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Caltrain Extension to Salesforce to cost $6.7 Billion The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) released a new estimate that puts the cost of extending Caltrain 1.3 miles to the Salesforce Tower in downtown San Francisco at $6.7 billion. In spite of the 34% increase in estimated cost from 2015, transit planners have set a completion date for “The Portal” at 2032. It would be one of the costliest rail projects, on a per-mile basis, in the world. The project costs come largely from building the new underground station and tunnel. In an effort to reduce budget Caltrain has already decided to shrink proposed tunnel size and eliminate an underground passage from Salesforce Tower, which was constructed with space for an underground rail station, to the Embarcadero BART station. TJPA is hoping to secure at least 50% of their proposed budget from the Biden administration, which may be difficult given that Caltrain ridership three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is still down 60%. Caltrain is already projecting operating on a deficit, which could affect its proposed 2024 rollout of electrified trains. Los Angeles Further Extends, Enhances Tenant Protections  11 days before COVID-19 anti-eviction protections were set to expire, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to expand tenant protections . Small landlords made their voices heard during public comment on the policy, with many claiming they were already severely burdened under the existing COVID-19 protections. The new tenant protections will stop landlords from evicting tenants unless there were documented lease violations, unpaid rent, and or owner move-ins. This will expand just-cause evictions protections, like those already given to tenants in rent-stabilized units, to an additional 400,000 units in the city. Evictions for tenants with unauthorized pets and with added residents not listed on leases are also paused until 2024. The council also voted to extend the timeline for tenants to pay back-rent, and directed city departments to propose new relief programs for smaller landlords within 30 days. Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit over Bay Area Toll Hikes; Capital Improvements to Proceed The California Supreme Court dismissed a 2018 lawsuit intended to challenge toll hikes at seven Bay Area Bridges through Regional Measure 3 . While Measure 3 passed in 2018 with 55% of the vote, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association argued that since the funds generated by the toll hikes would benefit the general public — not just bridge users — it should have been on the ballot as a local tax, which would have required two thirds of the vote. The toll hikes still went into effect in 2019, but the hundreds of millions already generated by the measure are sitting in an escrow account. Now, with the lawsuit dismissed, BART, MUNI, and other Bay Area Transit agencies will have access to funds that could alleviate their existing financial burdens. Money from Measure M will go towards projects like BART’s expansion into downtown San Jose, the ongoing replacement of old BART cars, the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s expansion into Mission Bay, and Caltrain’s extension into the Salesforce Transit Center. Major Sonoma County Redevelopment Faces Lawsuit  A bid to redevelop a former state-run Sonoma Developmental Center in Glen Ellen is facing a lawsuit from citizen groups. The plaintiffs, Sonoma County Tomorrow and Sonoma Community Advocates for a Livable Environment have filed suit to contest the county’s environmental impact report for the site, raising concerns about wildfire evacuation risks, danger to wildlife corridors, and preservation of historic buildings. The county’s land use and development agency, Permit Sonoma, has responded to the lawsuit insisting that they take their responsibility to uphold their obligations under the California Environmental Quality Act seriously. The county has a sizable need for additional housing, and the closed developmental center’s 945 acre plot posed a rare opportunity to combat the housing shortage. The county has already scaled down the proposed number of units from 1,000 to 700. (See related CP&DR coverage .) CP&DR Coverage: Does Los Angeles's New Mayor Understand Development?  Newly elected and installed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass comes into office with an unenviable task: solving the country's worst homelessness crisis and providing affordable housing for potentially hundreds of thousands of residents who are rent-burdened or otherwise housing insecure. She has pledged to develop affordable housing. Unfortunately, she has also expressed her antagonism toward "luxury housing," which, in Los Angeles, means pretty much anything with a door and four walls. CP&DR 's Josh Stephens explain how Bass is given into tired NIMBY tropes and why antagonism toward any housing type is not what the city needs right now.  Quick Hits & Updates An attempt by the city of Lakeport to annex 137 acres south of Main Street and East of Highway 29 was halted by the Lake Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCo). The area in question contains a lucrative commercial corridor which is at the heart of the city’s desire for annexation.  