12/28/02
The People of San Benito County do ordain as follows:
The name of this ordinance is
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The San Benito County Growth Control Initiative
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12/28/02
The People of San Benito County do ordain as follows:
The name of this ordinance is “The San Benito County Growth Control Initiative”.
Section 1. Purpose
The purpose of this Initiative is to protect San Benito County, its agricultural lands and other valuable open space and natural resources, from excessive and harmful development. The objectives are to:
– Preserve the Rural Character and the Quality of Life of San Benito County
– Protect Agricultural Lands and Maintain and Enhance Farming and Ranching
– Safeguard Natural Resources, Open Space, and Scenic Beauty
– Limit and Stabilize the Rate of Development at a Level the County Can Live With
– Reduce Traffic Congestion and Hazard
– Lessen Air and Water Pollution
– Permit Adequate Levels of Public Services
– Secure Less Costly, Compact Urban Development instead of Scattered, Sprawling Growth
Section 2. Findings
The citizens of San Benito County deliberately find and declare:
(a) Growth. San Benito County is at a critical juncture. Development and population in the County have increased very rapidly, much faster than in surrounding counties and greater than twice the State level. There are intense pressures for far more growth; official projections are a population of 115,000 by the year 2040. Huge developments are proposed, even in outlying agricultural areas. Growth is increasingly fraying the County’s rural and small town character and sense of community. Many of the County’s valuable natural qualities have been destroyed or impaired. Much that remains is in jeopardy.
(b) Public Services. Rampant growth overwhelms the County’s infrastructure and ability to provide critical public services (police and fire protection, public health, parks), given the County Government’s limited, more slowly growing revenues. Properly planned, compact development in and near existing urban areas is much less costly than sprawling or scattered development to users and to taxpayers.
(c) Agriculture. Agriculture is the base for the County’s economy and way of life. The County’s farming and grazing lands are among the most productive in California, a bountiful source of nearby vegetables, fruit and other produce. They are an irreplaceable local, state and national resource. Increasingly, this agricultural land is being paved and roofed over, and cut up into parcels for quasi-rural residential development. Large parcel sizes and freedom from residential interference are crucial for viable farms and ranches. Preservation of agriculture is key to preserving the natural resources as well as the economy of the County. A vital agriculture, over the long term, can only be assured if the County makes a strong commitment to its maintenance and enhancement.
(d) Destruction of Natural Resources. Excessive, sprawling, and scattered residential development needlessly destroy not only the County’s farmland but also wildlife habitat, scenic vistas, and other vital natural qualities. Obtrusive development adjacent to public roads and on hilltops and slopes preempts large amounts of open space. The County’s natural beauty is being disfigured; its historic character lost.
(e) Traffic and Health and Safety. In significant part, San Benito County is being transformed from a rural community into bedroom suburbs for persons employed elsewhere. A result is dysfunctional commuting patterns which create severe congestion and hazard on overloaded roads and streets. The County now does not meet State air quality standards. Excessive development exacerbates air pollution harmful to people and property; especially vulnerable are persons with respiratory and heart problems, children, the elderly. Sewage disposal facilities in the County’s urban areas are seriously inadequate; remedial action is very expensive and will take years.
(f) Housing. San Benito County has provided much more than its fair share of housing for the region; it has a gross excess of housing over jobs. There is a substantial work commute to other counties, which have not provided sufficient housing for their workers. Residential development on large lots consumes a huge amount of land but relatively provides little housing, certainly not housing affordable for most County residents. Higher density housing in and near built up areas would be much less costly to homeowners, taxpayers and the County. There are thousands of acres outside of agricultural areas to meet housing needs.
(g) Development Regulations. The County must revise its land use regulations to preserve agriculture and open space while meeting housing needs. Under current regulations, tens of thousands of dwelling units, housing more than 125,000 persons, legally could be built on unincorporated lands outside of cities. The County now limits the numbers of parcels that may be created each year, but not the building permits that may be issued on the numerous existing parcels. Current minimum parcel sizes of five acres in Agricultural Productive Areas and forty acres in Agricultural Rangeland Areas are unsuitable either for farming or for affordable housing. Incompatible non-agricultural uses are permitted broadly in agricultural areas. Moreover, development controls that the County now does have can be eliminated at any time by a majority of the Board of Supervisors.
