– Draft –

Senate Bill 9 Housing Development; Approvals

Background

SB9 made the following changes to state law:

What this analysis intends to do

Create a parcel-level dataset identifying parcels that are subject to Senate Bill 9 (Atkins, 2021).

Project Resources

Table of Contents

Data Sources

All datasets used for the analysis are listed below. A more complete list can be downloaded as a CSV: SB9 Data Sources

Dataset_Name Column_Name Dataset_Description Bill_Sub_Section Dataset_Source_Organization Spatial_Operation Processing_Filtering
Census Bureau Urbanized Area or Urbanized Cluster urban_area The Census Bureau’s urban-rural classification is fundamentally a delineation of geographical areas, identifying both individual urban areas and the rural areas of the nation.The Census Bureau’s urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential, commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses. For the 2010 Census, an urban area will comprise a densely settled core of census tracts and/or census blocks that meet minimum population density requirements, along with adjacent territory containing non-residential urban land uses as well as territory with low population density included to link outlying densely settled territory with the densely settled core. To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,500 people, at least 1,500 of which reside outside institutional group quarters. The Census Bureau identifies two types of urban areas: - Urbanized Areas (UAs) of 50,000 or more people; - Urban Clusters (UCs) of at least 2,500 and less than 50,000 people. “Rural” encompasses all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. 2A United States Census Bureau Centroid Within Clip to Bay Area 2019 Census Tiger County boundaries
Coastal Zone Boundary coastal_zone Following its establishment by voter initiative in 1972, the California Coastal Commission (Coastal Commission) was made permanent by the Legislature through the adoption of the California Coastal Act of 1976 (Coastal Act). In partnership with coastal cities and counties, The Coastal Commission plans and regulates the use of land and water in the coastal zone. Development activities, which are broadly defined by the Coastal Act to include (among others) construction of buildings, divisions of land, and activities that change the intensity of use of land or public access to coastal waters, within the Coastal Zone Boundary (CZB) generally require a coastal permit from either the Coastal Commission or the local government. The Coastal Act includes specific policies that address issues such as shoreline public access and recreation, lower cost visitor accommodations, terrestrial and marine habitat protection, visual resources, landform alteration, agricultural lands, commercial fisheries, industrial uses, water quality, offshore oil and gas development, transportation, development design, power plants, ports, and public works. The policies of the Coastal Act constitute the statutory standards applied to planning and regulatory decisions made by the Commission and by local governments, pursuant to the Coastal Act. On land the coastal zone varies in width from several hundred feet in highly urbanized areas up to five miles in certain rural areas, and offshore the coastal zone includes a three-mile-wide band of ocean. The coastal zone established by the Coastal Act does not include San Francisco Bay, where development is regulated by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. 6A California Department of Fish and Wildlife Centroid Within  
Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program fmmp Current farmland classifications and urbanization extent, as of 2018, for the State of California. Data provided by the California Department of Conservation Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program (FMMP). The next, complete set of updated data will be released sometime in 2020. Established in 1982, Government Code Section 65570 mandates the FMMP biennially report on the conversion of farmland and grazing land, and to provide maps and data to local government and the public. The data is a current inventory of agricultural resources. This data is for general planning purposes and has a minimum mapping unit of ten acres. Feature sets are distributed by the Department of Conservation, who release updates every two years for the counties updated during that period. Each decadal release (1990, 2000, and 2010) pulls together the complete set of updates for the period and released as a complete (for the counties the State maps) statewide feature set. 6B California Department of Conservation Centroid Within polygon_ty = S
Wetlands wetland This feature set represents the extent, approximate location and type of wetlands and deepwater habitats in the San Francisco Bay Region and surround counties. The features were extracted from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) state download for California by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. These data delineate the areal extent of wetlands and surface waters as defined by Cowardin et al. (1979). The National Wetlands Inventory - Version 2, Surface Waters and Wetlands Inventory was derived by retaining the wetland and deepwater polygons that compose the NWI digital wetlands spatial data layer and reintroducing any linear wetland or surface water features that were orphaned from the original NWI hard copy maps by converting them to narrow polygonal features. Additionally, the data are supplemented with hydrography data, buffered to become polygonal features, as a secondary source for any single-line stream features not mapped by the NWI and to complete segmented connections. Wetland mapping conducted in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Idaho after 2012 and most other projects mapped after 2015 were mapped to include all surface water features and are not derived data. The linear hydrography feature set used to derive Version 2 was the United States Geological Survey’s National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Specific information on the NHD version used to derive Version 2 and where Version 2 was mapped can be found in the ‘comments’ field of the Wetlands_Project_Metadata feature class. Certain wetland habitats are excluded from the National mapping program because of the limitations of aerial imagery as the primary data source used to detect wetlands. These habitats include seagrasses or submerged aquatic vegetation that are found in the intertidal and subtidal zones of estuaries and near shore coastal waters. Some deepwater reef communities (coral or tuberficid worm reefs) have also been excluded from the inventory. These habitats, because of their depth, go undetected by aerial imagery. By policy, the Service also excludes certain types of “farmed wetlands” as may be defined by the Food Security Act or that do not coincide with the Cowardin et al. definition. Contact the Service’s National Wetlands Inventory Program for additional information on what types of farmed wetlands are included on wetland maps. 6C United States Fish and Wildlife Service Centroid Within  
