Search Results

Orange County Accused of Violation of Surplus Land Act Orange County may have acted in violation of the Surplus Land Act when it chose to move forward with plans to construct up to 632 units of market-rate housing on county-owned land. The property, located next to Santa Ana College, currently holds a public health clinic and laboratory. While state officials are still investigating whether or not the county violated state law, its decision to prioritize a proposal that fails to include any affordable units suggests a direct violation. Meanwhile, county officials say that their proposal to fund new public health facilities with the market-rate housing rents would make the project an "agency use" and therefore not subject to the Surplus Land Act. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Los Angeles City Council Defers Complete Streets Ballot Initiative to 2024 Instead of approving the Healthy Streets Los Angeles (HSLA) initiative for implementation, the city council voted unanimously to send the measure to voters in 2024. Now, voters will weigh whether or not to add more bike routes, bus lanes, and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. If approved, city planning officials must prepare to implement the Mobility Plan when a street is repaved or repaired. HSLA is also facing competition from Council President Nury Martinez's alternative "Safe Streets" measure. While "Safe Streets" is still going through the legislative process, many council members voiced their intended support of Martinez's equity-centered initiative that prioritizes low-income neighborhoods in the Mobility Plan implementation. Ambitious San Diego County Transportation Plan Remains Unfunded While SANDAG approved a $165 billion transportation plan intended to reduce carbon emissions back in December, the board has still not determined how to pay for it. Several officials oppose the mileage tax, while others believe the tax -- or some alternate funding source -- is necessary for reducing car and fossil fuel dependency. Meanwhile, the San Diego Planning Commission is pushing to rescind a requirement to study the environmental impacts of traffic and car use for new rural projects. Driving, and all of its emissions, would not be part of a project's environmental analysis, making it easier to construct rural developments without entirely understanding the project's impacts. In "ParkScore Index," California Cities Rank among Best and Worst In the Trust for Public Land's 2022 ParkScore index, San Francisco took seventh place, and Irvine took eighth, on the list of the best large city park systems, which considers access, acreage, investment, amenities, and equity. Specifically, San Francisco is one of two cities where 100 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk to an open or green space, and Irvine was praised for its placement of basketball hoops. Meanwhile, Los Angeles came in the 78th spot, Bakersfield came in 85th, and Fresno took 97th place. Notably, San Jose moved 10 spots up to 26th place. The report also noted that 85% of large park systems have taken climate action with regards to their green spaces, including urban reforestation to cool temperatures and solar panel projects to improve energy efficiency. CP&DR Coverage: MPOs Anticipate $600 Million in REAP Funding Funded by the 2019 state budget, the Regional Early Action Planning Grants of 2019 supplied the state’s MPOs with massive injection of funding to plan for smart growth and implement related projects. With the original round of REAP grants (retroactively named REAP 1.0), the state’s 18 MPOs have been able to spend, disburse, and allocate a total of $125 million statewide for planning initiatives. Those grants gave MPOs and jurisdictions broad latitude to spend on planning. Many jurisdictions worked on housing element updates, with an eye toward conforming with their respective SCSs. The grant deadline closed in January 2021, and funds must be spent by the end of 2024. The next phase, REAP 2.0, increases that figure fourfold—to $600 million. Quick Hits & Updates A new report that considers migration out of expensive California regions -- or out of state entirely -- suggests that the rise in income differences between regions and reduction within a single region may be forming a new kind of income division. In his data analysis, author Eric McGhee considers the many factors, including housing, jobs, and schools, that are impacted by migration. The Petaluma Planning Commission has approved an environmental impact report for a housing development and will recommend that the city green-light the project. The commission approved a version of the project with significantly fewer homes than originally proposed. All will be single-family, though some will include ADUs. The High-Speed Rail Authority Board of Directors approved construction of segments to Bakersfield and Merced. The two extensions will span 52.4 miles and cost over $85 million. The HCD has notified Claremont that city officials' denial of an easement for a 33-unit housing project violates the Housing Accountability Act. The city must respond to the state by September 12th, and the HCD expects the city to approve the project. BART officials expect construction on a tunnel that will carry trains to downtown San Jose to begin in 2024. The project includes four added stations across six miles and is expected to be open for ridership in 2030. While record-breaking rent increases are making news nationwide, several significant California housing markets are seeing rent prices drop, signaling the potential for more relief throughout the country. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, and Sacramento all saw rents fall in July.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has exclusive authority to license California state-operated hydroelectric plants, the state must comply with the California Environmental Quality Act in shaping its applications to FERC and on issues not pre-empted by FERC.

