CP&DR News Briefs July 28, 2026: Sacramento Development Suit; Banning Warehouse Vote; El Segundo Data Center; and More

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Sacramento County Approves Controversial Development of Up to 9,400 Homes; Draws Lawsuit from Environmental Groups, City of Sacramento

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the Upper Westside development, clearing the way for a roughly 2,000-acre community near Natomas and Garden Highway that could eventually include nearly 9,400 homes and house about 25,000 people. In a surprising move, the City of Sacramento – which has facilitated a lot of development in the Natomas area over the last two decades – has sued Sacramento County over the approval. Those opposed to the project have claimed that it violates a 2002 agreement between the city and the county about how the Natomas area would grow. The Environmental Council of Sacramento has also sued Sacramento County over the project, which would encompass property in between the Sacramento River and I-80, just north of West Sacramento. Both lawsuits claim that the project’s environmental impact report did not disclose the potential impact on the Natomas Habitat Conservation Plan. The ECOS lawsuit was filed in collaboration with the Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk.

Banning Voters will Decide on Approval of 5 Million Square Feet of Warehouses 

Voters in Banning will decide whether to overturn the City Council's approval of the Sunset Crossroads Specific Plan, which could add nearly 5 million square feet of warehouses and industrial buildings to a 533-acre site south of the 10 Freeway. The council voted unanimously to put the measure on the ballot after grassroots opposition group San Gorgonio Pass Alliance gathered enough signatures to force either a repeal or a public vote. The council opted against rescinding its own approval in favor of letting voters decide whether NorthPoint Development can proceed with the project, anchored by a Sam's Club with office and commercial space, a hotel, gas station, and 65 acres of open space, alongside a $16 million fire station. Critics argue the plan locks Banning into decades of industrial development regardless of future councils' priorities and could generate 1,700 daily truck trips. The project's environmental study acknowledged "significant and unavoidable" air quality impacts. Supporters point to nearly $1 billion in investment, 3,700 projected jobs, and revenue for a city that declared a fiscal emergency in June. El Segundo Resident Revolt Against Proposed Data Center

Real estate firm Eight Form withdrew its proposal for a nearly 240,000-square-foot data center in the Los Angeles County city of El Segundo after facing overwhelming community opposition at a Planning Commission meeting. The project would have replaced the Hyatt Place hotel with a 169-foot five-story facility with a high-voltage substation and 16 diesel backup generators. Nearly 60 residents signed up to speak against the plan, citing concerns over power consumption, noise, pollution, and outdated environmental review. Critics argued that a 24-year-old environmental impact report from the site's original 2002 development plan was inadequate to assess a modern data center. City staff and consultants argued the center would actually use less water and have a smaller grid impact than the existing hotel, citing a closed-loop cooling system that would consume around 8,900 fewer gallons of water daily. Residents remained skeptical, questioning water recycling safety, energy prioritization during heatwaves, and the project's proximity to a school district and youth athletic fields. It was unclear what client would be leasing the center, since no operator had committed to the $600 million building. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

HCD Publishes Online Dashboards Cataloging Jurisdictions’ Housing Status 

The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has launched two new online tools: the Streamlined Ministerial Approval Process (SMAP) Dashboard and the Housing Element Implementation Dashboard. The dashboards allow users to track which cities and counties qualify for streamlined housing approvals under state law and monitor whether local governments are implementing the housing programs they committed to in their state-approved Housing Elements. HCD warned that jurisdictions failing to carry out required housing programs could face enforcement actions, including loss of Housing Element compliance, exposure to the Builder's Remedy, ineligibility for certain state funding, and potential penalties. As of June 30, 2026, 507 of California's 539 jurisdictions qualify for SMAP, with 329 jurisdictions eligible for streamlined approvals on projects containing at least 10% affordable housing.

CP&DR Coverage: Legislative Update: Several Major Housing and CEQA Bills Advance

Among the important bills that have made it out of the house of origin into the other house:

• SB 954, the bill boxing in the CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing, made it out of the Senate and to the Assembly.

• Several bills focusing on shot clocks and postentitlement permits, which are gaining increasing attention in the Legislature this year.

• A bill aimed at a San Diego project that would declare that building heights are not a significant impact under CEQA.

