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A bill concerning development under military airspace continues to evolve in the state Legislature. Senate Bill 1462 originally proposed creation of the Military Greenway Commission, to which cities and counties in Southern California would have to report proposed developments that could impact the military. But the bill’s author, Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), expanded the measure into a California Environmental Quality Act amendment that would force local governments to consider a project’s potential impact on military operations. In mid-May, Kuehl again amended the bill, dropping the CEQA provisions. Instead, the bill would require local governments to notify the military of proposed development projects, general plan amendments or plan updates when the property in question lies beneath a low-level flight path or adjacent to a military base. The military branch involved could then request a consultation with the public agency or project applicant. The bill also requires the governor to create a conflict-resolution process. The CEQA version of the bill generated a firestorm of opposition from developers, business groups, and some cities and counties with military bases. It appears unlikely that the latest bill amendments will satisfy opponents. The bill was written at least partially in response to Tejon Ranch’s plans for a new town of 60,000 people at Interstate 5 and Highway 138. Portions of the 11,700-acre project site underlie a low-level flight path used for training military pilots (see , April 2003). Kuehl and the bill’s backers — which are mostly environmental groups — say the measure is necessary to prevent conflicts between urban development and military activities, and they point to the round of base closings that is scheduled to commence in 2005. Opponents say the measure is unnecessary and only an attempt to block development. At the committee level, the bill has received mostly partisan supports. But the measure puts some conservative lawmakers in a difficult position because a vote for property rights could also be portrayed as a vote against military readiness. A former development company executive is the new director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Lucy Dunn to the post effective June 1. Dunn spent 12 years with the Koll Company and its affiliates. Most recently, she was executive vice president of development for Hearthside Homes, where she negotiated deals concerning Bolsa Chica entitlements and wetlands restoration (see , January 2002). An attorney, Dunn is vice president of the California Building Industry Association and a director of the National Association of Home Builders. Dunn succeeds Matthew Franklin, who served as HCD director for a year before taking a position as head of San Francisco’s housing programs. Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that makes it easier for local governments to adopt transit village plans. Under the original Transit Village Development Planning Act, a transit village could be created only around a rail station, and only if the local government could prove the project would 13 specific public benefits, such as redevelopment of depressed neighborhoods, promotion of job opportunities, and increased stock of affordable housing. Assembly Bill 1320 (Dutra) permits creation of a transit village around any sort of rail station, a bus hub, a bus transfer station or a ferry terminal. The bill also reduces the public benefit requirement from 13 to five. The controversy over a proposed quarry and concrete batch plant just outside Santa Clarita continues. In May, U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian approved a consent decree between Cemex and Los Angeles County that allows the mine to go forward. However, the Santa Clarita City Council has voted to appeal the consent decree to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Ninth Circuit in February directed the lower court to let the city intervene in the lawsuit. Cemex sued the county more than two years ago, after the county rejected the Mexican mining company’s proposed quarry in Soledad Canyon, off Highway 14. Under the settlement, the company must pay about $1.5 million over several years into a fund to address air quality, traffic and open space impacts. The company also must widen Soledad Canyon Road between the quarry and the freeway. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 for the settlement, with Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who represents the area, firmly opposed. The city contends the mine will harm already poor air quality, increase traffic congestion, threaten groundwater and scar a prominent hillside. The city also insists that environmental studies should be updated. In an interesting twist, the city earlier this year purchased for $1 million the 493 acres where the mine is proposed. But the Bureau of Land Management owns the property’s mineral rights and has issued mining permits to Cemex. Both U.S. Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and Sen. Barbara Boxer have introduced bills that would block the mine. One development company that has vigorously fought another company’s project in El Segundo lost yet another round in May. In an unpublished decision, the Second District Court of Appeal ruled against Kilroy Realty. Kilroy had alleged that the City of El Segundo had manipulated the CEQA process to aid Thomas Properties Group, which plans to develop 2.2 million square feet of office and retail space near the Los Angeles International Airport (see , May 2002). Kilroy lost an earlier round of the lawsuit at the trial court level. Two years ago this month, Kilroy lost at the ballot box when two-thirds of El Segundo voters rejected a Kilroy-funded referendum of the project. The 46-acre site of “Campus El Segundo” has been vacant since the early 1990s, when Rockwell International closed and then demolished an aerospace industry factory. Voters in Azusa approved a specific plan for 500 acres owned by Monrovia Nursery during a special election in May. The plan calls for 1,250 housing units, including single-family houses, condominiums and apartments, a retail “promenade,” an elementary school, a transit plaza around a Metrolink rail line, and 200 acres of parks and open space. A group called Azusans for Responsible Growth opposed the project, contending it contained too many housing units. After the city approved the project last year, the group gathered signatures on a referendum. The city found the referendum flawed, so the group sued. The city then put the plan on the ballot anyway, and the plan won favor with 75% of voters. In 1999, city voters overturned approval of a 1,600-unit development on the nursery site, which Monrovia is vacating. The city then undertook a lengthy planning process with heavy public involvement (see , February 2002). The resulting plan is the one voters endorsed in May. A five-member commission charged with examining the proposal to divide Santa Barbara County in two has been appointed by the governor. The commission has up to one year to report on the proposal to carve Mission County out of the northern and western portions of Santa Barbara County (see , July 2003). The commissioners are Jack Boysen, a retired developer and member of the county Planning Commission from Santa Maria; former Solvang Mayor June Christensen; retired San Luis Obispo County Assessor Dick Frank; former Santa Barbara Mayor Harriet Miller; and former San Jose City Manager and retired airlines executive Ted Tedesco. Private water companies should be eligible for Proposition 50 bond funds , according to a recommendation from the Legislative Analyst’s Office. In a May 14 report, the LAO found that legal and tax issues could be resolved, so the issue is one of policy for the Legislature. Proposition 50 — a $3.4 billion resources bond approved in November 2002, — does not address public versus private eligibility, and the LAO has urged lawmakers to set a clear policy. Senate Bill 909 (Machado) could provide the policy. The LAO reported that 23% of Californians get their water from private companies, the majority of which are quite small. Those companies appear to be eligible for portions of $1.4 billion in six different Proposition 50 categories. Making those monies available to private water companies would further the public purpose of Proposition 50, the LAO concluded. The LAO’s report is available at www.lao.ca.gov .

The Bush administration brought its efforts to change environmental regulations to California in September, when high-ranking appointees conducted “listening sessions” in Redding and Colton — two of 24 informal hearings across the country intended to carry out a 2004 executive order calling for “cooperative conservation.” Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey called cooperative conservation the “fourth chapter” in American conservation, following on the initiatives of Theodore Roosevelt, the New Deal, and the environmental movement of the 1960s and ’70s. At the Redding hearing, attended by about 140 people, environmentalists expressed skepticism that landowners, developers and resources industries would be willing to cooperate for the sake of the environment unless strong laws require such action. “Voluntary compliance is a beautiful idea, but we don’t think it has a chance working,” said William Oliver, of the Audubon Society’s Wintu Chapter. He and other environmentalists urged federal officials to “believe in the science that we are paying for.” However, numerous timber industry representatives at the Redding session focused their comments on the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Tim Feller, a district manager for Sierra Pacific Industries, called the two laws “onerous” and difficult to comply with. The Endangered Species Act “has turned into a hammer on private lands,” said Dave Bischel, president of the California Forestry Association. “Put away your hammer,” he told the officials. Representatives of environmental groups did endorse existing programs that bring conservationists, landowners, ranchers and others together. But the environmentalists spoke repeatedly about the need for more funding and pointed out that the administration has proposed reduced funding. Federal officials have offered little indication of what they will do to implement cooperative conservation, or when. There is a website: http://cooperativeconservation.gov .

