Environmentalists Sue to Block Development of Tejon Ranch Environmental groups are suing the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for approving the controversial 12,000-acre Centennial Tejon Ranch development in Antelope Valley. The Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society filed a lawsuit accusing county officials of mishandling the environmental review process when it approved the development of nearly 20,000 new homes. The groups ask to halt construction pending further analysis of the project’s impact on auto use in the area, as well as its susceptibility to wildfire damage. Additionally, critics of the project expressed concerns that building large a development so far from major city centers will drive up greenhouse gas emissions. After receiving approval for the project, the Tejon Ranch Company announced that 18 percent of the 19,333 planned homes would be set aside as affordable housing. Additionally, about 90 percent of the 240,000 acres around the project site will be conserved as open space. In a recent statement, the company argued that the lawsuit unnecessarily blocked “an approved development that will bring thousands of much-needed price-attainable homes to Southern California families who are struggling to find housing they can afford.” (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Google Makes Major Planning Grant to San Jose for Diridon Station and Environs In Google’s latest massive investment in west San Jose, the tech giant agreed to pay the city $4.5 million to help fund projects related to the planning of its new 20,000-worker mixed-use development near Diridon Station. Pending city council approval, the also city plans to contribute approximately $1.1 million to the project. All funding will contribute to an overhaul of Diridon Station: the city is planning a BART connection and eventual link to high-speed rail. Critics of Google's grant to the city say that it will give the tech giant undue planning influence; this payment will also help fund a review of Google’s own proposed massive campus near the station. But Google has funded planning efforts before: last year, it paid $1.33 million for community meetings that led to the eventual sale of city property to the company. “Rest assured Google has to follow the same processes that every other applicant has to follow,” Nanci Klein, the assistant director of economic development and director of real estate told the Mercury News. “There’s no difference and, in fact, Google will undergo and is undergoing more scrutiny than other projects.” (See prior CP&DR coverage .)  Copper Bluff Mine Named Superfund Site The EPA added the Copper Bluff Mine in Hoopa to the Superfund National Priorities list – the only named site in California. The list, which named seven sites this year, includes the most serious or abandoned releases of contamination nationwide. EPA officials prioritized these sites to begin restoring the nation’s most contaminated areas for productive reuse, and to protect the health of local communities. Copper Bluff Mine operated from 1924 to 1964 as a copper and zinc resource. In the decades since its closure, it has consistently leaked acid drainage into the neighboring Trinity River – anywhere from three to 500 gallons of contaminants per minute. Identifying the site as Superfund will open it up for tens of millions in funding, according to EPA officials. Though it may take a few years before a cleanup begins, but the Superfund recognition will likely expedite the process. “The Hoopa Valley Tribe and the tribal fishery are still affected by this mine, despite its closure decades ago,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Adminstrator Mike Stoker told the Eureka Times-Standard. “Adding the site to the National Priorities List is an important step toward cleaning up this toxic legacy.”  Report Urges Equitable Transition to Low-Carbon Economy Researchers at the University of Southern California and Occidental College developed a roadmap to transition low-income communities to a green economy. The report, titled “ A Roadmap to an Equitable Low-Carbon Future: Four Pillars for a Just Transition ,” summarizes research showing that pollution and other environmental hazards disproportionately affect low-income communities. The authors stress the need for strategies to bring these communities the benefits of a low-carbon economy to avoid “replicat the mistakes and inequalities of the extractive past and present.” To achieve this, the report proposes “four pillars” for an equitable future: strong governmental support, dedicated funding streams, diverse and strong coalitions, and economic diversification. Its authors expressed hope that these pillars can inform the development of Los Angeles's recently announced "Green New Deal” plan. "As we move away from extraction and a carbon economy, we need to ensure that not only are those workers and communities protected in the transition,” lead author J. Mijin Cha told the California Health Report, "but that we’re also acknowledging this historic burden that they have had to bear.” Nine California Cites Named Top 50 for Biking Southern California cities placed highly recently released rankings of City Ratings’ " best places for bikes ." Nine California cities made the ranking’s top 50: Santa Barbara (12), Santa Monica (17), San Diego (25), Ventura (31), Lompoc (32), Goleta (35), Long Beach (39), Santa Maria (42), and Carpenteria (49). Using their own community surveys and analysis as well as publicly available U.S. Census data, the study scored cities according to five major metrics: ridership, safety, reach, network, and acceleration. “Ridership” counted the number of riders in a community, “safety” considered fatalities and injuries of people on bikes, and “network” considered how well routes connect local destinations. “Reach” determined how well that network served all community members, and “acceleration” assessed how fast the city was improving its biking infrastructure and encouragement programs. Quick Hits & Updates  A California Department of Finance report shows that Los Angeles produced more housing in 2018 than any other California city. According to the report, the city's 16,525 units built more than triples the amount built by any other city, and puts the city on track to exceed its 2021 production goals. But experts say the city still has a lot of catching up to do: in 2018, population growth hit its slowest-recorded rates citywide, largely due to the affordable housing shortage. Sacramento built more housing than any other California city north of Los Angeles in 2018, according to the same Department of Finance report. The city added 2,400 new units last year, most of them detached single-family units. It topped San Francisco’s production, despite its smaller size. Statewide, 97,000 new units were built, but only 77,000 net new units, minus homes destroyed by wildfire or otherwise demolished. For the second time in four years, Ohlone College and its development partner abandoned plans to build 275 residential rental units and 6,500 square feet of retail space on its frontage property. Located in Fremont, the college hoped that leasing the 15-acre property to a developer would generate needed revenue for educational services. However, students and community members claimed the project included too much housing, and would thus bring overdevelopment and traffic issues to the area. Santa Barbara is set to launch a three-year bikeshare pilot program after a unanimous approval from the city council. The pilot will allow operator HOPR Bikeshare, which has successful programs in Santa Monica and at UCLA and UCSB, to operate self-service rental bicycles in the city. After the 3-year period, city staff and the Transportation and Circulation Committee will evaluate the success of the program. Los Angeles County Metro initiated an environmental study for a new bus rapid transit line between North Hollywood and Pasadena. The long-awaited 18-mile BRT project, which will serve an area that currently sees over 700,000 trips, was formalized with the passing of Measure M in 2016. Metro will study multiple alignments for the BRT line, including one running within the 134 Freeway, and one more-promising street-running alternative. The street-running line would have 18 to 21 stops, attracting 30,000 weekday passengers with an end-to-end travel time of 65 minutes, according to Metro estimates. The environmental study will be ready for public review by fall 2020. The Livermore City Council unanimously approved amendments to its Downtown Specific Plan. The proposed amendments, some of which were repealed in 2018, target improving parking access downtown: they remove the city's height limited exception and delineate public and private parking facilities as a permitted use in a portion of the downtown.  Landlords in Long Beach will have to compensate tenants forced to relocate due to steep rent hikes under an ordinance finalized by the city council. In a 6-3 vote, the city council passed a tenant relocation ordinance that requires landlords who increase rent by more than ten percent to compensate tenants $2,706 to $4,500, depending on the number of bedrooms in the unit. The ordinance intends to both discourage landlords from evicting low-paying tenants, and to protect those who are forced to leave. Construction of Los Angeles's Purple Line subway moved forward after the Metro board approved a builder contract. The much-anticipated $9-billion twin tunnel project between Century City and West L.A. will be built by a joint venture led by Tutor Perini Corporation. Metro expects to finish the project and add 78,000 daily trips to the city’s most-traveled line by 2027, in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