(h) Burden of Proof. Within the meaning of California Evidence Code Section 669.5(c)(3), this ordinance is designed to protect agricultural use as defined in Government Code Section 51201(b) and open space land as defined in Government Code Section 65560(b).
(i) Federal and State Law. This Initiative is subject to Federal and State law, which is not always clearly determined and not infrequently changes. Accordingly, the measure contains provisions that it does not apply to the extent application would be inconsistent with Federal or State law. These provisions are designed to ensure that the Initiative will not conflict with superior law, in the future as well as currently.
Section 3. General Plan Amendments
(a) Sections 4 through 19 amend the San Benito County General Plan. The amendments shall be placed in the Plan as specified or, absent specification, as appropriate in the Land Use Element or the Open Space and Conservation Element and on Plan maps, subject to further relocation deemed proper by County officials. Material deleted from the Plan by the amendments is in strikeout type (crossed out); material added is underlined, except some headings in the existing Plan are underlined. Further amendments of the Plan are made in Section 24.
Section 4. Protection of Legal Rights; Compliance with the Law
Notwithstanding their literal terms, the provisions of the Initiative do not apply to the extent that courts determine that if they were applied they would deprive any person or persons of constitutional or statutory rights or privileges, would be a taking without requisite compensation, or in any respect would be inconsistent with the United States or State constitutions or laws. This limitation is to ensure that the provisions do not infringe constitutional or other legal rights or violate the law in any way, or subject the County to any liability. To the extent that a provision of the Initiative does not apply because of this Section, the County may permit only that parcel creation, development, or use that meets the requirements of law, that is most nearly consistent with the Initiative and is in accord with the other provisions of this General Plan.
Section 5. State Housing Requirements
(a) Nothing in the Initiative, including in this Section, shall be applied to preclude County compliance with any legal obligation to provide for housing.
(b) To the maximum extent practicable, the County shall meet State housing legal requirements in accordance with this Plan. If the County must use Agricultural Productive or Agricultural Rangeland Areas to meet these requirements, beyond the uses permitted by the Initiative, it shall:
(1) use no more land in the areas than is necessary for the State mandated housing;
(2) locate the housing adjacent, or as near as possible, to existing urban or higher density residential areas;
(3) to the extent practicable, use non-prime rather than prime soils; and
(4) ensure that at least 40% of the housing provided shall be effectively and permanently committed for occupancy by senior and other moderate, lower and very low income persons, families and households, with at least one half of the 40% for lower and very low income households.
(c) If the County must use the designated agricultural areas, the minimum parcel size, limit on the number of dwelling units on a parcel, maximum floor area, and height restrictions in the Initiative shall not apply to the extent necessary to confine the use to the minimum area needed to meet State legal requirements.
Section 6. Annual Limit on Dwelling Unit Permits
Policy 41 is added to the Land Use Element.
POLICY 41
There shall be a limit each calendar year on the aggregate number of building and placement permits issued, or other approvals granted, for the construction of dwelling units in unincorporated areas of the County, whether in single-unit or multi-unit structures, and for the initial placement of manufactured housing, including mobile homes. This aggregate limit shall equal 1%, on average over any three years, of the County’s population in unincorporated areas divided by the average number of persons per household in those areas, both figures as determined by the most recent United States Census. This annual limit may be increased by up to 50% (i.e. 0.5%) for dwelling units permanently and effectively committed to occupancy by an appropriate mix of senior and other moderate, lower and very low income persons, families and households. The annual limit may also be increased by up to 50% for dwelling units to be constructed or placed on the basis of transferable development credits authorized by Policy 7A. The limit shall not apply to the construction within three years of dwelling units to replace units destroyed or eliminated; nor shall it apply to dwelling units, if any, that are exempt under State law from the annual limit or to State required density bonus units. Dwelling units for moderate, lower and very low income households or based on transferable development credits may be given preference in allocating the 1% annual limit.
If fewer permits are granted than are permitted under the annual limit and under the allowed annual increases for moderate, lower and very low income households and for dwelling units based on transferable development credits, then the number of credits that could have been issued but were not in each category shall be carried forward as an increase in that category for subsequent years until permits are issued for that number or seven years have elapsed.
Section 7. Transferable Development Credits Program
Policy 7A is added to the Land Use Element of the General Plan.