A study commissioned by the Housing Inclusionary Program in San Francisco casts doub t on the city’s ability to meet a state mandate of building 82,000 units by 2031. In the current market, many proposed projects are not financially viable for developers, and with mandated affordability requirements they become even less so.  The Los Angeles County city of El Segundo is revamping its Downtown Specific Plan, with the city hoping to adopt an updated version by summer 2023. The new update could accommodate up to 300 new residential units, 130,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space, 200,000 square feet of new office space, and 24,000 square feet of medical offices.  A Palo Alto environmental group bought an 839 acre propert y adjacent to Mount Madonna for $10.6 million. The property had been in the Estrada family since 1848, and sold it to Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) with the agreement that the property will be managed by the Estrada’s to ensure its preservation. POST, founded in 1977, has preserved 82,000 acres between Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara county.  A deal to sell the 387-acre Banning Ranch for public use as a natural open space has closed escrow. Environmental activists are celebrating the $100 million sale, a process which took over 30 years and will prevent future development on the land. A campaign titled Stop the Energy Shutdown is gathering signatures to place a referendum on the 2024 California ballot that would overturn the recently-passed SB 1137, which outlaws new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of schools, homes, and hospitals. San Diego developer 1HWY1 will seek $550 million in public funding to help finance site infrastructure and amenities as part of its downtown seaport redevelopment. The $3.5 billion proposal includes hotels, an urban beach, and new marinas. The Menlo Park City Council approved Meta's (formerly Facebook) plan for a mixed-use urban village with housing, office, and retail space in Willow Village. Despite unanimous approval, some council members remain concerned that the project, in its effort to avoid neighborhood opposition, is too distant from transit centers. Santa Monica developer WS Communities (WSC) has filed its first Builder's Remedy project application for a 10-story, 75-unit apartment building with 15 affordable units. WSC has proposed most of the Builder's Remedy projects expected to come to Santa Monica. (See related CP&DR coverage .)

CP&DR Vol. 38 No. 4 April 2023

CP&DR Vol. 38 No. 1 January 2023

In a new ruling issued after a rehearing, an appellate court has stood its ground in concluding that the California Environmental Quality Act required that the state provide visual representations of the new State Capitol Annex in the environmental impact report on the project.

The amenity wars are heating up in Los Angeles. Swimming pools, quartz countertops, and in-unit washer-dryers are old news. I recently toured a soon-to-open residential development in which the refrigerators dispense not just regular ice cubes for sodas or cold brew but also tennis-ball sized spheres for the perfect old fashioned. To hear newly elected Mayor Karen Bass tell it, this is exactly the kind of development that housing-starved Los Angeles does not need. Bass, who took office in December, was recently interviewed by Liam Dillon and Ben Oreskes of the Los Angeles Times about her land-use agenda. Among her goals for the future and complaints about the status quo, she decried the proliferation of "luxury" developments. I'm not sure if she's seen those fridges yet, or the rates that the developer will be charging for the rentals, but I'm pretty sure that they'd fit the bill. "I do think the city needs everything," said Bass, meaning that the city needs a variety of housing types. She'd have been fine if she'd stopped there. But, she continued, "Well, let me let me qualify that. I’m not sure if the city needs more luxury housing. But luxury housing and market-rate housing are two different things." There’s no doubt that Los Angeles needs deed-restricted affordable housing. Bass says she's "not sure" about the rest, though. I'm sorry, but, given that housing is arguably the number-one issue in Los Angeles, I think the mayor should be sure about how much housing is needed and about who needs what sort of housing. In Los Angeles, any new market-rate housing is almost inevitably going to be "luxury" housing. Developers build "luxury" buildings because the city’s combination of high land prices, high construction costs, bureaucratic friction, and ravenous demand make properties that are "merely" market-rate untenable. Rents in Los Angeles are what they are, regardless of whether they include fancy cocktail ice. A two-bedroom dump anyplace that's not underneath a freeway goes for at least $3,500 per month. Even if developers are building "luxury" properties just for kicks, let's look at Bass's most provocative claim: that the development of luxury properties results in displacement and/or increased rents for incumbent residents. In response to Dillon's