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Supreme Court Won’t Hear RHNA Case

Governor Signs Bill Striking Down Many Parking Minimums In a move eagerly anticipated by advocates of both housing and active transportation, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2097, legislation authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman and co-sponsored by California YIMBY, which significantly restricts cities' ability to impose parking minimums on new developments statewide. Parking minimums will no longer be allowed for housing, retail and other commercial developments within a half-mile of major public transit stops. Developers may still provide parking voluntarily. The law is intended, in part, to reduce the costs of development and to encourage residents and commercial patrons to travel without cars. “California has a severe housing shortage, not a parking shortage,” said Brian Hanlon, CEO of California YIMBY, in a statement. “AB 2097 is landmark legislation – it prioritizes affordable housing for people while eliminating costly parking mandates that are a significant cause of climate pollution in our state.” (See related CP&DR coverage .) Attorney General Supports Ventura County's Efforts to Protect Residents from Oil Wells Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an amicus brief in defense of Ventura County's 2040 General Plan, which includes a number of policies to protect the health and safety of communities who live, work, or go to school near oil and gas sites. Ventura is one of California's top oil and gas producing counties, and the majority of its wells are located in or near low-income communities and communities of color. While several fossil fuel companies, industry lobbying groups, and labor associations have filed lawsuits against the county's General Plan, Bonta's brief argues that the plan is essential for providing protections against toxic oil and gas drilling pollution. Susanville Loses CEQA Challenge to Impending Prison Closure A judge dismissed a CEQA-based legal challenge filed by the Lassen County town of Susanville keep its Correctional Center open, allowing the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to move forward with closing the Northern California prison. Originally, state officials hoped to shut down the prison by June 30, 2023, but local lawmakers stalled the process out of economic concern that the town would lose over 1,000 prison jobs, which makes up about 45% of Susanville's employment. The town argued that the state violated CEQA by failing to consider the prison closure's potential environmental impacts. Roughly 45% of the town's population is employed by the prison. Ultimately, the court's decision did not hinge on CEQA; the court cited a recently passed law that exempts the closure of prisons from CEQA review. CP&DR Coverage: The (Positive) Legacy of the Internal Combustion Engine Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent order, devised in collaboration with the Air Resources Board, to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035 promises to do wonders for the state's air quality and its contribution to the world's carbon emissions. While environmentalists may bid gas motors good riddance, urbanists should take a moment to appreciate their impact on major statewide policies that promote urban density and alternative transportation. Bills such as SB 375 and SB 743 were devised in order to reduce measurable GHG emissions -- with the collateral benefit of making cities more pleasant and liveable. California's planners must continue their work in that spirit, writes CP&DR's Josh Stephens, even when tailpipe emissions are a thing of the past.  Quick Hits & Updates Four "New Community Study Areas" included in San Benito County's 2035 General Plan as sites for commercial and residential developments will now be eliminated following a unanimous vote from the county's Board of Supervisors. They also intend to approve an urgency ordinance that would prohibit housing construction in these areas until the amendment is added. A revised redevelopment plan for the Oceanside Transit Center includes a hotel, hundreds of housing units, retail spaces, offices, and nearly 1,800 parking spaces. The center would serve Amtrak, commuter, light-rail, and Metrolink trains as well as buses. An independent report commissioned by the Menlo Park City Council has clarified that, if passed, a 2022 ballot measure would result in obstacles to affordable and teacher and staff housing. The report also found that Measure V would further racial and economic segregation and put the city at legal risk by limiting affordable housing construction. Berkeley residents will vote on three measures aimed at tackling the housing crisis and inadequate infrastructure. The most expensive initiative is a $650 million bond measure that would raise money for housing, infrastructure, and climate projects while also minimally increasing property taxes. Environmental activist and Coastal Commissioner Sara Wan  passed away earlier this month. Wan was a passionate and dedicated advocate for the protection of the coast, its habitats, and its accessibility to the larger public. Redlands' nine-mile Arrow line will soon be open for ridership. If train testing and training goes well, residents may begin to ride the new line between the University of Redlands and San Bernardino Transit Center this fall. (See related CP&DR coverage.) Some major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, are seeing out-migration slow down following dramatic trends of people leaving for other locations. Researchers suggest in-person work and increased unaffordability in previously cheaper cities may be responsible. The Palmdale Planning Commission approved updates to the city's General Plan, which stresses the creation of "20-minute neighborhoods," where residents have quick access to jobs, transit, goods, services, and green spaces. The updates are awaiting approval from the city council. The Air Resources Board has released a recirculated environmental analysis for the Draft 2022 Scoping Plan Update, which focuses on essential steps for achieving carbon neutrality. The draft environmental analysis studies the impacts of implementing the Scoping Plan and is available for public commentary until October 24, 2022.