POLICY 7A
The County shall establish a Transferable Development Credits Program for those Agricultural Productive Areas that are subdesignated Agricultural Productive 20 (AP 20). Property owners may choose to participate in this program. It allows participating owners to share in development values elsewhere in the County, especially given the added development permitted there under the program, while protecting agricultural and other valuable natural resource lands.
(a) Transferable Development Credits shall be granted by the County to property owners in conformity with this Policy, according to rule, in number and manner to further the objectives of the Initiative. Credits shall be granted on the following bases:
(1) not less than one credit times the number of parcels that legally could have been created on a parcel prior to the Initiative minus the number of parcels that may be created under the minimum parcel sizes established by the Initiative;
(2) not less than four credits for an owner forgoing the right to create an additional parcel permitted under this Plan;
(3) not less than four credits for an owner forgoing all dwelling units on a parcel, which forbearance shall also include all dwelling units on one of the parcels existing after any permitted subdivision or subdivisions of the parcel.
The County may differentiate among areas in the number of credits granted, in excess of the minimums guaranteed by this subsection, to reflect development potential or harm, and among grantees according to their willingness to participate in the program at an earlier rather than later date.
(b) Development credits may be used as the Board of Supervisors authorizes, consistent with this Plan, in unincorporated areas not designated Agricultural Productive or Agricultural Rangeland or areas west of Highway 101, to build dwelling units or commercial and industrial space that otherwise would not be permitted, or not permitted until a later time. The Board shall provide for the efficacious use of credits to accomplish the objectives of the Program. With reasonable justification, the Board may permit more development per credit in some receiving areas and for certain types of development. Credits may also be used in incorporated areas, if their use is approved by the city.
(c) Credits may be sold or purchased, or otherwise transferred or received, by any person including the County and other governmental or non-governmental entities. The County may buy and sell credits, including by means of a revolving fund replenished by the sale of credits, to establish and maintain an effective market for the credits, or to extinguish credits.
(d) The County shall make appropriate arrangements to inform persons about the development credits program, to facilitate the transfer of credits, and to ensure adequate, accurate records of development credit grants, transfers and use.
(e) As a prerequisite to the grant of development credits, owners shall convey to the County and, if one is available, jointly to a land trust (that complies with the Land Trust Standards and Practices of the Land Trust Alliance) an easement on the parcel from which parcels could have been created under (a)(1) or (a)(2) or on which dwellings are forgone under (a)(3).
The easement shall bar any land division, development or use not permitted by the Initiative on the parcel subject to the easement. In addition, if credits are granted under (a)(2) the easement shall relinquish any right to create the parcel forgone, and if granted under (a)(3) the right to any dwelling unit or any other development on the parcel involved or if that parcel is subdivided on one of the parcels existing after any permitted subdivision or subdivisions of the parcel, except development for agricultural use under Section 12 (1), Uses in Agricultural Areas, of the Initiative and for permitted processing, packaging, storage or sale of produce or plants under Section 12 (2). The Board of Supervisors may require that additional restrictions be included in easements.
The easement, to run with the land, shall be negative only; it shall convey no possessory interest to the County or land trust, nor confer any right of public access. The owner shall retain exclusive occupancy and use. The County has no responsibility or liability because of the easement for acts or omissions on the parcel, except in good faith and effectually to prevent or remedy violations of the easement.
Easements shall be duly recorded in the County land records.
(f) Nothing in the Initiative bars the County from granting development credits for areas not included or on bases other than specified in this Policy.
Section 8. Minimum Parcel Sizes
(a) The third paragraph on page 8 of the Land Use Element of the Plan is amended to read:
1. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVE (5 acre minimum lot size)
This designation is applied especially to those lands which are identified as being prime agricultural lands but also includes agriculturally productive lands of any type, including grazing lands. The minimum lot size in this area shall be five acres. The minimum parcel size on lands designated Agricultural Productive is twenty acres in the area bounded by the San Benito County-Santa Clara County Boundary from Highway 101 to Pacheco Creek, Pacheco Creek to Highway 156, south on Highway 156 to Fairview Road, Fairview Road to McCloskey Road, McCloskey Road to the Hollister City Boundary, generally north, west and south along that Boundary to Wright Road, Wright Road to Buena Vista Road, Buena Vista Road to Highway 156, southwest on Highway 156 to Union Road, Union Road south to the area designated Manufacturing (M1) on the General Plan Land Use Designation Maps, by a line southwest and south along the western boundary of that area to the area designated Agricultural Rangeland, generally west and northwest along the northern boundary of the areas designated Agricultural Rangeland (including the areas redesignated Agricultural Rangeland by Section 9 of the Initiative) to the San Benito County-Monterey County boundary, that boundary to Highway 101, and Highway 101 to the San Benito County-Santa Clara County Boundary. This area shall be subdesignated Agricultural Productive 20 (AP 20), including on the General Plan Land Use Designations Maps.
