After an intense week of lobbying, largely on the part of Gov. Brown, the state legislature passed a $52 billion transportation plan that will raise gas taxes to fund road projects. The bill passed with the bare minimum two-thirds, with 27-11 in the Senate and 54-26 in the Assembly. The base gasoline excise tax will increase by 12 cents, creates a transportation improvement fee based on the value of a vehicle, and raises diesel excise and sales taxes. Estimates indicate that Senate Bill 1 will provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and stimulate the economy. Gov. Brown estimates that the higher fuel taxes and fees would increase costs by about $10 a month for the average motorist. Lobbying for the package included what the L.A. Times describes as “side-deals.” These include $400 million for an extension of the Bay Area commuter rail line, the Altamont Corridor Express, and $100 million parkway project between UC Merced and Highway 99 in Sen. Cannella’s district of Merced. The measure also provides $427 million for transportation projects in Riverside County. The cities of Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, Menifee, and Wildomar will receive $18 million to reimburse them for vehicle license fee revenue they lost through a change in law on newly incorporated cities.

S.F. Supervisor Targets Fraudulent Evictions
San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell introduced legislation that would go after landlords who evict tenants from a rent-controlled apartment with the pretense of moving back in, but instead rent to someone else at a higher price. This fraudulent owner-move-in eviction has been occurring over the past five years but has been difficulty to prove the owners never intended to move in. The new bill would require landlords pursuing this type of eviction to sign a document under penalty of perjury stating they plan to occupy the property. It also requires the landlord to submit verification to the rent board that they have moved into the property, with a utility bill or car registration notice. There have been around 1,500 owner-move-in evictions since 2014, and Farrell estimated a quarter of them were illegal.

Sonoma County Seeks More Housing
Sonoma County officials approved an ambitious goal to construct more than 3,000 homes in the next five-years. As many as 1,375 housing units could be built on county-owned land in Santa Rosa area, and 2,000 units on other sites by 2022. This boost could ease the strain on renters by potentially tripling the almost zero vacancy rate, and slowing the pace of rent inflation. Pre-recession, contractors added 18,000 homes, apartments and condos from 2000 to 2008. Supervisors first plan is to sell 82 acres of county-owned land in northeast Santa Rosa hills to a developers who wants to build 800 housing units. County officials also hope to sustain and improve assistance programs for the needy by expanding projects to identify and coordinate services for hundreds of the most vulnerable residents. Another priority is securing funds for improving the county’s aging infrastructure. There is an estimated $560 million in maintenance needs over 10 years for transportation and a $236 million backlog in county buildings.

Developer Sues San Diego Convention Center 
Developers of a luxury bayfront hotel proposed for the site have sued the San Diego Convention Center over provisions in an upcoming ballot measure that, they say, would illegally impair their plans. Fifth Avenue Landing, which has a ten-year lease on the property, will seek a 66-year extension once building permits are approved for the 44-floor hotel. The lawsuit accuses the Convention Center of interfering in their permitting process and undermining plans for a four-star, $300 million hotel. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s initiative to raise hotel taxes to generate $685 million for an expanded convention center began last week after the failure of the “Convadium” ballot measure in November. Some of the generated funds would go to improving roads and reducing homelessness. However, the ballot initiative does not include plans for the city to control where an expansion would occur. Fifth Avenue Landing claims that the ballot measure would give the city an excuse not to extend its lease and, instead, reclaim the parcel where its hotel would be developed. (See prior CP&DR coverage.)

Survey Finds Concerns about Displacement in L.A.
The UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs released results from the second annual LA Quality of Life Index survey. The survey asked 1,600 respondents how they rated their own quality of life in nine different categories including jobs, economy, education, race relations, and acceptance in their neighborhoods. More than half were upset with the displacement of their neighbors; only 19 percent viewed gentrification as a good thing. Satisfaction with the cost of living dropped and more respondents complained about lengths of commutes this year. However, the most positive rating on the survey was race relations. UCLA plans to present the study to county officials, non-profit organizations involved with human services, chamber of commerce, and the LA City Council this year.