Fire Severity Risk: State and Local Responsibility Areas fire_hazard This data set represents Moderate, High, and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones in State Responsibility Areas (SRA) and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones in Local Responsibility Areas (LRA) for the San Francisco Bay Region and surrounding counties. The data was assembled by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from multiple shapefiles provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). The SRA data was extracted from a statewide shapefile and the LRA data is a combination of county shapefiles. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Centroid Within haz_class in (High, Very High)  
Hazardous Waste Sites hazardous_waste This dataset represents hazardous waste sites that are part of the Cortese List. The Hazardous Waste and Substances Sites List, also known as the Cortese List—named for Dominic Cortese—or California Superfund, is a planning document used by the State of California and its various local agencies and developers to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act requirements in providing information about the location of hazardous materials release sites. California Government Code section 65962.5 requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to develop at least an annually updated Cortese List. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is responsible for a portion of the information contained in the Cortese List. Other State and local government agencies are required to provide additional hazardous material release information for the Cortese List. The list is maintained via DTSC’s Brownfields and Environmental Restoration Program (Cleanup Program), called EnviroStor. The database currently contains 575 sites, including the Federal Superfund sites. It also maintains corrected and partially corrected sites, listed Certified with Operation and Maintenance sites. 6E California Department of Toxic Substances Control Point In Polygon  
Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones earthquake This data set contains the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones and fault traces as shown on the Official Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones Map. The data set is comprised of polygons that form regulatory zone boundaries (Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones), lines that show identified fault traces, and label points and leaderlines for fault trace annotation. These features delineate areas where surface fault rupture previously has occurred, or where local topographic, geological, and geotechnical conditions indicate a potential for permanent ground displacements such that mitigation by avoidance as stated in Public Resources Code Section 2621.5 would be required. This data will assist cities and counties in fulfilling their responsibility to prohibit the location of developments and structures for human occupancy across the trace of active faults as required by the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act (Public Resources Code, Division 2, Chapter 7.5, Sections 2621-2630). Local governments can withhold development permits until geologic investigations are conducted for specific sites and mitigation measures are incorporated into development plans. Sellers of property use the maps to check the location of their specific site and, if applicable, disclose to the buyer that the property lies within an earthquake fault zone as required by the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act (PRC Section 2621.9). 6F California Department of Conservation - California Geological Survey Centroid Within  
FEMA Flood Hazard Zones flood_hazard This flood zone data should not be used for flood insurance purposes, but rather hazard mapping. Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) data retrieved directly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) should be used for insurance programs. From FEMA: The FIRM is the basis for floodplain management, mitigation, and insurance activities for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Insurance applications include enforcement of the mandatory purchase requirement of the Flood Disaster Protection Act, which ‘… requires the purchase of flood insurance by property owners who are being assisted by Federal programs or by Federally supervised, regulated or insured agencies or institutions in the acquisition or improvement of land facilities located or to be located in identified areas having special flood hazards,’ Section 2 (b) (4) of the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973. In addition to the identification of Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), the risk zones shown on the FIRMs are the basis for the establishment of premium rates for flood coverage offered through the NFIP. The FIRM Database presents the flood risk information depicted on the FIRM in a digital format suitable for use in electronic mapping applications. The FIRM Database serves to archive the information collected during the Flood Risk Project. The National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) data incorporates all FIRM databases published by the FEMA, and any Letters of Map Revision (LOMRs) that have been issued against those databases since their publication date. It is updated on a monthly basis. The FIRM Database is the digital, geospatial version of the flood hazard information shown on the published paper FIRMs. The FIRM Database depicts flood risk information and supporting data used to develop the risk data. The primary risk classifications used are the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event, the 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood event, and areas of minimal flood risk. The FIRM Database is derived from Flood Insurance Studies (FISs), previously published FIRMs, flood hazard analyses performed in support of the FISs and FIRMs, and new mapping data, where available. The FISs and FIRMs are published by FEMA. The NFHL is available as State or US Territory data sets. Each State or Territory data set consists of all FIRM Databases and corresponding LOMRs available on the publication date of the data set. The specification for the horizontal control of FIRM Databases is consistent with those required for mapping at a scale of 1:12,000. This file is georeferenced to the Earth’s surface using the Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) and North American Dataum of 1983. 6G;6H Federal Emergency Management Agency Centroid Within fld_zone in (‘A’, ‘A99’, ‘AE’, ‘AH’, ‘AO’, ‘V’, ‘VE’)
