The development came after a similar Senate bill died in committee
Proposed legislation in the California State Assembly that seeks to help build 20,000 housing units in the state has made progress.
Assembly Bill 2923, also known as San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District: transit-oriented development, was first introduced in February. The bill would make it easier to zone transit-oriented developments near Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations. Assemblymembers Tim Grayson and David Chiu introduced the bill.
“By connecting affordable mixed housing projects with proximity and accessibility to BART, we are moving the Bay Area to a future with more living units, fewer cars on the road, and a better quality of life for all our residents,” Grayson said when the bill was introduced.
Now, after the co-authors amended the bill, AB 2923 has made progress in committee.
“Our bill to encourage transit-oriented development near BART stations just received key support from the Assembly Local Government Committee,” Chiu tweeted. He thanked Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California and the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California for their work on the bill.
The bill has been referred to the Assembly’s Committee on Natural Resources.
If passed, AB 2923 would add provisions to the Public Utilities Code that would require the BART board to adopt transit-oriented development zoning standards “that establish minimum local zoning requirements for BART-owned land that is located on contiguous parcels larger than 0.25 acres, within one-half mile of an existing or planned BART station entrance.”
The bill’s progress follows the failure of proposed legislation in the California Senate that would have mandated denser and taller zoning near public transit in the state.