Three Key Housing Bills to Reach Newsom's Desk Three bills considered game-changers by housing advocates have been approved by both houses of the legislature and are headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. Lawmakers  reached an agreement with labor leaders on AB 2011 and SB 6, two housing bills that would make commercial real estate available for residential construction. AB 2011 would allow property owners to speed through approval processes to build housing on commercial land if they meet certain affordability and labor requirements. According to analysis promoted by California YIMBY, the law could product up to 2.4 million units. SB 6 makes it easier to develop housing on land currently zoned commercial, facilitating redevelopment of properties such as underperforming malls. While drafting the bills, labor unions fought for a "skilled and trained" workforce requirement, while developers maintained that there were not enough workers who had completed the apprenticeship program available. Now, the labor groups have compromised, developers must hire skilled and trained workers if their development does not include affordable housing, and the two bills could add over one million apartments to the state housing market. According to Calmatters, Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins called the two-bill package “a monumental legislative agreement, and one of the most significant efforts to streamline and amplify housing production in decades.” Meanwhile, AB 2097, which effectively eliminates parking requirements within a half-mile of major transit stops, also passed the senate. Redondo Beach May Have to Approve 2,300-Unit Project The owner of a decommissioned power plant in Redondo Beach has submitted an application to fast-track a project to redevelop the 49-acre into a mixed-use development with office, retail, and event space as well as 2,320 housing units. The proposed project does not comply with zoning for the parcel. But, the city's housing element is currently out of compliance with HCD guidelines, and the city could be forced to make an exception under SB 330, an element of the Housing Accountability Act,. Out of these units, 458 would be affordable. The project, titled "One Redondo," includes two developments with 22 acres of green space in between each one. While the site is located in the non-residential Coastal Zone, the project may be permitted under AB 330 if the project is deemed to help Redondo Beach meet RHNA requirements. The developer is still awaiting permission to demolish the existing power plant. City officials have voiced opposition to the project. San Diego Region Debates Emissions-Reduction Policies; May Disregard Impacts of Rural Developments The San Diego County Planning Commission is pushing to rescind a requirement to study the environmental impacts of traffic and car use for new projects in rural areas of the county. Driving, and all of its emissions, would not be part of a project's environmental analysis, making it easier to construct rural developments without entirely understanding the project's impacts. While SANDAG approved a $165 billion transportation plan intended to reduce carbon emissions back in December, the board has still not determined how to pay for it. Several officials oppose the mileage tax, while others believe the tax -- or some alternate funding source -- is necessary for reducing car and fossil fuel dependency. HCD Calls for Review of San Francisco's Downsizing of Proposed Residential Project The Department of Housing and Community Development has, for a second time, notified San Francisco that it may have violated state housing law for a medium-density project. In the newest case, a proposed six-story project in the Mission District, state housing officials wrote to voice their concern about the city's decision to downsize an affordable housing project. The Planning Commission and the developer agreed to reduce the height of the project by about 10 feet, down to five stories. The height reduction would not change the number of available units, but the state argues that limiting height is a conflict in the fight to increase density. The state wrote that, under the state density bonus law, the city cannot downzone projects that contain enough affordable housing to be eligible for density increases. Officials are requesting that the city communicate its justification. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Report: San Diego Woefully Behind on Permitting for New Housing San Diego would have to triple its housing permit approval and production to meet state-mandated housing requirements by 2029, according to a city progress report. In the one year since the state established housing goals, the city issued 5,033 permits, when it should have issued 13,505 permits to secure 108,036 homes by 2029. Now, it must approve 14,715 per year. City staff notably does not seem too concerned and has continued to praise its ADU and affordable housing programs. However San Diego, like the majority of California cities, is used to failing when it comes to satisfying the housing target. Trends appear to be repeating, with housing failures applying to every income level and essential land use reforms waiting to be passed. CP&DR Coverage: Fulton on State Review of San Francisco Housing Polices: One-Off or Trend? The Department of Housing and Community Development is planning to focus on its review of San Francisco’s housing approval processes for now and isn’t currently planning to do similar reviews of other jurisdictions – at least not in the near future, writes CP&DR Publisher Bill Fulton. “We’re not ruling out the possibility of doing this kind of review elsewhere,” David Zisser, head of HCD’s Housing Accountability Unit, said in an exclusive interview with PC&DR. “But right