
development project located in an area for which a local coastal
program is required to be prepared and certified pursuant to the
requirements of Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000) of the
Public Resources Code, unless: (1) the required local coastal program
has been certified as required by such provisions prior to the date
on which the development agreement is entered into, or (2) in the
event that the required local coastal program has not been certified,
the California Coastal Commission approves such development
agreement by formal commission action.

65869.5. In the event that state or federal laws or regulations,
enacted after a development agreement has been entered into, prevent
or preclude compliance with one or more provisions of the development
agreement, such provisions of the agreement shall be modified or
suspended as may be necessary to comply with such state or federal
laws or regulations.