statement-question, "The construction of market-rate homes in disadvantaged areas does not cause gentrification or displacement, but instead prevents it," Bass responded with an oddly definitive diagnosis, backed up by anecdote: "That’s completely false. I’m sorry. The area that I lived in until a few weeks ago in South L.A. People who paid $150,000 for their homes. If you put a market-rate house next door, it’s going to be close to $1 million." This is pure nonsense. In the very same interview, Bass praises Los Angeles's rent controls, which govern the vast majority of its older, less expensive housing stock. In additional to limiting rent increases, rent control makes it almost impossible to evict a tenant including, and especially, for the purpose of jacking up the rent. Rick Caruso could build Buckingham Palace next door to your dingbat and it would--by law--have zero influence on the rent you pay. Caruso is, of course, the developer whom Bass defeated in November’s mayoral election. He’s famous for his high-end shopping centers like the Grove. One knock on him was that he would be too felicitous to his fellow developers, turning the city into one big construction site. Instead, we elected someone who doesn't seem to understand development at all. I happen to support the development of new housing (affordable and market-rate) in expensive areas, for many reasons. Even so, plenty of academic research contradicts Bass's claim about the impacts of new development in low-cost areas. I'm particularly convinced by USC Planning Professor Dowell Myers's idea of "vacancy chains ," in which people who trade up to nicer, more expensive homes make less nice, less expensive homes for other people. This is how real estate works in growing cities. The real "luxury" units are the city's hundreds of thousands of single-family homes. The tiniest, oldest, ugliest cottage in Los Angeles goes for nearly $1,000 per square foot. Working class Angelenos can’t dream of affording those rates, and very few early-career professionals or young couples can pay that kind of money either. The former often double up, and the latter tide themselves over with cocktails and the hope that someday they'll have enough cash for a down-payment (or for an entire purchase, since many deals these days are all-cash). Bass seems to wonder who these tenants are, admitting, "I have never understood who lives in all that luxury housing." The subtext is well taken: any big-city major should prioritize the needs of lower-income residents. But, ignoring wealthier residents, and their market power, is not a sound basis for a housing policy. The fact of the matter is, the people who can afford those rents are the people paying those rents—and there are many thousands of them in Los Angeles. If that wasn't enough, Bass throws in a bit of xenophobia: "I do know that there’s a high vacancy rate, or put it this way, there’s absentee owners. People who don’t even live in the United States who own a lot of property here." Absenteeism is a legitimate concern, especially because neighborhoods with low occupancy rates can feel dead, and it's true that many overseas developers and investors are involved in Los Angeles real estate. But, the specter of "foreign owners" is usually raised to make development seem scary. If Bass thinks this is a genuine problem, she's now in a perfect position to propose an ordinance to tax or otherwise regulate absenteeism. From a policy perspective, very little of this makes sense. "Luxury" is not a land use designation. Absent deed restrictions or unusually prescriptive development agreements, developers can fit out buildings however they want and charge whatever they want. Unless Bass is considering a city ordinance to define "luxury" and restrict it, her comments amount to pure divisiveness. They alienate many housing advocates, most developers, and many upwardly mobile residents. And they play into the hands of the city's slow-growth establishment, who have historically exploited class rivalries and ignored economic reality mainly for the purpose of inflating their own property values. Here's what might: the Regional Housing Needs Allocation. As we at CP&DR have written before, the latest incarnation of RHNA, and the mechanisms Sacramento is now using to enforce it, obviates much of the hand-wringing and obstruction that takes place at the local level. Bass’s city has to accommodate 480,000 units over the next eight years, roughly half affordable and half market-rate (amenities optional). Los Angeles's housing element has already been approved, and the city is updating its zoning accordingly. The zoning is coming, and Bass going to have to sign off on it whether or not she likes it or not. Given the magnitude of the crisis in California, I hope Bass and other municipal leaders can drop the divisive rhetoric of political campaigning and embrace collaborative rhetoric that governance requires. The promotion of equitable development is one of the most difficult tasks a mayor can take on. Success requires thoughtfulness, openness, an appreciation for nuance, and a commitment to diversity. Those aren’t luxuries. They are necessities for everyone who lives in California and everyone who wants to live in California.

