Environmental Law

Schwarzenegger, Enviros, Builders Laud Anti-Sprawl Bill

By Dennis Pfaff and Kevin Livingston, Editors

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger knows something about sequels and the former movie action hero Wednesday touted one he said was bigger than all the others -- a bill that backers believe could curtail urban sprawl in the name of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Schwarzenegger two years ago signed AB 32, the state's landmark legislation to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases by an estimated 30 percent by 2020. On Tuesday, he signed the anti-sprawl legislation as a follow-up. Wednesday's event was something of a coming-out for the bill, SB 375, as Schwarzenegger (pictured) re-signed it in the presence of an unusual coalition of environmentalists, developer interests and local government officials who had supported it.

According to a statement issued by the governor's office, as well as the official summary of the legislation, the measure would do several things to link land-use planning with the fight against global warming, including moving toward linking transportation funding to land use and directing the California Air Resources Board to develop regional greenhouse gas emissions targets. It also allows developers to escape some reviews under the California Environmental Quality Act if their projects are consistent with new "sustainable community" strategies to be developed under the law.

Said Schwarzenegger at the outdoor re-signing ceremony:

"This bill takes California's fight against global warming to an unprecedented new level. It is a fight the rest of the country undoubtedly will use as a model. SB 375 marks the first time a state has tied greenhouse gas reductions to transportation, to housing and to regional land-use planning. This will encourage cities and counties to work together and to grow smart by locating the housing closer to jobs and closer to mass transportation in order to lower our greenhouse gases." 

Some observers were not entirely convinced the legislation would go as far as advertised, however. Kerry E. Shea, an environmental partner in Thelen LLP's San Francisco office, expressed some skepticism:

"Land use planners in the state have been confronted with an array of demands and pressures from environmentalists, developers and government officials at both the local and state levels. While this legislation could help sort out the situation, if implemented it could also lead to further confusion. Gov. Schwarzenegger identified one of the purposes of the bill as reducing the amount of time people spend in their cars, so one intended impact is to reduce unplanned growth and traffic congestion. But as some commentators have noted, the bill also appears to create the possibility of conflicts between regional and local plans. Therefore, it requires agencies to create and implement plans which, as we know from prior legislation aimed at reducing transportation and sprawl, might not actually become effective. I foresee some big litigation fights over these conflicts and little real action beyond telling the agencies that 'you should consider greenhouse gases.'"
   

One of those commentators, respected land-use expert Bill Fulton, wrote Wednesday that the legislation was "both more and less powerful" than it was touted to be. At his blog at the California Planning and Development Report, Fulton noted that regional planning agencies would be required to create a plan to meet greenhouse gas targets "even if that plan is in conflict with local plans." In addition, he wrote that it was "only technically" true that state transportation funding would be tied to land use because the current regional planning structure, which is in the hands of local elected officials, remains unchanged. Wrote Fulton:

"The bottom line is that the law won't be sweeping unless the state and the regional planning agencies take it seriously."

Nevertheless, advocates from California Attorney General Jerry Brown to environmentalists have been trying for some time, and with some success, to link land use and sprawl to anti-climate change efforts. As Climate Law Update has reported in the past, transportation is a significant contributor to California's carbon footprint. On Wednesday, Ann Notthoff, a lobbyist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, appeared with Schwarzenegger and praised the new law:

"This is huge, people. We finally have the missing piece in California's plan to limit global warming pollution."

The bill's chief sponsor, state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento made a similar point:

"People for years have been grappling with the issue of how we respect local control and at the same time how do we promote regional cooperation; how do we integrate the issues of the environment and growth. Finally we have found a way."

Layne Marceau, a past chairman of the California Building Industry Association, which also backed the bill, called its signing "a monumental achievement."

--Dennis Pfaff of Thelen LLP

Photo credit: Office of Gov. Schwarzenegger

Full post as published by Climate Law Update on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).