CP&DR News Briefs August 18, 2026: Coastal Commission; S.F. and SB 79; Wind Energy Projects; and More

This article is brought to you courtesy of the paying subscribers to California Planning & Development Report. You can subscribe to CP&DR by clicking here. You can sign up for CP&DR’s free weekly newsletter here.

Federal Officials Conduct Review Questioning Coastal Commission’s Authority 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is conducting an out-of-cycle federal review of the California Coastal Commission, threatening the authority the state has held for more than 50 years under the Coastal Zone Management Act. The review may allow the agency and administration to influence decisions about offshore drilling, rocket launches, pipelines and other federally regulated coastal projects. This comes on the heels of recent buyouts of offshore wind energy companies in California and accusations from the Trump administration that the Coastal Commission’s activities are a threat to economic prosperity and technological advancement, pointing specifically to past opposition to expanded SpaceX rocket launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base. According to state records the Coastal Commission opposed just 4% of the over 3,700 federal projects presented since 1978. NOAA held its first public hearings in Santa Monica, and the agency is accepting public comment through Aug. 22.

San Francisco Faces Lawsuit for Exempting Parcels from SB 79

YIMBY Law, the California Housing Defense Fund and Californians for Homeownership are suing San Francisco and the state over the city's decision to exempt nearly 1,900 parcels of land from SB79. Development approved the carve-out last month, allowing the city to designate roughly 250-acres as primarily industrial "employment lands.” The decision exempted parcels in parts of SoMa, Bayview and Bayshore from the bill, which incentivizes taller and denser housing around transit stops. San Francisco defends the objective of its state-permitted alternative plan, which protects industrial employment hubs and low resource areas. SB 79 covers more than 65% of the city and overlaps with a separate rezoning effort, the Family Zoning Plan, but YIMBY lawyers argue that exempting certain areas violates state law. The lawsuit also names the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which gave San Francisco's plan conditional approval, and separately alleges the city's ordinance improperly blocks developers from using the state Density Bonus program.

Wind Energy Company Exits California Under Agreement with Feds 

German energy company RWE will shut down its offshore wind leases in California, as well as New York and Louisiana, becoming the fifth and largest clean energy buyout by the Trump administration this year. The company had a major project planned for the coast off Humboldt County. The $1.22-billion deal is part of $2.7 billion paid to companies to abandon offshore wind for fossil fuel investment, leaving California with just two intact offshore wind leases and further threatening the state's goal to produce 25 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045. Local leaders in Humboldt, meanwhile, say they intend to press ahead with wind infrastructure plans regardless of the federal reversal.

San Francisco Loosens Inclusionary Housing Requirements

San Francisco will slash the city's inclusionary housing requirement, cutting the share of affordable units developers must include in market-rate projects from 15% to 5%, based on a recent 9-2 vote of the Board of Supervisors. The board also exempted developments with fewer than 24 units from the requirement entirely, a significant expansion from the previous threshold of 10 units. The ordinance, co-sponsored by Supervisors Myrna Melgar, Dorsey, Sherrill, and Sauter along with Mayor Daniel Lurie, stems from a deal with Melgar, who introduced a fund for directing a share of future property tax revenue growth into building and renovating affordable housing in place of the requirement. The amendment also passed and will go before voters in November.

Court Rules Against Homeowners in S.F.’s Hunters Point 

Tetra Tech EC, the contractor accused of falsifying radiological cleanup data at the former San Francisco Shipyard, will pay nothing to more than 300 Hunters Point homeowners after a judge found their claims are barred by the Price-Anderson Act. U.S. District Judge James Donato granted summary judgment, ruling that the 1957 federal law usually associated with major nuclear accidents preempts the more expansive damage claims over Parcel A of the shipyard. The case against Tetra Tech focused on the company's cleanup work itself, when the EPA determined in 2018 that much of its remediation data was unreliable after two former company supervisors were sentenced to federal prison for swapping contaminated soil samples with clean ones. The ruling closes out homeowners' last remaining claims following a $6.3 million settlement four years ago with the project's developers, Five Point Holdings and Lennar Corp., who exited the case over allegations they failed to disclose the extent of contamination before selling more than 300 homes. 

CP&DR Coverage: HCD Revokes Brisbane’s Housing Element over Redevelopment Delay 

Brisbane’s housing element certification has been revoked by the Department of Housing and Community Development because the city did not complete rezoning to accommodate more housing within three years of approving the housing element. HCD’s action has the effect of opening up Brisbane to builder’s remedy applications, including a possible application for the pending redevelopment of a major railyard, which accounts for more than 80% of Brisbane’s housing under the city’s housing targets via the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process. The Baylands redevelopment – which includes the 660-acre racetrack and could result in close to 2,000 new housing units – is getting caught up in the housing element fight because the city is processing a specific plan for the site, which would include rezoning. But the city has not yet approved the specific plan, meaning it did not meet the three-year deadline for rezoning contained in the housing element law.