CP&DR is pleased to be a media sponsor of and participate in this year's  conference of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association, held October 1-4 at the Anaheim Marriott and online. It will be the first major gathering of California planners since the ebbing of the pandemic, and APA is excited to celebrate with the theme of "Celebrating CommUNITY."

Pismo Beach violated the Mitigation Fee Act by charging a self-storage facility more than $1 million in water fees, an appellate court has ruled.

In the latest twist in one of California’s longest-running development battles, the Santee city council has used an urgency ordinance to – once again – approve the Fanita Ranch project and keep it off the ballot this fall.

San Diego Chooses Developer for 4,000-Unit Redevelopment of Sports Arena After San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria chose which developer he wanted to handle the city's Sports Arena 48-acre site redevelopment, the city council approved his selection, allowing the project to move forward. The winning team is Midway Rising, led by San Diego-based Zephyr Partners. The plan includes bringing over 4,000 housing units, 20 acres of open space, and a new arena to the Midway district. The decision remains riddled with controversy since the development team, which outcompeted two other groups, submitted a donation to a committee in support of Gloria's mayoral election two years ago. There are also multiple lawsuits and allegations about wage theft surrounding the developer. In its confirmation, the city council included a requirement that an independent budget analysis be a part of negotiations between city staff and the developer. A previous development deal was scuttled a year ago over concerns that it violated the Surplus Lands Act. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Santa Barbara County to Sue University over Shortage of Housing Santa Barbara supervisors will sue UC Santa Barbara over its housing shortages that have impacted students, faculty, and staff. County officials maintain that, as the university continues to increase its class sizes, it has failed to address its existing housing limitations and violated the 2010 UCSB Long Range Development Plan Mitigation Implementation and Settlement Agreement. While the university has proposed new housing, a lack of timeline and action provoked legal action. This lawsuit follows one filed eight months ago by city officials in Goleta against the university for the same reasoning. Housing shortages have forced UCSB to place students in Goleta hotels, and some students have slept in their cars when they couldn't find housing. The move is yet another example of recent tensions between University of California campuses and their surrounding communities over development of housing. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Two Housing-Related Measures to Appear on San Francisco Ballot San Francisco voters will consider two competing housing measures on the November ballot after a judge ruled against a nonprofit's attempt to keep one initiative off the ballot. The Housing Action Coalition, which, alongside Mayor London Breed, supports Proposition D, submitted a lawsuit to prevent voters from considering Proposition E, submitted by the city's Board of Supervisors. While both options encourage affordable housing development, Prop. D fast-tracks the approval process for developers and does not require Board of Supervisor approval for 100% affordable housing projects on public land. Prop. D supporters say that Prop. E will just complicate the process, leading to less housing, while opponents say that Prop. D serves developer interests and may not ensure true affordability. Developer Leads Ballot Initiative for San Bernardino County to Secede from California Following a suggestion from San Bernardino County developer Jeff Burum that the county should secede from California due an unfair allocation of resources and mandates, local voters will voice their opinion on the matter. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an initiative that places the option to request that officials study funding and the potential of secession on the ballot. While more vocal advocates of secession have floated around "Empire" as the name for the new state, some board members have clarified that they do not support secession but rather want to understand whether or not San Bernardino receives a just amount of funding considering a portion of inland residents believe that coastal cities collect more than their fair share. Several Counties Announce Transportation-Related Ballot Initiatives Voters throughout the state will have an opportunity to give their opinion on tax initiatives on the November ballot that would raise funding for many road- and highway-centric projects. In Fresno County, voters may again face Measure C as they choose whether or not to renew a half-cent transportation tax. Estimated to raise $6.8 billion, the tax would not fund public transit or bike route improvements as much as it would promote road and highway construction. Madera County voters could face a similar decision as they determine the fate of Measure T, another half-cent transportation tax that would be renewed to largely fund road construction. Lastly, Tuolumne County residents will choose if they want to incur a 1% sales tax increase that would fund fire, police, and road services. CP&DR Coverage: Legislature Embraces New Approaches to Housing Production After several years of feverish work to promote housing, the legislature was expected to make relatively modest moves this year. Instead, several major bills now sit on the governor's desk. They include major reductions in parking requirements statewide and regulations to ease conversion of commercial properties to residential and mixed use. Why? First, housing advocates (primarily Democrats) advanced several major bills, including some strategies untried in previous years. Second, those bills essentially sailed through the legislature, with few no votes and little discernible rancor -- at least between the usual pro- and anti-development factions. Quick Hits & Updates Caltrans released its first quarterly update on the implementation of its Complete Streets Action Plan. According to the tracker, 23.5% of initiatives are complete, 64.7% are in progress, and 11.8% have not yet been started. Caltrans shared updates to its separated bikeways design guidance and the implementation of complete streets in maintenance projects as some of its successes. A recent study from UC Berkeley reveals that the Bay Area's largest cities and downtown areas continue to face economic and social hardships brought on by the pandemic. The researchers suggest that cities may need to reimagine their plans for downtown to accommodate new norms. A new study from the Gender Equity Policy Institute reports that women, especially Black, Latina, and Indigenous women, are more often rent burdened than men. The institute's policy recommendations include targeted assistance for single parent, low-income, and elderly households; increased affordable housing construction, and incorporating a gender lens in policymaking. The Department of Housing and Community Development has issued its approval of Redondo Beach's 2021-2029 General Plan Housing Element. In its third try, city officials have chosen to concentrate most of the required 2,490 housing units in North Redondo. The Biden administration announced the winners of a $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge, including the Central Valley Community Foundation. The organization's Fresno-Merced Future of Food project will receive $65.1 million to improve agricultural technology and skills. The American River watershed is likely to see extreme annual depletion due to climate change unless officials improve conservation and water-storage projects, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The basin, which supplies much of Sacramento's water, could see annual shortfalls of 78,000 acre-feet, which would require an increase in groundwater pumping by 155,000 acre-feet. An undisclosed buyer has purchased the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall for $537.5 million, the most expensive mall sale in the United States since 2018. The owner of Westfield malls plans to sell all United States malls by 2023. Following a 3-2 vote by the Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles County plans to lift the eviction moratorium instated to lessen the destructive economic impacts of the pandemic. Officials claim they will ensure that tenants and landlords have access to resources as they phase out renter protections.