BART Faces Lawsuits over Disabled Access
Two advocacy groups and two individuals with disabilities are suing BART for illegally discriminating against people with mobility disabilities by making it difficult or unpleasant to access the transit systems. BART’s elevators are frequently sprayed with urine and human waste. The elevators are frequently broken down, as are the escalators, far gates and call boxes. The plaintiffs are not looking for financial compensation, instead to have a court order to require BART to commit to more frequent cleaning and maintenance of elevators, and to come up with a better evacuation plan.

Traffic Fatalities Rise in L.A.
Traffic deaths in the city of Los Angeles have risen sharply despite the Mayor’s Vision Zero policy. In 2016, the first full year the policy was in effect, 260 people were killed in traffic crashes on city streets – an increase of almost 43 percent form the previous year. In 2017 so far, crash fatalities are 22 percent higher than in the same period last year. This year, the Transportation Department is focusing on 40 corridors to widen sidewalks, eliminate lanes, left-turn arrows, higher-visibility crosswalks, and other techniques to slow down vehicles. (See prior CP&DR coverage.)

Quick Hits & Updates

The Department of Conservation announced that the Proposed Final FY2016-17 SALC Program Guidelines and associated Quantification Methodology will be presented to the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) for consideration and approval at the April 11, 2017 SGC meeting. 

The California Transportation Commission announced $56 million in grants for projects promoting bike lanes, sidewalks and safer ways to get to school throughout Southern California. The commission will fund 25 projects in six counties. These include nearly $15 million for bike lanes in the Arts District in LA, $3.7 million for a $6.5 million protected bike track in downtown Pasadena, $3.2 million for a project at Union Station, among many others.

In San Diego, Father Joe’s Villages announced a $531 million, five-year plan to create 2,000 permanent housing units and reduce homeless encampments. The organization is working with Chelsea Investment, a low-and-moderate income housing group, to develop a financial plan involving tax credits, monies from the city’s affordable housing trust fund, CivicSan Diego’s various housing programs and other available state and federal grants, plus private donations.

The Palo Alto City Council voted, 5-4, to roll back some development impact fee increases that were approved last year by the previous council. The new fee structure will “protect the city’s affordable housing fund without discouraging development.” According to Councilman Adrian Fine, the new fee structure encourages more multi-family residences and condos as the most efficient way to add affordable housing to the city.

The Sonoma City Council is reviewing a 150-page “Nexus Study” on housing impact fees to help support the creation of affordable housing. When redevelopment funding was terminated in 2012, it brought the city’s affordable housing program to a halt as well. The city is now looking at ways other communities are creating affordable units.

Trammell Crow and Greenland USA have entered a joint venture to develop 15 acres surrounding the North Hollywood subway station in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. The team originally had two options but seems to have stuck with Option B, which includes a series of high-rise structures that would include 1,500 housing units (250-325 are affordable), 450,000 square feet of offices, and 150,000 square feet of street-fronting commercial space.

Members of Oakland’s Mayor’s Commission on Persons with Disabilities are upset at Motivate and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for planning Bay Area Bike Share without including options for disabled users. One commissioner argued that the bike share programs cannot legally launch without bikes for the disabled. The city of Oakland is expected to get 70 stations with 850 bicycles.

Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin counties have more people leaving than arriving according to estimates released which cover the period from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. Job growth has slowed in the Bay Area while housing prices have increased, and that leads to less demand to live in the region. Eight of the region’s nine counties, Solano County being the exception, experienced their lowest levels of net migration last year in at least four years.

The Los Angeles Department of City Planning unveiled a draft design ordinance which would reshape development along commercial corridors in the North Westlake area. The proposed ordinance would promote pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use corridors and encourage the reuse of existing buildings. The subject area incorporates many neighborhoods, including Historic Filipinotown. The proposed policy shifts touch on a variety of topics including building design, site planning, parking and signage.