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released three reports of interest to planners in March. The reports address housing supply, the link between water and planning, and planned developments. The housing supply study surprised many people because it reported a statewide shortage as of 2000 of only 138,000 units, when interest groups and other analysts have pegged the shortage at 500,000 to 1 million units. Authors Hans Johnson, Rosa Moller and Michael Dardia identified a shortage of 168,000 units in the Bay Area, 146,000 units in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and 87,000 units in San Diego County. However, they found that housing was abundant everywhere else in the state, especially in the Inland Empire and Central Valley, a situation that forces long commutes and traffic congestion. Housing construction dropped from 2.1 million units during the 1980s to 1.1 million units during the 1990s. The researchers reported that macro economic trends — such as employment levels, U.S. economic policy and private investment strategies — and demographic factors — including a slowing of population growth during the 1990s, and more immigrants and children — accounted for 80% of the construction decrease. "These findings do not mean that there are no hardships with respect to housing supply and new construction in California," the report states. "There may be serious problems in markets for low-income housing, and there is evidence of a housing shortage in the state’s largest metropolitan areas. However, they do suggest that the supply crisis may be overstated, and that our position in 2000 was perhaps better, and certainly not much worse, than in 1990." The survey on water supply and growth found that most jurisdictions coordinate the two in some fashion. The survey by Ellen Hanak and Antonina Simeti found that 62% of cities and counties participate in the planning activities of their local water utilities. The survey also found that 55% of cities and 83% of counties require some sort of assessment of water availability before approving new housing, although the level of assessment varies greatly. About half of cities and counties also have policies that link new homes’ locations with considerations of stormwater management and groundwater recharge. The survey also found that half of counties and one-quarter of cities have conducted reviews under 2001 legislation (SB 610 and SB 221) that requires assurances of water availability for large developments. The study of planned developments found that they are not the evil, walled compounds for the wealthy that some commentators have described. The study by Tracy Gordon found the percentage of middle-income people living in planned developments is the same as in similar areas. Gordon did find that planned development residents are more likely to be white, and less likely to be Hispanic or African-American, than in the community as a whole, but she said planned communities have a minimal impact on overall segregation in the state. The study also countered the belief that planned development residents withdraw from the larger community. Gordon found higher percentages of voter registration and turnout in planned developments, and voting preferences that matched similar neighborhoods. All of the PPIC studies may be found at www.ppic.org THE SAN DIEGO REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY did not provide replacement housing for units demolished as part of redevelopment projects, double-counted housing units and spent an inordinate portion of housing funds on planning and administration, according to a Department of Housing and Community Development Department audit released in March. Auditors identified one project that removed 24 housing units that were not replaced. Two other projects that involved demolition of 137 and 19 units, respectively, relied on replacement units that had been built four years earlier and may not have been available to displaced residents. Auditors also identified four instances in which the redevelopment agency counted units as both replacement housing and toward low- and moderate-income housing production requirements. Additionally, over the three years audited, from 21% to 44% of low- and moderate-income housing fund expenditures were for planning and administration, HCD reported. In response, the agency differed with HCD’s interpretation of state law regarding replacement units. The agency said that under state law, it may count units built as much as four years before demolition of existing units as replacement housing. Officials at HCD appeared to agree but only if the units were built or rehabilitated in anticipation of removal of the existing units. The agency did not do this, according to HCD. As for double-counting of housing units, the agency said it would review its implementation plans and work with HCD. The agency contended that its planning and administrative expenses were justified and, because of accounting techniques, appeared exaggerated. The state also knocked the redevelopment agency for counting ineligible units toward housing production requirements, not keeping bond proceeds for housing in a separate account, and filing inadequate reports. THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS did not adequately analyze alternative sites for constructing a new death row, according to a report issued in March by the California State Auditor. Corrections is in the planning stages of a $220 million overhaul of the condemned inmate facility at San Quentin. "Relocating San Quentin’s activities elsewhere and allowing Marin County to develop the property would provide an opportunity for the state to help Marin County address some of its housing and transportation concerns," State Auditor Elaine Howle reported. But Howle also concluded that relocating death row could cost $300 million more than the state would receive from the sale of the property. Corrections officials said the report justified their decision to go forward at San Quentin. Developers and some Marin County officials have eyed the San Quentin site — overlooking San Pablo Bay, near San Rafael — for years. Howle’s report is available at www.bsa.ca.gov THREE BALLOT MEASURES that would have allowed development on small parcels of agriculturally zoned land in Napa County were rejected by voters in March. Voters said no to a proposal to expand a restaurant in Oakville (Measure Q), a plan to expand the Pope Valley Market (Measure R) and rezoning for a commercial establishment near Cuttings Wharf (Measure S). The elections were required under 1990’s Measure J. Since then, voters have rejected seven of eleven measures to rezone agricultural land. THE TOWN OF LOOMIS joined the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society in filing a lawsuit over the City of Roseville’s recent approval of the 3,100-acre west Roseville specific plan (see , March 2004; , August, 2003). The suit alleges Roseville did not adequately address traffic congestion, air quality degradation, the loss of farmland and impacts to wildlife habitat. REUSE OF THE FORMER NORTON AIR FORCE BASE in San Bernardino advanced in March, when Stater Bros. Markets announced it would move its headquarters from Colton to 160 acres at Norton and build a 2 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution center. As many as 2,000 people could work at the new Stater Bros. facility, which could break ground this summer. Stater Bros. would join Kohl’s, which has already opened a large warehouse at Norton, and Mattel, which is planning a facility of its own. The Inland Valley Development Authority, which is responsible for base reuse, continues to negotiate its assistance for Stater Bros.

Lots going on in California planning and development this week ...  Central Valley's Growth War Gets the Governor's Attention Fresno Bee Governor Brown intervenes to help resolve debates over how the central valley should grow. The Governor's Office of Planning and Research is currently overseeing the meetings between the city of Fresno and its neighboring counties to help reach a mutual understanding for how to sustainably grow and develop the region. With recent state projections showing that the valley is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else in CA, the policies that regulate its growth and development will significantly impact where its growing population will be able to live and the extent to which the region will physically grow.  Hot in CA: Plans to Improve Biking and Walking... SFStreetsblog In response to MAP-21, a bill passed by Congress last year that cut federal funding for biking and walking programs, advocates like the League of American Bicyclists and the California Bike Coalition are urging the Brown administration to prioritize walking and biking in the state budget.  �California Bike Coalition's goal to influence the state budget and CEQA reforms� LAStreetsblog Gov. Brown's budget proposal combines funding for pedestrian and bicycle programs into one category, cutting "active transportation" funds 10% from last year. Additionally, CalBike wants CEQA reforms to include a streamlined process for projects that improve bicycle infrastructure and better-connect bicycle networks.   �SF's Bicycle Strategy could be a model for the nation, now they just need the funding� SF Streetsblog SFMTA proposes three strategies to effectively improve bike mobility in the city.   Despite the city's historic record of underfunding bicycle projects, officials are on board with advocates for an increase in bicycle funding.  Specific Plan in LA Sets Smart Development Model for the City Los Angeles Times Cornfields Arroyo Seco Specific Plan seeks to revitalize neighborhoods and industrial areas by proposing new urban zones. The plan was approved on Tuesday by the City Council planning commission and needs to go through the City Attorney's office before the full council can approve the plan.  LA Community Parks Risk Closing Without Redevelopment Dollars L.A. Downtown News Two parks in Skid Row, Gladys Park and San Julian Park, were at risk of closing last week.  With the end of Redevelopment in CA, the nonprofit, SRO Housing Corp, who has long maintained both parks with annual CRA payments have been looking for support elsewhere. When the funds to operate the park ran out in June, Councilwoman Jan Perry helped secure funds from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority that would keep the park operating for another six months. Those six months have passed and redistricting has handed this issue over to Councilman Jos� Huizar. With the risk of the parks closing on February 1st, Huizar allocated $50,000 of discretionary funds to aid SRO with San Julian Park's maintenance and operation costs and the city's Department of Recreation and Parks will now maintain Gladys Park. City officials are currently working on a long-term solution that will hopefully prevent the risk of closure in the future.  Berkeley Greens Its Downtown The Downtown Streets and Open Space Improvement Plan was unanimously approved by Berkeley's City Council on Tuesday night.  The plan follows Berkeley's Downtown Area Plan that was approved last year. The provisions aim to create a more pedestrian-oriented downtown and better design for its streetscapes, plazas and parks.