CP&DR Vol. 34 No. 5 May 2019

High Speed Rail Authority Sues Trump Administration over Withheld Funds In the latest escalation of the state's face-off with the Trump Administration over bullet train funding, the California High Speed Rail Authority is suing the U.S. Department of Transportation over its decision to pull a $929 million grant. Since its 2010 inception, California’s ambitious project has experienced significant delays and increasing costs, and Governor Gavin Newsom’s February State of the State address reduced its short-term scope. Recently, following a series of tweeted threats by President Donald Trump, the Federal Rail Authority officially terminated $929 million in remaining funding for the project, and threatened to reclaim $2.5 billion in funds already spent by the state. Now, in a 20-page complaint, the state claims that the administration’s decision contradicts federal regulations and makes false allegations about the project’s progress. Newsom’s office is also seeking a temporary restraining order arguing that “the real motive underlying FRA’s action was political: to punish California for opposing President Trump’s proposed border wall." BLM to Allow Expanded Drilling in Central Valley, Central Coast  The Trump Administration will open up federal land in the Central Valley and Central Coast to oil and gas drilling, according to new documents released by the Bureau of Land Management. This plan directly contradicts many statewide efforts to curtail drilling and fracking, and thousands of Californians submitted comments to the agency protesting the plan. According to the BLM’s proposal, the agency’s plan could result in up to 37 new oil and gas wells drilling on new land leases over the next 20 years. This could effect land within the field office’s boundaries across 11 California counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Stanislaus. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that opposes the plan, the proposal could open up 725,000 acres of federally managed land and subsurface mineral area to oil and gas leasing. While many industry lobbying groups support the move, local officials have expressed concerns about increased air pollution and potential groundwater contamination from fracking. In a recent statement, Representative Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, commented that the decision is “a step backward given the increasingly urgent warnings from our scientific community on the unchecked effects of climate change,” according to the Sacramento Bee.  San Diego’s Horton Plaza Mall to be Redeveloped as Tech Hub Downtown San Diego’s iconic postmodern Horton Plaza mall, considered one of the most innovative outdoor malls in the country upon its opening in 1985, will become a mixed-use tech hub. The San Diego City Council voted unanimously to approve developer Stockdale Capital Partner’s proposal to convert the mall into the “Campus at Horton.” Plans will cut current retail space in half, and convert the rest of the space into 772,000 square feet of office space catered to tech companies. The developer expects the facility to create 4,000 jobs and generate more than $1.8 billion annually. As part of the agreement, the city will amend land use restrictions to allow for the downsizing of retail space. In return, Stockdale will be required to provide $6.7 million in public benefits to the city to recoup lost retail revenue. Stockdale representatives affirmed that current Horton Plaza tenants will not be evicted in favor of new retail outlets. Stockton hopes to begin the project later this year and complete the first phase by 2020. City Councilwoman Barbara Bry hopes that this project will create jobs that will keep college graduates in the city. “UCSD has said that within five years, we lose about half of the engineering graduates to other cities,” she told KPBS. Audit Finds Fault with S.F. Bay Conservation Commission  The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission has failed in its key duties and allowed ongoing harm to the bay, according to a recently published state audit. The commission was formed in 1967 to “protect the Bay’s health and ensure public access,” and is responsible for approving permits for material dumping and removal. The audit found, however, that the commission has accumulated a backlog of over 230 enforcement cases, some of which are over a decade old. This number is projected to grow, since the audit found that the commission opens an average of 14 more cases annually than it closes. The audit also asserts that the commissioners are wrongfully considering amnesty for cases of clear harm done, don’t provide sufficient guidance for their enforcement process, and inconsistently impose fines. Furthermore, the commission hasn’t implemented plans to safeguard the Suisun Marsh, as state law requires, increasing the possibility of harm to the marsh. The audit recommends that the commission should simplify its enforcement process, and create and implement regulations by January 2021 to identify harm done and set a timeline for enforcement cases. Report Finds Shortfall of over 700,000 Affordable Units Major California cities are falling far short of affordable housing demand, according to a new report by nonprofit California Housing Partnership. The report found that fewer than a third of low-income families in Southern California have access to affordable housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a household’s gross income – amounting to a shortfall of nearly 759,000 low-income units. These findings point to twin issues statewide: limited housing drives up livings costs, and wage gaps drive down residents’ ability to afford housing. For example, Sacramento County has a shortfall of 63,000 affordable units, which has caused the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment to jump from $950 a month to $1445 a month over just two years. Similarly, according to the report, in L.A. County, the minimum income needed is over $8,200 a month to afford the mid-priced asking rent of $2,471. For this reason, the biggest impact of these shortages fall on the state's poorest renters. The report urged the state to replace the redevelopment funding slashed in 2012, and called for expanding the affordable housing tax credit program by $500 million a year. It also urged cities and counties to adopt rent caps and tenant protections while also granting developers density bonuses to incentivize new housing construction. Quick Hits & Updates  One day after Senate Bill 50 housing bill failed in senate proceedings, survey results were published showing that two-thirds of Californians support the bill. California YIMBY, a housing development advocacy group, released the results of poll of 1,200 voters – 66 parent of whom said they would support the proposal. These findings suggest that the bill, which would encourage taller and denser housing development near transit lines, has greater public support than it found in the legislature. (See prior CP&DR coverage .)  In response to the stalled Senate Bill 50, a group of activists filed a petition to amend to the state constitution that affirms local powers over planning and land use. The Workforce Housing and Neighborhood Protection Act proposes repealing state goals to improve affordability and replacing it with a series of amendments that place land-use planning and zoning rights in the hands of local governments. The amendment allows the state to enforce state housing laws only if it has provided sufficient funding to enact such laws, and only if it does not prescribe the minimum square footage of any dwelling unit, among other provisions. Plans for a baseball stadium for the Angels in Long Beach could cost the city over $1 billion, according to newly-released documents. The documents, made public by city officials, detail several bond options to finance a $900 million stadium on the 13-acre proposed site downtown – each amounting to over $1.1 billion after interest. The city is also exploring other funding options, including as new taxes, boosting parking fees, or selling the team’s naming rights and sponsorships. Plans also require funding and citywide approval for several new parking lots downtown. Several Bay Area cities topped CDP’s Global Cities A List for environmental action. Top-ranked areas from the 43-city list include Benicia, Emeryville, Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Palo Alto, Piedmont, San Francisco, and San Leandro. The list recognizes cities “acting to reduce emissions, adapt to climate risks, and manage water resources.” Notably, the list recognizes San Francisco for its target to be carbon neutral by 2050. San Francisco officials announced spending plan details for a $500 million affordable housing bond which could hit the ballot in November. The bond will allocate $210 million to construct new low-income housing, and the rest to build more affordable senior units and restore public housing facilities. The bill, proposed by Mayor London Breed and cosponsored by five supervisors still needs three more city board member votes to make it on the ballot. From there, it will require a two-thirds majority vote. