An environmental quality bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Ellen M. Corbett (D-Newark) made it through committee on Wednesday, moving one step closer to the Appropriations Committee’s desk.
Senate Bill 674 would allows small mixed-use projects to be eligible for the California Environmental Quality Act residential infill exemption. A mixed-use project is usually a building that contains both businesses and residences.
Corbett says that the bill facilitates “smart growth” and makes it easier for planners to design transportation infrastructures that are cyclist and pedestrian friendly.
“SB 674 will improve air quality and lessen the need to build new roads by locating stores, banks and other community needs closer to where people actually live,” Corbett said.
“Clearly, walking or biking to the corner store or coffee shop is a cleaner and greener alternative to traveling by car,” Senator Corbett said. “SB 674 would still maintain all existing requirements of the CEQA residential infill exemption, including location at an infill site and certified adequate community-level environmental review for the project site,” she elaborated.
If it passes, it may require a local agency to enforce it, according to the text of SB674.
Senator Ellen M. Corbett represents California's 10th Senate District, which encompasses Newark, Fremont, Union City, Fremont, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Milpitas, part of San Jose, and portions of unincorporated Alameda County.
To read the version of the bill that was last amended on January 6, 2014, visit the text online.
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