CP&DR

Riverside County Integrates Three Planning Efforts: Land Use, Transportation and Habitat Planning are Combined

Feb 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Vol. 15 No. 02 Feb 2000, William Fulton

Faced with the possibility of adding another 1.5 million people during the next 20 years, Riverside County has embarked on an ambitious effort to plan for that growth. The Riverside County Integrated Plan seeks to combine land use, transportation, and habitat planning into one unified blueprint for growth. County officials emphasize that the planning process does not seek to restrict growth. Rather, the goal of the process is to channel and accommodate new growth while meeting federal standards f...

Housing Rises On Sacramento's List Of Priorities : Gov. Davis Wins Praise For Choice Of New HCD Director

Jan 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Vol. 15 No. 01 Jan 2000, William Fulton

As a booming economy continues to drive up housing prices, California's top officials are placing a higher priority on housing issues in the year 2000. But with Democrats firmly in charge in Sacramento, the state's efforts appear likely to focus on providing more public assistance for housing, rather than pushing for a dramatic reform on policy issues such as the housing element law. Gov. Gray Davis appears ready to give higher priority to housing issues in his second year in office than he did in his...

Slow-Growth County Takes On Housing Officials : Santa Cruz Supervisors Reject Negotiated Housing Element

Dec 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 12 Dec 1999, William Fulton

Despite five years of negotiation with state housing officials, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has rejected a proposed housing element that would permit the county to reach its affordable housing goals largely through the unprecedented use of "granny flat" policies. At its core, the dispute between the notoriously slow-growth county and the state is a stark example of two competing philosophies about affordable housing. Within the context of longstanding growth restrictions, count...

Governor Leaves Mark on 1999 Legislative Session : Redlands ‘Doughnut Hole' Bill, Marks-Roos Reform Earn Vetoes

Nov 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999, William Fulton

In his first year as governor, Gray Davis has gained a reputation as a chief executive quick to wield the veto pen — and the field of planning and development legislation proved to be no exception. Even though the Legislature passed only small and incremental bills — opting against sweeping change in any area — Davis vetoed one-third of all planning and development bills that reached his desk. "I think he actually striped the middle pretty well," said Clyde McDonald, Assembly Local Governme...

State Treasurer Wants to Influence Growth Patterms: Policies for Housing Tax Credits, Infrastructure Financing Are Tools

Oct 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999, William Fulton

Four months after making a sweeping proposal to re-orient the state's infrastructure investments around "smart growth" principles, State Treasurer Phil Angelides — a former "New Urbanist" developer -— is moving forward with at least three different proposals to change the selection criteria in state bond and tax credit financing programs. "It's a new way of thinking for the state and the public finance community," Angelides said. "But it's not irresponsible and it is creditworthy." Angelides has al...

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...

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, ...

Analysis: Del Monte Dunes Decision Isn't Total Property-Rights Victory

Jul 1, 1999

Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999, William Fulton

Although they appeared to lose on the most basic issue, municipal and environmental lawyers are claiming victory in the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Del Monte Dunes case. They claim that government agencies dodged a bullet when the Supreme Court refused to extend the so-called Nollan/Dolan test to takings cases. In Del Monte Dunes v. City of Monterey, 99 C.D.O.S. 3846, the Supreme Court granted property owners the right to a jury trial in some regulatory takings cases if they are broug...

Rare Habitat, Sprawl-Threat Pose Challenges to UC Merced

Jun 1, 1999

Environment Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 06 Jun 1999, William Fulton

Vice President Al Gore has promised to speed environmental review of the proposed University of California campus near Merced. Ironically, the likely "Smart Growth" candidate for president in 2000 has sided with a project proposed on rangeland outside Merced's earlier-adopted urban growth boundaries which contains habitat for endangered species. The campus and "university community" would rise on the western edge of a large vernal pool grassland, which is home to fairy shrimp — a federally listed enda...