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and a coalition of fishing groups sued Fresno's Wetlands Water District for cooperating with the Trump administration on a project to increase Shasta Dam capacity. Wetlands, which owns over 3,000 acres along the McCloud River, is cost-sharing the $1.3 billion project with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to raise the height of the dam by 18.5 feet and thus increase storage capacity by 14 percent. The Attorney General and coalition claim that Wetlands’ plans circumvent the state’s Wild and Scenic River Act, and that their environmental impact report underestimates impacts to a local wild trout fishery. The Bureau of Reclamation hopes to begin construction by 2020. Flood risk at Southern California’s Prado Dam has escalated from “moderate” to “high urgency”, according to a recent assessment from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The assessment found that a “significant flood event” would compromise the dam, and affect 1.4 million people who live in Orange County communities from Disneyland to Newport Beach. This comes on the heels of a series of major issues and lax safety cultures identified by the Corps at California dams – in one case leading to the 2017 disintegration of a concrete spillway at Oroville Dam. The agency is working to develop risk-reduction measures as well as public outreach strategies in the event of a spill. The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) approved a feasibility study of plans for a ferry terminal in the Berkeley Marina. Berkeley city officials have expressed hope that the ferry, which currently serves Vallejo, Oakland, Alameda, Richmond, Harbor Bay and Mare Island, will link local commuters to Berkeley and provide a potential emergency evacuation route for the city. WETA will contribute $250,000 to the feasibility study, and the city of Berkeley will add $110,000 toward the study, as well as contribute $330,000 to the terminal project. Anticipating potential earthquakes and flooding, San Francisco city officials are preparing a $628.5 million disaster preparedness bond. The bill, set for the March 2020 ballot, would finance citywide seismic improvements, strengthen public infrastructure for fire and police stations, and upgrade recreational centers for potential shelter use, among other measures. These improvements are designed to address emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. A local advocacy group sued the city of Santa Clara for proposing new homes between the city’s historic housing developments by the noted modernist architect Joseph Eichler. Citing an “irreparable harm to the historic fabric” of the developments, the Pomeroy Eichler Neighborhood Preservation Society filed a lawsuit to stop construction of four new, standalone single family homes until the city completes an environmental impact report. Notably, the definition of “environment" in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) includes historical significance.  A majority of likely voters in San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties would support a sales tax to pay for new Caltrain projects, according to poll released by EMC Research of Oakland. This shows promising support for Caltrains’ plans for a one-quarter or one-eighth percent sales tax to fund an electric commuter line and increased train frequency and capacity. However, the poll put this majority at 63% – still short of the two-thirds majority it would need to pass. The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) and SPUR published the “San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas,” the first installment of a comprehensive initiative to plan the Bay Area for climate change by 2070. The Atlas builds a cross-jurisdictional response to sea level rise by dividing the 400-mile Bay shoreline into 30 distinct “operational landscape units,” or OLUs. OLUs share common characteristics, and therefore common adaptation strategies – from nature-based options to policy tools. The complete SPUR Regional Strategy will be published in 2020. A controversial $126 million UC Berkeley classroom-and-housing development will move forward, following a budget approval from a regents’ finance committee. The Upper Hearst project, which seeks to provide housing for new faculty and additional classroom space, faces lawsuits from Save Berkeley Neighborhoods and the city of Berkeley. Both groups claim that the university is avoiding addressing the costs of rising enrollment on the surrounding area. The UC Berkeley Faculty Senate also objects to the project: it vote 174-69 to ask to “immediately suspend” development plans. The project would repack a 350-car parking garage with 150 faculty apartments over 170 parking spots.  In the latest expansion in one of the largest office campuses in the Bay Area, Google purchased three additional office buildings in north San Jose. Now Google owns a total of 1.27 million square feet within eight office and industrial buildings in the northern section of the city, and six of these buildings have never been occupied. Google has also recently invested in the city’s downtown : in partnership with developer Trammell Crow, Google purchased properties near the Diridon train station where they’re planning a transit-oriented neighborhood with office buildings, homes, restaurants, and shops for 25,000 people to work. (See prior CP&DR coverage .)  Homeless populations have grown significantly since 2017 in Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Francisco counties, according to January’s initial point-in-time counts. Alameda reported a staggering 43 percent increase since 2017, with a total of 8,022 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people counted on a single day. Santa Clara County reported a 31 percent increase, with the largest unhoused population in the Bay Area: 9,700 homeless people. San Francisco County reported a 17 percent increase, with a population just over 8,000 – the county’s highest number since 2004. In effort to increase city understanding of ridesharing on local traffic, safety, pollution, and parking, a San Francisco appeals court ruled that Uber must share its ridership data with the city. The California First District Court of Appeals rejected Uber’s objections to the city subpoena, saying that the subpoena was within the city attorney’s investigative powers. Ridesharing competitor Lyft has been sharing similar data with the city since February 2018. A Santa Clara County assessor sued  the county assessment board for giving the San Francisco 49ers NFL team a multimillion dollar tax break. Assessor Larry Stone claims that the board’s decision to award a $6 million property tax break and $36 million refund to the team was unlawful, and unnecessarily hurt local governments and school districts. After the assessment board’s decision to slash property taxes on Levi Stadium, owned by the team, the Santa Clara Unified School District refunded the team $13 million in tax revenue, the county refunded $5 million, and the city of Santa Clara and the West Valley Community College each refunded $3 million. Housing production in Los Angeles has slowed since Measure JJJ took effect, according to a recent study by UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. The measure, approved by city voters in 2016, requires all Los Angeles developments that seek zone changes or general plan amendments employ prevailing wage labor and set aside low-income housing units. But the study finds that in the two years since, developments needing zone changes or other legislative actions have decreased from nearly 19,000 to almost none at all. Authors of the study expressed concerns that this measure only marginally encouraged developing affordable units, and significantly discourages housing production overall. In response to an influx of RV dwellers on public streets, the Mountain View City Council declared a shelter crisis and passed ordinances banning RV parking and ticketing vehicles that “discharge domestic sewage on the public right of way." At the March city council vote, opponents of the ban blamed Google and other Silicon Valley tech centers for the area's affordable housing crisis. The median rent in Mountain View has almost doubled since late 2010 to $4,151 a month – which is nearly triple the national average.  The San Francisco Flower Market Tenants Association may withdraw participation a controversial project to redevelop the market. The project, which proposes 2.1 million square feet of tech office space above the city’s famous SoMa flower market, faces approval from city officials this spring. However, the association’s 53 vendors have claimed that the mixed-use project’s goals do not fit their needs – and would prefer relocating to another site elsewhere in the city.  In response to heated objections from Emeryville and Oakland officials and residents, Caltrans announced it is pausing its plans to rebuild portions of the MacArthur Maze  freeway interchange. In January, Caltrans issued an initial study and environmental assessment of plans to increase vertical clearance on several points of the webbed overpasses. However, city officials, including Mayor Libby Schaaf, claimed that Caltrans failed to notify them of the project, and raised concerns about its impacts on both the environment and the community.

