Voters in the North San Diego County city of Encinitas have narrowly approved a ballot initiative limiting building heights to two stories in most parts of the city and requiring future changes in height and density to a vote.

You might wonder how many times I can write a blog highlighting how different California is from the rest of the country when it comes to density. After all, I started on this screed back in 2001, when I co-authored Who Sprawls Most? And just a month ago I wrote a blog noting tha

On Tuesday, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner announced that he had selected Bill Fulton, this publication's founding editor and publisher, as the city's new planning director. Rather than comment on this surprising turn of events, we thought we'd simply provide a rundown of blog and me

After a variety of setbacks, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, is doggedly moving forward with bills to reform the California Environmental Quality Act and revive redevelopment. Both bills – SB 731 for CEQA and SB 1 for redevelopment – have cleared the Senate and are

The latest illustration of intergovernmental non-cooperation examines the circumstances in which cities can route sewer lines through county rights of way, all without county approval.

Early one Sunday morning in early February, the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista – a fixture on San Diego Bay for decades – was blown up. But it wasn't because terrorists had targeted the plant.

Is 55 stories too high for a building in Hollywood? Neighbors think so -- especially when it will dwarf the iconic Capitol Records building next door. Opponents recently circulated an online petition called "Stop the Millennium Hollywood Project", which calls for the project to b

So, we all woke up this morning to the news that Eric Garcetti – longtime city council president, councilmember from Hollywood, and son of former L.A. District Attorney Gil Garcetti – will almost certainly be the next mayor of Los Angeles. What does this mean for planning and dev

After eight years in elected office in California, I can tell you that I often fell into the same trap as everybody else: chasing revenue. When you're up against the wall on budget problems, any new revenue – especially a boost in property or sales tax revenue – looks like the so

Well, California's at it again -- going in a different direction than the rest of the country. The Census Bureau recently released a new report showed that -- by at least one measure -- the nation's overall population density dropped by 6% between 2000 and 2010. But by this same

Preliminary plans were recently revealed Los Angeles's 77-year old union station modernization project. The plans (including four design concepts) focus on the integration of the stateís High Speed Rail system with the cityís historic transit hub. Additionally, the improvements a

<p>Yesterday's California Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana dispensaries put a longstanding legal dispute to rest and gave cities the green light to zone out such establishments.</p>