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San Diego Climate Plan Ruling Ordered Published On November 24, the Fourth Appellate District's Division 1 issued a publication order for its October ruling rejecting San Diego's climate plan. That same day the same division issued its major decision rejecting the EIR for the San Diego Association of Governments' regional transportation plan. The effect was to give value as precedent to two cases that impose stricter greenhouse gas reduction standards on local and regional planners. Kruger Nominated To Fill State Supreme Court Vacancy Governor Jerry Brown has nominated Leondra Kruger, a senior Justice Department lawyer noted as a rising star, to fill the vacancy on the California Supreme Court created by the retirement of Justice Joyce Kennard. Kruger has argued a dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, most prominently in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC , a 2012 case on the interaction of a religious employer's prerogatives with an employee's disability rights. Kruger has seldom taken positions on land use issues as an attorney, but as a Harvard undergraduate she had a front-row seat for the demise of Massachusetts rent control per a November 1994 statewide vote and she clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens , a former city attorney who often sided with government agencies on land use and property rights issues. Originally from Pasadena, she was editor of the Yale Law Journal, clerked for D.C. Circuit Judge David S. Tatel as well as Stevens, served briefly as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and worked with the firms of Jenner & Block and Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr before joining the Justice Department. Migratory Bird Survey Removed From San Jose General Plan Agenda San Jose came close to approving a general plan amendment that would have required surveys of birds during the mid-year nesting season before any trees could be removed or disturbed. But the San Jose Mercury News reports the item was removed from a November 18 council agenda by "a last-minute decision." Planner Whitney Berry told the paper the plan was worked out with environmental, development/construction and Fish and Wildlife representatives in hopes of streamlining CEQA review. The paper says developers "expressed concerns" that it would slow development -- and then on November 14, current mayor Chuck Reed, mayor-elect Sam Liccardo, and Councilwoman Rose Herrera prepared a critical memo on the proposal, saying it amounted to "precluding construction for seven months of the year." The amendment was expected to resurface in revised form in 2015. It's Still Not Over In El Dorado County This November, El Dorado County voters defeated three slow-growth measures and the Placerville Roundabout Menace . The roundabout may have been knocked flat -- but there are more slow-growth initiatives where the last three came from. The Sacramento Bee reports the Board of Supervisors had held back two measures for further study, but has now agreed to place them on the June 2016 ballot. Both measures are directed against new subdivisions. One would prohibit subdivisions that lack sufficient access to water supplies. The other would protect views and areas near farmland. Long Beach Preparing For Freeway Removal Project The Long Beach City Council is expected to approve a contract December 2 with the Mel�ndrez firm of Los Angeles for planning and conceptual design services on the Terminal Island Freeway Transition Plan. The Longbeachize blog says it's a big step in moving forward on plans to remove a large section of the Terminal Island freeway, with accompanying plans to approve quality of life in the "park poor" area of West Long Beach. (Item via Streetsblog LA .) Does Mayor Of Benicia Have To Stop Commenting on Oil Trains? Should a mayor have to stop talking about a public issue for fear of showing bias on the subject? The question has come up in Benicia, where the Valero Refining Co. has proposed to bring crude oil by train to its refinery in the city. The Sacramento Bee reports Mayor Elizabeth Patterson of Benicia has disclosed that when she frequently commented on safety issues involving oil trains, the city attorney "advised her to stop talking about the oil trains and sending out mass emails containing articles and other information, and to recuse herself from voting when it came before the council". Patterson's comments on oil train safety have included "E-Alert" messages. In a recent email, she wrote regarding these messages: "What I do is repost national, regional and local stories about rail safety. My job is to affirm public, health, safety and welfare and to keep my constituents informed about these issues. No opinion is expressed." Her other public comments have included an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle last March calling on Governor Jerry Brown to issue an executive order on safety in the transport of petroleum products. The Council agreed on November 18 to waive its attorney-client privilege and release an opinion issued last summer that was the apparent source of the advice: it came from a city-retained outside attorney, Michael Jenkins of Jenkins & Hogin . A community Web site opposed to the oil trains, the Benicia Independent , has posted a copy of Jenkins' opinion . Jenkins wrote in part, "This is a close case. The evidence I have reviewed can be interpreted to suggest a probability of bias on the part of the Mayor." At issue is the prospect that Patterson would take on a quasi-judicial role in helping to adjudicate Valero's permit application for the oil train project, in which case the company would have a due process right to a hearing before a disinterested authority. In a more recent post on the Benicia Independent site, Patterson protested that Jenkins had reviewed her "E-Alert" statements selectively and that her own attorney had advised her differently. Benicia Approves Housing Element Update In separate November 18 City Council action, the city of Benicia voted to revise its housing element and to adopt an ordinance for transitional housing supportive housing and "emergency shelters", amid concern from Council member Marilyn Bardet that hazardous industrial materials might exist in the Arsenal historic district, which was identified as a site for transitional housing and shelters. For details see the Benicia Herald and the Council's November 18 agenda .

A new report released by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that California's housing market continues to recover from its low at the beginning of 2012. Median home values in the most populous counties have increased by 39 percent since 2012, though they remain 20 percent lower than they were at the market's peak in 2006-2007. The report also shows that the housing recovery has caused a problem for some less affluent residents, as "increasing prices place housing out of reach for many Californians." It finds that homeownership rates in California have fallen more sharply than the rest of the nation, with California falling to 53.8 percent as compared with a 64.7 percent nationwide. Another report  released by NYU's Furman Center describes the percentage changes in rental populations in major US cities from 2006 to 2013. Los Angeles and San Francisco rank among nine cities where more than 50% of the population rents, as of 2013. San Francisco scored in the top five increasing rental populations, with 22% more San Franciscans renting since 2006; Los Angeles' rental population increased by 11%. Richmond-San Rafael Bridge closer to getting new lane, bike path The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge near the northern end of the San Francisco Bay  is one step closer  to getting an extra lane of traffic and a new, separated bike path following an approval of $4.65 million for the project by a committee of the Bay Area Toll Authority. Though no structural work will be necessary on the bridge, officials say that some components on the ground will need to be adjusted on the 5.5-mile bridge to accommodate the new lanes, and they will need to reconstruct an approach on the east side of the bike path to protect bikers from traffic. The Bay Area Toll Authority hopes that the extensions will alleviate the increasing congestion on the bridge. The vote now goes to the full board of BATA for a vote on Feb. 25. Construction will not begin until 2017. SF Proposes Development Curbs in Mission District A San Francisco supervisor  is attempting to limit, or impose a full a moratorium on , the development of market-rate development in the Mission District, one of the most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in San Francisco. Supervisor David Campos said that he is responding to a community outcry in the district for more affordable housing.  "There has been a cry from the community for the last couple years that there is a housing crisis and the projects that are in the pipeline are not responding like it is a crisis," Campos told the San Francisco Business Journal.  He will likely propose legislation in the next few weeks that could attempt to either a moratorium on market-rate housing or create a special-use district near the 24 th  street BART.  So far, about 500 housing units in the district  have been approved for upcoming development  by the Planning Department, but only 34 affordable units have been generated. Prop. K, due on the ballot in November, will attempt to make one-third of all units in the city affordable. Property Owners Vote to Support Sacramento Streetcar Two-thirds of property owners near Sacramento's proposed new streetcar line  voted in favor  of providing funds to help finance the $150 million project. Project advocates said that the mail-in vote - while only advisory in nature- showed that local businesses are on board with the benefits that the trolley line would bring in creating a more vibrant downtown, boosting property values, and serving as a connector between historic and commercial locations. The Federal Transit Administration is also considering funding the 3.3-mile project this year with $75 million in requested money, covering half the project's cost. In May, a an advisory ballot measure will go before 3,800 voters who live within three blocks of the project. Chargers, Raiders Propose Shared Stadium in Carson The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders recently  made a surprise proposal  to build a shared stadium in a city near Los Angeles. The teams announced that they will continue to pursue options for stadium deals in their current cities, but that they will jointly pursue the $1.7 billion stadium in Carson as an alternative. Both the Chargers and the Raiders are on year-to-year leases with their current stadiums, and both teams have shown restlessness with city reluctance to fund new stadiums with taxpayer dollars. The teams stated that they plan to launch a petition drive immediately to put the stadium to a vote of city residents. Gold Line Authority Pushes for Extension to Montclair The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, which is constructing Phase II of the Gold Line light rail in eastern Los Angeles County, has asked for funding for the next phase, from Azusa to Montclair. It would be the first light rail line to reach into San Bernardino County -  have asked for a transfer  of $33 million in sales taxes for the 12.3 mile extension. The money would come from leftover construction funds from an 11.5-mile extension from East Pasadena to the Azusa city limits, which will be completed in September. The authority says that it has already completed its Environmental Impact Report and hopes that it can get the funding to be ready for operation by 2023. Proponents say that the $1.18 billion project should undoubtedly be a priority for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, but with several other public transportation projects fighting for money, it could be difficult to get the needed funds. "I would say there is no question our project (Azusa-to-Montclair Gold Line) should be a priority. But this is a political game," Doug Tessitor from the Construction Authority Board told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The demise of redevelopment may leave the city of San Diego with a monstrous bill : $271 million to cover the development of its downtown stadium, Petco Park. When the stadium's financing plan was approved in 1998, general obligation bond funds were to be routed through the Center City Development Corp., one of the city's redevelopment agencies. In anticipation of the 2012 shutdown of redevelopment, CCDC transferred over $200 million to the city. The state then determined that these funds were not authorized for exemption from state "claw-back." In a 9-0 vote earlier this month, the City Council determined that it would pursue legal action against the state. Opponents of Sacramento Arena Raise EIR Concerns in Court Foes of the efforts to build a new stadium for the Sacramento Kings  aired their concerns in court  earlier this month, calling the project's environmental impact report inadequate. Justices in the Court of Appeals asked lawyers for the city whether planners had surveyed other alternative sites and considered the impact of stadium traffic on I-5. Opponents of the project are concerned about a $255 million public subsidy that the city is giving to the arena, and that state lawmakers passed SB 743, written specifically for the project and intended to make it much harder for foes to block construction. The hearing ended without a ruling. Sen. Jackson Seeks to Streamline CEQA Process The  latest attempt to reform CEQA  comes from State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (Dist. 19 � Santa Barbara). Her bill, SB 122, attempts to streamline the CEQA process but does not make substantive changes to the law. SB 122 would make lead agencies keep an administrative record of all actions on a project in real time. Jackson claims that this change would help streamline much of the data-gathering process, which is now typically done only after a lawsuit is filed. The bill would also establish an online clearinghouse through the Office of Planning and Research that would post all documents relating to environmental impact reports across the state. Finally, the bill would reform what Jackson calls "document dumping" at the scheduled close of the public comment period on draft EIRs. City of San Francisco Must Pay for Tree Upkeep The San Francisco Board of Supervisors agreed that the city's Department of Public Works, not local property owners,  should be responsible for upkeep of the city's street trees . The vote is a move away from dumping the cost of tree maintenance to homeowners and is in line with the Planning Department's Urban Forest Master Plan. But, the supervisors did not allocate any money toward the $15 million annual cost of upkeep.  That could be the toughest part, as Supervisor Scott Weiner said, "trees don't do well in the budget process." A parcel tax is being considered for the 2016 ballot. Meanwhile, the city is hoping to add 50,000 street trees to its urban forest by 2035. San Diego Awash in Unused Development Impact Fees An investigation by the San Diego Union-Tribune  found that the city has let pile up millions  of unspent dollars of developer impact fees, designed to offset the local impacts of big projects. These monies may be used for local infrastructure projects such as parks and fire stations. Over $78 million collected has not been spent as of June 2014; $35 million of that has not been designated for any specific purpose. Public officials have expressed frustration in the wake of a staggering backlog of infrastructure improvements in the city that have not been fixed. Ranking Gentrification in California According to a new ranking of incidence of gentrification in America's 50 largest cities, Sacramento and Oakland are the most rapidly gentrifying cities in California. Governing Magazine ranked them Nos. 9 and 11, respectively, in its "Gentrification in America" report. Around 30 percent of both cities' census tracts were determined to have gentrified since 2000. Though California cities have some of the highest rents in the country, cities including San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose ranked lower in part because they have already gentrified dramatically. The report defined a neighborhood as gentrified if growth in its median household income and home value was in the top third percentile as compared with other neighborhoods in its metro area; median incomes and home values had to be in the bottom 40% in 2000 for a neighborhood to be eligible. High Speed Rail Opposition Files Petition Two counties in the Central Valley  have filed a petition with the 9th District Court of Appeals , hoping to overturn a ruling by a federal agency prohibiting state courts from citing CEQA in opposition to the high speed rail coming to California. The Surface Transportation Board ruled in December that the state couldn't use CEQA because doing so could "deny or significantly delay an entity's right to construct a line that the (Surface Transportation) Board has specifically authorized, thus impinging upon the board's exclusive jurisdiction over rail transportation." Kings County and Kern County, in association with several anti-HSR groups in the Central Valley and Bay Area, contend that the previous ruling "violates petitioners' constitutional right to seek redress of grievances" and that it violates California's sovereignty as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment.