As anticipated, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has approved the application by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians to have its 1400-acre Camp 4 property taken into federal trust. The Tribe has stated intentions to build housing, a community center and related buildings on the property. Local critics have expressed fears about what could happen after trust status takes the property out of state and county jurisdiction and exempts it from local taxation. The Santa Barbara Independent reported county officials were preparing to follow through on the Supervisors' prior decision to appeal such a ruling. A December 30 report by the Lompoc Record quoted at length from antagonistic comments by two central spokespersons in the matter, Tribal Chairman Vincent Armenta and Santa Barbara County Supervisor Doreen Farr. The "Stand Up for California" organization, which monitors California gaming issues, has posted a copy of the Notice of Decision . The text includes extensive rebuttals to public comments critical of the fee-to-trust application. For CP&DR's pre-approval news feature on of the fee-to-trust controversy see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3650. Brown, at Fourth Swearing-In, Talks Climate Preservation Gov. Jerry Brown took the oath of office for his fourth term as Governor on Monday, with a speech calling for increased uses of renewable energy . His text expressed pride in the balancing of the state budget and in the passage of Propositions 1 and 2, and called on the state to work toward deriving 50% of electricity from renewable sources. The same day Brown swore in Justices Mariano-Florentino Cu�llar and Leondra Kruger, returning the state Supreme Court to its full complement of seven Justices. Moreno Valley May Create Foreclosure Registry The Riverside County city of Moreno Valley is considering requiring registration of foreclosed properties . The proposal would require lenders to register properties with the city "as they go into default," to report periodically on the properties' status, and to provide contact information for use "if criminal and property maintenance issues arise." The Press-Enterprise says the city saw a peak of 6,239 foreclosures in 2008 but the foreclosure rate "dropped" to 605 counted in 2014 as of mid-December. The proposal calls for contracting with Nationwide Cost Recovery Services , which already runs foreclosure registries for the Southern California cities of Carson, Eastvale , El Monte, South El Monte, Pico Rivera and West Covina. Other California cities with existing foreclosure registry ordinances include Los Angeles , which recently toughened its rules after criticism ; Fresno , Oakland , San Diego , Long Beach , Fountain Valley and San Bruno . (A few details as of 2012 are here .) Also in Moreno Valley, Maven's Morning Coffee noted efforts to solicit Riverside County business support for a gigantic warehouse complex , the "World Logistics Center." The Press-Enterprise said the complex would create 14,600 to 29,000 truck trips per day, though it reported the city of Riverside was questioning some figures in the traffic portion of last year's draft EIR on the project. Two Unusual City Hires in San Francisco Profiles appeared this past week of new city staff in San Francisco who have unusual job descriptions. Urbanful.org interviewed Patrick Otellini, a former permit expediter and city "earthquake czar," now working as " the world's first chief resiliency officer " -- though he's actually only the first of 100 CROs being hired by cities around the world funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. (Oakland has also hired one.) And the city Department of Public Health hired an epidemiologist to study pedestrian fatalities and injuries in traffic collisions. San Jose Buyer Makes Steep Resale of Redevelopment Property A San Jose real estate company has apparently made a tidy profit buying and selling a 1.25-acre former redevelopment property. Nate Donato Weinstein reported in the Silicon Valley Business Journa l that Next Realty bought a parking lot on Fountain Alley from the San Jose Redevelopment Agency for $6.2 million in 2011 and resold it in December 2014 to System Property Development Co., which he described as "a parking lot owner and operator based in Southern California." A few days later on Twitter, he reported the new sale price was $16 million . Also: CP&DR 's own Bill Fulton wrote an opinion piece for UT San Diego with  some afterthoughts on his time as Planning Director in San Diego . California's High-Speed Rail project officially starts construction with a groundbreaking in Fresno January 6 . And San Francisco Twitterers have been drawing faces on a mouth-like balcony in the rendering for a tower to replace the All Star Donut shop at Market and Van Ness. The tower design, by SoloCordBuenz and Sn�hetta, otherwise got a favorable review from Chronicle architecture critic John King. The "mouth" midway up the structure has a purpose: King writes that it's part of a design "intended to diffuse the downdraft" on one of the windiest parts of Market Street.

The city of Bakersfield reached a settlement December 19 with the California High-Speed Rail Authority in which the rail agency agreed to consider a different route than originally proposed. The L.A. Times reported the new route "travels through the northern section of Bakersfield, arriving at a downtown station a few miles from the existing Amtrak station." The paper quoted the rail authority's spokeswoman, Lisa Marie Alley, as saying the settlement was unrelated to the December 12 decision by the federal Surface Transportation Board saying the California Environmental Quality Act didn't apply to high-speed rail projects. For the STB decision click here , courtesy of the California High-Speed Rail Blog , which advocates for the project. As CP&DR partly noted online last week , the issue of railroad preemption of CEQA has been raised in an implicit conflict between the First District Court of Appeal's Friends of the Eel River v. North Coast Railroad Authority -- which the state Supreme Court has now accepted for review -- and the Third District's Town of Atherton et al v. California High Speed Rail Commission , to which the state Supreme Court denied depublication in October . Monterey Downs EIR Delayed After Mistaken Release of Water Supply Document The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Monterey Downs Specific Plan was expected out December 19. But the Monterey Herald reports the previously delayed document has been delayed again, following the unintentional release of a confidential legal document in which outside counsel advised the city of Seaside to address "uncertainties" about water supplies for the project in the EIR. The Monterey Downs project would create a racetrack and surrounding real estate development on a portion of former Fort Ord land. Cal American Goes Ahead With Test Well The Monterey Herald reported that California American Water was at work on its desalination test well although the Ag Land Trust and Marina Coast Water District were both suing to stop it. The Coastal Commission gave its permission for the project in November . Marin County Wins Landfill Expansion Litigation Marin County has defeated a CEQA challenge to the EIR for expansion of the Redwood Landfill, which receives most of Marin's solid waste. The decision, which followed extensive litigation, was in an unpublished First District appellate ruling, No Wetlands Landfill Expansion v. County of Marin . Among other unpublished holdings, the court found it was acceptable for the project proponents to present an off-site alternative landfill location in unidentified, hypothetical form, though opponents argued they couldn't comment meaningfully on a site that wasn't physically identified to them. It also found the EIR did not fail sufficiently to address sea level rise, groundwater effects, air pollution health effects or greenhouse gas emissions. Marin County's statement on the case is here . Los Angeles Creates Barriers to Demolitions of Older Buildings The Shepherd Mullin law firm has noted that, as of 2015, the city of Los Angeles will be imposing new  notice requirements for demolitions of most buildings more than 45 years old. Before demolishing such older buildings, property owners must post a notice on the property, write to abutting neighbors, and advise the office of the local City Council member. Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell said on his blog that the ordinance "will go a long way toward protecting non-designated local landmarks and architectural gems that are significant to the rich history in the 13th District." The City Council Web page for the legislation is here . L.A. Streetsblog panning 'Option 1A' for Glendale-Hyperion Bridge Writer Joe Linton at L.A. Streetsblog is in full dudgeon over a renovation proposal by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation for the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct between Silver Lake and Atwater Village. He writes that the currently proposed version of the plan, "Option 1A", jams together bicyclists and pedestrians, redesignating the sidewalks as "shared use paths," in order to keep enough room for four auto lanes. The viaduct project has its own city Web site at http://www.glendalehyperion.com/ . Gate at Paradise Cove is Open Again The Coastal Commission and State Lands Commission have settled with the Paradise Cove Land Co., owner of a beachside mobile home park where non-resident surfers complained they were being charged $20 "walk-in fees" and blocked from carrying surfboards across the sand. Complaints had included some from members of the Black Surfers Collective. The L.A. Times has details . The agencies' press release is here . California King Tides Project Documents a Future of High Water Some of the highest tides of the year washed the Pacific coast at the winter solstice, and a network of cell phone photographers were waiting for them. The California King Tides Project , a partnership of nonprofits and agencies including the Coastal Commission, invited Californians to photograph how  exceptionally high "king tides" looked on the waterfront landscape. The project works on the prediction that the current highest tides of the year should look a lot like the ordinary daily tides of the global-warming future. For images see #KingTides on Twitter.

Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles announced his new " Sustainable City pLAn ," a far-reaching decree that seeks to make Los Angeles sustainable in ways ranging from water to solar energy to waste. Among other things, the plan seeks to reduce daily Vehicle Miles Traveled by 5 percent by 2025, to implement the Vision Zero policy to reduce traffic fatalities, to have zero days in which air pollution reaches unhealthy levels by 2025, and to complete 32 miles of Los Angeles River public access by 2025. The plan defines sustainability broadly, to include not only ecological goals but also broad goals of social and economic sustainability. The plan seeks to reduce driving and pollution, increase walkability within neighborhoods (using WalkScore), improve pedestrian safety, promote development of affordable housing and transit-oriented development, support the re:codeLA initiative to update the city's zoning code, revitalize the L.A. River, and support environmental justice, among other goals. Garcetti also signed a mayoral directive that requires all city departments to incorporate pLAn goals into their programs, and establishes sustainability officers in applicable departments and bureaus. At a signing event, he pledged that this "is not a plan for the shelves." San Diego County Rescinds Climate Plan In a long-awaited move, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors officially rescinded the county's Climate Action Plan, which had been the subject of a lawsuit from the Sierra Club since 2012 asserting that the plan violated CEQA and didn't do enough to combat global warming. On April 11, the California Supreme Court ruled against the county on the plan, denying its request to review and appeals court decision against the county and legally requiring the county to rescind the plan within 30 days. The 4th District Court of Appeals had ruled that the plan lacks the necessary specifics and enforcement mechanism to achieve the goals. "The Sierra Club wants to see a climate action plan that has meaningful and enforceable measures to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets," Davin Widgerow, a representative of the San Diego chapter of the Sierra Club, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. National Planning Achievement Awards The American Planning Association announced its 2015 National Planning Achievement Awards, recognizing the work of three California organizations among the 12 nationwide recipients. Among the winners: Lake Tahoe Sustainability Action Plan, which provides a toolkit to local agencies in two states and five counties to rebalance the region's environment and economy while confronting climate change.  Pop-Up Outreach efforts in San Diego, which seek to connect neighborhoods that have historically low levels of trust in local government with urban planners through simple outreach efforts, including a chalkboard chat, street sign survey boxes, and pop-up feedback trees. Tongva Park & Ken Genser Square: a new urban park in Santa Monica that was once a parking lot. It covers 7.4 acres, features a lush landscape including rolling hills and gardens, overlooks the Santa Monica Pier, and is just two block away from the future terminus of a new light rail line. Awards will be given out at the national APA conference in Seattle next week.  Lennar Preserves $1 billion Judgement in Suit against a San Diego Developer A San Diego developer must pay $1 billion to Miami home builder Lennar Corp. following an appeals court ruling that the developer, Nicolas Marsch III, defamed Lennar and improperly deleted emails. The ruling is the culmination of a five-year lawsuit, which began when Marsch claimed that Lennar cheated him out of millions of dollars in a development of a private golf community. Marsch had hired Barry Minkow, a notorious con man now in prison for his involvement with Marsch, to back his claims. The Appeals Court cited in its ruling Marsch's "deletion of relevant emails, the concealment of material witnesses, lying during depositions, providing false testimony before the trial court and much more." Navy SEALs Release EIR for $1B Campus A proposed new Navy SEAL campus - a 1.5 million square foot development on the northern edge of Imperial Beach in South San Diego - took a step forward with the recent release of its final Environmental Impact Report. Built over a decade, the new campus would move the SEALs' center of activity from Coronado Island, where it has been since 1962, south to a largely empty piece of the Silver Strand beach. The main headquarters and the training centers will remain in Coronado, but the new campus would provide logistical support buildings, equipment-use and maintenance-training facilities, classroom and hands-on tactics instructional space, among other buildings. Residents of Coronado Cays, an upscale housing development just north of the proposal, told the San Diego Union-Tribue that they are concerned that loud helicopter traffic could impact their quality of life. UCLA Gives L.A. County C+ on Environmental Issues UCLA issued its first comprehensive environmental "report card" for the city of Los Angeles, giving the city an overall grade of C+ and indicating that there is "tremendous room for improvement in all six environmental areas" of water, air, ecosystem health, waste, environmental quality of life, and energy and greenhouse gases. Among other things, researchers from UCLA's Sustainable L.A. Grand Challenge and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability said in the report that L.A.'s air quality regularly fails federal standards for pollution, that excessive levels of pollutants are found in virtually all the region's bodies of water, and that the county's waste recycling program is robust but lacks data on how much is actually recycled. Judge Invalidates Take Permits for Logging Plan A federal judge invalidated incidental take permits that officials granted to Fruit Growers Supply Co. which allowed the company to harm threatened species in logging private land on 150,000 acres in Siskiyou County. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins said that that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly factored conservation efforts by the U.S. Forest Service into the company's plan to conserve spotted owl populations, adding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should have also factored the timber operations' short term effects on coho salmon. Group Lists Rogue-Smith Rivers as �Endangered' American Rivers' 2015 list of "America's Most Endangered Rivers" includes the Rogue-Smith Rivers in Oregon and California as one of the ten most endangered rivers in the U.S. in need of immediate governmental help. The report says that proposed nickel mining in the headwaters of the Northern California rivers would threaten the rivers' salmon runs - with an average of 100,000 fish returning each year - plant biodiversity, and recreation. The report recommends that the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Department of Interior withdraw the area from mining immediately. Bay Area Bike Share Program Announces Ambitious Growth Plan The Bay Area Bike Share program could see a massive influx of bikes to its program, expanding tenfold from 700 to 7,000 bikes under a proposal announced by the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville. The proposal would extend the program for the first time into the East Bay. In San Francisco, the number of bikes would jump from 328 to 4,500; in San Jose from 129 to 1,000. In the East Bay, 850 bikes would go to Oakland, 400 to Berkeley and 100 to Emeryville. However, Redwood City, Palo Alto and Mountain View, which participated in the two-year pilot program, are cut out of the new proposal, based on low ridership numbers. Motivate, the company that operates the bike-share program, bought out previous owner Alta Bike Share, which had significant management problems that hampered cities from expanding their programs.