California Protected Area Database cpad This feature set contains a subset of the statewide California Protected Areas Database (CPAD). The geographic extent covers the San Francisco Bay Region and its surrounding counties. CPAD inventories open space lands that have been protected for open space uses through fee ownerships. CPAD is not a database of all public lands – for example, it does not include public buildings, water treatment sites, or other non-open space public land. CPAD is suitable for a wide range of planning, assessment, analysis, and display purposes. CPAD should not be used as the basis for official regulatory, legal, or other such governmental actions without more detailed review of current official land records in the area of focus. This feature set contains the CPAD Super Unit features of the database. Super Units are aggregations of Units (which themselves are aggregations of Holdings) to create use-focused polygons for each site name (e.g. Las Trampas Regional Wilderness). Super Units are useful for recreation applications and for cartographic representation. Note: Super Units aggregate units based on the managing agency. Super Units maintain distinct units for different types of public access. Super Units cross county boundaries. Super Units have fewer attributes and are primarily used for cartography/display purposes, and to support recreational access applications. The lands in CPAD are defined by their owning and managing agencies at the Holdings and Units levels. At the Super Units level (a version of the release meant primarily for recreation applications, and for general cartography), CPAD lands are defined simply by name, managing agency, and public access. Centroid Within      
Threatened and Endangered Species Critical Habitat critical_habitat When a species is proposed for listing as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) must consider whether there are areas of habitat believed to be essential the species’ conservation. Those areas may be proposed for designation as “critical habitat.” Critical habitat is a term defined and used in the Act. It is a specific geographic area(s) that contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management and protection. Critical habitat may include an area that is not currently occupied by the species but that will be needed for its recovery. An area is designated as “critical habitat” after the Service publishes a proposed Federal regulation in the Federal Register and receives and considers public comments on the proposal. The final boundaries of the critical habitat are also published in the Federal Register. Critical habitat are areas considered essential for the conservation of a listed species. Federal agencies are required to consult with the USFWS on actions they carry out, fund, or authorize to ensure that their actions will not destroy or adversely modify critical habitat. These areas provide notice to the public and land managers of the importance of these areas to the conservation of a listed species. Special protections and/or restrictions are possible in areas where Federal funding, permits, licenses, authorizations, or actions occur or are required. 6J United States Fish and Wildlife Service Centroid Within  
California Conservation Easement Database cced This feature set contains a subset of the statewide California Conservation Easement Database (CCED). The geographic extent covers the San Francisco Bay Region and its surrounding counties. CCED inventories lands that have been protected through conservation or open space easements. Easements are deed-based restrictions on private land that limit its uses to those compatible with maintaining it as open space. Lands under easement may be actively farmed/grazed, forested, or held as nature reserves - but they are usually private lands without any public access. No Public Access Almost all lands in CCED should be considered Closed and not open to the public. Any maps including easement lands must clearly and prominently indicate that these lands are Closed areas – and any map of recreational or other public access sites/opportunities must not include easement lands. Where easement properties are known to allow managed public use, these opportunities may be shown, but only where they are validated with the easement holder. Conservation easements are legal restrictions created by a contract between a land owner and a qualified agency or organization that are usually based on limiting the future uses of a property to those compatible with open space, conservation, farming or other defined uses. Such easements reduce or remove development opportunities on these lands. All easements in California are officially filed with the relevant County Recorder’s office (not necessarily the Assessor’s office) and are public records data. Some easements are acquired with public funding; others are created by landowner donations, and many by a combination of the two. Where public funding is involved, public records describing and mapping the property and presenting its appraisal are created. CCED is focused on lands conserved for natural or other open space purposes and does not include all easements. For example, it does not include utility easements or easements created for short terms (10 or fewer years). CCED easement lands range from the very small parcels in cities to large rural or wild landscapes. Uses on these parcels may include farming, ranching, timber harvesting or open space (including use as floodways, scenic viewsheds or for the protection of biodiversity). Easement protected lands are sometimes parts of larger protected landscapes and sometimes they exist on their own. It is important to note that one privately owned property may have two or more easements held by agencies or nonprofits (“stacked” easements) – this can affect statistical counts of easement acres. Starting with the 2021a release, CCED includes additional details about the Gap Analysis Project (GAP) status of easements. GAP codes are a United States Geological Survey (USGS)-defined metric that reflects management intent (USGS 2020, Prior-McGee 1998). GAP codes are categorized on a scale from 1 to 4 where GAP 1 and 2 are areas primarily managed with the intent to protect biodiversity, GAP 3 are areas managed for multiple uses including conservation, recreation, and extraction and GAP 4 has no known mandate for biodiversity protection. Data for GAP codes in CCED is sourced from Protected Areas Database-United States (PADUS) and National Conservation Easement Database (NCED). As additional data about GAP codes becomes available we will aim to update and improve this field in CCED. 6K GreenInfo Network Centroid Within  
National Register of Historic Places historic_place The National Park Service Cultural Resources GIS program has created spatial data from the unrestricted National Register of Historic Places database (NRIS) inventory in a file geodatabase format using ESRI’s ArcMap 10.0. The data model is structured in compliance with NPS Cultural Resources Spatial Data Transfer Standards. More detail on the model and these standards can be found here: https://www.nps.gov/crgis/crgis_standards_overview.htm Use of this information in meeting a federal agency’s responsibilities under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act does not in itself constitute compliance with Section 106, which requires agencies to consult with the appropriate State and/or Tribal Preservation Offices in the identification and evaluation of historic properties. Users should be aware that many points and polygon boundaries require some level of correction. In general, this dataset contains modest corrections to the coordinates contained in the NRIS with reference to some of the point data. In many cases, polygon boundaries may appear incorrect due to minor errors in the database. It is our intent to be able to address these errors and improve the quality of the spatial data over time. This dataset represents the contents of the available coordinates for unrestricted National Register properties. A schedule of updates will be posted in the near future. 7C National Parks Service Point In Polygon  