The winding highways leading into the Lake Tahoe Basin offer staggering vistas: snow-dusted Sierra peaks, lush alpine forests, and 192 square miles of improbable blue water spanning the Nevada-California border. But, during peak winter and summer seasons, your most-likely view may be of someone else’s bumper. Traffic into, out of, and within the Tahoe Basin has gotten so severe that local planning agencies have launched an all-out assault on it through the 2017 Linking Tahoe: Regional Transportation Plan . The first phase won this year’s American Planning Association’s Achievement Awards for Transportation (Gold), using big data to measure traffic impacts in the great outdoors. To solve a traffic bottleneck, many planners opt to increase capacity by building bigger roads. But in Tahoe, that’s not an option. Tahoe’s 1982 Bi-State Compact, which strictly regulates land use, effectively took road expansion off the table. “We made a commitment a long time ago not to develop the land anymore,” Nick Haven, the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Long Range Planning and Transportation Division Manager, said. “We’re not building our way out of this.” That pledge has led to congestion. And congestion risks more than inconvenience: idling vehicles puff particulate matter that fouls the air and threatens the lake’s world-renowned clarity. “Tahoe can handle a lot of people. It cannot handle a lot of vehicles,” said Carl Hasty, District Manager of the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD). “We need to get people out of their cars, and onto transit.” “But that starts with finding out: where are people traveling from, and where are they trying to go?” said Hasty. To answer these questions, TRPA and TTD – along with the planning firm Stantec Consulting Services – embarked on a two-year mobile data collection and analysis project. Their insights informed Linking Tahoe , TRPA’s 2017 cross-regional multimodal transportation master plan. The project didn’t just catch the attention of the APA’s awards jury – it set a new precedent for data-backed planning. In 2015, while preparing for a master plan update, TTD and TRPA agreed they had a data problem: they simply didn’t know how many cars used the basin’s roads in a given year. It’s a challenge that many transportation engineers face – but the region’s layout and governance made data collection particularly tough. Roads around Lake Tahoe are not always so clear Both agencies span the region’s two states, five counties, and two cities – and each entity supplied different traveler population metrics. Estimates gathered from hotel taxes and traffic counts put annual visitors at 8-10 million. But hotel tax measurements exclude day-trippers. And biweekly car counts, designed to measure regular commuter patterns, doesn’t scale accurately with the flux of seasonal traffic. “The folks at TRPA had this suggestion,” Hasty said. “They asked: what if we could use big data to capture a larger visitation story?” They found their story in cell phone data. With help from Stantec, the agencies connected with AirSage Analytics, which uses wireless signal data from cell phone carriers to analyze traffic mobility patterns. Once an idling cell phone enters a given region, it gives off a signal to local cell towers. AirSage processes and analyzes these signals, matching origin-destination pairs to classify devices into user groups: commuters, residents, or visitors. Working with Stantec, TTD and TRPA bought six data sets for each user group during the peak visitation months of February, July, and August. The first four sets analyzed how people entered and exited the area, where they came from, and how long they stayed. The last two tracked movement within the region, measuring the number and types of trips between specific locations. The analysis offered a more comprehensive look at movement into and around the basin – and the agencies weren’t always prepared for what they learned. The first shock came from visitor counts. TTD and TRPA thought they were struggling to accommodate 8-10 million annual guests. But AirSage showed that Tahoe in fact attracted 25 million travelers per year – two and a half times previous estimates. Counting an average of 2.5 visitors per vehicle, that equated to 10 million vehicles on the roads per year. “Probably the biggest challenge was getting the client to have faith in the data,” Stantec’s project lead Cynthia Albright said. “They asked us to go back and check our numbers, which of course I had already done.” According to Albright, the agencies finally got on board when Stantec demonstrated correlations between the two analyses. “We brought in traffic engineers who could look at the data sets side-by-side and explain how the old data actually supported the new data. AirSage simply offered a bigger picture,” she said. “We also found that 43 percent of visitors were day visitors and not recorded as hotel stays, which explained part of the gap. Put together, the figures made sense.” “We’re still reconciling that number,” Haven admitted. “We knew our day-visitor market was booming. But we didn’t know by how much.” The next surprise came from cross-comparing with transit counts: transit comprised merely 1.4 percent of the 80 million trips within the region in 2014. To explain the lack of transit riders, Albright pointed to changing ridership needs. “Most regional transit options are built for inbound and outbound commuters, not for all these visitors who want to navigate around the lake,” she said. The analysis also exposed a serious parking shortage: the entire bi-state region offers only 18,725 public parking spaces. On a busy summer day, roughly 126,881 vehicles enter the basin – seven times the number of spaces. This scarcity worsens congestion, as vehicles prowl for available spaces, many of which are especially scarce in places that are attractive to day-trippers. But the data didn’t just reveal problems; it offered insights to solve them. For example, to identify popular areas within the basin, Stantec charted all trip endpoints in a given month onto a GPS map of the region. Overlaying transit ridership metrics onto this map, the team discovered seasonal high-activity zones, or “hotspots,” underserved by transit. One hotspot in an unlikely corner of Pioneer Meadows pointed the team to a popular mountain biking destination. So they didn’t just propose a new bus line to the Meadows – they recommended fitting buses with bike trailers. The findings also helped address the parking gap. Examining high-traffic areas, the team proposed transforming lots into “mobility hubs”: places visitors can leave their vehicles and link to a network of bikes, buses, rideshare services, and ferries. TTD and Stantec assembled solutions into a “Corridor Connection Plan,” which split the region into six cross-jurisdictional corridors according to land use and transportation needs. “The Corridor Connection Plan helps mobilize different partners around common projects,” Haven said. For instance, to build a bike trail along the Highway 28 corridor, TTD will work with the General Improvement District, California State Parks, the Forest Service, and Placer County. “That’s a lot of cats to herd. The plan gets people in alignment.” The Linking Tahoe transportation master plan offers a bigger picture, targeting three multimodal priorities: “trails, transit and technology.” Its major proposals include a continuous bike trail around the lake, linked bus and shuttle services, and real-time parking availability updates. It sets an ambitious new goal: to reach 20 percent active or transit mode share in the next 20 years. That’s a far cry from current estimates of 1.4 percent. But if it’s reached, the region will take seven million cars off of the road. “That number helps us send our message.” Hasty said. “Now we’re involved in the hard work of making it happen.” In awarding their Transportation Planning Prize, the APA jury saw the promise of using big data to solve inter-regional transportation problems: if a place as complex as Tahoe could make it work, other areas should take note. “The jury always asks: how transferable is the project to other localities?” said APA jury chair Wendy Shabay. “This project showed that planning doesn’t stop at jurisdictional boundaries. We saw opportunity for planners nationwide to get smarter about linking people across regions.” For Albright, the project’s success story is simple: it improves visitor experience while still protecting the famous clarity of the lake. “The less time people spend in their car, the more time they’ll get to enjoy the view,” she said. “And the fewer cars on the road, the better that view will be.” Contacts & Resources American Planning Association 2019 Achievement Awards 2017 Linking Tahoe: Regional Transportation Plan Nick Haven , Long Range Planning and Transportation Division Manager, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency,  nhaven@trpa.org Carl Hasty , District Manager, Tahoe Transportation District, chasty@tahoetransportation.org Cynthia Albright , Principal Urban Planning & Design, Stantec Consulting Services Inc., cynthia.albright@stantec.com Wendy Shabay , Planner, Freese and Nichols, wds@freese.com Prior CP&DR Coverage of Lake Tahoe Will A New Regional Plan Keep Tahoe Blue? TRPA wins Tahoe plan update approval Image courtesy of Ken Lund via Flickr .

Nexus studies are always tricky. In determining what impact fees to charge new developers, how do you value the cost of services to existing development? Perhaps more difficult is the question of what assumptions to make about the likely value of expensive urban and suburban land in California for parks and other facilities.

Schools don’t usually run into zoning and land-use problems – because under state law school districts are exempt from local zoning. But the advent of charter schools means that school facilities are once again a land-use battleground – and school land-use issues appear to be getting jumbled up in the charter school fight.