CP&DR Coverage: SB 79 Landscape Takes Shape Regarded by pro-housing advocates as a potentially transformational law, SB 79 went into effect on July 1, essentially forcing midrise zoning for housing projects near major transit stations. The law has been extremely controversial, with many local officials – including the board of L.A. Metro – opposing it for fear that it will discourage host communities from wanting transit service. But YIMBYs appear to regard it as their holy grail – the law they have been shooting for since the mid-teens and the one they think will reshape California’s housing landscape. CP&DR has a roundup of locations where SB 79 is in effect and of alternative plans that cities are considering.

Quick Hits & Updates Newport Beach city council voted 5-0 to approve a decrease in low-income housing requirements for for-sale homes near John Wayne Airport, dropping the requirement from 15% to 6% of units in a development to be designated as low-income. An additional 8% will now be designated for moderate-income households, a change city officials argued was necessary because Newport Beach's home values run nearly three times the Orange County median. This marks the second time the city has scaled back affordable housing requirements in the area, following a 2023 reduction from an original 30%.

Developer Wellpointe has unveiled plans for Viva, a $2-billion senior housing high-rise complex in Warner Center that would become the largest affordable housing development in Los Angeles. The 2.2-million-square-foot project would comprise four towers ranging from 34 to 42 stories, creating 3,192 income-restricted senior units. The proposal leverages the Warner Center 2035 specific plan, joining the LA Rams’ separate $10-billion headquarters and practice facility as one of two major high-rises now proposed for the area.

New York-based Yellowstone Real Estate Investments has taken over four parcels at San Francisco's Parkmerced complex through foreclosure. The previous developer Maximus Real Estate defaulted on a construction loan that had grown to over $199 million, surrendering the 152-acre property containing more than 3,200 homes next to San Francisco State University. Maximus had planned and been entitled to a multibillion-dollar redevelopment for over a decade, which would have tripled Parkmerced's capacity to more than 5,600 units. The project never broke ground amid the pandemic and the company's repeated financial troubles. 

Oakland's City Council has advanced a November ballot measure that would extend the city's real estate transfer tax to foreclosure-related transactions, which are currently exempt. Council Member Charlene Wang, who sponsored the proposal, said the measure could generate $4 million to $13 million annually as downtown office vacancy sits at 30% and landlords default on loans. The measure would preserve exemptions for small community bank foreclosures, single-family homes, small residential buildings, and properties that are converted into homeless shelters within three years of foreclosure.

A study from UC Berkeley and UCLA found that building more homes can eliminate up to 1 percent of miles driven statewide, a small step toward the state's goal of a 25% reduction by 2030. The study recommends the state prioritize housing goals to help local governments better align new construction with locations that naturally reduce car dependency, as while regional housing agencies are effectively directing growth toward car-light areas with good transit access, individual cities aren't strategically placing new housing to maximize driving reductions. Research suggests that closing this gap could push per-capita vehicle miles traveled down by as much as 6%. 

The California Building Industry Association has filed a petition to remove protections under the California's Endangered Species Act for Swainson's hawk, which nests in Solano County and the Central Valley March through September. The petition argues that maintaining protections that are "no longer scientifically justified" and that the listing inhibits housing development amid the state's affordability crisis, having rebounded to about 18,810 breeding pairs. The Swainson’s hawk nests on land eyed for the proposed California Forever development, and has recently complicated permitting for projects like a Napa County winery.

Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Tomiquia Moss, previous Secretary of the Business, to the newly formed Housing and Homelessness Agency which is tasked with coordinating the state's housing production and homelessness response. The agency will absorb functions from several existing departments, including Housing and Community Development, the California Housing Finance Agency, and the Civil Rights Department, in what officials describe as an "all-of-government" approach to the crisis. The state has seen an 8,391-person, 6.8% drop in unsheltered homelessness last year.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 to approve an ordinance requiring the city to prioritize drug-free permanent supportive housing when it fully funds future supportive housing projects. Under the new policy, residents who use illicit drugs in supportive housing could face eviction or relocation to another housing or shelter option.

Gov. Newsom signed an executive order directing California's transportation agencies to accelerate delivery of locally led transit and passenger rail projects, aiming to make public transit faster, cheaper and easier to access statewide. The order directs the California State Transportation Agency and Caltrans to consolidate priority transit projects into a statewide list, streamline permitting and design standards for transit infrastructure, expand Bus Rapid Transit and bus-only lanes, modernize transit data and payment systems through the Cal-ITP program, and create public dashboards tracking transit funding.