In other areas designated Agricultural Productive the minimum parcel size is five acres. These areas shall be subdesignated Agricultural Productive 5 (AP 5), including on the Land Use Designation Maps.
(b) the fourth paragraph on page 8 of the Land Use Element is amended to read:
2. AGRICULTURAL RANGELAND (40 acre minimum lot size)
This designation applies primarily to rangeland, watersheds and hillside areas is assigned to the remote hillside areas, watershed and rangeland, such as Williamson Act land, many of which have been classified as some form of open space within the Open Space and Conservation Elements. These areas are typified by a lack of transportation access, high to very high fire hazard, and by the lack of utility services, or by steep slopes or remoteness. to allow for more dense types of development. Many of these areas are found within the critical fire hazard area or in the “out-back” areas of the many isolated canyons throughout the County. The minimum parcel size for areas designated Agricultural Rangeland is 160 acres.
(c) The areas subdesignated Agricultural Productive 20 and Agricultural Productive 5 and the areas designated Agricultural Rangeland are depicted approximately on the map in the Appendix. That map is for purposes of illustration only; it is not enacted by this Initiative.
Section 9. Redesignations
The area designated Agricultural Productive (AP) on the General Plan Land Use Designation Maps east and south of Hollister (including the area west and south of Bolado Park) is redesignated Agricultural Rangeland (AR), except for that part of the area bounded by a straight line extended due south from Best Road to the line that separates the north and south halves of Section 19, that line extended due west to the San Benito River, and the San Benito River to Hospital Road. Areas designated Rural in the western part of the County, south of Highway 156, that are contiguous with areas designated Agricultural Rangeland are redesignated Agricultural Rangeland. All of the areas redesignated Agricultural Rangeland by this section shall be changed to that designation on the General Plan Land Use Designation Maps, and are subject to the provisions of this Initiative and the General Plan that apply to Agricultural Rangeland Areas. (Redesignations made by this section are illustrated on the Map in the Appendix.)
Section 10. Flood Plain Designations
The Flood category on page 15 of the Land Use Element is amended to read:
FLOOD
This category applies to land located within the1% flood hazard zones (100-year flood plain) on the Federal Emergency Management Agency maps adopted by the County. Uses allowed on existing lots of record within the category include agriculture, grazing, mineral extraction, wildlife refuges, land in its natural state, and selected low intensity recreation and other such uses permitted by the San Benito County Flood Zone Ordinance. Future commercial and industrial uUses shall be carefully evaluated on a case by case basis pursuant to flood mitigation criteria with respect to flood concerns.
The Flood Plain designations on the General Plan Land Use Designation Maps are an overlay on other land use designations and subdesignations within whose boundaries on the maps the Flood Plain areas are located. The Flood Plain areas are governed by the General Plan provisions for the underlying designations and subdesignations and, to the extent that they are more restrictive, or impose additional requirements, by the flood plain provisions of this Plan, and by ordinances and regulations implementing those provisions.
Section 11. Certificates of Compliance
Policy 42 is added to the Land Use Element.
Policy 42
The County may not grant certificates of compliance except as required by State law. All relevant restrictive conditions permissible under State law shall be imposed on conditional certificates of compliance, and the owner or subsequent transferees held to strict compliance with those conditions. A certificate of compliance by itself creates no right to develop, or diminishes in any respect the County’s authority to control development.