Developers are awaiting a federal decision that may allow them to start building again in the Natomas region of Sutter and Sacramento Counties. The region, which sits between the Sacramento and American Rivers, was one of the most active areas of development in the Sacramento metro region in the early and mid-2000s. Based on concerns over levees whose solidity has been likened to that of toothpaste, the Federal Emergency Management Agency imposed a moratorium on the area in December 2008. That order put a halt to the development of up to 5,000 homes that had been issued building permits. Improvements to the levees reportedly have satisfied FEMA criteria for lowering the moratorium. The Sacramento Flood Control Agency has spent $410 million to upgrade 18 miles of levees, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set to spend $760 million on 24 remaining miles. Developers are expected to revive many of their plans when the moratorium is lifted in June, though many do not expect demand to be as robust as it was prior to the moratorium's imposition. Some in the Sacramento area , including Sacramento City Council Member Angelique Ashby, see the resumption of development in the area as an opportunity to pursue more sustainable development, as opposed to the traditional low-density subdivision model that had been pursued there in the past. State Budget Proposal Offers Financial Caution, Criticized on Equity Governor Jerry Brown's January 9 budget proposal was greeted with praise for financially cautious state spending, including paying down debt, but was criticized by some advocacy groups for doing too little on equity issues. Reactions from state political figures showed water projects, parks, education and In-Home Support Services (IHSS) came out relatively well. The budget assumed cap-and-trade proceeds would produce about $1 billion in revenue, of which $250 million would go to High-Speed Rail and $200 million to the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program. LOCUS Calls for Federal Real Estate Reforms A national advocacy group has announced an ambitious plan to pressure the federal government into addressing social equity and housing nationwide. LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors is calling on federal agencies to promote a series of reforms that, the group claims, could save the government $33 billion annually while helping cities and communities. The proposed reforms include: Eliminate some rate subsidies from the National Flood Insurance Program. Reform the Federal Housing Administration's single-family home program. Better target real estate tax expenditures. Preserve and increase the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. Improve the Rehabilitation Tax Credit. Establish individual Mortgage Savings Accounts. Create an Innovative Financing for Infrastructure Rehabilitation Program The recommendations are spelled out in LOCUS's report, " A Call to Action ". LOCUS is a project of Smart Growth America. (Disclosure: SGA is a former employer of CP&DR Publisher Bill Fulton.) Activists Fighting Chiquita Canyon Landfill Expansion Opponents of the Chiquita Canyon landfill expansion on Highway 126 in Los Angeles County were seeking a hearing in early January on the proposal. They circulated a statement January 5 saying the county had chosen not to schedule a hearing on the draft environmental impact report, instead planning to hold the hearing when the final EIR was up for review. The Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning's page on the project shows the comment period on the DEIR was extended twice, closing October 23, 2014. Groups seeking the hearing were the Val Verde Civic Association, Citizens for Chiquita Canyon Landfill Compliance and the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment (SCOPE). The landfill is close to the Landmark Village phase of the much-litigated Newhall Ranch community near the Six Flags amusement park in northwest Los Angeles County. L.A. Considers Fix for Housing Trust Fund The Affordable Housing Trust Fund for the City of Los Angeles, which was never particularly robust, has shrunk to the point of irrelevance. Since 2000, the fund has gone from $108 million to a current $19 million, as the fund's two biggest sources of contributions have both been curtailed. Contributions from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) dropped from $54 million in 2008 to $19 million this year, and contributions from the local Community Redevelopment Agency evaporated with the dissolution of redevelopment in 2011. The fund's crisis comes at a time when rising rents and stagnant wages have made Los Angeles the most unaffordable rental market in the country, according to a 2014 UCLA report . Los Angeles City Council Members Felipe Fuentes and Gil Cedillo recently proposed that funds collected in former redevelopment project areas be directed, as they once were, to the trust fund. Strategies using these so-called "boomerang funds" are being considered in several California cities hit hard by the loss of redevelopment. The City Council is expected to discuss the proposal this month. Displacement Civil Rights Complaint Cites Lack of Spanish Translation Low-income Latino tenants facing displacement from ten houses on a future development site in Walnut Creek have filed a HUD civil rights complaint alleging disparate-impact violations of federal fair housing law. The Monterey Herald reported the families said the city had not given them information or interpretation in Spanish at meetings on their possible displacement. The project recently approved for the site is The Landing , a complex of 178 luxury apartments. The paper reported it's disputed how hard the city tried to help the tenants obtain housing in the new Third Avenue Apartments affordable housing project. The Landing project's public review process had been portrayed in 2013 as an early start on the larger public process for the proposed West Downtown Specific Plan near the Walnut Creek BART station. Once Developers' Promises Are Made, Who Enforces Them? The L.A. Times has an investigative report out on cases of promises made by developers to win approvals that are afterward kept slowly or not at all. Instances mentioned include two already-famous fights: over facade preservation at the Old Spaghetti Factory building in Hollywood that was in fact demolished , and promised extra-strength air filters at the Da Vinci apartment complex next to the 110 freeway, -- the latter being arguably a moot point, since the project recently burned to the ground . In Case You Missed Transportation Camp The annual transit nerds' Transportation Camp event in Washington D.C. posted a public list of data sources and tools as part of a hackathon during the event. More material from the conference, some of it California-focused, is available at https://tcamp2015dc.hackpad.com/ Time to Learn Lessons about Water from Australia? So what if the drought doesn't really end? Experts and legislators planned to talk about unhappy scenarios January 12 at the Public Policy Institute of California's "Managing Drought" one-day conference . Registration to watch the webcast has closed but some presentation materials are available online. Questioning Crumb Rubber on Playing Fields After All? State Sen. Jerry Hill has introduced a bill, SB 47 , that would suspend use of crumb rubber on publicly installed artificial turf playing fields while a public study is conducted on the safety of using shredded tire rubber as a padded base between artificial grass blades. Crumb rubber safety was a campaign issue for opponents of San Francisco's Golden Gate Fields renovation, a subject of dueling ballot measures last November. In the South Bay, Segregation Predated Silicon Valley Bay Area social media are buzzing over Kim-Mai Cutler's extended news feature on the history of residential and educational segregation in East Palo Alto and surrounding South Bay towns -- and what that might have to do with the state of employment inequalities in present-day Silicon Valley.

The Air Resources Board held workshops August 25 and 26, and rescheduled a third for Oakland on September 3, on how to define "benefit" to a "disadvantaged community" for purposes of programs distributing cap-and-trade auction proceeds. The discussion will include efforts at a formal answer to one of the most important urban planning questions of the past half-century: when does money spent in a place that is defined as disadvantaged actually benefit disadvantaged people? The new Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program will be among those affected by the outcome. See http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/auctionproceeds/upcomingevents.htm for details, including a discussion document on how CalEPA's updated CalEnviroScreen 2.0 mapping project may be used to identify disadvantage, and a draft released August 22 of proposed interim guidance on what constitutes a "benefit" to a disadvantaged community. The workshop notice sets a deadline for written comment of September 9 but the proposed interim guidelines document states a comment deadline of September 15. Oakland releases Coliseum Area Specific Plan, EIR Oakland released the draft specific plan and accompanying draft EIR for the mega-development proposed to surround a rebuilt Oakland Coliseum. See http://bit.ly/1wyvMa7 for the city's main page linking to the extensive related planning documents. The SF Chron 's Michael Cabanatuan sets out main details at http://bit.ly/1v8Onry. The plan still calls for three separate sports venues, to potentially host professional football, baseball and basketball teams respectively, even though the Golden State Warriors have announced plans for a new arena in San Francisco. Earlier in the month, the Chron 's Will Kane wrote that Oakland would have to raise "at least $1.75 billion" to keep both the A's and the Raiders in town. See http://bit.ly/1owlOAg. Budget activists caution against 'race to the bottom' for Tesla factory The Mercury News reports five "budget watchdog" groups have asked the governments of five states not to let the Tesla company draw them into a "race to the bottom" in competition for Tesla's new "Gigafactory" battery plant. See http://bit.ly/1ASRWTj for the news report and http://californiabudgetbites.org/ for the letter. Los Angeles buys Taylor Yard parcel for LA River project Streetsblog LA has a news feature, and links to documents, on the purchase by the City of Los Angeles of a 41-acre parcel that formed part of the former Taylor Yard rail yard along the LA River. It reports the property is to form a major part of the $1 billion project to clean up 11 miles of the river and make it a center for recreation and investment. See http://bit.ly/1vjUdqf. The Curbed LA history file at http://la.curbed.com/tags/taylor-yard includes past coverage showing the property's site between Rio de Los Angeles State Park and the river. The state park's site, at http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22277, explains that the park is another former portion of Taylor Yard, closed to railroad use since