HomeMy WebLinkAboutOpposition Letter - AB 1279 (Bloom) - 07.16.2020
July 16, 2020
The Honorable Richard Bloom
Assemblymember, 50th District
State Capitol, Room 2003
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 1279 (Bloom) – OPPOSE
Dear Assemblymember Bloom,
On behalf of the City of Cupertino, I am writing to respectfully express our opposition for AB
1279, your measure that would require certain development sites in high resource areas to allow
for more density and height and makes these sites subject to “use by-right” approval.
AB 1279 requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to designate
areas in this state as "high-opportunity areas" no later than January 1, 2022. HCD shall consider
any area designated as “highest resource” or “high resource” on the most recent Opportunity
Maps adopted by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) as a potential high -
opportunity area. HCD will not be able to designate a location as a high-opportunity area if the
area is at risk for displacement of lower income households or if low wage workers in the
potential areas do not have significantly longer commutes than other low wage workers in within
the region.
AB 1279 also requires that a housing development project must be a use by-right in any high-
opportunity area if the development satisfies criteria put forth in the bill.
This measure ignores general plans, and other locally driven planning processes, in favor of a one
size fits all approach to local planning. This measure does not allow for adequate community
input on projects, nor does it recognize the characteristics that are unique to all communities
within the state. However, one of the more problematic provisions of this bill is that it puts policy
into place before the mapping process, and identification of high-resource areas, can be carried
out. While AB 1279 does direct HCD to consider the most recent High-Opportunity Maps
adopted by TCAC, it does not provide cities a mechanism by which they can determine the
potential impact of the bill on their community, since it is unclear which communities will be
impacted by the legislation. We feel that a better approach would be to clearly define high -
resource areas within the legislation or let HCD carry out the mapping process before pursuing
policies that can be carried out in those areas.
It is for these reasons that the City of Cupertino has taken an oppose position on AB 1279.
Sincerely,
Steven Scharf
Mayor
City of Cupertino
cc: Senator Jim Beall
Assemblymember Evan Low
Assemblymember Marc Berman