Several oil companies have filed suit against the City of Los Angeles, claiming the city’s recent ban on oil and gas drilling violates the California Environmental Quality Act.

Study: Downtown San Francisco Languishes; Central Valley Downtowns Boom Downtown San Francisco has the slowest COVID-19 recovery of 61 cities in North America studied by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities think tank, reporting that activity levels are at only 31% compared to fall 2019. Using cell phone data as a measurement of activity in the area, a recent study determined Downtown San Francisco to be relatively empty. One of the causes of such a shift is believed to be the housing market pushing residents out of the Bay Area, those seeking cheaper housing. Another is the downtown area’s prevalence of jobs that are now worked remotely, composing 31% of the workforce in the area. Much of the area’s office buildings (65%) lie vacant. Officials are seeking to remedy the issue by proposing alternative land use and diversifying the area, but the city is facing economic barriers to changing the downtown office spaces to better suit the current in-person workforce — or even into new housing. In contrast, inland cities with relatively affordable housing like Bakersfield and Fresno, where activity has reached 125% and 121% of 2019 levels, respectively. They ranked second and third in the study, behind only Salt Lake City. Environmental Group Seeks to Replenish Mono Lake  The environmental nonprofit Mono Lake Committee has filed a request to the State Water Resources Control Board to suspend diversions of water from Mono Lake to Los Angeles. At the center of the group’s request is concern that the diversions of water, in addition to ongoing drought conditions, is causing the lake bottom to be exposed, making California gulls vulnerable to coyotes which can cross the dry beds. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has said that cutting this supply, which serves about 54,000 ratepayers, would cause higher water bills and force the city to buy water sources elsewhere, shifting the impact to other communities in drought. The State Board is reviewing the request with consideration of water supply needs, wildlife protections, air quality, and the interests of the Kutzadika’a Tribe and is set to respond in the upcoming weeks. Las Vegas High-Speed Rail Releases EIR Brightline West is making progress on its plan to connect Victorville to Las Vegas, releasing environmental documents for the $8 billion high-speed rail project and its 49-mile extension between Hesperia and Rancho Cucamonga. Brightline has also approved the purchase of land in Rancho Cucamonga, which will serve as the final California station and already connects to downtown Los Angeles' Union Station. Once the documents are approved, construction could start as soon as 2026, with service beginning in 2030. Experts suggest travelers could reach Las Vegas from Los Angeles in three and a half hours. Though Brightline plans to fund the project using federal and private money, the developer has not yet accounted for full funding. Home Prices Change Buying Patterns in California Expensive home prices and extreme mortgage rates are pushing many buyers to move to more affordable cities, including Sacramento and San Diego, according to recent data from Redfin. Researchers found that about one-quarter of homebuyers explored housing options in new metro areas, especially as one-third of those with jobs could work from home. Data also shows that many people are continuing to leave coastal job centers; San Francisco experienced the largest net outflow, shortly followed by Los Angeles. Sacramento reached the top of the list for net inflow of residents, with most homebuyers relocating from San Francisco. San Diego made fourth on the list, receiving many residents from Los Angeles. Despite these mass migrations, experts suggest that relocations may relax alongside the economy. CP&DR Coverage: Study of Jobs-Housing Balance Wins National Award The 2022 award for “Best Article” in the Journal of the American Planning Association went to “Jobs–Housing Balance Re-Re-Visited,” co-authored by two California-based researchers: Evelyn Blumenberg, professor of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Hannah King, a doctoral student at the Luskin School. Blumenberg and King analyze the relationship between cities’ housing affordability and “self-containment,” meaning the degree to which people both live and work within a given city. Troublingly for California, they found that, on average, higher housing prices correlate with less self-containment. CP&DR spoke with Blumenberg about the award-winning article and its implications for California housing policy. Quick Hits & Updates A Superior Court judge has cleared a deed-restriction on San Diego’s former Central Library, paving the way for the long-vacant building to be used as a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Short-term plans include the provision of 26 beds in a shelter for the winter season, and long-term plans for permanent use of the site as a shelter with additional beds are still being considered. The San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report with suggestions for incentivizing the conversion of offices to housing. Suggestions included exempting conversions from environmental hearings, offering subsidies, and reducing affordability