the 1980s. Future of SB 270 plastic bag bill still in doubt The SB 270 plastic bag ban fight went high-profile again in late August as the measure neared its final chance at passage this session. A vote was imminent as of August 27. On Monday, August 25, the United Food and Commercial Workers yanked support from the bill. On the #SB270 Twitter hashtag meanwhile, the @YesonSB270 account and conservationists did battle with @BagTheBan and grocery and business representatives. The @YesonSB270 account links to a pro-ban lobbying coalition's site at http://www.yesonsb270.org/ that ironically was still displaying the UFCW logo on August 26. The @BagTheBan account is described at http://www.bagtheban.com/about-us as "a project of Hilex Poly." In a vote August 25 the bill fell narrowly short of passage in the Assembly, as reported thoroughly by Capitol Public Radio's Ben Adler via Twitter. Per Adler it can return to the floor once more for reconsideration before the end of this year's session and that return may be on August 28. The Sacramento Bee covered the August 25 vote and the UFCW withdrawal at http://bit.ly/1qffyN8. Readers who want to watch this one to the bitter end may want to follow @AdlerBen on Twitter or watch the #SB270 hashtag. AB 52, CEQA bill on Native American sacred sites, advances with significant amendments AB 52, the Native American sacred sites bill that was among the few possibilities this year for a legislative change in CEQA law, was moving forward as of this writing with amendments that in part appeared designed to reassure landowners. The bill would strengthen tribes' rights to involvement in consultation processes under CEQA where a newly defined category of Tribal Cultural Resources would be affected by a proposed project. The League of California Cities tracking page at http://bit.ly/VR4w5r shows the bill passed the Senate August 27. On that same page, the League links to a letter dated July 9, in which it expresses "concerns" about the definition of a tribal cultural resource, about the time(s) for required consultation in the environmental review process, and about tribal notification rules. An August 25 letter then states the League's concerns have been removed. Amendments since July change the definition of a "California Native American tribe" to define it by reference to the state's Native American Heritage Commission contact list rather than per federal recognition. They add a great deal more specificity about process. And they appear to give the lead agency reviewing a project the primary say in defining whether a cultural resource is significant for purposes of the statute. Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, published an op-ed in support of the bill at http://bit.ly/1lcCXzB. Legislative analyses available through the bill tracking page at http://bit.ly/1wyoe7e shows endorsements from tribal governments and conservationists but opposition from the California Chamber of Commerce, a smaller number of tribes, and utility, solar, business and construction organizations. The Chamber of Commerce is cited in the analysis as arguing the bill would "create a disincentive to invest in land" by creating uncertainty on which places might be defined as Tribal Cultural Resources. CA Housing Partnership Corporation reports on affordable housing defecits The California Housing Partnership has posted reports at http://chpc.net/ describing failures to meet affordable housing needs in major California metro areas. Separate reports are posted for Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. A combined summary report is at http://bit.ly/XRmsyU. Individual findings include defecits of 118,895 units in Orange County and 490,340 in Los Angeles County (KPCC coverage at http://bit.ly/1AS8SsV) and a defecit of 40,800 units in the City and County of San Francisco (see http://bit.ly/1mQouVH).   Groundwater bills still headed toward vote The groundwater bills, SB 1168 and AB 1739 (by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills and Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, respectively), were still nearing passage as of this writing. The League of California Cities has both measures on its "Hot Bills" list for August with a "no position" notation at http://bit.ly/1tRpiOc. Conservation groups were supporting the bills. Reuters reported Monday at http://reut.rs/1vgEeZY that many farm groups, but not all, opposed it. Meanwhile the Desert Sun was headed into litigation with Coachella Valley water officials over access to records of landowners' groundwater use (see desert.sn/VqAAgx), the Fresno Bee reported volunteers were delivering drinking water to households where the wells had run dry in Tulare County's East Porterville (see http://bit.ly/1wy2xnY), and celebrities were shipping in water by tanker truck to their estates in Montecito (see http://bit.ly/VPC6sH). Plea from mayors to enact relief bills for Inland Empire towns As of this writing, SB 69 and AB 1521, relief bills for new and newly expanded Inland Empire towns, had passed the Legislature and were awaiting Governor Brown's signature decision. Frank Johnston and Karen Spiegel, mayors of Jurupa Valley and Corona respectively, published an op-ed in the Press-Enterprise asking Governor Jerry Brown and the Legislature to save Jurupa Valley's incorporated status and protect other towns with the bills. See http://bit.ly/1tIhC1y. The two mayors claimed endorsements from 17 other Inland Empire mayors in asking the Legislature for the temporary financing lifeline that the bills represented. Together the bills would provide relief for cities that completed incorporations or annexations just before the Legislature took expected Vehicle License Fee income out of their local budgets in 2011. For past coverage see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3515 on SB 69 and http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3516 on AB 1521. AB 1537 to redefine Marin as 'suburban' goes to Governor AB 1537, to redefine Marin County from "metropolitan" to "suburban" for affordable housing density purposes, passed the Legislature in late August and was before Governor Brown as of this writing. Its proponent, Assemblymember Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, posted an August 22 statement celebrating the bill's passage, by a unanimous vote of the Assembly, at http://bit.ly/XQdh1P. Levine earlier joined Marin County Board of Supervisors President Kate Sears in an op-ed arguing its case at http://bit.ly/VPO71f. Their argument said the bill would only apply for eight years, would not limit local jurisdictions' power to make their own density decisions. A June I-J writeup at http://bit.ly/1x2WZi6 provides more background on the bill, which would reduce default densities for affordable housing in the county from 30 to 20 units per acre. Also in the Legislature -- The Orange County Register reported AB 1102, to protect the use of fire rings on Orange County Beaches by requiring a Coastal Commission permit for their removal, failed in the Senate in mid-August. See http://bit.ly/1qKpagc. Supporters of SB 1199, which would have designated the Upper Mokelumne River as "wild and scenic," told the Stockton Record it had failed in the Legislature. See http://bit.ly/1onHhXK. The Sacramento Bee is reporting at http://bit.ly/1q2t0oJ that the vigorous anti-"gas tax" campaign to postpone the calendared AB 32 expansion into fuels taxation is "finished for the year" with the postponement bill, AB 69 by Assemblymember Henry Perea, D-Fresno, now "sidelined" by outgoing Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. The Bee reported SB 1183, authorizing localities to vote in fees for bike facilities by initiative petition, was on the Governor's desk. See http://bit.ly/1q3b5go. In recent legal rulings -- The State Supreme Court on August 20 denied a request for partial republication of the underlying Fifth District appellate opinion that it reversed in City of Los Angeles v. County of Kern . The Supreme Court's July 7 decision concerned a challenge by the City of Los Angeles to a Kern County ballot measure that barred the city government from using biosolids from sewage to fertilize land that it owned in Kern County. The actual decision interpreted the federal grace period statute at 28 U.S.C. �1367(d) to bar Los Angeles from filing a state suit in the matter 78 days after a federal court dismissed its case on preemption grounds. For the State Supreme Court's online docket in the matter, see http://bit.ly/1BTPXj0. California's Fourth District ordered publication and modification, by orders August 13 and 14, of its opinion in San Diego Gas and Electric Company v. Schmidt , No. D062671. The court upheld a jury verdict setting the compensation amount, rejecting SDG&E's petition for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and also awarding litigation expenses to the defendant property owners. The property's "highest and best use" was said to be an open-pit aggregate mine. The decision is at http://bit.ly/1vOJDJ5 and the online docket at http://bit.ly/1p57aMh. The Ninth Circuit ruled that a citizen suit under the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act was not a proper means for neighbors of railyards to redress alleged harm from diesel particulate pollution, because "Defendants' emission of diesel particulate matter does not constitute 'disposal' of solid waste" under the statute. The case is Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice v. BNSF Railway Co. For the opinion, see http://1.usa.gov/1peSyyY. In Sierra Club v EPA , the Ninth Circuit held petitioners had associational standing to challenge a permit issued by the EPA for construction of a gas-fired power plant. It found the EPA wrongly allowed Avenal Power to build the plant in accordance with grandfathered prior air quality standards that were in effect when the company first applied for the permit. Instead, the court found "the Clean Air Act unambiguously requires Avenal Power to demonstrate that the Avenal Energy Project complies with the regulations ineffect at the time the Permit is issued." For the opinion, see http://1.usa.gov/1oH6T1G. A Ninth Circuit opinion by Judge Jay Bybee upheld decisions by the city of San Diego to deny conditional use permits for cell towers run by the American Tower Corporation. The case is American Tower Corporation v. City of San Diego , No. 11-56766, opinion at http://1.usa.gov/1rbUydI. And in other news -- The City of Rosemead scheduled public meetings this fall, beginning September 10, on the proposed Garvey Avenue Specific Plan. See http://www.cityofrosemead.org/index.aspx?page=436. A federal judge refused to enjoin the new San Francisco ordinance increasing relocation payments to tenants by landlords who elect to empty their buildings under the Ellis Act. See http://cbsloc.al/1wyKE8y. We still don't know which fault exactly caused the South Napa earthquake, but Scientific American discusses how geologists will go about finding out: http://bit.ly/1zGlMb8. Also, this may have been California's first major earthquake with an early damage patrol filmed by drone: http://lat.ms/1pCujLe.