In California land use news this week: The Monterey Herald is reporting that Cal American Water has settled with landowner Cemex ahead of its Coastal Commission appearance on Wednesday to seek permission to drill a test well under the City of Marina. The well would go under the sea floor to check if water could be taken from that area for a desalination plant proposed for the Cemex sand mining site in North Marina. Cal Am and Cemex had been on the point of litigation . Marina officials have criticized the plan because they feared that it might worsen saltwater intrusion into groundwater and that, once dug, it might be used permanently for extraction, not just for testing. The Commission's agenda packet as of this writing showed a staff recommendation for conditional approval. For prior coverage see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3610 . The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has proposed to cut two BART stations planned for San Jose and Santa Clara. The station in San Jose, on 28th Street in the Alum Rock area, has been popular with its proposed neighbors, who worked willingly with public officials on a transit-oriented development project. Details via Planetizen at http://www.planetizen.com/articles/node-71983 and in the San Francisco Business Times . The HomeAway vacation rental Web site has sued San Francisco over the city's recently passed law legalizing certain vacation rentals, saying it favors Airbnb over other companies. Carolyn Said reported on the dispute in the San Francisco Chronicle . As she noted, City Attorney Dennis Herrera posted a statement saying he would "vigorously defend" against the suit, and complaining, "HomeAway's challenge pushes a dubious legal theory that the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause somehow prohibits local jurisdictions from making local land use decisions." The VTA issued an environmental assessment on its planned Bus Rapid Transit project along El Camino from Palo Alto to San Jose. See http://www.vta.org/el-camino-brt . Reports of the death of "dinosaur planning" may be exaggerated. The LA Times reported last week on the opening of a partly built first "neighborhood" of a 1200-unit "community" to be known as Park Place, in the enormous planned "New Model Colony" town in Ontario, California. The paper describes it as "the first New Model Colony project to debut since the financial crisis." Economist Gerd-Ulf Krueger told the paper, "The dinosaurs... have come alive." Los Angeles Metro held a groundbreaking on the Purple Line . For initial reactions see the #purpleline Twitter hashtag. Ethan Elkind posted a bittersweet note of celebration . The LA Times reports the line that was once dreamed of as the "subway to the sea" will in fact most likely stop at the VA hospital in Westwood. It's a long if pretty walk from there to the ocean. The Sacramento Bee reported the Kings basketball team released plans for mixed-use residential, commercial and office construction ancillary to their new arena in downtown Sacramento. A Modesto group, Stamp Out Sprawl, started a petition drive to place an urban growth boundary limit on the November 2015 ballot to steer big-box retail stores away from the Wood Colony area. The Modesto Bee has details at http://www.modbee.com/news/local/article3545807.html . The LA Times reported the Zillow real estate site found 47.9% of working-age adults in Los Angeles and Orange Counties live with a roommate or adult family member other than a spouse. On the real-estate-oriented HousingWire site, that story led to a somewhat different headline: " Zillow: Millions of potential houses lost to 'doubling up' ". The original Zillow report refers to the doubled-up people as "hidden households." As anyone knows who was at the APA-California convention in September, the Disneyland area of Anaheim could use a smoother transportation setup between the theme parks and convention center, and the many blocks of hotels that serve them. Now Planetizen reports some critics are seeing connections between Disney's political contributions and a proposal for a streetcar in the area. A hearing is set for November 12 on Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approval of the Antelope Valley Area Plan and its EIR, discussed in our recent news feature at http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3603 . For plan materials see http://planning.lacounty.gov/tnc/ . For the Board of Supervisors agenda see the November 12 entry at http://bos.co.la.ca.us/BoardMeeting/BoardAgendas.aspx . Links to the Board's agenda materials are at http://file.lacounty.gov/bos/supdocs/89590.pdf and include a 118-page draft Statement of Overriding Considerations. An initial hearing was held November 5 on a draft renewable energy ordinance for unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, including some large high desert tracts where large solar arrays have been controversially proposed. See http://planning.lacounty.gov/energy . The Sacramento Bee reports the solar industry is rebounding after losing ground during the home mortgage crisis. Investigative freelancer Darwin Bond Graham writes on his blog that the exclusive city of Piedmont is willing to allow affordable housing in its Housing Element, but principally by encouraging owners of large houses or lots to add second units -- in some cases by re-converting actual former servants' quarters into -- yep, servants' quarters again. The Los Angeles Times reports the statewide plastic bag ban is actually kind of popular . Last week the LA Times reported in detail on seismic protections in the New Wilshire Grand tower . Los Angeles is in a quandary over increasing costs of privately contracted street tree maintenance. Planetizen has a roundup at http://www.planetizen.com/articles/node-71873 of attempts by the City of Lancaster to close its Metrolink station, which serves 400 commuters, based on claims that it brings homeless people to the city. Planetizen picked up a plan to spend $2.8 million developing a rail trail along Slauson Avenue in Los Angeles. See www.planetizen.com/articles/node-71893 . And The Planning Report has an interview with Esther Feldman of Community Conservation Solutions about Zev Yaroslavsky's work creating a missing link for walkers in the LA River Greenway Trail. Stockton is officially out of bankruptcy .

President Obama's proposed 2016 budget, announced last week, includes several nods to development and transportation in California to the tune of over $1 billion. In the plan, Los Angeles  would receive $330 million  for an expansion of the Purple Line of its subway, along with a downtown connector to tie together several strands of the system.  The budget also included $150 million  to fund a streetcar line  in downtown Sacramento. To receive the money, the city has to get approval from residents within three blocks of the proposed line, and it will have to raise $30 million in matching funds from property owners nearby. Officials hope to have the trolley operating by 2018.  Some of the projects that are likely to survive Congressional whittling,  according to the Sacramento Bee : restoration projects of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, upgrades to Yosemite National Park, and funding for improvements to Central Valley flood control. Meanwhile ,  the  San Diego Union-Tribune pondered  the fate of a new stadium for the Chargers - a hotly debated subject in San Diego - if Obama's budget is passed. O ne proposal within the budget would bar cities from issuing tax-free bonds to finance new projects for professional sports facilities, an incentive usually used to push stadiums through.  "This is one of those areas where there's consensus among economics professors that these are not good projects for the use of public dollars," said one urban planning professor. Property Owners Decide Against Protest of Transbay Vote A group of heavyweight property owners  decided not to sue  the City and County of San Francisco over the creation of a new Mello-Roos tax district to help fund the Transbay transit center, which is currently under construction. The creation of the district was approved in December by a vote of over 50 percent of local property-owners. Developers with nearby projects, including Hines and Boston Properties, objected to the fact that the vote on the tax district had been a foregone conclusion, since government agencies own over 50 percent of land in the area and therefore had a built-in majority. Opponents had also objected to a tax increase from $3.33 to $5.11 per square foot since the special district was first proposed in 2012. Opponents had 30 days from the original vote to file a protest, but they did not do so, meaning that the election is certified and the district is officially approved.  Wastewater Pumping Taints Central Valley Drinking Water As the historic drought continues, California water users in the Central Valley have had to resort to groundwater pumping to get the water that they need, causing land in the Central Valley to actually sink. Things just got a lot scarier, as the  San Francisco Chronicle  reported that oil companies have been pumping wastewater laden with bits of oil back into the ground due to bureaucratic errors in enforcement of bans against that pumping. The EPA is investigating whether the wastewater pumping has polluted groundwater, and it could seize control of the injection wells from California officials. Santa Ana Uses Blind Luck to Permit Marijuana Dispensaries Santa Ana  employed a lottery system  to determine who would get one of the 19 permits issued for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, becoming the first city in Orange County to issue the permits since most California cities banned the shops years ago. However, some criticized the structure of the lottery system, saying that officials should have done preliminary screening before opening up the lottery to over 630 applications.  "Instead of going through all of this ... you should be vetting people up front, figuring out who doesn't have a criminal record and all of that, and then have the lottery," attorney Randall T. Longwith said. Quarry Rejected in SLO The San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission  narrowly rejected  a 41-acre granite quarry in Santa Margarita following community opposition over traffic impacts on the town. Commissioners cited concerns of an increase in traffic and the safety of trucks carrying heavy granite through downtown Santa Margarita as reasons for the rejection.  Further south in San Luis Obispo County, developer Tom Blessent  proposed a housing project  that would triple the size of the community of Avila Beach, adding 1,000 to 1,500 homes. The developer is expected to face heavy resistance from conservationists, who failed at an attempt to conserve all 2,400 acres of Wild Cherry Canyon. Atkins Proposes Plan to Fund Infrastructure Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins released a plan to fund California's crumbling infrastructure following Governor Jerry Brown's call for statewide improvements. Citing the problem of increasingly fuel-efficient cars stifling the money that the state raise from gas taxes, Atkins proposed a $52 per year tax on California drivers. The tax could be tacked on to insurance bills or vehicle registration charges.