Let us briefly praise the internal combustion engine. The State of California will prohibit the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles as of 2035. Thus begins the farewell tour for a scourge that first oozed out of the ground and into the sky some 140 years ago. Nobody alive today was around when gasoline-powered vehicles were invented. But many of us can eagerly await the day when they begin to fade away. It's a shame that so many people had to die in the interim. Economists, energy analysts, and even psychologists will debate and anticipate the impacts of a gas-free future. I expect it will, on balance, be far better than the status quo. But tradeoffs will be made (oil drilling for cobalt and nickel mining, for instance) and unintended consequences will arise, as they always do with major technological shifts. Let's discuss, though, one of the unintended benefits of the late automobile era. Back in 2005, the prospect of widespread use of electric vehicles -- much less ones that could outdrive the gnarliest hot rods of the day -- was, if not unthinkable, at least implausible. That year, Californian drivers emitted roughly 180 million tons of carbon into our 1.01 million cubic miles of troposphere. Every urban planner knows what happened next: Assembly Bill 32, Senate Bill 375 , Senate Bill 743 , ARB emissions targets, and a host of other, complementary bills and regulations designed to demonize airborne carbon in all its forms. It’s worked, to an extent. In 2019, emissions from transportation were down to about 165 million metric tons, while the state’s population grew by 3.5 million. The ban on selling gas-powered cars is, in many ways, the culmination of these efforts. Though each of these laws primarily takes aim at climate change, they had the distinct, nontrivial side benefit of promoting better urbanism. Reduced GHG's may be the goal, but, directly through SB 375 and somewhat less directly through SB 743, the means of attaining the goal run directly through cities. Ideally, they run on a bike, a bus, or a pair of feet and end up in dense, mixed used neighborhoods that are as attractive aesthetically as they are climate-friendly. California surely needs to reduce pollution. But, just as surely, it also needs to make nicer cities. The trouble with "nicer cities" is inherent in the phrase itself: it's vague, subjective, and debatable. Public policy loves metrics, though. The more definitive a measure, the better. If you can say what you want, you can figure out how to get it, and, later on, you can evaluate whether you've gotten what you want. That's why public policy does an utterly lousy job when the goal is "I want something more like Paris..." or "make it less ugly..." But it has proven moderately competent at reducing per capita emissions. Fortunately, these two goals complement each other in California's regulations, with Paris riding the coattails of carbon reduction. And that's where we need to thank the conventional car. It was just awful enough, at just the right moment, to inspire a revolution in land use regulation. Most of the climate regulations that promote good urbanism do so based on the premise that cars emit carbon. We want to reduce driving in order to reduce carbon emissions, and pleasant, walkable, convenient communities are fortuitous byproducts. ARB's order essentially obviates this aspect of those regulations. An electric car's emissions are essentially negligible, whether it's easing down a woonerf to the farmer's market or rocketing toward the outer suburbs in Ludicrous Mode. If laws such as SB 375 weren't already on the books, they probably would have much harder time getting on there now. Fortunately, and amazingly, we may have preempted the worst the damage. Thanks to the (very legitimate) concern about climate change and to the relative measurability of carbon emissions, we managed to adopt a nice bunch of laws that, even if their climate raison d’etre becomes irrelevant, stand to benefit California's cities for generations to come. So much for the good news. As I wrote a while back about Elon Musk's Hyperloop (emphasis on the hype), a revolution in propulsion is not the same thing as a revolution in transportation. The popularization of cars with electric motors is still the popularization of cars. Electric cars enjoy open streets, spacious garages, free parking spaces, and super-highways just as much as gas-powered ones do. By reducing the "pain" of driving, EVs on their own – absent SB 375 and other regulations and cultural shifts – could induce sprawl, thus perpetuating all the unpleasant, antisocial shortcomings of 20 th century urbanism. Driving an EV is like eating fat-free ice cream: it might not have fat, but it still has a ton of sugar. (Doubly so if it’s the four-ton horrorshow of the electric Hummer. Triply so if it’s automated someday.) This means that California's progressive planners are going to have to be more vigilant. They're going to have to implement those Sustainable Communities Strategies and convince stakeholders to accept density more enthusiastically than ever. They're going to have to keep giving Californians reasons to get out of their cars, no matter what fuels them. Planners must to strive for these goals whether they like the aesthetics, culture, vitality, and sociability of dense cities or whether they’d like the oxygen, fresh water, and tolerable climate of a healthy planet. It’s almost impossible to achieve true sustainability without good urbanism, and vice-versa.  Cars are still cars, electric or not. They still take up space. They still require energy and infrastructure. They can still kill occupants and bystanders alike. They still make people lazy and antisocial. Walking, biking, rolling, scooting, and bus-riding are all preferable to lithium mining and highway-building if we want to be sustainable. Even if we can marvel at the 0-60 acceleration of a Tesla or the MPG equivalent of a Rivian, there's still no car that’s as nice, healthy, safe, and eco-friendly as the cities we are capable of building – even here in “car-crazy California” – if we put our minds to it. At this very moment, some very smart industrialists will be putting massive doses of excitement, energy, and innovative spirt into products that will inherit our car market in 13 short years. Their efforts will produce some pretty sweet rides, I’m sure. And if California’s planners do the exact same thing, we’ll need far fewer of them. This piece has been updated since its original posting.

