CP&DR

Lawmakers Pass Few Significant Land-Ue Bills : Davis Vetoes Attempt to Halt Spread of Big-Box Retailers

Oct 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

Although Democrats took control of state government this year for the first time since the early 1980s, the legislative session did not produce a batch of liberal bills. In fact, with regards to land use, environmental regulation and local government finance, the session may have been most remarkable for what lawmakers did not do. The Legislature approved no major changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. Transportation and affordable housing bonds died. Proposals to reduce the v...

Growth Initiatives Grow in Number; Measures Head for Ballot This November, Next Year

Sep 1, 1999

Ballot Measures , Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 09 Sep 1999, William Fulton

Stimulated by the success of Ventura County's SOAR initiatives, citizens ï¿½ and some City Councils ï¿½ throughout the state are placing growth restrictions on the local ballot in increasing numbers. Four growth-control initiatives are scheduled for the November ballot, including three sponsored by the Citizens' Alliance for Public Planning, or CAPP, a Pleasanton-based citizen organization active in the Tri-Valley area of eastern Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Up to eight measures may appear n...

Silicon Valley Housing Crunch Gains Attention; San Benito County Is Newest Bedroom For High-Tech Workers

Sep 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 09 Sep 1999

The row crops and cattle ranches of San Benito County are remarkably similar to those of Santa Clara County during the pre-Silicon Valley era. But, just as the computer chip has transformed Santa Clara County into one of the world's great industrial centers, it is now exerting influence on rural San Benito County, where land remains available and relatively inexpensive. San Benito's predicament is the result of Santa Clara County's well-known jobs-housing imbalance. And the disparity only ge...

Retailers Top List of Favorite City Developments; Study Finds Far Less Interest in Affordable Housing, Industry

Aug 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999, William Fulton

A new survey has documented what many planning and public policy experts have long suspected: California city managers prefer retail projects in their community over any other type of land use, and they least favor multi-family housing and heavy industrial projects. The survey — part of a study of land use and sales tax issues by the Public Policy Institute of California — was released just as the California Legislature considers a bill that would require cities that lure large retailers ac...

Met Reorganizes, Slashes Expenses

Aug 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999, William Fulton

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has embarked on a major reorganization and a series of cost-cutting measures, partly in response to cost overruns for the construction of Eastside Reservoir in Riverside County. In July, MWD's new general manager, Ronald Gastelum, unveiled the first phase of a series of organizational reforms, calling for $10 million in immediate cost savings and perhaps as much as $100 million in cost savings in the coming years. Like the Calfed negotiations, ...

Calfed Preferred Alternative Named; But Massive Report Postpones Peripheral Canal, Storage Issues

Aug 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999

State and federal officials early this summer released a "draft preferred alternative" for the Calfed Bay-Delta Program, which officials inside the process contend will overhaul the plumbing system on which most California residents, farms and businesses rely. Many observers outside the program, however, struggle to determine how significantly Calfed will alter water and land use policies. Although the full plan weighs in at 40 pounds, it is light on some crucial details that might have major implicat...

Voters Approve New L.A. Charter; Bay Area Projects, Ventura Redevlopment Defeated

Jul 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

Community empowerment appears to have been the overriding theme during June's local elections. Los Angeles voters approved a new city charter that calls for area planning commissions, Pleasanton and Scotts Valley voters rejected separate city council-approved subdivisions, and Ventura voters defeated a redevelopment area backed by the City Council. Meanwhile, school bond proposals had mixed results, with bonds in Northern California generally doing better than those in Southern California. Passage of ...

State Oficials Focus on Local Finance; But ‘Fix' May be Complicated

Jul 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

The complex financial relationships among taxpayers, local governments and the state is receiving more study than at any time since the 1978 passage of Proposition 13. But "fixing" local government finance is turning out to be exceedingly complex and may require the approval of voters. Lawmakers threw a couple hundred million dollars worth of bones to local government with the $81 billion 1999-2000 state budget. But many people have their eyes focused on a state constitutional amendment that co...

Despite SB 50, Concerns Linger Over School Impact Fees; Some Cities Continue Charging More Than State-Allowed Maximum

Jun 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 06 Jun 1999

The long-running feud over school impact fees was supposedly settled with passage of last year's SB 50 and subsequent approval by voters of Proposition 1A, a $9.2 billion school construction and rehabilitation bond. Some city and school officials, however, continue to argue that schools need more money from developers than allowed by SB 50, and a few cities appear openly defiant of the law. In Livermore, for example, homebuilders still pay more than double the SB 50 cap of $1.93 per square foot as par...

Revised CEQA Guidelines Have Few Significant Impacts So Far

Jun 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 06 Jun 1999

Although new guidelines for implementing the California Environmental Quality Act went into effect in February — the first major overhaul in 13 years — no one is suggesting they have wrought a revolution. Nevertheless, the Davis Administration has vowed at least to review the changes made during the final months of Pete Wilson's second term. Several years of haggling among planners, attorneys, environmentalists, developers and state officials resulted in revisions to the CEQA guidelines issued by...