California's $68-billion high speed rail is facing setbacks in its construction throughout the proposed route from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Local elected officials and homeowners groups in suburban Santa Clarita as well as blue-collar San Fernando, Pacoima, and other communities are demanding the state abandon a proposed route that would use above-ground tracks and tunnels through the mountains between Palmdale and San Fernando, instead insisting that only underground routes should be considered. They expressed their concerns at a recent meeting of the HSR board. San Fernando officials said that the proposed train would cut their city in half with 20-foot-high walls and could destroy dozens of businesses and a police station at a cost of $1.3 million per year and 850 jobs. Additionally, an analysis by the rail authority shows that within a half-mile of the track, there could be noise and vibration affecting about 20,000 residences, 25 parks, 47 schools, 48 churches and nine hotels, as well as archaeological sites and wetlands. Also, in a settlement with the city of Bakersfield over the environmental impact of the train, the rail authority will cut eight miles of track from the first construction of a 130-mile section through the Central Valley and will review its proposed route through the city. EPA Releases New Environmental Risk Database A new tool released by the EPA highlighting the low-income, minority communities that face the greatest health risks from pollution, with some stark standouts in the Los Angeles area. The map tool, known as EJSCREEN , allows residents and policymakers nationwide  to look up how their level of environmental risk compares to the rest of the nation. With measurements based on census block groups averaging about 1,400 residents, the EPA found that many communities in southeast Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire and the San Joaquin Valley are among the most at-risk in the nation. Environmental justice groups, which for decades have battled the concentration of landfills, refineries, rail yards and other polluting facilities in poor communities of color, said they would use the map to press for more emissions-cutting projects and environmental enforcement in the most affected areas. Major Sacramento Housing Development Approved; Seeks More Units Downtown The Sacramento Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the Sacramento Commons Project, a proposal to replace 1960s-era low-rise apartments with high-rise and mid-rise condominiums in a section of downtown known for its lush canopy of trees and pedestrian-oriented streets. Though the Sacramento Preservation Commission recently nominated parts of the project area to the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources and recommended denial of the project, the proposal maintained the support of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality District and the Sacramento Regional Transit for its proximity to an RT station, and it was also backed by labor unions, hotel and restaurant workers, and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, which represents property owners. "We need an infusion of market-rate housing downtown, and we need it at increased density," commission member Todd Kaufman said at the Planning Commission meeting. Meanwhile, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson launched a new housing initiative known as "Think Downtown" to market the city's downtown area as the region's "in" place to live and to develop new housing. The announcement follows Johnson's plan to build 10,000 housing units in the central city in the next 10 years, with a mix of 6,000 market rate units, 2,500 affordable units, and 1,500 units for people in more dire need of housing. Sacramento's downtown region has already rebounded from a virtual cession of development during the recession, with developers currently building or finishing projects like the 16 Powerhouse Project, the Warehouse Artists Lofts, and Township 9. Los Angeles Consideres Plan to Legalize �Bootlegged' Apartments Los Angeles landlords and tenant advocates have become unusual bedfellows in an attempt to legitimize the city's "bootlegged" apartments, wherein a landlord rents out a space usually carved out from a permitted apartment for an unlicensed lease. In many cases, the main barriers to legalizing these units are not construction or safety problems but city codes that mandate a minimum number of parking spots and limit the number of units on a lot. These problems have eliminated more than 1,700 apartments and exacerbated LA's housing crisis, officials say.Planning associate Matt Glesne told the Los Angeles Times that the existing process to seek relief from zoning requirements is "not cheap and not quick," costing landlords upward of $10,000, taking six to nine months, and forcing many landlords to simply shutter the unit. Under the new proposal, landlords would have limited time to seek to legalize existing bootlegged units, and would have to undergo a review process yet to be hashed out.  Threatened Salmon Prompt New Water Policy in Sonoma County In an effort to protect the state's highly endangered coho salmon populations, a new proposal would force around 13,000 landowners in 113 square miles of watersheds in Sonoma County to report their use of water from both surface sources and wells. Covering four tributaries of the Russian River, the new rules, if approved, would require all residential and commercial property owners, including wineries and vineyards, to use "enhanced conservation measures" and impose penalties of up to $500 per day to landowners who do not provide water use information. Piggybacking on last fall's unprecedented statewide move to regulate groundwater as well as surface water, Sonoma County officials are now also working on a local groundwater management plan likely to include well monitoring within the county. Orange County Accused of Mismanaging $1.7B Worth of Property An Orange County Grand Jury issued a report lambasting county officials for failing to keep adequate records of over $1.7 billion in unused or underutilized property that it must manage. The jury found that there are 2,300 real estate properties that must be managed by the county, but that the county has only partially complete or updated databases of its real estate holdings, and that the information is not consistent. "With the potential for future real estate decisions being based on unavailable or inaccurate data that could lead to less-than-desirable stewardship of (the) county's tax dollars, the grand jury believes that comprehensive and compatible real estate data information is necessary," the grand jury wrote in its report. AG Seeks to Depublish Decision on Tiered Water Rates; Riverside Sues Over Water Cuts The office of the state attorney general has asked the state Supreme Court to depublish a ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeals making it illegal for water agencies to use tiered rate structures to curb water use throughout the state. The court had found the tiered rate system -- wherein water guzzlers were charged higher rates for their use -- unconstitutional because the city of San Juan Capistrano charged more for water than it cost the city to provide the service in violation of Prop. 218. At least two-thirds of California water agencies now use some type of tiered-rate structure. If the state Supreme Court decides to depublish the appellate court ruling, that ruling could not be cited as authoritative in any other trial court or appellate court decisions, Proposition 218 expert Kelly Salt told the Los Angeles Times . In other drought news, t he city of Riverside has sued the state over a directive to cut water use 28 percent within the city as mandated throughout the state. Arguing that it has its own independently-owned, treated groundwater, Heather Raymond, a spokeswoman for Riverside Public Utilities, told the LA Times that Riverside's use has "zero effect on the state water supply" and that the city should be eligible for inclusion in a 4 percent conservation tier set up for localities with independent supplies of surface water. But, as Michale Lauffer, chief counsel for the State Water Resources Control Board, told the  Los Angeles Times , "Groundwater for many areas is the savings account available during times of drought, and the limited, 4% reduction tier is not available for communities who are relying on that savings account to weather the drought." Sacramento to Overhaul Housing Projects The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is seeking to overhaul two public housing projects whose poverty-stricken residents have a long history of disconnect and disenfranchisement from the rest of Sacramento. The housing agency's plan is to replace the rows of antiquated barracks-like brick buildings in the Alder Grove and Marina Vista housing projects and temporarily relocate residents in order to construct a mixed-use neighborhood with both market-rate and affordable housing units.SHRA is looking at replacing the 751 current units with either 1,200 units or 1,500 units. The new community would build higher-density, five-story buildings with detached single-family residences at the south end of the neighborhood to help blend with the existing Land Park neighborhood. To realize the redevelopment, local housing officials hope that the federal department of Housing and Urban Development will give Sacramento up to $30 million through its Choice Communities Initiative grant program. However, the financing gap remains large, possibly totaling more than $70 million.  Pomo Tribe's Pot Farm Must Conform to Local Laws The Pinoleville Pomo Nation has scaled back plans to create a medical marijuana farm near Ukiah in an effort to clarify laws governing the tribe's jurisdiction. The tribe's initial plan, bolstered by similar projects proposed throughout the nation as tribes explore new ways to generate income, called for a $10 million pot-growing operation in multiple greenhouses spanning 110,000 square feet of the tribe's rancheria. However, the land is not held in federal trust, which would exempt it from local regulations, and the local sheriff contends that the tribe is limited to the 25-plants-per-parcel required for the rest of the county. "We're just staying within the law," tribe business board leader Mike Canales told the Press Democrat, indicating that the tribe would stay within the 25 plant-per-parcel limit for now. OPR to Host California Climate Action Conference  Cal Poly and the Governor's Office of Planning & Research have announced the second C alifornia Climate Action Planning Conference , to be held August 13 & 14 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The program will cover topics including greenhouse gas emission targets beyond 2020, learning from climate action plan updates, recent court rulings and state policy, public outreach and education, regional collaboratives for climate and sustainability, challenges and solutions for the agriculture sector, public health and climate change, and climate adaptation strategies.