Analysis Parameters

Senate Bill 9 Housing Development; Approvals

This section includes excerpts from the SB9 legislative text for easy reference and also to outline the scope of the analysis conducted. Sections that are crossed out were not considered for this analysis. For these sections, good data were not available at a regional level to accuratly estimate the impact.

Identify parcels that meet the following conditions listed in SB9 Code Sections:

  1. The development and the site on which it is located satisfy all of the following:

    A. It is a legal parcel or parcels located in a city if, and only if, the city boundaries include some portion of either an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau, or, for unincorporated areas, a legal parcel or parcels wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau.

    ~B. At least 75 percent of the perimeter of the site adjoins parcels that are developed with urban uses. For the purposes of this section, parcels that are only separated by a street or highway shall be considered to be adjoined.~

    C. It is zoned for residential use or residential mixed-use development, or has a general plan designation that allows residential use or a mix of residential and nonresidential uses, and at least two-thirds of the square footage of the development is designated for residential use. Additional density, floor area, and units, and any other concession, incentive, or waiver of development standards granted pursuant to the Density Bonus Law in Section 65915 shall be included in the square footage calculation. The square footage of the development shall not include underground space, such as basements or underground parking garages.

  1. The development is not located on a site that is any of the following:

    A. A coastal zone, as defined in Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000) of the Public Resources Code.

    B. Either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance, as defined pursuant to United States Department of Agriculture land inventory and monitoring criteria, as modified for California, and designated on the maps prepared by the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program of the Department of Conservation, or land zoned or designated for agricultural protection or preservation by a local ballot measure that was approved by the voters of that jurisdiction.

    C. Wetlands, as defined in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, Part 660 FW 2 (June 21, 1993).

    D. Within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as determined by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Section 51178, or within a high or very high fire hazard severity zone as indicated on maps adopted by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to Section 4202 of the Public Resources Code. This subparagraph does not apply to sites excluded from the specified hazard zones by a local agency, pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 51179, or sites that have adopted fire hazard mitigation measures pursuant to existing building standards or state fire mitigation measures applicable to the development.