The Cupertino City Council tossed an alternative plan for a massive mixed-use project at the Vallco Shopping Mall property, effectively green-lighting a previously proposed plan at the site via provisions of Senate Bill 35. The alternative, called the “Vallco Specific Plan,” was drafted by a past city council in response to complaints from community members about the developer’s plans for a large mixed use development. It included more overall housing units than what developer Sand Hill Property Company proposed, and required them to pay school impact fees and contribute to community projects. Sand Hill has already gained fast-tracked consideration under SB 35, which forces cities to expedite developments that include affordable housing. In the absence of a council-approved alternative, that plan -- including 2,402 apartment units, 1.8 million square feet of office space, 400,000 square feet of retail, and a 30-acre rooftop park -- goes into effect. Better Cupertino, a citizens group opposing the project, has filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s approval of the development. (See prior C&PDR coverage .) Study Criticizes Complexity, Ineffectiveness of State Housing Allocation The Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) process fails to identify true housing needs, according to a recent examination of the California Housing Element by the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. The UCLA paper, which responds to Governor Gavin Newsom’s announced intentions to reform the Housing Element law, identifies many issues with the RHNA. First, it claims the RHNA creates a “needless tension between subsidized and market-rate housing.” It also asserts that RHNA numbers are the result of a political process in which affluent cities lobby to keep their numbers low, and that the law asks cities to plan for more than 10 times the amount of subsidized housing that can be funded. It identifies another issue with RHNA: the law steers housing production away from places where housing is most expensive and necessary by basing “housing needs” on projections of population, rather than prices. Finally, the paper argues that RHNA needlessly pits market-rate and affordable housing against one another, when both are necessary to advance affordability. The paper proposes a reform for the flawed policy: “Rather than engage in a complicated process of prediction and allocation,” the authors write, "California should simply require that all cities build a 'fair share' of affordable housing.” $8 Billion Mixed-Use Development Proposed Next to Levi’s Stadium A proposed $8 billion, 240-acre development by Related Cos. will create over 9 million square feet of offices, housing, hotels, and retail across from the San Francisco 49er’s Levi’s Stadium site in Santa Clara. The project, set to break ground next year, will transform a golf course into the first large-scale mixed-use development in the South Bay Area. Plans for the neighborhood will include 5.4 million square feet of new commercial office space, 1,280 new residential apartments, 400 extended-stay apartments, 1 million square feet of shopping, dining and entertainment spaces, and two hotels. The project is estimated to create 25,000 jobs and generate nearly $17 million a year in taxes, fees, and lease revenue. "This 240-acre redevelopment represents one of the most ambitious and transformative opportunities in the area’s history," Related Cos. Chairman Stephen M. Ross said. “The commercial offerings were designed for visionary companies who demand a globally competitive work place with innovative, sustainable design and outstanding amenities to attract and retain a talented workforce.” Renowned firm Foster+Partners will serve as master planner and lead design architect.  Newsom’s May Budget Revise Increases Funding for Homelessness, Housing Governor Gavin Newsom’s recently-published "May Revise” budget increases homelessness services from $650 million to $1 billion. This change responds to the growing statewide homelessness issue: California is home to one quarter of the nation's homeless people, and also has the highest share of unsheltered homeless people – 69 percent – of any state. However, critics claim that Newsom’s plan, which focuses on short-term, emergency services and shelters, overlooks the need for more permanent housing. “If you look at what’s going to actually solve the problem, it’s a systematic investment in these longer-term solutions,” said Linda Hershey, Executive Director of Housing California. “Otherwise, we’re just going to keep putting more people into the homelessness situation.” The governor’s January budget included $1.75 billion General Fund to increase housing production. The May Revision maintains this commitment to spur housing production, but refocuses $500 million to remove barriers to building mixed-income housing. Berkeley Study Correlates Housing Supply with Local Regulations The UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation published the California Land Use Data Set , a comprehensive survey which examines policies that affect the production, location, and preservation of state housing at the jurisdiction-level. Based on data collected from August 2017 to October 2018, the survey considers the effects of local land use on housing supply in a given region, and its effects on sustainability, economic mobility, and access to opportunity. The survey was completed in partnership with the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and includes responses from 252 cities and 19 unincorporated county areas. The Terner Center also published an accompanying report which reviews trends in survey responses in areas like zoning, affordable housing, and rental regulations. Quick Hits & Updates Following through on months of threats, the Trump Administration officially cancelled its $929 billion grant for construction of the California high speed rail in the Central Valley. The Federal Railroad Administration cited the project’s failure to forecast accurate schedules, reach key milestones, and demonstrate commitment to deadlines. The administration also warned that it will attempt to recapture $2.5 billion in grants already spent by the state. (See prior CP&DR coverage .)San Jose rent increases have outpaced its stagnant tech salaries, according to a new study by Rent Cafe. The study found that over the last three years, rent in San Jose has increased by almost seven percent, while average tech salaries have dropped by nearly one percent. Authors of the study note that the area's housing market inflation may cause even its highest-paid workers to relocate. Tech workers in San Francisco and the East Bay fared better: in these areas, the average wage increased 14 percent while rents grew by nearly six percent.The Oakland Port Authority unanimously approved a tentative exclusive negotiation process with the Oakland A’s baseball team, giving them four years to conduct an environmental impact report of its proposed Howard Terminal stadium. This marks the first of many needed approvals for the team’s proposed 35,000-seat stadium and multi-use development project on Oakland’s waterfront. And this approval is only tentative; the authority has expressed environmental, traffic, and safety concerns about building at the Howard Terminal site.The San Diego Association of Governments released more details about its ambitious new transportation project, including hundreds of miles of high-speed commuter rail and a new congestion pricing policy. The multibillion dollar project, which replaces previous highway expansion plans, will likely take decades to build, and will require voter approval for new tax funding. North and East County officials, looking for near-term traffic relief solutions, have already objected to the plans’ preliminary details. Los Angeles Metro announced yet another delay on its Regional Connector twin tunnel rail expansion project – this time until mid-March 2022. Already, Metro has increased the project’s budget twice to $1.75 billion, and delayed it once previously. Once completed, the 1.9-mile tunnel will connect three rail lines into two new mega routes to decrease commute time. The project is still on track for its 2023 deadline set by federal officials, who contributed a $670-million grant and a $130-million low-interest loan for the project.After adopting a “ Housing Crisis Workplan ” to expedite new building in 2018, San Jose city officials are proposing consolidating four development phases into two. This effort will expedite 8,000 new apartments in the area, including 1,500 affordable units. This will help the city along its goal to develop 15,000 market-rate and 10,000 affordable units by 2022. In parallel, the city is working on a proposal to fast track transit improvements.Caltrans officially released its parklet permit guide for major highways, following bids from cities and counties to build more pedestrian areas where highways pass through downtown.  The guide outlines Caltrans’ many requirements for approval: for example, parklets can only be built on sections with speed limits of 30 mph or lower, they must be open to the public, and must be renewed annually with Caltrans. Additionally, they must be applied for and built by local agencies, not businesses or other organizations. Currently, there is only one highway parklet in the state, built in Redding in 2015. (See prior CP&DR coverage .)Following his report suggesting that cities “de-emphasize” building in high-risk fire areas, Governor Gavin Newsom clarified that he does not discourage building in wildfire zones. Instead, Newsom challenged cities to rethink density in high-fire areas, and to build with greater fire protections. Last year, the now-retired head of the state’s Forestry and Fire Protection Department said that the government should consider blocking new construction in high hazard areas. But the governor said that he has never seen concrete proof that halting new construction is the most viable solution. The governor also cited the state’s affordable housing crisis as a reason to consider more creative protections before blocking new development altogether.The California Natural Resources Agency will be accepting project proposals for the Green Infrastructure Grant Program from May 13, 2019 through June 28, 2019. Approximately $18.5 million in awards will be funded by the program. Applicants submitting the most competitive proposals will be invited to participate in the next level of the competitive process, anticipated late Summer/early Fall 2019.The Green Infrastructure Grant Program, funded by Proposition 68, will fund multi-benefit green infrastructure projects in or benefitting disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged community. In efforts to lay the groundwork for future 5G technology, San Diego mayor Kevin Falcouner struck a deal with Verizon to streamline the permitting process for building mobile network “small cells.” Small cells boost a network’s range and increase the number of accessible high speed connections for any given area. In exchange, Verizon will install more than $100 million of power efficient light poles, give 500 smartphones to the city’s Police Department, and give 50 tablets to the city’s Fire-Rescue.The City and County of San Francisco and a coalition of California water suppliers sued the State Water Resources Control Board for its new wetlands protections law. The law, unveiled last month, introduces an expansive definition of “wetlands,” and increases regulations for dredging or filling in water bodies. The lawsuit claims that the new requirements overstep state authority by introducing costly water regulations in areas that the federal government deems open to development. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) In a sign of progress for the long-stalled Salton Sea Management Pla n, the Imperial Irrigation District board of directors voted to allow access for state wetlands projects at the Salton Sea. In exchange, California the state of California will implement project operations and taxpayers will cover costs of potential lawsuits or penalties. The state has fallen behind on its 10-year plan to suppress dust and protect habitat over 3,700 acres of the threatened 350-square-mile sea. The area has been a point of focus both for wildlife loss and for public health concerns due to increasing toxic dust pollution. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) The California Coastal Commission will impose a record-high $15.58 million fine against a coastal developer. The commission ruled that Sunshine Enterprises violated a state public beach access law by building a high-priced coastal hotel after receiving a permit for a moderately-priced hotel. The commission delayed a vote on levying an additional $5.9 million in mitigation fees to build lower-priced alternatives nearby. The Department of Conservation has $950,000 for local and regional planning grants to support the integration of natural and working lands, specifically agricultural lands, into local and regional planning documents. This funding is made available through Proposition 68 The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018 passed by California voters in June 2018. Public comment on the guidelines will be accepted until May 20 and grant applications due July 31.