Water agencies cannot charge water users incrementally more per gallon of use following a  ruling  by the Fourth District Court of Appeals that cited a 1996 law prohibiting government agencies from overcharging for services. The suit came about after San Juan Capistrano charged nearly four times as much per unit of water for users in the highest tier to provide an incentive to conserve, but failed to show that the water was that expensive to deliver. Governor Jerry Brown wanted to use the rates to save water and create strong disincentives for wealthier residents. Other water districts must now review the ruling to make sure that their rates are in step with the court, while still encouraging conservation during the drought. Two-thirds of water districts use some form of tiered water pricing, but now agencies will have to show that hikes are directly tied to the cost of water, according to the court. Change in Leadership at Dept. of Housing and Community Development Claudia Cappio has left her role as director of the Department of Housing and Community Development to head the "Coliseum City" development plan in Oakland. Replacing her as acting director will be Susan Riggs, the former Executive Director of the San Diego Housing Federation. Riggs has been serving as Deputy Secretary of Housing Policy for the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH) since January 2014. Prior to joining BCSH, Riggs served as the Executive Director of the San Diego Housing Federation. In this capacity, her primary goal was to promote the creation of safe, stable, and healthy housing that is affordable to lower income families and people in need. Newly Discovered Fault Puts Ventura at Risk An earthquake fault that runs through downtown Ventura is extremely dangerous and could produce a magnitude 8.0 earthquake every 400 to 2,400 years, according to new research from the California Geological Survey. In contrast with the inland San Andreas fault, an earthquake at the Ventura fault could bring a devastating tsunami to the region that would begin "in the Santa Barbara Channel area, and would affect the coastline � of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, down through the Santa Monica area and further south," according to Southern California Earthquake Center director Tom Jordan, as quoted in the Los Angeles Times . Up until the study, experts believed that California's biggest threat of tsunami would be a mega-quake in Alaska, which would still give Californians hours to evacuate. Services for Homeless Cost L.A. $100 Million Annually Five members of the Los Angeles City Council proposed that the city take a new approach in dealing with 23,000 people living on the streets. Reacting to a scathing report indicating that homelessness costs the city $100 million per year and saying that the city's response has been fractured and dysfunctional, the council members want to create a new council committee focused just on that problem. In the report, City Administrative Officer Miguel A. Santana said that $87 million of indirect costs go to the Los Angeles Police Department for arrests, patrols and mental health interventions. "What's happening in the city and county is unconscionable and unacceptable," Councilmember Mike Bonin said at the meeting. "For the most part we're wasting our money." Waze, Los Angeles Establish Partnership for Data-Sharing In a new private-public partnership, the City of Los Angeles and the traffic app Waze will share data on traffic patterns and roadway conditions. The partnership will allow people using the traffic app to see alerts about hit-and-runs and abducted children, and several government departments will send Waze information about construction, film shoots, and road closures. In return, the app will send the city real-time data about traffic patterns and roadway conditions. Police officers had previously worried that the Google-owned app, which has about 1.3 million users in the city, would put police officers in danger by giving their location and allowing people to track them down.  Napa County Parks In Dire Financial Straits A new financial report brought disappointing news to the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District: a planned expansion of the county's park and open space system doesn't have nearly enough funding and could take a century to complete unless a new tax speeds up the process. Currently, the district has enough funds to maintain existing amenities, but it only has about $100,000 annually available for expansions. Completion of the Bay Area Ridge Trail alone could cost the city $15 million. To raise the funds, the district's advisory committee is looking at the possibilities of a parcel tax, property tax, or sales taxes. "We're not trying to buy the whole county," District General Manager John Woodbury told the Napa Valley Register . "That's not the idea. But those special places that would benefit from being owned publicly, that's where we come in." Laguna Woods Begins General Plan Update The City Council of Laguna Woods agreed to begin work on a comprehensive update of the city's General Plan to map out the city's direction for the next 25 years. Estimated to cost $315,000, the update will focus on transportation, housing, land use, noise, open space, and fiscal development to provide direction on attracting and retaining industries. Adoption of the plan is projected for spring of 2017.  Rents Keep Rising News reports have recently been focusing on the state of rental markets across California. Among the highlights:  San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose were respectively named the three worst cities nationwide for renters by Forbes. The rankings looked at the jumps in rent from 2014 to now, as well as vacancy rates, median household income, and other factors. The best cities for renters included Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Las Vegas. The influx of tech money into San Francisco shot the city's rental rates up 14.8 percent since last year, averaging more than $3,000 a month in some areas. The increase dwarfs the nationwide average of 3.7 percent. Homes in Orange County are flying off the shelves, as the city has become the fifth-fastest in the nation at selling homes. 59 percent of the homes listed through the real estate company Trulia this year came off the market in two months or less, compared with 40 percent nationwide. "Expensive markets � including many in California � have tight housing supplies because of limited construction in the face of growing demand. So homes get snapped up quickly," the report said. Report: Bay Area Ill-prepared for Superstorm Flood Waters A new report shows that, despite the persistence of drought in California, the Bay Area is extremely susceptible to a superstorm that occurs every 150 years. The study, released by the nonprofit Bay Area Council, says that flooding from this type of storm could produce $10.4 billion in economic damage, and it calls for the implementation of infrastructure projects ranging from levees to sea walls to wetlands to prepare for the storm. Eighty percent of the flooding damage from a 150-year storm would be concentrated in Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. In the Bay Area, 355,000 residents and $46.2 billion in assets are situated in areas that are susceptible, according to the report. "The drought is a function of extreme weather, but it's only one side of the coin, and we know what's coming next," Adrian Covert, policy director for the council, told the San Mateo County Times . "With this report, it shows that we can't say we weren't warned, and the time to prepare is now." The last major storm of this type occurred in the Great Flood of 1862, when 34 inches of rain fell on San Francisco in about a month.  BART May Seek 2016 Property Tax Increase  Officials at Bay Area Rapid Transit are considering putting a property tax increase on the 2016 ballot to fund badly needed upgrades to the system, according to Daniel Borenstein at the Contra Costa Times. The district is expecting operating shortfalls of $35-50 million in the years 2018-2024 due to costly employee compensation, and it lacks money to replace or improve 306 of its train cars. All in all, the district estimates that it would need about $4.8 billion in the next 10 years. However, with a tax increase requiring two-thirds of voters' approval, Borenstein warned that such an effort could torpedo the upgrades, and possibly even other unrelated transportation improvements. "Making matters worse, the district is aiming for the same presidential election ballot that Contra Costa Transportation Authority officials are eyeing for a measure to double their current half-cent sales tax for road and transit improvements," Borenstein told the Contra Costa Times . "By loading up the ballot, BART risks dividing the more fiscally conservative, tax-sensitive suburban vote between the two measures and killing both." PPIC Establishes Water Policy Center Amid the state's worst drought, the Public Policy Institute of California is launching a $9 million Water Policy Center with funding from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. The center will be headed by Ellen Hanak and will focus on research to promote public policy that would ensure clean and reliable water supplies, build healthy and resilient ecosystems, and prepare for future droughts and floods. "If California's water is managed well, it can support a vibrant economy, society, and environment now and in the future," Hanak said in a  statement . "But we will need new approaches that are practical, evidence-based, and scientifically sound.

