california legislature—2023–24 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 612
Introduced by Assembly Member Berman
(Principal coauthor: Senator Becker)
February 9, 2023
An act to add Section 104.23 to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to state property.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 612, as introduced, Berman. State parks: Pedro Point.
Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of state highways and associated property.
Existing law provides for the department to dispose of property that is no longer needed for highway purposes on terms, standards, and conditions established by the California Transportation Commission.
Section 10 of Article XIX of the California Constitution authorizes the Legislature, by statute, with respect to surplus state property located in the coastal zone and acquired with revenues restricted by Article XIX to transportation purposes, to authorize the transfer of that property to the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Wildlife Conservation Board, or the State Coastal Conservancy for specified purposes for a consideration at least equal to the property’s purchase price.
This bill would require the department to sell and transfer certain surplus state property it owns in the City of Pacifica to the Department of Parks and Recreation for state park purposes. The bill would make various findings and declarations in that regard.
99 This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the surplus state property in the City of Pacifica.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the line 2 following:
line 3 (a) Public access to and along the coast of California is protected line 4 under Article X of the California Constitution and the Coastal Act line 5 of 1976.
line 6 (b) The California Coastal Trail (CCT) is an official state trail line 7 and completion of the CCT is an integral part of the state’s line 8 responsibility to provide public coastal access for all in perpetuity. line 9 The CCT, when completed, will provide a continuous, line 10 interconnected public trail system spanning over 1,230 miles from line 11 the state’s border with Oregon to its border with the United line 12 Mexican States.
line 13 (c) In the City of Pacifica, the CCT provides a scenic corridor line 14 with views of the coast and State Route 1, and is popular for a line 15 variety of recreational pursuits, including hiking and biking. line 16 (d) The Director of the Department of Transportation has created line 17 Director’s Deed DD–028801–01–01 to describe certain state-owned line 18 land located immediately adjacent to an approximately 2,000-foot line 19 gap in the CCT within the City of Pacifica located between the line 20 southern end of Pacifica State Beach and publicly owned lands in line 21 the Pedro Point Headlands to the south. The City of Pacifica, in line 22 partnership with other public agencies, plans to make line 23 improvements to close this gap in the CCT. Furthermore, on fair line 24 weather days, the Pacifica State Beach parking lots at the north line 25 end of the CCT gap become full and parking frequently spills over line 26 into nearby residential streets, causing adverse impacts on local line 27 neighborhoods.
line 28 (e) The Department of Transportation has determined that the line 29 property identified in Director’s Deed DD–028801–01–01, located line 30 in the City of Pacifica, is surplus state property. The property is line 31 located immediately adjacent to CCT trail improvements that line 32 would close the identified gap in the CCT within the City of 99 AB 612 — 2 —
line 1 Pacifica. The department’s determination presents an opportunity line 2 to support development of a CCT trailhead parking lot that will line 3 expand public access to the CCT once improvements are made to line 4 eliminate the trail gap. The State Coastal Conservancy completed line 5 a feasibility study in 2019–20 and found the property identified in line 6 Director’s Deed DD–028801–01–01 to be an ideal location for line 7 CCT trailhead parking.
line 8 (f) The property identified in Director’s Deed
line 9 DD–028801–01–01, located in the City of Pacifica, is surplus state line 10 property located within the coastal zone, as defined in Section line 11 30103 of the Public Resources Code, as that zone was described line 12 on January 1, 1977, and subject to Section 10 of Article XIX of line 13 the California Constitution. It is, therefore, fitting and proper, and line 14 in furtherance of the public interest, that the Department of line 15 Transportation sell its ownership interest in the property identified line 16 in Director’s Deed DD-028801-01-01 for the purpose of adding line 17 the property as a trailhead parking lot to the CCT. line 18 SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature that, after the line 19 Department of Transportation sells and transfers the property in line 20 the Pedro Point neighborhood of the City of Pacifica, which line 21 property is identified in Director’s Deed DD–028801–01–01 and line 22 is also known as the “Disney Lot,” to the Department of Parks and line 23 Recreation for conversion to state park purposes pursuant to line 24 Section 104.23 of the Streets and Highways Code, the Department line 25 of Parks and Recreation shall include this area in the management line 26 of Pacifica State Beach for park purposes that are consistent with line 27 the City of Pacifica Certified Local Coastal Program, until such line 28 time as the property may change ownership to a local agency for line 29 purposes consistent with trailhead parking adjacent to the California line 30 Coastal Trail.
line 31 SEC. 3. Section 104.23 is added to the Streets and Highways line 32 Code, to read:
line 33 104.23. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the department line 34 shall declare that the Pedro Point excess property identified in line 35 Director’s Deed DD–028801–01–01, also known as the “Disney line 36 Lot,” is surplus state property acquired by the expenditure of tax line 37 revenues and located in the coastal zone, pursuant to Section 10 line 38 of Article XIX of the California Constitution. The department shall line 39 provide for the sale and transfer of this property to the Department 99 — 3 — AB 612
line 1 of Parks and Recreation for state park purposes as provided under line 2 Section 10 of Article XIX of the California Constitution. line 3 (b) The sale and transfer of the property required by this section line 4 serves a public purpose.
line 5 SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute line 6 is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable line 7 within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California line 8 Constitution because of the of the unique circumstances set forth line 9 in Section 1 of this act relating to facilitating expansion of public line 10 access to Pacifica State Beach and the California Coastal Trail.
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