487-Acre Public Parcel in L.A. County to be Redeveloped Pomona's 487-acre Fairplex campus, which typically hosts the LA County Fair and other large events, will be redeveloped , though Fairplex and county officials have not yet decided into what. County and city officials are proposing affordable housing, retail and restaurants, and a green space and will continue to consider public opinion as they develop ideas over the next few years. Fairplex CEO Walter Marquez says the organization also plans to involve the impact of a Metro rail extension stop near the site. While planning officials are nowhere near finalizing a plan, they are already facing concerns about water use and other environmental impacts. Group Challenges Ballot Measure to Raise Building Heights in San Diego Midway District While San Diego wants to raise the 30-foot building height limit in the Midway District, the nonprofit whose lawsuit invalidated the first ordinance to do so is again challenging the ballot proposal. Environmental group Save Our Access is disputing the legality of Measure C, which would allow San Diego to move forward with the redevelopment of a 48-acre sports arena site. Save Our Access is urging the city to analyze environmental impacts, but a ruling before the November election, which will include the ballot measure, is unlikely. The same judge who sided with Save Our Access in 2020 will rule on this case, though the city believes that it could be in the clear since officials have examined the visual impacts of buildings up to 100 feet tall. Legislature Passes Major Climate Change Bills, with $54B in Spending State lawmakers approved several pieces of legislation aimed at tackling emissions reductions, permitting $54 billion in climate spending. The initiatives also include oil and gas drilling restrictions and a commitment to slashing and offsetting carbon dioxide emissions entirely by 2045. Controversially, lawmakers also voted to continue operating the state's last nuclear plant for five years in order to meet electricity demands as they continue to expand renewable energy sources, a move that aligns with severe heat waves leading to power outages across the state. While significant, officials have not yet created implementation plans to act on their goals. The only unapproved proposal was a goal to eradicate greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. UCLA Releases Tool Tracking Effects of Extreme Heat The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and Public Health Alliance of Southern California released a new tool that tracks the neighborhoods that are most vulnerable to rising temperatures and where protections should be prioritized. The California Healthy Places Index (HPI): Extreme Heat Edition studies how high temperatures will rise; who is most at-risk to extreme heat; community resiliency as understood by green spaces, clean air, and clean water; and resource availability, including programs that provide air conditioners to low-income residents or funding for urban greenery. Importantly, the HPI demonstrates intersections between these factors to help state agencies, local and tribal governments, education officials, nonprofits, and more understand where to concentrate investments. CP&DR Coverage: Do More Housing Laws Equal More Housing? For the fourth year in a row, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed major legislation designed to increase housing production – a surprise this year, which began as a year when it appeared as though the rush to expand housing production legislation would slow down. So maybe now is a good time to ask whether all these bills are actually increasing housing production. What’s really happening on the ground? If you think a lack of housing supply is part of California’s housing affordability problem, then the numbers are clearly encouraging: We see a 15% increase from last year and a 35% increase from 2019. That’s far below Newsom’s campaign promise to quintuple housing production but it’s better than nothing. Quick Hits & Updates Carpinteria voters will weight in on a contentious debate over the future of a beachside parking lot on the November ballot. While one group wants to change its zoning status to keep the open space, another is hoping that the current zoning will allow for a two-story boutique hotel. SANDAG's plan to pay for its $172 billion Regional Transportation Plan with a road user charge will proceed after receiving approval from the state Air Resources Board. A pilot program for the road-user charge is planned to launch in about four years. San Benito supervisors have voted to spend up to $50,000 on an education program about the proposed Strada Verde Innovation Park and Measures Q and R following concerns that county residents have misinformation about the interrelated initiatives. While there is no plan to build housing, residents are pushing back against housing construction on Strada Verde. Santa Rosa leaders have unanimously approved a ban on new gas stations in an effort to disincentivize fossil fuel dependence and make a transition to renewable energy sources. The move follows the state's decision to ban the sale of gasoline vehicles by 2035.