Google unveiled a  "whimsical" proposal  for a massive new headquarters in Mountain View designed by architect Frank Ghery. The plan, which would include new office space and public trails, has been met with skepticism by the Mountain View populace, wary of the increased traffic in the city of 75,000. The city has already approved 3.4 million square feet of expansion for Google, but now it is requesting 2.5 million more of "bonus floor area ratio," potentially allowed by the city in exchange for community enhancements. Now,  it's in competition with social media site  LinkedIn, which may set up an expensive and politically-charged fight in Mountain View's North Bayshore. Oakland Welcomes S.F. to Export Affordable Housing With San Francisco's housing pressures getting worse by the day, the City of Oakland may encourage its Bay Area neighbor to consider outsourcing its rental housing. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf wants to allow San Francisco developers to fulfill their requirements by building some affordable housing in Oakland. Such an arrangement could take the form of a regional housing partnership, though details now are slim. A spokeswoman for San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee said that they are committed to making one-third of a planned 30,000 new housing units affordable in the next five years. The definition of "affordable" varies by city, with an affordable housing unit in San Francisco translating into about $500,000 for a two or three bedroom house in Hunters Point. Oakland has, historically, been considerably less expensive. Miriam Chion, ABAG's director of planning and research, told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I think Oakland and San Francisco have taken the current economic growth and development pressure as an opportunity to collaborate and address some of the pressing housing needs and needs for planning for regional job growth." Fresno Approves New Water Source Project Fresno's city council  approved a visionary new plan  to secure a steady supply of clean water for the city after several years of groundwater depletion due to the drought. The $429 million project initiated by Mayor Ashley Swearnegin would replace miles of old pipes and build a new surface water treatment plant. To fund the project, officials would have to raise water costs - possibly doubling the costs for a single-family residence from around $25 to $49 in 2019. Today, about five out of every six gallons used by Fresnans come from groundwater sources, which has helped to contribute to a sinking of land in the Central Valley. New Transit Center to Sell Naming Rights for Construction Costs San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center is taking a page from Chicago's book  and trying to sell naming rights  to some of its public spaces. In an attempt to raise some of the $300 million in construction of the center slated to open in 2017, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority is seeking to sell naming rights to private companies for various parts of the center. Sponsors can opt for a five-year deal to name certain areas of the center - including an amphitheater, the main plaza, and at least 13 gardens - or a 10-year deal to name the whole park. Peninsula Watershed Could Open Its Trails to the Public The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission  unveiled a new proposa l to expand public access to the Peninsula Watershed, hoping to allow more hikers and bikers to use the Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail. The proposal shows a split within nature enthusiasts, some of whom have been clamoring for a loosening on the strict management of the watershed, and others who fear for the conservation of local wildlife and water quality.  The new proposal comes as one piece of a larger system of improvements to the trail system in San Francisco in an attempt to plug a major gap in the 550-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail going around San Francisco Bay. VA to Develop Permanent Housing for Homeless Vets Following a lawsuit, the US Department of Veterans Affairs  has pledged to open  its West Los Angeles campus to permanent and temporary housing for the area's homeless veterans. It will also place returning service members in subsidized apartments in the city.  "The challenge for L.A. even if we end veteran homelessness is we're going to have to maintain sufficient resources so we're not just creating housing but maintaining  housing," said the executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. The secretary of the VA said that he will be sending $50 million and 400 workers to the region to improve veterans' conditions. The plan also calls for the VA to hire an urban planning firm to draw up a new master plan for the West Los Angeles property. San Diego Reacts to Charger Stadium Deal in L.A. San Diego officials are scrambling to find a way to raise funds to build a new stadium to keep the Chargers in town following a surprise announcement that the team was looking into a deal to build a joint stadium with the Oakland Raiders in Carson.  The latest proposal  for the $1 billion project: a county "bridge loan" proposed by Supervisor Ron Roberts, in which the county would front the money for the part of the project requiring public funds. The money would not need to be paid back until surrounding developments begin to generate a cash flow. Roberts said that the proposal would likely work better at the existing Qualcomm Stadium than at a new stadium downtown. San Diego taxpayers have, thus far, been reluctant to support funding for the stadium with public dollars. Officials Want a Plan for Redevelopment of Kings Stadium Officials in the North Natomas area of Sacramento  are becoming anxious  as the owners of the Sacramento Kings still have not announced plans for how to redevelop its current home when the team moves downtown. City Council Member Angelique Ashby recently requested that the team announce a timeline for redevelopment. A team representative told the City Council that the team planned to step up its efforts to find a use for the 200 acres surrounding the Sleep Train Amphitheater. "I don't want to wait until 2016 and the team is gone and that engine is gone for Natomas before we have a plan for how we're moving forward," Ashby told the Sacramento Bee. The Kings will move into their new $477 million arena downtown next fall. Many locals have advocated for a new hospital on the premises.

Proponents of a stadium that would jointly host the relocated Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers in Carson put together a ballot initiative to seek local approval for the project. The measure would approve the creation of a public authority in Carson, akin to the arrangement the 49ers used to build their new stadium, that would own the stadium and lease it back to the teams. Public approval would nullify many potential objections that might otherwise arise during environmental review and delay the project. This tactic was cleared with last year's Tuolumne court decision. The stadium has the backing of an investment group led by Goldman Sachs that lent $850 million to the public authority to finance construction, to be paid back by stadium revenue. In a major divergence in this plan from a concurrent plan for a stadium in Inglewood, presumably for the relocated St. Louis Rams, proponents say that the stadium will be publicly owned, but that no tax money would be spent on its construction. "Period. End of discussion. Not one penny will go into the project," said an attorney representing the project. Claremont Seeks Eminent Domain Taking of Water Agency Seeing spiking water rates compared with those of neighboring communities, the City of Claremont initiated eminent domain proceedings to take over a private water agency that has served the community for 80 years. The suit, authorized by a unanimous city council vote, targets Golden State Water Co., an investor-owned purveyor whose rates are set regionally by the Public Utilities Commission. The city contends that the company has been overcharging residents; rates have doubled since 2008 and are now higher than they are in 10 cities immediately neighboring Claremont.  Claremont voters, by more than two to three margin also approved up to $135 million in bonds - paid for by increases in the water bills of taxpayers - to buy the system. The city has offered $55 million for the agency; attorneys for Golden State told Capitol Weekly that it is worth more than $100 million. Final EIR Approved in Redlands Rail Project  The Redlands Passenger Rail Project received final approval of its EIR, clearing the way for final design and construction later this year. The $242-million, nine-mile project will connect the cities of Redlands and San Bernardino via an existing right of way. Projecting population growth and increased congestion, and factoring in the physical barriers of the Santa Ana River and Interstate 10, in 2004 the San Bernardino County Association of Governments to look at cost-effective travel options for communities along the Redlands Corridor. SANBAG is expecting to have the service in operation in 2018. Delta Property Owners Scramble to Prove Water Rights Over 1,000 property owners across the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Central Valley are scrambling to prove they have a right to divert water from the system's streams. They are required to do so because of a state order from the State Water Resources Control Board, which may order owners who can't submit proof - sometimes buried in county parcel maps dating back to the 1850s - to stop diverting water entirely as California enters its fourth year of drought. State agencies suspect that water released from their reservoirs is being inappropriately diverted by property owners in the Delta as it flows past their land. "We had rights and used that water before the state even had any departments," said one property owner told the Sacramento Bee . "It's very difficult to prove it." The order went to 1,061 "senior rights" holders, meaning that they were given rights to the water before 1914. Study: L.A.'s Heat Island Reduces Fog A new report by Columbia University suggests that growth of the Los Angeles region's urban footprint is causing the city's fog to dissipate. The study shows that the frequency of fog over the city, including the famous "June gloom," has decreased by 63 percent since 1948 because of the "heat island effect," in which urban areas become hotter during the day as heat is trapped in concrete surfaces. Besides the environmental consequences, the report warns that the disappearance of fog could have economic impacts as temperatures rise and use of air conditioning increases. Redondo Beach Voters Let Power Plant Stand Despite the pleasant seaside location of Redondo Beach, the city's landscape is dominated by the industrial hulk of a now shuttered power plant. This month city voters rejected a redevelopment for the plant, with only 48 percent of voters voting yes on Measure B. The measure, which roused passions on both sides, was sponsored by AES, which owns the site. It would have allowed for the site, blocks from the beach, to be redeveloped into a hotel, retail space, and 600 residential units. Despite widespread distaste for the plant, opponents of the measure argued that it would have led to overdevelopment and intolerable traffic. They have called on AES and the city to consider a more modest development plan. Kids' Health Benefits from L.A.'s Decrease in Smog Generations after the Los Angeles area first declared a war on smog, health indicators among the region's children are vastly improved. A study by the University of Southern California, published last week, found that the percentage of children with impaired lung function has dropped by half since 1994. The study followed children in high-pollution communities, including Long Beach, Riverside, and San Dimas, comparing lung health of children in those areas today compared to that of 20 years ago. USC says that it is the first such study to track changes over time. The Los Angeles area has combated pollution in a number of fronts in recent years, requiring truck and ship engines and stricter pollution controls on industrial facilities. Fine particle pollution has declined by up to 50 percent over the past 20 years. The region remains one of the nation's most polluted.