Section 12. Uses in Agricultural Areas
Paragraph two on page 8 of the Land Use Element of the General Plan is amended as follows:
AGRICULTURAL
This category applies to the majority of the land area within San Benito County. It is divided into two designations, Agricultural Productive and Agricultural Rangeland. This land is now generally used for agriculture, including grazing, natural resources, watershed, outdoor recreation, open space, wildlife refuges and very low density residential. This land is presently used for agriculture, hillsides over 30%, rangeland and open space purposes. The uses allowed within this category include agriculture, grazing, land in its natural state, wildlife refuges, very low intensity residential, and uses that, by their nature, must be located in undeveloped areas. Conditional uses include mineral extraction, low density recreational facilities and institutional land uses. This category is divided into two density zones; Apart from uses preemptively authorized by Federal or State law, uses allowed in Agricultural Productive and Agricultural Rangeland Areas are the following, with their customary and appropriate accessory uses and structures, provided that the uses comply with all the provisions of this Plan and with County ordinances and regulations implementing the Plan:
(1) Agriculture and horticulture, including but not limited to arboretums, gardens, nurseries, dairies, and rearing, feeding and sale of cattle and other ruminants (however, the floor area of greenhouses is limited to 1% of a parcel’s area or 40,000 square feet, whichever is greater, except to the extent that the greenhouses are used to grow crops in the underlying soil);
(2) Processing, packaging, storage or sale of agricultural produce or plants, a major portion of which over the course of a year were grown in San Benito County;
3) Provision of agricultural services and manufacture of products to meet the unmet needs of County agriculture that cannot practically be met outside the designated Agricultural Areas;
(4) Rearing, feeding, training, care, study or sale or rental of animals, consistent with Federal, State and County environmental protection regulations;
(5) One single family dwelling unit per parcel (except as provided under Policy 7B of the Land Use Element for clustering or required by Policy 16 of the Open Space and Conservation Element), secondary units mandated by State law, housing for bona fide agricultural workers employed on the parcel involved or on a farm or ranch of which the parcel is a part (this housing may not be used as housing for non-farm workers), and rental of rooms to lodgers in a single family dwelling unit;
(6) Home occupations and offices, secondary to residential use, primarily conducted by residents of a parcel, that will not have deleterious effects on the environment or visual qualities;
(7) Outdoor recreation and pastimes predominantly for active participants, not spectators, and subordinate, auxiliary uses including short-term lodging and provision of food and drink; this category of uses does not include, among other things, amusement or theme parks, stadiums or arenas, or recreational vehicle parking for more than several days, but it does include low-intensity campgrounds, without sewage or electrical hookups, and picnic areas; uses permitted under this paragraph may not interfere materially with agriculture or with the ability to use Grade 1 or 2 soils for agriculture and shall accord with a rural environment;
(8) Accommodations for short-term visitors not to exceed fifteen rental units, and provision of food and drink, which do not interfere materially with agriculture and are in accord with a rural environment;
(9) Use of historic structures to preserve the structures, their historic qualities or setting that will not have deleterious effects on agriculture, the environment or visual qualities;
(10) Exploration, extraction, processing, storage and transmission of energy, minerals, water, rock or soil entirely or largely from San Benito County, consistent with Federal, State and County environmental regulations and visual safeguards;
(11) Disposal, treatment and processing of wastes from San Benito County, consistent with Federal, State and County environmental and visual regulations, that the Board of Supervisors finds reasonably cannot be provided outside areas designated Agricultural; composting is not subject to this finding requirement and may use material from outside the County;
(12) Special, occasional short-term events related to agriculture or animals (for example, fairs, rodeos, horseshows, wine festivals) that do not interfere materially with agriculture or cause more than short-term environmental harm;
(13) Appropriately limited commercial or professional uses (for example, neighborhood stores, repair shops, medical facilities, veterinary services, child care centers) predominantly to provide goods or services to meet the unmet needs of residents, highway users, and permitted activities in the designated Agricultural Areas that practically cannot be met outside those areas;
(14) Institutional and other non-profit uses that predominantly serve residents of the Agricultural Areas or that would be permitted by for-profit entities, and facilities for meetings and retreats not to exceed, in aggregate, 10,000 square feet floor area including accessory buildings; and
(15) County and other government facilities and infrastructure, private air strips, and public utilities, that are limited to meeting the needs created by permitted uses in the designated Agricultural Areas, except to the extent the Board of Supervisors finds reasonably more extensive need that cannot be met outside those areas; government outdoor recreation facilities and ancillary accommodations are permitted whenever like private uses would be allowed.