Less than a day before trial, the California High-Speed Rail Authority and Madera/Fresno farming organizations a nnounced they had reached a settlement -- dissolving the last legal challenge to the first segment of California's HSR. According to Anja Raudabaugh, executive director of the Madera Farm Bureau, the rail authority offered significant concessions including increased mitigation for agricultural impacts and compensation for landowners who are affected by the project. Those representing farmers' interest in the Central Valley agree that the settlement concessions likely exceed what would have been afforded to them if they prevailed in the CEQA lawsuit. Now that the last lawsuit has been settled, the rail authority must deal with the implications of the federal Surface Transportation Board having authority over the project. Nevertheless, the rail authority believes it construction on the Madera to Bakersfield segment will begin this summer. Does Muni Need More Funding To Meet Regional Targets? SF Streetsblog In response to last week's approval of SF's ten-year Capital Plan, Supervisor Scott  Wiener claims that Muni will only get worse if officials do not initiate more funds for the underfunded transit system. Under the current proposed spending plan, Muni would get allotted $300 million, an amount well below SFMTA's estimated need of $510 million per year. In addition, MTC recently released its draft for Plan Bay Area , which promotes the widening of highways to create high occupancy toll lanes rather than using existing lanes. Critiques of this plan argue that this logic follows outdated Caltrans practices that cannot be used to solve 21st century transit problems and falls short of addressing other exasperating issues, such as decreasing traffic crashes by 50% and improving walking and biking by 70%. The final plan is scheduled for adoption in July.  New Community Plan May Overturn South LA's Fast Food Ban KCET In 2008, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance banning the development of new, stand-alone fast food restaurants in South LA. The ban was intended to encourage the development of grocery stores and increase the community's access to healthy food options by limiting the amount of fast food restaurants in the area. Now the ban could be overturned as part of the area's new proposed Community Plan. Although the proposed plan is not yet official, its potential override of the fast food ban has sparked a debate among health advocates and those who are skeptical over how planning and policy can fix 'food deserts'. LA Mayor's Budget Includes Consolidation of City's Two Biggest Agencies LA Times Last week, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa released his proposed $7.7 billion budget -- essentially focused on reversing cuts and layoffs for city services.  The proposed budget also includes the consolidation of the Department of Planning and the Department of Building and Safety, and the creation of a new Economic Development Department that would aim to replace the functions of the (now defunct) CRA.  City Council will hold public hearings before voting on the budget next month.

A rule proposed March 25 by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers could broaden the definition of "waters of the United States" subject to Clean Water Act regulation. Among much else, that could expand the areas where developers need Section 404 permits from the Corps to go forward, in a parallel permitting process in addition to local government. The Association of California Water Agencies says the rule apparently would place "most intermittent and ephemeral streams as well as wetlands located near rivers and streams" under Clean Water Act protection. (See http://www.acwa.com/news/water-news/proposed-rule-clarifies-clean-water-act-protections.) The firm of Alston & Bird LLP has posted its analysis at http://bit.ly/Pdlybx. As of April 1 the proposed rule had not yet been posted for comment purposes on the Federal Register site nor Regulations.gov, but a preview of the document is available at http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-03/documents/wus_proposed_rule_20140325_prepublication.pdf. Tax legislation could end the Jurupa Valley trap The League of California Cities is backing two bills, SB 69 (See http://http://legiscan.com/CA/bill/SB69/2013) and AB 1521 (http://legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB1521/2013), to undo the sudden funding disadvantage that pushed the newly incorporated city of Jurupa Valley toward disincorporation this winter. The bills are based on the prior SB 56 and are designed to restore funding to newly incorporated towns from vehicle license fees As CP&DR reported in January (see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3427), the legislature first sent vehicle license fee (VLF) money to help new towns like Jurupa Valley with their new municipal governments, then took much of it away with SB 89. The two new bills propose to restore incentives for new cities to form and for existing cities to annex territory, which the League writes has been absent since a state budget maneuver, the VLF-property tax swap of 2004, left cities unable to count directly on substantial VLF revenues. The new bills would change property tax and/or VLF distribution formulas to favor recently incorporated or annexed areas. See http://www.cacities.org/Top/News/News-Articles/2014/March/Legislation-Proposes-New-City-Incorporation,-Annex. The Central Valley is sinking from groundwater loss. National Geographic and California newspapers reported this week on news from USGS that ground levels have sunk, in places alarmingly, near the Delta-Mendota Canal in the San Joaquin Valley. The USGS announcement is at http://bit.ly/1htGt4e. National Geographic has an extensive writeup at http://bit.ly/1dKrNcg quoting one researcher for the news that "one 2-square-mile... area... is subsiding almost a foot.. annually." Further recent reports on groundwater as a crisis in the San Joaquin Valley appear in the San Jose Mercury News at http://bit.ly/O7KD6l and the Hanford Sentinel at http://bit.ly/1mGeGkR. Online hotel-booking services held not to owe San Diego hotel tax The Second District Court of Appeal ruled twice in March that "online travel companies" (OTCs) such as Priceline, Expedia and Travelocity do not owe San Diego's transient occupancy tax on fees they collect for serving as middlemen between hotels and guests. The decision focused on tax amounts that cities may lose through cases when the OTC pays wholesale room rates to hotels, charges retail rates to guests, and keeps the difference. The court referred to the text of the San Diego tax ordinance, and compared prior rulings in the same group of coordinated cases for Anaheim and Santa Monica, to find tax was only due on room rent charged by the business that provides the lodging. Hence, the court found, tax is only due to the city on the wholesale rate that the hotel operator is paid, even if the hotel guest might have spent more. It added in a footnote that the 1912 case of Los Angeles Gas & Electric Corp. v. City of Los Angeles , 163 Cal. 621, "does not support a ruling that hotels may delegate to OTCs all of their responsibilities under the ordinance, nor does it suggest that the OTCs may be audited or held liable for nonpayment of any under the circumstances before us." The matter was originally heard in Los Angeles Superior Court. On appeal, a three-judge panel of the Second District issued a unanimous initial opinion March 5 that it did not order formally published (at http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B243800.PDF). The panel then agreed to revisit the matter, but after rehearing issued a nearly identical opinion March 27 (at http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B243800A.PDF). Airbnb to pay hotel taxes in San Francisco and Portland Under pressures from city officials that included partway-drafted regulatory legislation, Airbnb announced March 31 that it would collect and pay San Francisco's 14 percent hotel tax on behalf of hosts in the city who list housing through the Airbnb service. Carolyn Said of the San Francisco Chronicle explains details at http://bit.ly/1mGqOlH. She further writes that the company made a similar announcement in Portland, Oregon last week and has offered $21 million in tax payments in New York. The San Francisco announcement followed the San Diego hotel tax decision by four days but it was not mentioned in the Airbnb weblog post announcing the decision (at http://publicpolicy.airbnb.com/san-francisco-taxes-airbnb-community/). Storm water Industrial General Permit up for final adoption April 1 The State Water Resources Control Board meets April 1 to consider adoption of the updated statewide Industrial General Permit for "storm water discharges associated with industrial activity". The General Permit covers entities in California including oil, gas and mining facilities, landfills, recyclers, feedlots, factories and food processors, airports, certain vehicle maintenance shops, and sewer systems. If granted, the approval would update a prior document, long since expired, that has been in effect by default since 1997. The new proposed permit would apply National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) standards under the Clean Water Act. It would require specified levels of effort, depending on circumstances and type of pollutant, to keep runoff within limits based variously on the contents of the effluent and the carrying capacities of the bodies of water receiving the runoff. Unlike the prior 1997 General Permit, it would require minimum Best Management Practices statewide along with other new standards. On March 28, the Friday before its Tuesday approval meeting, the board released responses to commenters that reflected some tension over the scope and timing of the third and last comment opportunity on the draft Permit: comment had been allowed only from February 19 to March 4, and only on the latest round of revisions. Several more substantive comments questioned the new definitions of Best Management Practices and of Numeric Action Levels (NALs), which are thresholds for pollution conditions including pH, suspended solids, oil and grease, and individual chemicals and metals. NAL exceedances trigger stricter levels of regulation and requirements to present plans for improvement. A unique comment from the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California prompted the board to warn dischargers that local mosquito control ordinances would apply to stormwater facilities where water might be left standing. The meeting notice, comments, staff response chart, and other relevant documents are at http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/stormwater/industrial.shtml.