The City of San Jose's 2011 general plan, known as Envision 2040 and designed to focus growth in urban nodes and balance the city's job and housing mix, is now facing a lawsuit from a Davis-based environmental group for allegedly causing sprawl. The nonprofit California Clean Energy Committee claims that the plan improperly prioritizes economic development over housing and is short by 109,000 housing units, and that the shortage will push development to other cities and cause more traffic as workers drive to their jobs. Officials dispute that, saying that the plan prioritizes jobs following decades of city approval of residential projects without thought. Officials will head to court next month to argue against a broad decision that would force the city to do a time-consuming and costly do-over of the entire plan. "If we're more economically vibrant, yes, people will potentially drive from elsewhere," San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio told the San Jose Business Journal . "But what's the alternative? You want to turn us into the only housing suburb for San Francisco? LA. Passes Temporary 'McMansion' Ban  The Los Angeles City Council  issued  a two year ban on "McMansions" in 20 areas of the city. The ban will put restrictions on the size of new, single-family dwellings to stanch the "proliferation of out-of-scale developments that threaten the cohesion and character of neighborhoods," according to a city report. Stakeholders in the affected communities have long raised concerns about the practice of building homes that occupy substantial portions of their lots. These homes are often built up to the property line and can loom over neighboring homes. The City Council passed a similar ordinance in 2008 to control the size of homes in Los Angeles, but loopholes allowed larger homes to rise and prompted the new ordinance. Developers and building industry representatives decry the moratorium for preventing property owners from maximizing the value of their properties.  Urban Farm Ordinance Approved in Sacramento A new ordinance passed by the Sacramento City Council will allow residents to build minature farms on private properties and sell produce out of urban farm stands. Prior to the ordinance, growing produce for sell was only allowed in specially zoned lots. But now, urban farmers will be able to open urban farm stands with a business operations tax certificate.  One goal of the ordinance is to reduce urban blight and bring fruits and vegetables to "food insecure" populations whose access to fresh produce is limited in low-income neighborhoods. By building farms up to 3 acres, residents would be able to grow and sell food directly from their properties and get tax incentives for turning lots into minifarms. Study Promotes Use of Rooftop Solar Power in L.A. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has the opportunity to expand the amount of local solar use to 150,000 megawatts, enough to power 355,000 homes, by installing solar systems on up to 10,000 acres of rooftops, according to a study sponsored by the L.A. Business Council conducted by UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation and USC's Program for Environmental and Regional Equity. The study focused on opportunities located in what the study identifies as "solar equity hotspots" - neighborhoods with abundant rooftops and great need for economic investment and jobs. The hotspot areas exist in the San Fernando Valley, East Los Angeles, and areas west of Downtown, including Hollywood. In many cases, solar training programs that target less advantaged workers. "Los Angeles has a unique confluence of characteristics providing a firm foundation for a successful solar FiT (feed-in tariff) program: abundant sunshine, a trained workforce and tremendous economic need," said Dr. Manuel Pastor, Director of the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity, in a statement. "Growing the FiT will bring economic opportunity to some of our city's most underserved and environmentally-challenged neighborhoods." The city is offering financing programs to help homeowners and businesses install solar systems. Producing 1,500 megawatts of clean solar power over the next decade would cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 million metric tons and create more than 36,000 new job years, according to the study. Groups Call for More Funding for Active Transportation Program Over 120 organizations statewide signed a petition urging the state to increase its investment in the Active Transportation Program (ATP), which seeks to improve bike and pedestrian infrastructure statewide. In the last round of ATP funding, more projects applied for the program than could be filled with the $300 million biannual funds allocated to the program, leaving over $800 million worth of ready-to-go projects unfulfilled. The petition -- signed by community and advocacy organizations that focus on health, walking biking, the environment, and economic policy -- calls for a $100 million increase in ATP funding and clearer rules to make sure that low-income communities are benefiting from the ATP. "We know that 20 percent of trips by Californians are on foot or by bicycle, but despite the overwhelming demand for projects that create safer streets, sidewalks, bike lanes, and pathways, the state Active Transportation Program still only receives around one percent of Caltrans' annual budget," Jeanie Ward-Waller, Senior Policy Manager for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, told Streetsblog . Planning Scholar Donald Shoup to Retire in June Renowned urban planning professor Donald Shoup announced that he will be retiring from UCLA in June. Widely known as the "parking guru," with enthusiastic followers know as "Soupistas," Shoup is credited with revolutionizing the ways that cities view the relationship between parking and land use. His 2005 book The High Cost of Free Parking, which criticizes standard methods of deterring parking requirements, and his ideas on parking policies have led cities across the world to adapt new policies for parking requirements and to charge fair market prices for curb parking. "I can't think of anyone who has made more scholarly contributions to the field of parking and transportation than Donald Shoup," said Dean Frank Gilliam in a statement . River Restoration May Cost City of L.A. $1.2 Billion New estimates show that the City of Los Angeles could bear the brunt of the costs of restoring the Los Angeles River to a more natural state, possibly shouldering as much as $1.2 billion for the project. City leaders were originally hoping to split the expense evenly with the federal government, whose Army Corps of Engineers originally built the concrete channel that now defines the river, by contributing about $500 million to the project, but now it appears that the city could bear over 70 percent of the costs. The restoration could take 30 to 40 years, and it is expected to introduce the most dramatic changes to the river since it was lined with concrete in the middle of the 20th century. "Real estate in L.A. is extremely expensive, and a project done in a highly urbanized area makes this more expensive than any other restoration project in the country," Jay Field, a spokesman for the Army Corps, told the L.A. Times . Tenants Ordered to Vacate Hollywood Building  Five months after a judge ruled that a 22-story apartment building in Hollywood was improperly approved, officials ordered the project's developer, CIM Group, to evict the tenants living there. The suit was brought by attorney Robert Silverstein, who has repeatedly invoked CEQA to fight development in Hollywood. Opponents of the project, called Sunset and Gordon, claim that it violated terms of the project approval by demolishing a 1924 that was supposed to be preserved. Officials estimated that the 299-unit complex had about 40 tenants living there when the eviction order came. "In 24 years at the city, I personally have not seen this before," Luke Zamperini, a Building and Safety spokesman, told the L.A. Times . Hollywood has seen other legal setbacks recently as it tries to implement Mayor Garcetti's vision of larger, denser developments in the neighborhood. Target had to stop work on a shopping center after a judge said that officials improperly allowed the project to exceed the 35-foot height limit. Another judge invalidated the Hollywood Community Plan Update, which called for taller and denser construction near transit, for using outdated demographic data. Great Park Audit: Irvine May Recover Some RDA Funds An audit of the Orange County Great Park project commissioned by the Irvine City Council to see if money was wasted in designing the project shows that the city may be able to recover some lost money. The audit blamed a lack of realistic financial planning, as cost estimates shot up to $1.24 billion from the original estimate of $401 million. Projections in 2009 showed that the Great Park could only afford to build and maintain about $61.2 million of facilities, according to the attorney's findings. The city has since 2005 spent more than $250 million building 88 acres of the 1,3000 acre former marine base.