now we’re not planning to do that, in part because it’s prudent to see how this goes.” San Francisco has come under fire for supposedly missing deadlines under the Permit Streamlining Act, and Zisser said the department has more open complaints about San Francisco than about any other city in the state. It is unclear whether this is a one-off case or whether it suggests a new era of housing policy enforcement by HCD and the Attorney General’s office – on in which the state plays a much more aggressive role. Quick Hits & Updates A recent PPIC survey investigates Californians' opinion of the environmental crisis and illuminates drought as the primary concern for most residents, with wildfires and climate change following. Many surveyed also voiced that climate change is not a distant worry but an existing harsh reality that severely impacts quality of life and the economy. Norco and Pomona are the two latest Southern California cities to approve temporary moratoriums on new warehouses while they study industrial development's environmental and public health burdens, particularly on low-income communities and communities of color. The HCD has notified Claremont that the city violated the Housing Accountability Act when it denied an easement over a public park that is intended to assist the construction of a new supportive housing project. State officials submitted their site plan approval of the Mojave Inland Port proposal, allowing the project to move forward. The project includes a transportation and logistics hub intended to help reduce congestion in the Antelope Valley city of Mojave. After the completion of its cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, Boeing must conduct research that proves stormwater runoff does not contain pollutants that threaten health and the environment, according to a decision from the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. Westminster voters will choose whether or not to extend a 1% sales tax for the next 20 years on the November ballot. Measure SS brought in $81.5 billion since it was passed six years ago and could now prove crucial as the city is expected to go bankrupt by 2024. Gov. Gavin Newsom  appointed former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as the state's Infrastructure Advisor. Villaraigosa will identify which projects should be prioritized for federal infrastructure funding. California is already set to receive $120 million for eight projects. Oakland will explore a bike lending program intended to ensure mobility while minimizing congestion and pollution. The Clean Mobility Options Voucher Pilot Program received a $1 million grant from the Air Resources Board and includes maintenance programs and ridership instruction guides.

CP&DR Vol. 37 No. 8 August 2022

Board Approves Peninsula High Speed Rail Alignment The High-Speed Rail Authority board unanimously approved the environmental analysis of a high-speed rail route from San Francisco to San Jose, green-lighting construction on about 49 miles of tracks. The plan is part of a larger $72.3 to $105.1 billion intention to connect the route to Los Angeles and Anaheim through the San Joaquin Valley; environmental analyses for just two more sections of the 500-mile system must be approved. The remaining stretches are from Palmdale to Burbank and downtown Los Angeles to Anaheim. Priorities for the mega route are to begin design work on extensions into Merced and Bakerfield, where trains are proposed to take off by 2030. OPR Updates Wildfire Planning Resources The Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has introduced multiple updates to wildfire planning resources, including the Fire Hazard Planning Technical Advisory (TA) and the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Planning Guide. The TA updates, prompted in 2019, are designed to propel strategies to minimize fire risk, from community outreach, risk assessments, more organized collaboration across agencies, and policy development. The WUI outlines the local policies that can reduce wildfire risk. The document highlights case study examples, including Carlsbad, Malibu, and San Bernardino, for climate mitigation and adaptation, increased green space implementation, wildfire protection, recovery plans, and more. The OPR is hosting a webinar on September 14 for more information on the state's plan to promote wildfire resilience. Analysis Warns of "Megaflood" Threatening State Due to the impact of global warming, the risk of a statewide catastrophic "megaflood" has doubled , according to a new report from UCLA researchers. The results would be devastating -- 10 million people displaced, crucial interstate freeways closed for months, and water submerging dense locales from Stockton to Los Angeles. While the risk rises from 1% to 2%, the results warn of the dangers of unchecked emissions and a warming planet that increases the likelihood of cycles of wildfires, megafloods, landslides, and droughts in just one state. The researchers are now collaborating with the Department of Water Resources to identify the most at-risk areas and propose preparedness measures. Report Analyzes Future Scenarios for Transportation, Land Use in California Researchers at UCLA's Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and Institute of Transportation Studies have imagined the potential for California's future transportation and housing, which namely includes a departure from car dependency and a rise in city centers with easy access to housing, jobs, and other necessities and amenities. While rural areas and suburbs may continue to see car usage, urban hubs would see an increase in high-density development, transit service, walking, and affordable housing. The report also considers California's past and present with respect to land use policy and proposes four