Monterey County voters in June may decide as many as three ballot measures regarding the county general plan. The Board of Supervisors approved a new general plan on January 3. At the same time, the board agreed to ask voters whether they want to keep the new plan. The board also consented to placing on the ballot a general plan initiative backed by environmental and homeowner organizations. The county had originally refused to put the initiative on the ballot (see f, October 2006; , May 2006). Meanwhile, backers of the initiative have gathered signatures to force a referendum on the new general plan. They said a referendum is necessary to prevent the new plan from taking effect prior to the June election so that there is not a window for developers to take advantage of the new plan. The plan opponents also said the referendum would present voters with a more straightforward question than the Board of Supervisors had crafted. The county adopted the updated general plan after seven years of planning and three discarded drafts (see , July 2004). The new plan designates a number of growth areas, mostly near cities and existing unincorporated communities. Supporters say the plan will help the county accommodate needed housing. Opponents say the plan sacrifices important farmland and encourages sprawl. The newly adopted plan is available at www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/gpu . A controversial Carmel Valley subdivision is back in court six years after a state appellate court rejected an earlier environmental impact report for the project. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved the September Ranch project in December. The project calls for 73 market-rate houses, 15 inclusionary units and seven units of workforce housing on about 100 acres. The remainder of the nearly 900-acre site will remain as an equestrian center and open space. In 2001, the Sixth District Court of Appeal used the September Ranch project to make an important ruling regarding baseline conditions for environmental studies. The issue concerned how much water had historically been used for farming on the site, and, therefore, how much water would be available for what was then a 109-unit project. The amount of agricultural water use increased during the 3 1/2 years the development application was under consideration, and the final EIR relied on the higher volume of water used during the end of the process. The court ruled in , 87 Cal.App. 4th 99, that “baseline conditions are normally to be determined at the time environmental review is begun” (see , April 2001). The EIR for the newly approved project says that water for September Ranch is available from a recently discovered aquifer that is separate from the overburdened Carmel Valley aquifer. Project opponents submitted information disputing the analysis, but the county concluded that disagreement among experts was not enough to force changes in the EIR. In January, three environmental groups filed two separate lawsuits challenging the EIR’s water analysis. Impacts to traffic, historic sites and the Monterey pine forest are also issues. The flood-control situation in Sacramento continues to evolve rapidly as local, state and federal officials grapple with the city’s inadequate protection from high water. The Federal Emergency Management Agency revealed in January that it would require all property owners in Sacramento’s Natomas Basin with federally backed loans to purchase flood insurance before the end of the year. The mandate will remain in place until Natomas, the City of Sacramento’s primary growth area, has at least 100-year flood protection. Also in January, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency began detailing proposed assessment district changes that would expand the district’s territory and raise existing assessments. Property owners are scheduled to vote on the assessments by mail in March. The revised assessment district would encompass all of Natomas, including undeveloped portions in Sacramento and Sutter counties, where property owners would pay $76 annually. The Flood Control Agency plan is intended to raise $326 million over 30 years to help Natomas achieve 100-year flood protection by 2010, and for the entire area to get 200-year flood protection in following years. The money would match more than $2 billion that local officials hope to receive from the federal and state governments. These moves follow a state Department of Water Resources request to Sacramento last fall for a growth moratorium in Natomas, a request the city has rebuffed. The state’s request was spurred by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ announcement that Natomas lacked 100-year flood protection because seepage is weakening levees. A San Francisco Superior Court Judge has issued a ruling that builds on a 2004 appellate court decision aiding redevelopment agencies in cleaning up brownfields. Judge John Munter ruled that five manufacturers or distributors of dry cleaning chemicals and one dry cleaner are liable for the future costs of cleaning up contamination from the Modesto Steam Laundry & Cleaning operation. In 2004, the First District Court of Appeal ruled that companies that made or distributed solvents may be held liable for cleanup under the Polanco Act and returned the case to Superior Court (see , August 2004). The City of Modesto and its redevelopment agency contend that dry cleaners disposed of solvent waste by dumping it into the sewer system, from which contaminants leached into soil and groundwater. Last year, a San Francisco jury held the five manufacturers and distributors liable for $3.2 million for harming the city’s drinking water, and Munter assessed punitive damages of $13 million. The latest ruling assesses liability for future costs and also awards the Modesto Redevelopment Agency $430,000 for work already done at a brownfield site. “It’s good news for cities who are seeking to clean up contamination in redevelopment areas because it enlarges the pool of potentially responsible parties,” agency attorney Michael Axline, of Miller, Axline & Sawyer, told the . An appeal of Judge Munter’s ruling is likely. The cases are , No. 9993345, and , No. 999643. The Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency have released the “Goods Movement Action Plan,” which is intended to guide allocation of $3.1 billion contained in the $19.9 billion Proposition 1B that voters approved last November. State and regional officials have been working on the plan for two years to address transportation and environmental problems caused by ever-increasing traffic at shipping ports, especially the port at Los Angeles and Long Beach (see , June 2006). The plan does not necessarily dictate how the money should be spent, rather it provides about 200 “candidate actions” to improve infrastructure, protect public and environmental health, upgrade security and lessen community impacts. The California Transportation Commission, the Air Resources Board and the California Maritime Transportation Security Council will make the ultimate spending decisions. The Goods Movement Action Plan is available at www.arb.ca.gov/gmp/gmp.htm . The issue of historic preservation will apparently return to the City of Berkeley ballot, as opponents of a revised landmarks preservation ordinance have submitted petitions to force a referendum. The city eased its preservation regulations in December, one month after voters rejected a measure that would have locked in existing regulations that were some of the most stringent in the state. But preservation advocates said the revisions favored developers and now want voters to decide again. Unless the city calls a special election, the referendum will appear on the ballot in 2008. An organization representing mobile home and travel trailer owners on the shores of Lake Berryessa have sued the Bureau of Reclamation over a plan adopted last year that calls for the mobile homes and trailers to be removed. The federal court lawsuit filed by the group Berryessa For All contends that the bureau’s decision was arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion. The agency adopted the plan in June 2006 with the goal of boosting short-term visitor use at the reservoir in the hills of eastern Napa County. The plan calls for removing more than 1,000 trailers located in seven “resorts” whose leases expire between this year and 2009. The government hopes to lure new concessionaires to develop facilities that may include cabins, motels and campgrounds (see , October 2006). Owners of mobile homes and travel trailers contend they were not given a fair shake during the plan preparation process, which lasted for six years.

