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San Diego Prevails in Five-Year Legal Battle over Tax Measure
Five years after its approval by voters, litigation over San Diego's Measure C hotel tax has concluded with California's Fourth District Court of Appeals ruling in favor of the measure. Plaintiff California Taxpayers Action Network electing not to appeal to the state Supreme Court. Measure C, which raises hotel tax rates to fund homeless services, road repairs, and a convention center expansion, passed with 65.24% support in 2020, but spent years tied up in a legal battle over whether the measure needed a supermajority to pass. San Diego began collecting the new tax in May, and has raised $35 million so far. The City anticipates $1.04 billion in additional revenue from the measure in the next ten years. Measure C raises San Diego's transient occupancy tax from 10.5% to 11.75 - 13.75%, with properties closer to downtown seeing the largest increases. The prospect of expanding the convention center is now in doubt, with construction cost increases pushing the price of such a project much higher than the $850 million that was projected when Measure C went on the ballot in 2020. The City also lacks control over a waterfront property seen as key for expansion, and a settlement with the leaseholder prevents progress on an expansion plan through the end of 2026. City officials are discussing modernization of the existing facility, and the convention center has already identified $400 million worth of investment needed over the next twenty years.

Nonprofit Launches Tech Portal to Support Wildfire Rebuilding in L.A. County
Builders Alliance, a not-for-profit organization formed in response to the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton Fires, has launched a first-of-its-kind, tech-enabled portal to support fire survivors’ rebuilding efforts. The portal offers a robust library of homes, with pricing up front, filtered by specific lot, zoning, the owner’s preferences and price range. The portal is initially supported by 10 participating homebuilders dedicated to achieving significant time and cost savings and end-to-end project management, making rebuilding do-able for as many homeowners as possible. Participants are experienced, licensed homebuilders, ranging from small boutique firms to larger companies. The no-charge Builders Alliance Portal is a digital representation that maps every residential parcel in the Palisades and Eaton fire areas. Employing AI technology, the map is trained on local zoning regulations and pairs each lot with extensive menus of designs and costs. Establishment of this Builders Alliance is a key recommendation of Project Recovery, the plan offered by ULI Los Angeles, UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and USC Lusk Center for Real Estate in response to the Los Angeles wildfires.

Menlo Park Moves toward Ballot Measure to Determine Fate of Downtown Development
Menlo Park is weighing a citizen initiative that would give voters the power over approval for redeveloping city parking into affordable housing. The measure stems from a fight over a city plan to turn three downtown parking lots totaling 556 spaces into at least 345 affordable housing units. The community group Save Downtown Menlo opposes the project, arguing that the loss of car access could significantly hurt local businesses, and gathered signatures to place the initiative on the ballot. Advocates for the project say it is essential to meeting housing needs in the community and staying on track with state housing mandates to avoid harsh penalties. The city commissioned urban planning firm M-Group to study the measure's impact on the city. The report will cost the city $164,000, and is required to be completed in 30 days.

Major Infill Development Proposed for San Francisco
A developer is proposing to replace a closed Safeway grocery store in San Francisco's Western Addition that would add more than 1,800 homes to the city, representing the largest housing push the area has seen in decades. Align Real Estate’s plan leverages recent state laws that permit significantly higher density in exchange for affordable units, with approximately 15% of the homes reserved at or below market rate. The project envisions a mix of mid- and high-rise buildings up to 300 feet tall, along with a large underground garage and phased construction. Because Safeway’s departure left the neighborhood without a full-service grocer, the developer also intends to include a smaller grocery store and is seeking a tenant while exploring whether the existing building can be temporarily reactivated. City officials see the proposal as aligning with San Francisco’s broader push to accelerate housing approvals, even as other large projects have stalled amid economic headwinds. Community leaders and the district supervisor have expressed cautious support, noting the project’s potential to restore services, reconnect parts of the Fillmore and contribute significantly to the city’s long-term housing goals.

CP&DR Coverage: Housing Element EIRs Could Get More Complex Under New Law
Under a new state law, rezonings related to the housing element aren’t subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. But UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf says there’s a tradeoff: environmental impact reports will almost certainly be required for all housing elements, putting more pressure on cities and counties to identify the environmental impact of every possible housing site at the housing element level. Elmendorf also pointed out that the new statutory exemption for infill housing is “cleaner” and more expansive than the so-called Class 32 exemption, a categorical exemption that has been widely used in recent years. SB 131 – one of the budget trailer bills – contained a provision exempting from CEQA upzonings to implement the housing element. This provision was paired with the infill housing exemption in AB 130, which essentially exempted projects that implement the housing element.

Quick Hits & Updates 
Fresno's Planning Commission approved the highly controversial 9,000-acre, 45,000-home Southeast Development area (SEDA) by a vote of 4-3, despite intense opposition from a broad coalition of residents. Citizen groups who oppose the project say they are prepared to gather signatures for a ballot measure that would subject development on agricultural lands to direct voter approval. During the public comment session, residents expressed strong opposition to taking on the $3 billion budget shortfall SEDA would create, plus concerns about pollution from the new development. 
The Perris City Council has requested the city attorney to draft a moratorium on new warehouses, potentially becoming the latest of several Inland Empire cities to impose such a measure as the logistics industry explodes in the area. Perris currently has the third highest warehouse prevalence among Inland Empire cities, and its logistics space per resident could increase from 1,000 sqft to 2000 sqft if every project in the planning pipeline were approved and constructed.

The governing board of Los Angeles International Airport approved new $1.5 billion construction project, which will replace 4.4 miles of roads entering and exiting LAX and create new elevated roadways to separate airport-related and local traffic and reduce congestion. Critics questioned the need for the new roadway in light of the impending opening of the airport's automated people mover and new transit connections. 


San Diego’s Planning Commission unanimously endorsed a proposal to boost housing production by loosening rules governing historic preservation. The plan would give the City Council more authority over historic designations, allowing it to overturn decisions by the Historical Resources Board based on judgment rather than procedural mistakes.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority will issue a request for qualifications for private investors to build, operate, and maintain sections of the state's high speed rail project. HSR CEO Ian Choudri said private investment, enabled by the state's new $20 billion funding guarantee, could speed up construction and lower the taxpayer burden, but would require changing a state law mandating the first section built be from Bakersfield to Merced. Choudri says the line to Merced will still be built, but the initial focus would shift to a Bakersfield to Gilroy line that promises to be more financially appealing to investment according to a report from this August.

Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board approved a 20-story student housing project with 137 market-rate units and 32 affordable units, using California’s density bonus law to bypass local labor rules, including the HARD HATS ordinance and Southside prevailing wage requirements. Local construction unions have appealed the project, arguing the concessions misuse the state law and undermine worker protections, while developers say complying with the labor mandates would significantly increase costs and delay construction, which is slated to start in January 2028.

An LA County Superior Court judge denied a request from the Rose Bowl Operating co. and the City of Pasadena for a temporary restraining order in the legal fight to keep UCLA football games at the Rose Bowl. Attorneys for the Rose Bowl and Pasadena accused UCLA of conducting back-room discussions to move home games to SoFi stadium, which would breach a lease signed in 2014 with no opt-out clause to keep UCLA home games at the Rose Bowl through 2044 in exchange for the stadium making $200 million worth of renovations funded with public bonds.