different scenarios for the future of transit and housing, identifying a preference for each: a world where it's easy to move around without a car and housing is accessible to all. CP&DR Legal Coverage: Proposition 218, SB 330 A beach protection district created by the City of Malibu to restore Broad Beach cannot lay off all the costs of the project onto property owners. Rather, under Proposition 218 , the district is required to separate out special and general benefits, an appellate court has ruled. Separately, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that under Senate Bill 330 the general plan designation prevails – and single-family zoning means essentially nothing. If upheld on appeal, the ruling will mean that a landowner can replace a single-family home near Taft High School in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles with a 60-unit apartment building. But such an appellate ruling might also render zoning meaningless compared to the general plan designation. Quick Hits & Updates Santa Rosa became the most recent Bay Area city to put a cap on short-term rentals in an effort to prioritize housing and reduce noise and congestion issues brought by vacationers. Marin Bay, Lake Tahoe, and Sonoma County have taken similar measures. In an effort to protect endangered fish and their ecosystem along San Geronimo Creek, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to create a stream conservation area and restrict development within 35 feet of the creek. The decision faces support for its environmental importance and opposition from local homeowners. San Bernardino's Carousel Mall redevelopment continues to move forward after the city council welcomed a developer to the team and approved seeking bids for demolition. Officials intend to use the site's underutilization as an opportunity to reimagine the entire downtown across 43 acres. A Lake Tahoe ski village with hotels and condominiums proposed for Olympic Valley will not move forward after a judge rejected the potential vacation destination for violating CEQA. The judge's ruling aligns with the environmental and congestion concerns of the movement against the project. Redwood City, the first city in San Mateo County to submit its draft housing element to the Department of Housing and Community Development, must revise its plan after the HCD rejected its housing element over specificity concerns. Housing officials found that the city's plan was vague and likely to produce insufficient affordable housing. The developer of a proposed 681-unit residential tower near a public transit center may raise the building's height after committing to include 192 affordable units and a green space. The development is receiving praise for its number of affordable units, which totals more than any other downtown residence. Sacramento voters will decide the fate of a homelessness measure that outlines separate responsibilities for city and county officials on the November ballot. The measure ultimately features policies that would both remove and police homeless encampments and provide more shelter. The Los Angeles City Council voted to prohibit the city's unhoused residents from placing their tents within 500 feet of any private, public, or daycare school in an 11-3 vote. Demonstrators protested the restrictions throughout the meeting that ended in a decision which would increase the number of banned sites from 200 to 2,000.

The next big chunk of state money -- $600 million in so-called REAP 2.0 funds – is ramping up and local planners are paying attention. For the past two decades or so, planning in California, by both regulation and common practice, has leaned toward principles of smart growth: infill development, density, multiple modes of mobility, and, not least, the provision of housing to ease the state’s supply and affordability crisis. Unfortunately for many localities, smart growth does not equal cheap growth. In the past, municipal planners may have received Regional Housing Needs Assessment goals from their respective metropolitan planning organizations and been expected to figure out on their own how to accommodate more housing and meet Senate Bill 375’s Sustainable Communities Strategies — and how to pay for those planning initiatives. Recently, though, some jurisdictions have had almost more planning monies than they know what to do with. Funded by the 2019 state budget, the Regional Early Action Planning Grants of 2019 supplied the state’s MPOs with massive injection of funding to plan for smart growth and implement related projects. With the original round of REAP grants (retroactively named REAP 1.0), the state’s 18 MPOs have been able to spend, disburse, and allocate a total of $125 million statewide for planning initiatives. Those grants gave MPOs and jurisdictions broad latitude to spend on planning. Many jurisdictions worked on housing element updates, with an eye toward conforming with their respective SCSs. The grant deadline closed in January 2021, and funds must be spent by the end of 2024. The next phase, REAP 2.0, increases that figure fourfold—to $600 million. In REAP 1.0, MPOs kept some funds for region-wide planning initiatives but were also permitted to disburse funds to component councils of governments and local jurisdictions for local planning initiatives. The REAP monies collectively have provided significant support for localities. “For 10 years we’ve been saying there’s no real implementation source for SB 375,” said Bill Higgins, executive director of the California Association of Councils of Governments. “This is one.” Part of last year’s “California Comeback Plan” (AB 140), REAP 2.0 will operate similarly, except funds will be dedicated to implementation—including support for infill housing development; “multimodal communities” — i.e. communities that