The Capitol Area Development Agency (CADA) was seemingly exempt from the dissolution of redevelopment agencies last year. However, in the face of state budget cuts, officials plan to cease the agency's development operations and sell off its properties to subsidize the state budget. CADA still hopes to retain its role in supporting development and managing affordable housing projects.  Enviros Rally at Capitol to Save CEQA Sacramento Bee Labor unions, tribal organizations, and a coalition of environmental groups gathered on Tuesday to protest against the state's prospect to reform CEQA. Protesters claim that any attack on the law is also an attack on the state's workers, families and communities. In addition, the pro-CEQA coalition has released a report that highlights how the law benefits the state to counter common claims that the law is used to prevent development projects that are good for the environment and the state's economy. Oakley Pushes Through Redevelopment Project Contra Costa Times Oakley city officials have approved the original development plan for the former CentroMart building downtown. The building was purchased with redevelopment funds last May after Oakley's redevelopment agency had been dissolved, meaning the state had to authorize its transaction. Council's vote last Tuesday upheld the project's inclusion of a discount variety store and grocery store debunking rumors of relocating the community's library to the CentroMart site.  St ate Orders San Bernardino to Pay Over $500 Million in Mishandled Redevelopment Funds Modesto Bee The state's Controller, John Chiang, identified that San Bernardino mishandled its redevelopment funds by illegally transferring funds to its EDC and wrongly holding onto the remaining $420.5 million. The (now) former City Manager claims that the report's finding are false, and although the city later admitted its transfer of funds to the EDC, it claimed the transaction was legal. The state is requiring the bankrupt city to repay these funds, leaving the city at a loss for how it will be able to transfer money it does not have-possibly resulting in criminal charges for the city.    LA Council Approves Downtown Streetcar Plan LA Downtown News The Los Angeles City Council approved a 30-year operational plan that will commit $294 million for LA's downtown streetcar. The maintenance funds for the streetcar will come from fares, ad revenue and the county's Measure R sales tax- after the streetcar is built. To finance the construction, the city will be using a voter approved special tax and (hopefully) federal funds. The project's draft EIR is expected for release this summer and construction could begin as early as 2014.   Could SF Become the Next Big Cruise City? Mercury News San Francisco's new James R. Herman Cruise Terminal could be just what the city needs to get the cruise industry's attention and attract new megaships to city's port. America Cup, who currently occupies the new terminal space, has pledged over $100 million to the city for port and harbor improvements and will illuminate the terminal with a series of ship races beginning this summer. The grand plans for the terminal's interior will be completed in early 2014.

Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins has gotten to Governor Brown's desk with a new version of a bill to smooth recurring problems in the dissolution of local redevelopment agencies. A statement from Atkins' office  said the bill is similar to last year's AB 662 but drops a provision on amendments to project contracts that led Brown to veto it. The revised bill contains continuity provisions that would allow projects begun under redevelopment agencies to be carried forward. They include infrastructure financing districts, reimbursement of expenses taken on by housing authorities, and authorization to use bond proceeds on already-approved projects.  Proponents qualify Los Gatos ballot measure to authorize new Netflix HQ Los Gatos will vote June 3 on the "Albright Way Initiative" to allow construction of a new headquarters for Netflix. Developer John Shenk received town council approval to exceed 35-foot height limits on the project, which calls for four office buildings and a parking garage, but the project has been blocked by litigation. The ballot measure would confirm the prior approval but it was disputed whether the lengthy proposal might also add permissions beyond what the council granted. Critics said it would allow the town's community development director to be the only approving authority for any subsequent changes to the project. The San Jose Mercury News has coverage here . A city staff report and many public comment letters appear in the town council's February 3 agenda packet . The staff report said the DA reviewed complaints about allegedly misleading claims by petition gatherers, including that Netflix might leave the area or that there would be "no money for schools," and concluded such statements could not be proven false, hence did not amount to violations of law. The town's page on the initiative is here .  San Francisco to vote on requiring waterfront height variances by referendum Emboldened by their "No Wall on the Waterfront" win last November, San Francisco neighborhood and open-space activists have qualified a new ballot measure to require a citywide vote on any proposal for a waterfront project to exceed currently zoned height limits. The measure presumably will go to a vote June 3, 2014. (Ballotpedia has more here . The proponents' site  provides the measure's text.)  The lawsuit met almost immediately with a lawsuit from and other opponents, who claim that the waterfront is the state's turf, not the city's.  The proposal ties into raging citywide debates on whether residential high-rise construction will reduce housing costs by expanding supply or raise them by skewing the housing stock toward luxury, and on whether large-scale construction serves or marginalizes existing neighbors and public spaces. Projects at issue include a proposal to bring the Golden State Warriors basketball team to a new waterfront arena and a large planned redevelopment of post-industrial Pier 70 in the Dogpatch neighborhood. November's "wall on the waterfront" measure defeated the 8 Washington residential development with backing from many tenant activist groups although, as proposed, the project would have contributed $11 million in mitigation fees toward affordable housing. More coverage of the 8 Washington debate is  here . On the new ballot measure, SF Weekly 's Joe Eskenazi has a news analysis with emphasis on the role of former mayor Art Agnos in organizing, especially against the Warriors proposal. San Clemente has a General Plan San Clemente adopted a General Plan on February 4. The adoption included a zoning change to allow senior housing on a six-acre Shorecliffs Golf Course parcel previously zoned for hotel or timeshare use.  The package included a bicycle and pedestrian master plan, a climate action plan, and even an endorsement of skateboards as "an efficient and legitimate transportation mode." Criticism at the adoption meeting came primarily from residents and management of the Capistrano Shores Mobile Home Park. City officials offered assurances that the park's designation would not change under the Plan. Park residents had previously expressed alarm over Coastal Plan drafts they viewed as seeking to dismantle their neighborhood for open space.  The council now turns to implementation steps: revising zoning and the Housing Element, and preparing a Local Coastal Program to receive delegated permitting authority from the Coastal Commission. The city's Web page on the plan is here at http://san-clemente.org/sc/GP2Column.aspx?PageID=1000. Details on the approval meeting are here  and, in Council minutes here . E scondido Approves 99-Cent Store Interpreting its unusual ordinance that restricts the location of  "fixed-price" discount stores," Escondido has voted to permit a 99-Cent Store in the downtown area. Old Navy recently left the downtown area, and a debate ensued as to whether to permit a discount store in its place.  99-Cent Stores are often dismissed as being too downscale for many retail districts and creating problems for neighbors � for example, shopping carts sometimes stack up at nearby bus stops. But as retailing has changed over the past few years resistance has lessened. The Escondido Planning Commission denied the project , claiming that it violated the Downtown Specific Plan, which calls for creative and arts-related uses of downtown spaces.  But the City Council overturned the Planning Commission on a 3-2 vote.