Last year, San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 827 rose to stardom as arguably the most talked-about urban planning bill in state history. This year, like Stephan Curry beating his own three-point record, SB 50 took its place atop the planning headlines. The stage is now set for a publicity three-peat.  The question is whether Wiener and his fans will ever win .  CP&DR has followed Wiener’s campaign to marry housing and transit from the start. It caught the imagination of stakeholders and planners alike for its logic — put housing near transit and jobs residents can drive less — and for its audacity — covering the entire state, forcing cities to stop resisting housing in the name of local control or neighborhood character. Wiener has always maintained that the housing crisis is larger than the interests of any single jurisdiction.  Both bills attracted countless supporters and detractors. They covered every imaginable interest group, and there were differences of opinions even within interest groups. Arguably the biggest winner was the YIMBY movement, which arose from an odd grassroots movement to statewide prominence as a sponsor of the bills.  Wiener revised his bills several times in efforts to gain supporters. He attempted to soften affronts to local control (to please cities and homeowners) and strengthened protections against displacement and provisions for affordable housing (to please social justice advocates). It wasn’t enough, though, as Sen. Anthony Portantino refused to bring SB 50 to a vote yesterday, freezing it until 2020.  As we await next season, here is CP&DR’s coverage of the life, death, and impending resurrection of SB 827 and 50. Note: Many of these articles require logging in to view.  Solve the Housing Crisis With Carrots As Well As Sticks Jan 15, 2018  Where's Scott Wiener Coming From? Jan 22, 2018  Housing Bills Flood Sacramento Again Feb 12, 2018  Legislative Update: Weiner Revises SB 827 Transit Oriented Development Bill Mar 6, 2018 Insight: The Market Versus NIMBYS And Renters Mar 25, 2018 Amid Raging Public Debates, Weiner Injects More Nuance into SB 827 Apr 11, 2018 Is SB 827 Really Dead? Apr 20, 2018 The Sad Debate Over SB 827 May 10, 2018 Newsom Proposes Major Housing Package Jan 21, 2019 SB 50 Clears First Committee Hurdle Apr 9, 2019 SB 50 Density Bill Merges with SB 4, Passes Committee Apr 26, 2019 Committee Chair Refuses to Hold Vote on Housing Bill SB 50 May 16, 2019

Last year, Senate Bill 827, Sen. Scott Wiener’s attempt to promote housing development and higher densities around transit hubs, died a premature death, without ever making it out of committee. This year, its successor, the similarly polarizing, more expansive SB 50, has been put into an induced coma.

At some point when you’re reading this piece you’re going to say to yourself, “What about the Eiffel Tower?!” I’ll get to that. First, let’s talk about San Jose. Over 1 million people live in San Jose. It’s the tenth-largest city in the United States and the home of the richest industry western civilization has ever known. It’s also basically an enormous suburb. Its aesthetic varies between generic suburbia and generic office parks, some of which are laughably unattractive, especially considering the rents they command. San Jose’s 180 square miles have less character than do single city blocks in nearby San Francisco or Oakland (the latter of which outgrew its “there’s no there there” derision long ago). Maybe I’m being harsh, but I don’t think I’m saying anything that residents and businesses in San Jose aren’t already aware of. It’s the anti-San Francisco, and it has quietly, and impressively, developed according to the norms of its time and place. Recently, though, a group called the San Jose Light Tower Corp. proposed the erection of a landmark tower—a yet-to-be-designed $150 million beacon, of indeterminate height, that would advertise San Jose to its neighbors and the world. It would, in the words of its promoters, be a “powerful and enduring icon will be the place every visitor must see when coming to Silicon Valley.” This enormity was borne out of the idea that a major world city—which San Jose is, at least economically—needs to be more recognizable and that the tech industry needs to be celebrated, as if it has any trouble celebrating itself already. Bits, bytes, and stock options are all well and good, but you can’t gaze up at them in awe. I happen to think that this plan has about as much chance of getting built as MySpace does of making a comeback. But it’s still worthy of discussion. Even as a thought experiment, it can help us think about what we should build and not build. The tower proposal represents all that is wrong with urbanism today. I use “today” loosely, since the idea owes itself more to the 20th century sprawl mentality than to current planning trends. But that mentality dies hard. I don’t know what $150 million buys you these days. But, whatever the cost and however high it might reach, the tower wouldn't solve any of San Jose’s actual problems. It wouldn't make it less sprawling. It wouldn't make its neighborhoods more walkable or its boulevards any less massive. It wouldn't make it easier to get around or more pleasant. It wouldn’t reduce the gap between poverty and ultra-wealth. It just would just make San Jose more noticeable—in the most superficial way possible. The San Jose tower falls into the all-too-common trap of mistaking a skyline for a city. As I wrote recently in Common Edge , skylines are discrete and identifiable and therefore appealing. They are convenient signifiers to put on postcards or in the backdrop of local newscasts. They are images that, in many cases, have come to be synonymous with their respective cities. The problem is, as much as we might like to gasp at downtown skyscrapers (or, in the case of San Jose, squat corporate superblocks), no one lives in a skyline. They have little to do with the daily, human-scale experience of a city. They reveal nothing about a city's character, economy, or culture. Take a look at San Jose's skyline and, say, Little Rock's and see if you can tell what it's like to live, love, work, and commune in either place. A monumental tower pretends that a soaring, bootless structure will, instantly, make San Jose a city worthy of attention. If only it was that easy. I submit that, however much attention a tower would garner, it will most certainly not make San Jose a better city. It will, in fact, distract San Jose from the process of improving itself. San Jose already has plenty of things going for it. Urbanism is not one of them. What San Jose needs to do with its wealth and status is not advertise that wealth and status but rather invest it in the types of design, infrastructure, and private and public developments that will make it more urban and break it out of its Vietnam Era mold. Like many other postwar American cities, regardless of whether or not they are considering odd PR stunts, San Jose can and must reinvent itself. The proposed competition to design the tower would be a bonanza for architects. But so would commissions to update San Jose’s sidewalks, street furniture, signage, mobility patterns, and urban design guidelines. San Jose must figure out how to promote density, intrigue, and interaction. It must develop the sort of dense, multi-use streetscapes that characterize truly great cities. I am, of course, essentially describing San Francisco. Must San Jose emulate San Francisco? That wouldn’t be a bad thing. Then again, maybe San Jose can put its wealth and brainpower to the task of coming up with new, dare I say innovative, approaches to 21st century urbanism. San Jose should figure out how to retrofit itself, creating a denser, more pleasant 2.0 rather than just sticking a weird piece of new hardware a city whose layout shares more in common with vacuum tubes than touch screens. If it’s smart about it, Google might actually pull this off with its forthcoming mixed-use village in downtown San Jose. Surely other civic boosters can do the same. Back to Paris. I know. Everyone hatedhated hated the Eiffel Tower when it was built. And look at it now: it’s one of the most famous, beloved structures in the world, symbolizing one of the most famous, beloved cities in the world. The Eiffel Tower is the exception that proves the rule. Paris already was a lovely, dense, horizontal city before the tower. It already had the grandeur of the Champs Elysees, the romance of the Marais, the history of the Ille de la Cite, the bold interventions of Hausmann, and cafe after cafe after cafe. Paris didn’t need a tower to advertise itself. Eiffel was lucky that Paris allowed it to be built. Its genius derives from