accommodate transportation modes other than individual vehicles; reduction of vehicle miles traveled; and increasing transit ridership; and other projects. Guidelines for REAP 2.0 were released July 26; the initial application period goes through December 31. (REAP is the largest among several recent and active planning grant programs, including SB 2 Planning Grants. The program is separate from, but complementary to, Local Early Action Planning grants , which are given from the state directly to local jurisdictions.) In many ways, the grants have given MPOs a greater sense of purpose and, perhaps, made them seem less domineering to local agencies. Rather than impose mandates like SCSs and the Reg numbers, they get to proactively support cities through REAP. “REAP 2.0 talks a lot about SCS implementation, which we appreciate… we do these SCSs and (usually) have nothing to implement them with,” said Jenna Hornstock, deputy director of planning and land use at the Southern California Association of Governments. “It’s really monumental for the San Diego region to have an opportunity to have so much funds given to us at the regional scale in order to facilitate the production of housing,” said Tuere Fa’aola, sustainable communities manager at the San Diego Association of Governments, echoing sentiments of officials at other MPOs. “We focus on putting some of the money into the hands of jurisdictions themselves. They have many great ideas they want to implement but maybe haven’t had the financial resources to do it.” Another $30 million will be allocated to tribal and rural entities, with $30 million for statewide transportation projects.

Los Gatos Group Pushes for Ballot Referendum to Rescind General Plan Update Despite a statewide housing crisis, a group of Los Gatos residents is launching a ballot-box challenge to the town's 2040 General Plan for planning for too many housing units. The Los Gatos Community Alliance filed a referendum against the plan that was -- by a small margin -- approved by the town council in June. The residents are also claiming that town officials should outline more incentives for constructing affordable housing and should draft a fiscal impact analysis. While Los Gatos town planners chose to concentrate new housing in high-density neighborhoods instead of bringing denser development to single-family communities, the alliance believes that more apartment complexes will negatively impact the "small town atmosphere" and aesthetics of Los Gatos. If the group gathers 2,200 signatures, the Town Council would be forced to either place the referendum on an upcoming ballot or rescind the General Plan of its own volition. State, Feds Agree to Halt Issuance of Fracking Permits California and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have reached a settlement that will temporarily block new fracking leases on federal land. If approved in court, the federal government will not be able to lease over 2,500 square miles of Central Valley land containing oil and gas drilling spots until it conducts an analysis of the environmental dangers of fracking. The settlement comes after environmental groups and California sued a Trump administration extension of an Obama-era plan to lease land for extraction. The move prompts widespread celebration for reducing water pollution, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, land extraction, and more, though closing extractive sources without implementing more renewable and efficient energy systems may induce worries about energy cost increases and job losses. Attorney General Weighs in on Livermore Housing Dispute Attorney General Rob Bonta is providing significant backup to Livermore, whose plan for a 130-unit affordable housing development in the city's downtown area is facing backlash from Save Livermore Downtown. Livermore is hoping to dismiss or expedite the residential group's appeal filed in attempt to stop construction on the complex, which Save Livermore Downtown claims will "degrade" the city center and increase congestion. Bonta filed a court brief in support of the city, stating that Save Livermore Downtown is unfairly relying on CEQA by doing so not out of concern for environmental burdens but in order to prevent a new development that would provide housing for over one hundred low-income families. Newsom Pushes Smaller Version of Sacramento Delta Water Tunnel Plan In response to California's severe drought, Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration has introduced a scaled-down version of Gov. Jerry Brown's Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Delta tunnel plan. Newsom's plan includes one 45-mile long, 39-foot high tunnel under wetlands and marshes set to break ground by 2029 instead of the previously-proposed two tunnel approach. State officials hope that their underground plan to pump water from the Sacramento River to the State Water Project will steer clear of pumping limits put in place to protect wildlife. The plan finds support from several significant water districts, including Santa Clara and Los Angeles, who are concerned about the potential impacts of an earthquake and climate change on water flow. Opponents, composed of environmental groups and Delta residents, do not want to see the state and big agriculture extract large sums of water from the Delta. CP&DR Coverage: San Francisco Housing Process Under Scrutiny The Newsom administration has taken unprecedented step of initiating a review of the City and County of San Francisco’s housing processes – the most aggressive move so far by a state government that is increasingly pressuring cities around the state to plan for approve more housing. HCD’s review will be undertaken in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Institute for Urban and Regional Development – part of