minimums and certain fees. Policymakers have demonstrated openness to the conversation but remain uncertain about the future of the office market. A contract for the consulting firm London Moeder Advisors to consider the highest and best use of 324 acres of land at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego County is under consideration . The consultants plan to study the prospect of residential, retail, office, and mixed-use spaces across the three sites managed by the 22nd District Agricultural Association on behalf of the State of California. The sale of 2,000-acres of Escondido hills officially goes to neighboring company Golden Door Spa, promising to protect the property and use it sustainably. The land was narrowly purchased after Newland Communities tried for nearly a decade to build a large housing development on the land, prompting concern from multiple environmental groups. Negotiations are in progress in Chula Vista between the city, Bayview and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System for a new development . MountainWest Real Estate has plans to build a $900 million skyline, mixed-use development with a medical center, trolley line, affordable and luxury housing, and restaurants. MTS hopes for increased ridership once the project is completed, and keep ridership up while the development is under construction. San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston accused Mayor London Breed of intentionally undermining efforts to transform an abandoned lot in the city into low-income housing by refusing to follow up on an agreement to buy the land. A spokesperson for the mayor responded by saying the process is competitive, and not as simple as Preston assumes. After receiving petitions from three nonprofit organizations, the Biden administration announced on Jan. 10 that it is considering the Chinook salmon — native to California and Oregon — for a protected status as either endangered or threatened. Next steps include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s review of the information. The expected conclusion is due in August of this year.

Legislative Analyst Skeptical of Greenhouse Gas Scoping Plan The Legislative Analyst’s Office has reviewed the California Air Resources Board’s updated Scoping Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The review states that despite updating both the statutory and Scoping Plan reduction goals for 2030 to 40 percent and 48 percent of the 1990 levels, respectively, the plan does not provide enough specific policies or guidelines for successful implementation. The review found that the plan primarily relies on assumptions, such as a percent reduction in per capita vehicle miles traveled, to drive emission reductions instead of specific, actionable policies. Due to the lack of actionable items, there is risk of not meeting the goals, of increasing costs, and of limiting both the global impact of California’s leadership in climate change policy and its ability to effectively make policy and budget choices, the review states. The review also evaluated the Cap-and-Trade program’s contributions to meeting the 2030 goals and found that it is not positioned to make up for the shortfall of other emissions reductions programs because it is not stringent enough. Recommendations for improving the plan include the Legislature requiring a report by the California Air Resources Board with additional details about the policies and cost-effectiveness and updating the Cap-and-Trade program to be more stringent under an extended timeline. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Los Angeles, Los Beach Accelerate Efforts to Develop Affordable Housing Newly-elected Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is instructing city departments to accelerate their processing of affordable housing and shelter applications, requiring completion within 60 days. Further, Bass has ordered departments to waive discretionary reviews for projects that do not necessitate zoning changes. As a result, city officials expect that processes for 31 projects currently under review will be streamlined for approval. The move follows Bass' declaration of a state of emergency on homelessness, an initiative echoed by Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, who has requested that city officials draft a similar emergency declaration. Richardson's priorities in addressing the crisis include increasing shelter capacity, improving homelessness outreach teams, and making use of the city's Alternate Crisis Response Program, intended to enhance mental health and medical resources. Sunnyvale to Lift Prohibition on Residential Development in Moffett Park To meet the state's 12,000-home RHNA requirement, Sunnyvale plans to bring new housing to Moffett Park, where residential development is currently prohibited. In its Moffett Park Specific Plan draft, officials are planning to add 16,000 to 20,000 new homes by 2040, with 15 percent being affordable, to an area which holds public office and research hub facilities. Planners expect that much of the housing would be developed alongside office and research campuses owned by large tech companies, which have already inhabited the area. Officials also released a draft environmental impact report which outlines that the city would increase development by about 10 million square feet, 3.4 million of which have already been approved, in addition to