    E. A hazardous waste site that is listed pursuant to Section 65962.5 or a hazardous waste site designated by the Department of Toxic Substances Control pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code, unless the State Department of Public Health, State Water Resources Control Board, or Department of Toxic Substances Control has cleared the site for residential use or residential mixed uses.

    F. Within a delineated earthquake fault zone as determined by the State Geologist in any official maps published by the State Geologist, unless the development complies with applicable seismic protection building code standards adopted by the California Building Standards Commission under the California Building Standards Law (Part 2.5 (commencing with Section 18901) of Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code), and by any local building department under Chapter 12.2 (commencing with Section 8875) of Division 1 of Title 2.

    G. Within a special flood hazard area subject to inundation by the 1 percent annual chance flood (100-year flood) as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in any official maps published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If a development proponent is able to satisfy all applicable federal qualifying criteria in order to provide that the site satisfies this subparagraph and is otherwise eligible for streamlined approval under this section, a local government shall not deny the application on the basis that the development proponent did not comply with any additional permit requirement, standard, or action adopted by that local government that is applicable to that site. A development may be located on a site described in this subparagraph if either of the following are met:

     i. The site has been subject to a Letter of Map Revision prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and issued to the local jurisdiction.

 ii. The site meets Federal Emergency Management Agency requirements necessary to meet minimum flood plain management criteria of the National Flood Insurance Program pursuant to Part 59 (commencing with Section 59.1) and Part 60 (commencing with Section 60.1) of Subchapter B of Chapter I of Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

    H. Within a regulatory floodway as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in any official maps published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, unless the development has received a no-rise certification in accordance with Section 60.3(d)(3) of Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations. If a development proponent is able to satisfy all applicable federal qualifying criteria in order to provide that the site satisfies this subparagraph and is otherwise eligible for streamlined approval under this section, a local government shall not deny the application on the basis that the development proponent did not comply with any additional permit requirement, standard, or action adopted by that local government that is applicable to that site.

    I. Lands identified for conservation in an adopted natural community conservation plan pursuant to the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 2800) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code), habitat conservation plan pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), or other adopted natural resource protection plan.

    J. Habitat for protected species identified as candidate, sensitive, or species of special status by state or federal agencies, fully protected species, or species protected by the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code), or the Native Plant Protection Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 1900) of Division 2 of the Fish and Game Code).

    K. Lands under conservation easement.

  1. The development is not located on a site where any of the following apply:

    A. The development would require the demolition of the following types of housing:

    ~i. Housing that is subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents to levels affordable to persons and families of moderate, low, or very low income.~

    ~ii. Housing that is subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power.~

    ~iii. Housing that has been occupied by tenants within the past 10 years.~

    ~B. The site was previously used for housing that was occupied by tenants that was demolished within 10 years before the development proponent submits an application under this section.~

    C. The development would require the demolition of a historic structure that was placed on a national, state, or local historic register.

    ~D. The property contains housing units that are occupied by tenants, and units at the property are, or were, subsequently offered for sale to the general public by the subdivider or subsequent owner of the property.~

Methodology

The SB9 Elligible Parcels dataset was developed in Python Jupyter Notebooks, using primarily the Pandas/Geopandas libraries. Below is a quick description of the methodology followed to create the final dataset.

  1. Create an inventory of all datasets used to conduct the analysis. The inventory is listed above. See Data Sources
  2. Pre-process datasets. Datasets underwent spatial processing to clip features to the boundaries of the 9-County Bay Area or were filtered. See processing_filtering column in the Data Sources table above for a quick review of operations. For a more detailed look at the processing, review the Jupyter Notebook.
  3. Run spatial overlay process. Centroids on the surface of parcel polygons were generated. These parcels were then spatially joined with excusion areas flagging whether or not they were within exlusion areas. For point-based exclusion site data, points were joined to polygons to flag whether an exclusion site was within a polygon. For a more detailed look at the overlay analysis, reviw the Jupyter Notebook.

Analysis Limitations

Zoning data were collected in 2021 and 2019 from all jurisdictions in the 9-County Bay Area where information was available on jurisdiction websites and publicly accessible data portals or APIs. Zoning data was collected for all 109 Bay Area jurisdictions. However, data on single-family zoning was not available for 4 jurisdictions, which means that the count of total single family parcels and single family parcels subject to SB9 were likely under represented in our analysis. Below is a list of the jurisdiction where single family zoning data was unavailable.

Missing or Incomplete Zoning Data
American Canyon
Emeryville
Hillsborough
Millbrae

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