• AB 1294, which would specify what information is required for a complete housing application and require HCD to come up with a standard application form.

In addition, language for a budget trailer bill has been released that would forbid impact fees on affordable housing projects that a city is co-applicant for, and also incentivize elimination or deferral of fees. Budget trailer bills are adopted with the budget at the end of June and circumvent typical committee processes, as AB 130 and SB 131 did last year.

Quick Hits & Updates

San Diego County voters will decide in November whether to approve a half-cent sales tax increase projected to raise roughly $360 million annually for healthcare, child care, public safety, and Tijuana River sewage remediation efforts, after the coalition behind the San Diego County Health & Safety Act submitted enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Up to 60 percent of revenue would go toward child care and health services, nearly 23 percent toward still-unspecified sewage crisis solutions, and about 18 percent toward public safety and wildfire prevention. The labor and advocacy coalition plans to campaign by highlighting federal funding cuts, arguing the tax would help protect local services from cuts in Washington. 

Imperial County will extend its temporary moratorium on new data center approvals in unincorporated areas for an additional 10 months and 15 days, keeping the ban on permits in place until June 2027. Officials said the extension allows the county to evaluate potential updates to land use, zoning, and development regulations, and confirmed that no pending or future data center projects can move forward during the moratorium. The board also approved the formation of a Data Center Advisory Committee, made up of representatives from government, community groups, business, labor, environmental organizations, healthcare, education, and the energy sector, to develop recommendations on future policies and suitable locations for data center development.

San Francisco will become the first Bay Area city to allow cannabis cafés after the Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance permitting licensed cannabis retailers to serve food and nonalcoholic beverages alongside on-site cannabis consumption. The measure implements California's 2024 AB 1775 and is intended to help the struggling legal cannabis industry compete with the illicit market while establishing a new cannabis café license category with health, safety, and age requirements. Existing cannabis retailers will have exclusive access to café licenses during the first year before new applicants become eligible.  (See related CP&DR coverage.) 

​​​​The High-Speed Rail Authority has applied for roughly $500 million in new federal funding from the Federal Railroad Administration, even after the Trump administration pulled $4 billion from the project last August under Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The agency is seeking money from the FRA's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, which has set aside $532 million for rural projects, to help fund the 30-mile extension from Madera County to Merced. The segment is expected to begin construction late next year, with an estimated cost of $2.4 billion.

A Menlo Park ballot initiative that opponents have dubbed the "anti-housing" measure would block the city's plan to build affordable housing above redeveloped downtown parking lots, require citywide votes for future changes to those lots, and restrict the city's ability to lease, sell or redevelop the publicly owned properties. Advocates warn the parking lots are the only viable site identified in the city's Housing Element for deeply affordable housing near Caltrain, jobs and high-performing schools after the city's Housing Element was rejected twice before being approved with a parking lot proposal included.

Researchers developed a new approach to measuring urban walking by using large language models to analyze Twitter data from Los Angeles, classifying tweets that express walking behavior and building a neighborhood-level indicator of that activity. The study found that Walk Score, a widely used metric, only partially captures where walking actually happens, with natural amenities and socioeconomic conditions showing stronger and more consistent associations with walking expression than Walk Score itself.

Oakland City Council voted to approve a $125 million sale of the city's 50% stake in the Oakland Coliseum complex to the Oakland Acquisition Company (OAC), an entity formed by Loop Capital and the African American Sports and Entertainment Group. Under the deal, OAC will pay $110 million plus 6% of future annual gross ticket sales from events at the site, along with an additional $15 million to be paid later as the company secures building permits for new construction. The city expects to receive $50 million from the arena parcel sale by early next year, with the stadium parcel sold for $60 million after crediting a $5 million deposit.(See related CP&DR coverage.) 

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 Eligible applicants include regional public entities, California Native American Tribes, community-based organizations, public higher academic institutions, and coalitions. 

In their latest request for bids, the Veterans Administration has scaled back its January pledge to build 800 tiny homes on its West Los Angeles campus, instead issuing a request for proposals for up to 260 larger and higher-quality units. The project represents the first concrete step toward President Trump's executive order establishing a National Center for Warrior Independence to house 6,000 veterans by January 2028, though it leaves unclear how that target will be met.