the new homes. Report Assesses Slow Uptake of SB 9 Housing Units A new brief authored by researchers and analysts at UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation considers the barriers to providing missing middle housing, which encompasses housing developments that range in size from accessory dwelling units to small-scale apartment complexes. Though state officials have approved SB 9 and various zoning reforms, regulatory, financing, and construction hurdles make missing middle housing construction too rare to make an impact. The authors recommend that policies surpass zoning reforms to include statewide design standards, reduced costs and requirements, and streamlined processes which make it easier to construct units that help alleviate the housing crisis. CP&DR Legal Coverage: Housing Accountability Act Supports Livermore Housing Project A challenge to a major downtown Livermore affordable housing project has failed in large part due to the Housing Accountability Act, especially the objective standards provisions. And the fact that the project was in a specific plan area helped bulletproof it against legal challenge under the California Environmental Quality Act. On the downtown project, the First District Court of Appeal ruled in an unpublished opinion that Save Livermore Downtown’s litany of claims was meritless. The city found that the project conformed with the city’s general plan and the downtown specific plan and concluded that because of the specific plan conformity the project was exempt from CEQA. Save Livermore Downtown challenged both the conformity and the CEQA exemption. In the local media, Save Livermore Downtown immediately promised to ask for a rehearing. Quick Hits & Updates A tentative court ruling has halted plans for the University of California’s plans for redevelopment of People’s Park in Berkeley to accommodate housing for students and people experiencing homelessness. The ruling stated that the university failed to conduct an environmental impact review of alternative sites and that it did not consider impacts such as noise and displacement of existing residents in the area surrounding the site. (See related CP&DR coverage .) The City of Los Angeles is facing multiple lawsuits which seek to prevent last month’s city council decision to ban all new oil and gas production and phase out all existing production over the next 20 years from taking effect. The lawsuits argue that the city did not conduct an environmental study of the change in compliance with state and local requirements, while activist community groups arguing in favor of the ban are citing health problems linked to living near oil wells. A draft of the North Paramount Gateway Specific Plan in the Los Angeles County city of Paramount includes 5,000 new residential units, 31,000 square feet of commercial space, and public improvements such as bike lanes and wider sidewalks. The Specific Plan covers 279 acres between the two planned stations of the West Santa Ana Branch light rail line within Paramount, and the city is seeking to rezone the land to accommodate the new, denser developments outlined in the plan. Guidelines for implementation of AB 2097 have been circulated by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. AB 2097 prohibits public agencies from imposing minimum parking requirements on most types of development within one-half mile of a major transit stop. The guidelines indicate a new data collection process for the city to better understand the impact of the law on housing development and a process for submitting evidence in favor of parking requirements from interested parties. The Los Angeles Planning Commission approved a pilot plan to implement rules for homeowners developing new structures in the hills between Griffin Park and the 405 freeway to prevent further harm to wildlife. The ordinance will head to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee before reaching the city council. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is pleased to announce the availability of the Housing Element  Annual Progress Report (APR) form ,  instructions , and FAQs . The form is for jurisdictions to report housing activity during the 2022 calendar year. Local governments are required to submit 2022 APRs to HCD and Office of Planning and Research (OPR) by April 1, 2023. The Del Mar City Council sent a letter to Senator Toni Atkins to protest the implementation of Senate Bill 9, the 2021 law that permits the development of multiple units on lots currently zoned for single-unit homes. The letter claims, “the State mandates raise concerns about loss of local control, unnecessary impacts to community character, and impacts to the general fund." The letter raises specific concerns about implementing SB 9 in the Coastal Zone. Though California is home to 11 of the top 20 most expensive regions in the United States, the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area is the most expensive, according to recent federal data. Analysts found that severe housing and utilities costs were 19.8% higher than the national average. San Francisco housing developers typically wait 627 days before receiving a full building permit for multifamily projects and 861 days for single family developments, according to recent data from the city's Department of Building Inspection. The delays point to role of bureaucratic processes in worsening the housing crisis.

