CP&DR Podcast: The California-New Urbanism Connection with Rick Cole

Amid budget shortfalls and a development drought, California cities and counties have stopped planning.  But they haven't stopped coding. 

Form-based code fever is still in full force throughout California. From north to south, cities – and, occasionally, counties as well – are using a good portion of their meager planning money to create form-based codes. Sometimes these codes are being created citywide, but more often they are focused on downtowns, older corridors, dead mall sites, and other locations designated for higher density or mixed-use development.

Wiener's bill to give transit agencies great power over development on their land got pushback at the Housing Committee but passed. Another Wiener bill that would have expanded his previous bills was killed. 

A robust crop of recently published books explore California land use in all of its complexity, from north to south, coast to forests, and plenty of places in between   

New bills by Wiener and Wicks take dead aim at the way CEQA is structured. Is the long-awaited final showdown on CEQA reform finally here?

Paradise is only a third rebuilt after seven years -- and the community will be different than it used to be. But panelists in a recent webinar said reducing the risk in wildfire areas is more feasible than avoiding those areas altogether.

Pressured to rebuild Pacific Palisades, the City of Los Angeles may adopt a rare policy to help developers and builders sidestep lengthy permitting processes that can delay production of new housing

Two years into the new Builder's Remedy era, only a handful of cases have been brought. But, it remains a point of intrigue and, arguably, had an outsized influence on how cities approach their housing elements. 

Judge rules that Housing Accountability Act bond requirement applies in dispute over builder's remedy case even though the developer is not the plaintiff in the case. 

Judge rules that the city's decision not to enforce its moratorium on shelters and supportive housing doesn't make the lawsuit either moot or unripe. 

A new USC study seeks the real roots of California's, and the nation's, housing shortage

The city has approved a 13-building project at the North Berkeley station and is seeking developer proposals for the Ashby station. The move signify a big change in Berkeley's attitude toward new development.

Housing would be removed form the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and become its own entity. Transportation was removed from the business agency several years ago.