Section 102. Definitions — Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process Guidelines (final updated)

All terms not defined below shall, unless their context suggests otherwise, be interpreted in accordance with the meaning of terms described in Government Code section 65913.4

(a) “Annual Progress Report (APR)” means the housing element Annual Progress Report required by Government Code section 65400, and due to the Department April 1 of each year , reporting on the prior calendar year’s permitting activities and implementation of the programs in a local government’s housing element.

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Department of Housing and Community Development

(b) “Application” means a submission requesting Streamlined Ministerial Approval pursuant to Government Code section 65913.4 and these Guidelines, which contains information pursuant to Section 300(b) describing the development’s compliance with the criteria outlined in Article IV of these Guidelines.
(c) “Area Median Income (AMI)” means the median family income of a geographic area of the state, as determined annually by the Department within the state income limits: http://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/income-limits/index.shtml.
(d) “Car share vehicle” is an automobile rental model where people rent cars from a carsharing network, or an exclusive car provided by the project, to be located in a designated area within the project, for roundtrip or one-way, where vehicles are returned to a dedicated or reserved parking location. An example of such a service is Zipcar or car(s) provided by the project. If the project provides an exclusive car, it shall do so at a ratio of at least one car per every 50 units.
(e) “Density Bonus” has the same meaning as set forth in Government Code section 65915.
(f) “Department” means the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
(g) “Determination” means the published identification, periodically updated, by the Department of those local governments that are required to make the Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process available per these Guidelines.
(h) “Development proponent” or “applicant” means the owner of the property, or person or entity with the written authority of the owner, that submits an application for streamlined approval.
(i) “Fifth housing element planning period” means the five or eight-year time period between the due date for the fifth revision of the housing element and the due date for the sixth revision of the housing element pursuant to Government Code section 65588(f).
(j) “Infill” means at least 75 percent of the linear measurement of the perimeter of the site adjoins parcels that are developed with urban uses. For the purposes of this definition, parcels that are only separated by a street or highway shall be considered to be adjoined.
(k) “Locality” or “local government” means a city, including a charter city, a county, including a charter county, or a city and county, including a charter city and county.
(l) “Low-income” means households earning 50 to 80 percent of AMI.
(m) “Lower-income” means households earning 80 percent or less of AMI pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50079.5.
(n) “Ministerial processing” or “ministerial approval” means a process for development approval involving little or no personal judgment by the public official as to the wisdom or manner of carrying out the project. The public official merely ensures that the proposed development meets all the "objective zoning standards," "objective subdivision standards," and "objective design review standards" in effect at the time that the application is submitted to the local government, but uses no special discretion or judgment in reaching a decision.

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(o) “Moderate-income housing units” means housing units with an affordable housing cost or affordable rent for persons and families of moderate income pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 50093.
(p) “Multifamily” means a housing development with two or more attached residential units. This includes mixed-use projects as stated in Section 400(a). The definition does not include accessory dwelling units unless the project is for new construction of a singlefamily home with attached accessory dwelling units. Please note, accessory dwelling units have a separate permitting process pursuant to Government Code section 65852.2.
(q) “Objective standards” or “objective planning standards” means an objective zoning, objective subdivision and objective design review standard as those terms are defined in Section 102(r).
(r) “Objective zoning standard”, “objective subdivision standard”, and “objective design review standard” means standards that involve no personal or subjective judgment by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable by both the applicant or development proponent and the public official prior to submittal, and includes only such standards as are published and adopted by ordinance or resolution by a local jurisdiction before submission of a development application.
(s) “Project labor agreement” has the same meaning as set forth in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of section 2500 of the Public Contract Code.
(t) “Public transit” means a location, including, but not limited to, a bus stop or train station, where the public may access buses, trains, subways, and other forms of transportation that charge a set fare, run on fixed routes, and are available to the public.
(u) “Public works project” means developments which meet the criteria of Chapter 1 (commencing with section 1720) of Part 7 of Division 2 of the Labor Code.
(v) “Regional housing need” means the local government’s share of the regional housing need allocation as determined by Article 10.6 of the Government Code.
(w) "Related facilities" means any manager's units and any and all common area spaces that are included within the physical boundaries of the housing development, including, but not limited to, common area space, walkways, balconies, patios, clubhouse space, meeting rooms, laundry facilities, and parking areas that are exclusively available to residential users, except any portions of the overall development that are specifically commercial space.
(x) “Reporting period” means the timeframe for which APRs are utilized to create the determination for which a locality is subject to the Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process. The timeframes are calculated in relationship to the planning period of the housing element pursuant to Government Code section 65588 and are cumulative through the most recent calendar year.
(y) “San Francisco Bay Area” means the entire area within the territorial boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma, and the City and County of San Francisco.

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