the contrast between the tower’s verticality, modernism, and engineering skill and the city’s preexisting charm, history, and scale. (Oddly, the “Light Tower Corporation” is named after a 237-foot tall 1880s structure that stood in San Jose which, the company’s website claims, inspired Gustav Eiffel.) The original, 1880s-era San Jose Electric Light Tower. I could say much the same for New York before the Empire State Building, St. Louis before the arch, Chicago before the Sears Tower, and, yes, San Francisco before the Transamerica Pyramid. Meanwhile, look no further than the plodding, overtall Salesforce Tower for a cautionary tale. It dominates the San Francisco skyline like its namesake dominates customer relationship management. As John Branch  asked recently in the New York Times, "Will the San Francisco skyline ever be as beautiful as it was before the Salesforce Tower rose like a middle finger to the city’s low-slung aesthetic…?” I reckon it won't. San Jose would also do well to consider California's ultimate midair bauble. Fittingly enough for a city that trades on image and fakery, Los Angeles’s most famous structure isn’t even as substantial as a tower. It’s a meaningless, two-dimensional advertisement that has, somehow, remained beloved even as the city became scarred over the decades by freeways, dingbats, mini-malls, and Angelyne billboards. I’m not immune to the charms of the Hollywood Sign. I’ve hiked near it and I get a thrill when I view it from the 10 Freeway, knowing that I’m looking upon a landmark that has inspired so many dreams of stardom. But a sign doesn’t put a roof over anyone’s head. I don’t oppose monuments, and I’m not against fun. But I’m against eating cake before you’ve had your peas and potatoes. I’m against displays of wealth that loom over people who struggle to pay rent. San Jose, like almost every other California city, has a lot of work to do -- especially as housing prices rise, congestion worsens, and the natural environment degrades further. And it, like many other California cities, is headed in the right direction. It’s planning on building more housing and has developed a nice light-rail system. The next generation of development will be governed by new policies like Sustainable Communities Strategies, vehicles miles traveled metrics, concern for equity and ecology, and a general awareness and embrace of higher-quality urbanism. Improving a city's streets is a far better way to put a city on the map. Again, this thing isn’t getting built in our lifetime. But something—many things, in fact—will get built as San Jose’s economy will likely keep booming and its population is expected to surge by another 300,000 in the next two decades. Many other low-density, high-prosperity American cities can expect the same. The kind of urbanism those people are going to need requires us to keep our feet on the ground and our heads out of the clouds. If we really want a nice tower, we’ll always have Paris. Click for prior CP&DR coverage of San Jose .  A version of this piece appears on Common Edge Collaborative. Downtown San Jose photo courtesy of Ben Loomis via Flickr;  vintage Light Tower photo courtesy of Saratoga Historical Society and Ninian Reid via Flickr .

In a change of direction, the Newsom Administration is proposing a shift of $500 million away from rewarding cities for housing production and instead using that money to augment funding for the Infill Infrastructure Grant program. But he has not backed off plans to tie SB 1 transportation dollars to housing production.

The Sacramento City Council unanimously approved Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s proposal for a $47 million revamp of the city’s historic waterfront. The plan, which will be funded by hotel tax revenue, aims to improve access to the waterfront and draw residents and visitors with a series of attractions and new venues. These include a concert stage, a 5,000-seat festival lawn, an interactive water fountain, and a floating terrace on the river with performance spaces, among other proposals. The city estimates that the new attractions could double the current $700,000 sales and hotel tax draw. “For many decades, the people of Sacramento have dreamt about making our waterfront more accessible to the people and more of a destination,” Steinberg said at the council meeting, according to the Sacramento Bee. “And we’ve been thwarted for a long time, mostly because of a lack of resources and maybe the lack of a sufficient push.” Opportunity Zones Pose Threat of Gentrification  The Federal Opportunity Zone program will largely benefit wealthy investors and may accelerate gentrification, according to a new study published by the California Budget & Policy Center. The program offers federal tax incentives for private investment in economically distressed communities, or Opportunity Zones (OZs). Governor Gavin Newsom has embraced the policy, and his 2019-2020 budget proposal will provide state-level tax incentives for investments in California's 879 designated OZs. More than four million Californians live in designated OZs, located in almost every county statewide. However, the study found though the benefits are clear for private investors, there is no evidence that these investments benefit community residents. That’s because the program offers no clear guidelines for investments: an investor may choose to build luxury apartments rather than affordable housing, and thus accelerate gentrification. The center advises providing structure for statewide incentives so investments will benefit current residents. It also advises strict data collection and evaluation requirements to ensure that the investments are increasing opportunities for low-income residents. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) SACOG Moves Forward on New Sustainable Communities Strategy After 16 months of development, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments Board of Directors approved the April 2019 update to their Preferred Scenario that will serve as the foundation for Sacramento’s 2020 Metropolitan Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (MTP/SCS) and its associated environmental impact report. The update is designed to use transportation performance goals to set the investments of the plan, while considering future uncertainties in technology and funding, and supporting the economic development of the region. It includes a land use forecast, transportation project list, revenue and budget assumptions, and future roadway pricing strategies. The board also released a Notice of Preparation for the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the 2020 MTP/SCS. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Report Urges Regionwide Approach to Homelessness in Bay Area  The Bay Area Council Economic Institute published a report examining the Bay Area homelessness crisis through a regional lens. The report found despite many city- and county-wide efforts, the Bay Area houses the smallest proportion of its homeless (33 percent) of any region in the United States, besides Los Angeles. Much like the CASA Compact (see CP&DR coverage ), which recommended policies to address the affordable housing crisis as a region, the report highlights the inefficiencies created by local solutions across overlapping communities. It proposes a coordinated solution spanning nine Bay Area counties, with targeted interventions across all stages of homelessness. Such interventions include: preventing homelessness by supporting extremely low-income housing; consolidating efforts region-wide for more flexible and targeted funding and resources according to need; and improving homeless services by using philanthropic capital to test the effectiveness of current strategies.  