An obscure Contra Costa County special district seeking to dissolve itself has lost a court battle that would have put the dissolution measure on the ballot this fall. In an unpublished opinion, the First District Court of Appeal agreed with Contra Costa County that the special district should have – but did not – work through the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, as required by the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act.

This was supposed to be the year that housing advocates in Sacramento rested on their laurels.

The Oakland A’s have won a legal round in their battle to build a new baseball stadium near the Port of Oakland and Jack London Square, but they now face a new legal challenge from truckers, longshoremen, and others opposed to the stadium. Three separate lawsuits had been filed against the project challenging the environmental impact report for the project, including one from Union Pacific, one from the Capitol Corridor rail authority, and one from a coalition of opponents including longshoremen and truckers who use the adjacent port. But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman – the same judge who kicked up a huge storm in the Berkeley enrollment EIR case a few months ago – ruled in favor of the City of Oakland and the A’s on a wide range of CEQA issues, including greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The only CEQA issue on which Seligman ruled against the A’s was wind impacts. While acknowledging that the wind impacts could not yet be determined because the stadium design has not been finalized, Seligman ruled that the wind mitigation measure adopted by Oakland doesn’t contain any performance standard. But officials said the wind issue is “pretty manageable.” On other issues, Seligman said the EIR conducted a detailed analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and ruled against the plaintiffs’ argument that the GHG mitigation was impermissibly deferred.

For the fourth year in a row, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed major legislation designed to increase housing production – a surprise this year, which began as a year when it appeared as though the rush to expand housing production legislation would slow down. So maybe now is a good time to ask whether all these bills are actually increasing housing production. What’s really happening on the ground? Steve Levy, who is probably the most insightful observer of the California economy, has come with a solid answer: Maybe. Cobbling together data from the California Homebuilding Foundation (CHF) and the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), Levy found that in the first half of 2022, residential building permits were up 15% over the year before – about 76,000 as opposed to about 61,000. And if the trend continues (a big “if” given rising interest rates) – the state will have its best year for homebuilding since 2006, right before the Great Recession. In his report, Levy looked at both single-family and multi-family permitting and he looked at all regions in the state. He left 2020 out of some of the analysis because COVID made that year so weird. But what he found was really interesting. First, while it’s true that homebuilding permits have gone up overall, almost all of the increase in 2022 has been in multifamily permits. As the chart below shows, single-family permits are up this year by about 3% -- from 34,000 to 35,000. That’s up from 2019, but single-family permitting has been sluggish ever since the Great Recession for a variety reasons, not all of which have to do with the entitlement process. (A lot of prospective homebuyers had their houses foreclosed on and saw their credit scores crash during the Great Recession and have been out of the market ever since.) But multifamily permits went up from 27,000 to 35,000 – an increase of about 30%, or 10 times the single-family increase. Levy’s analysis doesn’t break down owner v. renter in the single- and multi-family categories, but it’s reasonable to assume that most of the new multi-family development is rental. Residential Permits By Housing Type, 2019-2022