After a record-setting budget and budget surplus last year, of $235 billion and $95 billion, respectively, economic gravity is setting in. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a 2023-24 budget that slashes over $22 billion of intended spending in order to accommodate what is expected to be lower tax revenues.

San Jose Housing Element Appears Poised to Miss Deadline The City of San Jose's draft housing element, designed to add 77,500 units to the city, per its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, was rejected by the Department of Housing and Community Development. The plan identifies over 600 opportunity sites and calls for heavy concentration of new housing in the city's downtown and in the Diridon Station area. Among other concerns, a Dec. 15 letter from HCD applauds the plan's "strong emphasis on acknowledging and repairing the harms of decades of racist, inequitable, and discriminatory zoning, land use, and planning policies.... and creating new housing opportunities for lower- and moderate-income families in well-resourced communities" but said it does not do enough to "affirmatively further fair housing." Bay Area cities must have their housing elements approved by Jan. 31 or face penalties, including possibly Builder's Remedy projects. The San Jose Mercury News reports that the city "has no intention of actually meeting that deadline." CalFire Releases Updated Maps of Wildfire Hazard CalFire's newest Wildfire Hazard Severity maps help residents understand their level of vulnerability to wildfires and suggest that many statewide communities are at moderate, high, or very high risk. Cal Fire updated the maps in response to criticisms based on the inadequacy of existing tools, with researchers and nonprofits calling the maps "inexcusable." Now, new maps are demonstrating that those who live in the Sacramento foothills and Sierra Nevada Mountains, in Grass Valley, and east of Oroville are at particularly high risk. The new maps will assist government agencies form policies that influence the locations of new homes and businesses and inform residents, who must disclose levels of vulnerability before selling their property. Report Estimates Cost of Solving Homelessness at $8.1 Billion California could end homelessness in 12 years if it invested $8.1 billion in solving the crisis, according to a new report from the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the California Housing Partnership. Since state and federal funding already total $1.2 billion in annual spending, officials must plan for another $6.9 billion. While the study indicates how extensive initiatives must be to effect change, it also concretely defines what must happen to end homelessness; officials must plan for 112,527 affordable homes, 225,053 rental subsidies, support services for 62,966 households, and shelters for 32,235 unhoused residents. Further, the Needs Assessment demonstrates that the $6.9 billion figure amounts to just 2.7 percent of the 2022-2023 California Budget. The approach is comprehensive, involving not only support and shelter services but permanent housing as the ultimate necessity. Coastal Commission Stirs Controversy over Outdoor Dining in San Diego Though the Coastal Commission has allowed outdoor dining to remain in place in San Diego, it is requiring restaurants located along the city's beaches to replace any parking spots they are using for al fresco dining. If a restaurant does not comply, the commission is threatening to close its outdoor dining services. Due to the high prices of parking spaces, experts expect that many restaurants no longer have the budget to pay for them and will be forced to give up al fresco dining. The commission suggests that the impact of losing outdoor dining does not outweigh the importance of encouraging sustained access to the beaches, which it suggests requires space for vehicles as mass transit remains unreliable. CP&DR Coverage: CEQA and Socioeconomic Impacts For decades, judges in California have limited CEQA’s scope to environmental impacts only. But in the latest development from the Berkeley People’s Park case, a tentative ruling from the First District Court of Appeal opens the door to such social issues. The People’s Park case involves a community challenge to UC Berkeley’s plan to build