Transit Boost Real Estate Values in Los Angeles New data from real estate firm Trulia shows that buyers in Los Angeles are increasingly searching for homes near public transportation, and are willing to pay more for them. Trulia's study finds that the share of home listings with keywords such as “metro” and “subway” more than doubled since 2013, and that these listings sell for about 4.2 percent more than others. These results are a favorable outcome for a car-filled city plagued by congestion issues, and affirm Metro’s $120 billion public transportation expansion efforts. "Los Angeles is infamous for its sprawl and car culture,” the study concludes. "But the city is actively promoting alternatives to private automobiles, and mobility in and around L.A. has changed dramatically in recent years.” Quick Hits & Updates Southern California is the nation’s second-worst “mega-city” to live in, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s annual “best cities to live in" rankings . The region, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, was ranked among 21 metropolitan areas with 2.5 million residents or more. Though it earned top scores on desirability and quality of life metrics, it bested only Miami for livability and economic issues. The Eureka Planning Commission approved the first update to the city's 53-year-old zoning code. The new code, aligning with the city's 2040 General Plan implementation, updates outdated regulations on businesses and allows homeowners to modify their homes more easily. Palo Alto will more than double fees on developers for each peak-hour car trip their projects will generate in the city. The city council approved a $7,886 fee to replace the current $3,700 fee, strengthening the incentive for builders to incorporate strong “transportation demand management” programs to encourage transit and other alternatives to driving cars. Five years after a $1 billion carpool lane opened on the 405 freeway through Sepulveda Pass, data from traffic analyst Inrix shows that average northbound drive times have still increased. This data supports the concept of “induced demand”: that increasing roadway capacity contributes to congestion by encouraging more people to drive. Additionally, California car-ownership and driver’s license data suggests that the number of drivers in Southern California has increased. (See prior CP&DR commentary .) LA Metro Board will conduct a feasibility study of a $425-million bus rapid transit line for Vermont Avenue, as well as a potential rail line. In a 9-1 vote, the Metro board advanced the motion to study rail concepts and extensions as part of its environmental impact review. With 40,000 passengers each weekday, Vermont is currently Metro’s most successful bus corridor. A rapid bus line is projected to increase ridership to 70,000 weekday passengers. Marking the end of Governor Jerry Brown’s $19 billion Bay-Delta water project, Governor Newsom is withdrawing permit applications to build twin tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to channel water to Southern California. Newsom first announced plans to scale back the project to a single tunnel in his February State of the State address. The administration is entering an environmental review of the single tunnel project, which is expected to cost a more modest $10 billion.  The San Diego Association of Governments and San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) will both pursue major tax hikes on upcoming ballots for multi-billion-dollar transportation overhauls. MTS is pursuing a half-cent sales tax increase for bus and rail improvements, while SANDAG's ambitious plans for new transit systems will likely require more extreme taxation.That could mean two separate ballot measures, each requiring a two-thirds majority approval. The agencies have not yet coordinated, but experts raise concerns that putting two separate measures to voters could jeopardize the success of both. In efforts to win approval for a waterfront ballpark, the Oakland A’s committed to building a total of 6,000 homes around their proposed future Howard Terminal stadium and the Coliseum site they are leaving. Last year, Mayor Libby Schaaf disapproved plans for a downtown ballpark amid concerns that a stadium would displace neighborhoods and compress an already-tight affordable housing market. Schaaf has said before allowing the A’s to build on Coliseum land, she is open to a bidding process to hear from other developers who may build more homes. The Department of Conservation (DOC) has $950,000 for local and regional planning grants to support the integration of natural and working lands, specifically agricultural lands, into local and regional planning documents. This funding is made available through Proposition 68 The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018 passed by California voters in June 2018. Public comment on the guidelines will be accepted until May 20 and grant applications due July 31. Salesforce founder Marc Benioff announced a $30 million donation to fund a new homelessness research center at the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations. The program, dubbed the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, will fund research into causes of, and viable solutions for, homelessness. The center also aims to bring together experts and policymakers to inform best practices to end homelessness. EMC Research published a poll showing that 66 percent of Bay Area voters would vote for a sales tax increase to fund more affordable housing, marking a crucial two-thirds majority needed to approve such a tax. The poll, which surveyed 1,935 voters in all nine Bay Area counties in April, also found that 82 percent of voters worry that others won’t be able to find housing, and 72 percent believe that the state needs to take a regional approach to solve the housing crisis. Population growth is the slowest in state history, slipping to 0.47 percent last year from 0.78 percent in 2017, according to data released by the California’s Department of Finance. Researchers attribute the slowed birthrate in part to a decline in immigrants from Mexico. But they tie the growth slowdown more strongly to a lack of affordable housing: they found that increasingly, California’s youngest and poorest residents are leaving the state. Notably, the study also found that growth rate in Los Angeles leveled at zero percent last year.Developers of the San Jose Coleman Highline office complex are seeking permits to add two buildings to the mega mixed-use campus. The complex, most notably home to the tech giant Roku, would add roughly 668,000 square feet and accommodate 3,300 to 4,500 workers. The development will also offer new retail space and other amenities, including a planned Marriott hotel. Pending approval, these buildings could open as soon as 2021. Ride-hailing tech company  Lyft pledged to invest $50 million into locally-driven transportation services – and Los Angeles is its first beneficiary. The investment program, dubbed Lyft CityWorks, aims to accomplish three goals: provide transportation, build transportation infrastructure, and create a clean energy future. Projects already underway in Los Angeles include reduced-fare scooter rides for low-income residents, and partnerships with local organizations and nonprofits to improve infrastructure for bikes and scooters citywide. A new ordinance went into effect in San Francisco that requires landlords to register their vacant storefronts within 30 days or face a $2,844 fine. City officials hope that the ordinance will give them a better picture of the number of empty storefronts citywide. The ordinance, passed earlier this year, also intends to discourage landlords from leaving commercial space vacant while shopping for the highest-paying tenant.  The annual Los Angeles Quality of Life Index put Los Angeles residents’ satisfaction with the area at a record low, citing the rising cost of housing as the primary source of discontent. The survey, conducted for the past four years by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and the California Endowment, asks a random sample of over 1,400 residents to rate their satisfaction with several aspects of city life. Year over year, the studies show an increase in housing concerns: more residents report dissatisfaction with housing costs, more residents are considering moving, and more residents claim to know someone worried about becoming homeless. (See CP&DR commentary .) In its latest citywide effort to control reckless use of dockles scooters , the San Diego City Council unanimously approved new rules for scooter use. The rules establish a permitting process for operators, limit speeds in designated areas, and require all devices to scan a valid driver’s license before they can be used. San Diego Mayor Sam Liccardo has supported scooter use as a means to reach carbon reduction goals. But concerned residents crowded City Hall to protest scooter use, citing the dangers they have posed in the city. The new rules will go into effect in June, after the council takes its final vote. The San Francisco Port Commission approved the city’s plans to build the Embarcadero Navigation Center, a temporary multiservice homeless shelter on an Embarcadero lot near the Bay Bridge. The 200-bed facility will be the city's largest navigation center, and has a two year lease with a potential for a two-year renewal. The proposed center i s a critical part of Mayor London Breed’s campaign pledge to open 1,000 new shelter beds by 2020, but  has faced  community pushback from  residents fearing increased crime and decreased property values.