CP&DR News Briefs July 14, 2026: Data Centers; San Diego & SB 79; GHG Funds; 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.

Developer Proposes Building Data Centers on Fairgrounds Statewide 

Global Stack LLC, a California infrastructure company, has proposed building data centers, multilevel parking garages, and helicopter landing pads on state land generally used as fairgrounds. The company has expressed a desire to utilize the substantial swaths of public land in partnership with private interests to generate revenue year round. Public records reveal discussions with eight fairgrounds so far: Cow Palace Arena & Event Center, San Mateo County Event Center, the Calistoga Fairgrounds, the Solano County Fairgrounds & Event Center, the Tulare County Fairgrounds, the Kings County Fairgrounds, the Antelope Valley Fair and Event Center in Lancaster (Los Angeles County), and the Southern California Fair in Perris (Riverside County). The plan envisions rolling the model out to as many as 70 of California's roughly 80 fairgrounds by 2030, offering site operators 100-year land leases in exchange for a stable revenue stream many fairgrounds sorely need. The proposal for Daly City’s Cow Palace, which is still in early discussions, includes an 8- to 10-megawatt data center, multilevel parking garage, and a helicopter landing pad for emergency response. Critics of the projects across communities cite concerns about noise, pollution, water and power demands. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

SANDAG Says San Diego Skimped on SB 79 Upzoning

The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) determined last week that more than five times the four stops city officials had recognized are eligible for upzoning under Senate Bill 79, opening the city to allow even more new homes than the 367,000 that city officials predicted this spring. On July 1 SB 79 took effect, allowing buildings up to 85 feet tall in areas zoned for single-family housing near qualifying transit stops, with height and density allowances scaling down farther from the stop. It has been unclear which bus stops qualify until this dispute; city officials had counted only stops with bus lanes inaccessible to cars or bikes, while the YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County argued the law's criteria were broader and pushed for as many as 26 stops.  Housing advocates estimate the change will push the city's required housing capacity increase from 367,000 units to roughly 467,000, though city planners say they're still calculating a revised figure. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

Environmental Group Sues CARB to Prevent Cuts to Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund 

Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental justice nonprofit, is suing the California Air Resources Board over an update to the cap-and-invest program, alleging the agency skirted required environmental review under CEQA. The suit is the first major legal challenge to the program since lawmakers extended its expiration date from 2030 to 2045 last year. The suit addresses a manufacturing decarbonization incentive that lets polluters claim up to 118 million new emissions allowances in exchange for decarbonization investments, a move regulators say is meant to keep industry from leaving the state. The lawsuit contends CARB introduced the mechanism roughly six weeks before the vote without updating its environmental impact analysis, and posted the final assessment just two days before the hearing. It also alleges that the change threatens up to $2 billion annually that would otherwise be funneled into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which finances housing, transit and clean-air programs, with the heaviest impact falling on low-income communities and communities of color.

Lafayette May Upzone to Settle Dispute over Housing Development 

Lafayette, an East Bay city of about 25,000, has agreed to consider upzoning 130 acres of land as part of a June settlement with the Housing Action Coalition, possibly bringing an end to a notorious yearslong battle over the Terraces of Lafayette, a proposed office space and multifamily housing complex. Since 2011, the project has been downsized, rescinded by voter referendum in 2018, restored, approved by the city council in 2020, and challenged in a lawsuit by the group Save Lafayette that reached the California Supreme Court before the city prevailed in 2023. The development includes 63 below-market-rate units, though eligibility requires household income under 80% of Contra Costa County's area median of $135,750 for a family of four. Save Lafayette, led by resident Michael Griffiths, opposes the project on wildfire and traffic-pollution grounds and is considering further legal action. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

State Offers $55 Million in Resilience Planning Grants

Applications have opened for Round 2 of California's Community Resilience Centers (CRC) Program, which provides approximately $55 million in grants funded by the 2024 Climate Bond (Proposition 4). The program supports the planning, construction, and renovation of neighborhood resilience centers that provide shelter, cooling, emergency resources, and year-round community services to help communities prepare for climate-related disasters such as extreme heat and wildfires. Round 2 is open to lead applicants that are a public or local agency, nonprofit organization, special district, joint powers authority, Tribe, public utility, local publicly owned utility, or mutual water company, prioritizing communities most impacted by environmental, socioeconomic, and health inequality. Applications opened July 2, with grant applications due in September for review.

CP&DR Coverage: Ugly Mayoral Race Highlights Importance of Civic Beauty 

At one point during his ill-fated campaign for mayor of Los Angeles, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt declared, “ we're going to have L.A. so beautiful. No more of these high-density, SB-79, prison-like structures.” He called out Art Deco in particular as the hallmark of a more attractive city. Pratt was angry and, arguably, loony. But, for a city beset by bad news, we can still take a cue from his optimistic vision. Conventional politicians rarely discuss aesthetics because they are likely afraid of the specters of gentrification or elitism, or they’re wonky enough to know how hard it is to regulate aesthetics. Or -- quite likely -- they simply have no taste and consider aesthetics to be frivolous. Except, writes CP&DR’s Josh Stephens, aesthetics matter. Not as much as poverty, homelessness, or housing--but they still matter a lot. Good plans warrant good design -- and vice-versa.

Quick Hits & Updates

Modesto will prepare an environmental study to measure the impact of a proposed development and population increase in compliance with their 2050 general plan. The City Council adopted a land use option that would add thousands of acres to the city and potentially grow its population from 220,000 to 324,000 over the next 24 years, bringing up to 38,500 new housing units and 57,300 jobs. While the plan will include mitigation policies to lessen environmental impacts, the city retains the option to approve overriding considerations for impacts deemed too significant to fully mitigate, citing economic or social benefits. 

San Francisco will introduce the Affordable Grocery Act in November, aimed at combating the city's food deserts and so-called "zombie stores", vacant grocery and pharmacy buildings that corporate chains keep empty to block competitors. The measure would pair tax credits and expedited permitting for businesses that reopen vacant storefronts as groceries or pharmacies with a new tax on corporations that deliberately leave such properties empty, though new stores after January 2027 and housing-conversion sites would be exempt. 

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors adopted a new inclusionary housing ordinance that requires most new residential developments in unincorporated areas with at least 10 units to reserve 5% of homes for very low-income households or comply through alternatives such as fees or land donations. Other local jurisdictions like Chula Vista and Carlsbad have long required affordable housing set-asides, and San Diego county has met only 28% of its state housing target so far. The county has invested more than $334 million in affordable housing since 2017, but officials noted that limited transit, wildfire risks, and slower homebuilding pose a challenge in unincorporated communities.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has sued the Trump administration over withheld funds the agency says will put more than 11,000 at risk of losing housing and other services. LAHSA is seeking a temporary restraining order in order to stop the Housing and Urban Development Department from suspending the funds. The lawsuit comes three weeks after HUD suspended LAHSA over allegations of financial mismanagement, fraud and inadequate conflict-of-interest safeguards, to which the agency argues HUD has produced no formal investigative findings. 

The Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation released a Notice of Funding Availability for Round 2 of California's Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program, offering $27.5 million total in competitive infrastructure grants. Funding for the program is provided by the Climate Bond and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to support projects that reduce the impacts of extreme heat and build community resilience. Funding is split into two tracks: Early Infrastructure Projects and Advanced Infrastructure Projects.