both student housing and a new park on the storied location, which was the site of highly publicized protests in the 1960s. In a tentative ruling overturning the trial judge, the court ruled that potential noise from drunken students late at night must be analyzed under CEQA because it’s statistically likely that they will be noisy and also that the potential environmental impacts of additional homeless people must also be analyzed. Quick Hits & Updates Supplementing its proposal to build 744 housing units on a UCSF campus, San Francisco developer Prado Group plans to bring even more units to the wealthy Laurel Heights neighborhood. The developer recently bought the former five-acre California Pacific Medical Center Campus, which is planned for 273 units, but expects to increase density. The Paso Robles City Council and the Cal Poly Corporation have agreed to move forward with plans to construct a spaceport and technology corridor for space exploration, intended to bring more jobs to the area. The city will pay the corporation $110,171 to plan for the sites. Several Indigenous tribes and environmental justice groups are fighting the state Water Resources Control Board for discriminatory water management processes. In its civil rights complaint, the coalition is arguing that the board is responsible for the destruction of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and is requesting an investigation into the agency. As Colorado River reservoirs approach extremely low levels, the federal government is requiring California and other states who rely on the water source to determine how it will its reduce water use in order to ensure adequate supplies for the years to come. The developer of a proposed 79-unit apartment development in Manhattan Beach is suing the city after council members rejected the project for various reasons, including its proximity to an oil refinery. The state maintains that the city acted out of compliance with state law when it rejected the Highrose development. The Department of Housing and Community Development is putting pressure on the city of Coronado, one of San Diego's wealthiest jurisdictions, to increase affordable housing availability. The HCD is also requiring more action to reverse decades of policies that have promoted racial segregation. Researchers have found even more evidence concerning the health and community impacts of warehouse facilities on low-income communities and communities of color. The report details the burdens of air pollution, noise levels, and congestion on residents living near warehouses. (See related CP&DR coverage .)

A challenge to a major downtown Livermore affordable housing project has failed in large part due to the Housing Accountability Act, especially the objective standards provisions. And the fact that the project was in a specific plan area helped bulletproof it against legal challenge under the California Environmental Quality Act. Located along I-580 in eastern Alameda County, Livermore has often been a major battleground in California’s residential growth wars. Most prominent has been the battle over the Terraces at Livermore multifamily project, which was featured in Conor Dougherty’s book Golden Gates . (In the latest skirmish in that long-running battle, the power of the Housing Accountability Act was also on display. See CP&DR ’s most recent coverage here .) On the downtown project, the First District Court of Appeal ruled in an unpublished opinion that Save Livermore Downtown’s litany of claims was meritless. In the local media, Save Livermore Downtown immediately promised to ask for a rehearing. Eden Housing’s project would consist of two four-story buildings with a park in between. The project’s 130 units would be set aside for residents making between 20% and 60% of the county’s median income. The city found that the project conformed with the city’s general plan and the downtown specific plan and concluded that because of the specific plan conformity the project was exempt from CEQA. Save Livermore Downtown challenged both the conformity and the CEQA exemption.

In an unpublished ruling, the Second District Court of Appeal has concluded that a Ventura developer can’t move forward with an eminent domain claim because the developer didn’t exhaust all administrative remedies.