Berkeley’s College of Environment Design, which also contains the Department of City and Regional Planning. HCD's move is likely to increase tensions between the state, which is promoting increasing both affordable and market-rate housing supply, and housing advocates in San Francisco, who believe that the private market cannot solve California’s housing affordability crisis and favor only new deed-restricted units. Quick Hits & Updates  Berkeley voters will make their voice heard on a $650 million bond measure that would pay for infrastructure and affordable housing initiatives on the November ballot. The measure would also place a tax on vacant houses and apartments. A Modesto developer's lawsuit against the city whose downtown reconstruction it helped build came with a $776,000 price tag for the city to settle. The developer, Civic Partners, claims that Modesto's Redevelopment Successor Agency overcharged for a lease payment. A new study evaluates the impacts of bus rapid transit systems on nationwide property values and suggests the positive potential of BRT ridership improvement. The results included a mix of appreciation, depreciation, and no change data, with multi-family properties seeing more appreciation and single-family properties seeing depreciation. The Downtown San Francisco Partnership's newly-released Public Realm Action Plan includes six defined initiatives to make the area that is currently auto-centric more pedestrian-friendly, vibrant, and green. The plan includes investments in public art, accessibility, and nature. Watsonville's November ballot will include two measures that will face off to determine the future of the city's housing, retail, and green spaces. With approaching expiration dates on agricultural land boundaries, Measure U could extend farmland protections until 2040, while the "counter measure" would grant officials the opportunity to decide which areas should be developed and how. Long Beach officials have released the findings of a new study that explains the city's extensive history of housing discrimination. The report also includes an explanation of the exclusionary policies that intentionally prompted segregation and disparate access to resources for white residents and residents of color. A recent PPIC survey investigates Californians' opinion of the environmental crisis and illuminates drought as the primary concern for most residents, with wildfires and climate change following. Many surveyed also voiced that climate change is not a distant worry but an existing harsh reality that severely impacts quality of life and the economy. Rising housing values statewide have created a new, very large group of California residents, up to 1.2 million, who have become millionaires due to the appreciation of their homes. These millionaires, according to data from the PPIC, are typically older, white or Asian, have paid off their mortgages, and are long-time homeowners. Increased access to electric bikes and ride sharing programs may soon come to Stockton after the city's Mobility Collective introduced its plan to improve transit options for low-income residents. The program is funded by a $7.4 million state grant from the Sustainable Transportation Equity Project. What used to be San Geronimo Golf Course is in the process of becoming a nature preserve intended to propel climate and environmental health and resilience. The Trust for Public Land purchased the Marin County space and intends to transform it into the San Geronimo Commons with uncovered creeks and habitats and new hiking and biking trails.

When is a policy change substantial enough that it requires a whole new environmental impact report? Apparently when the city council abandons one policy, even if the rest of the policy regime remains in place. At least that’s the implication from a new Superior Court ruling from Tulare County. The dispute revolves around what type of environmental review was required after the Visalia City Council adopted – and then abandoned – an agricultural mitigation program as part of its general plan. When the ag mitigation program was abandoned, the city circulated an addendum to the general plan environmental impact report, arguing that neither the land uses nor the significant impacts were changed as a result. Local community activists and environmentalists sued, saying the city should have undertaken a subsequent or supplemental EIR instead. Superior Court Judge David Mathias agreed, saying that even though other agricultural mitigation measures were retained, the environmental review should have examined the impact that the elimination of the ag mitigation program would have on “changed mitigation outcomes.” “The fact that other mitigation measures would remain, and that farmland loss would remain significant, does not establish whether the loss of the AMP (ag mitigation program) requirement mitigation measure would, itself, have a significant impact on farmland loss.” Visalia adopted its 2030 general plan in 2014 . The plan called for a tiered system of growth, permitting development of land further from the center of the city only when certain triggers had been met.

The Department of Housing and Community Development is planning to focus on its review of San Francisco’s housing approval processes for now and isn’t currently planning to do similar reviews of other jurisdictions – at least not in the near future. “We’re not ruling out the possibility of doing this kind of review elsewhere,” David Zisser , head of HCD’s Housing Accountability Unit, said in an exclusive interview with CP &DR. “ But right now we’re not planning to do that, in part because it’s prudent to see how this goes. It is a first of its kind, and it will take some real resources on our end, we want to give it the time it needs.” San Francisco has come under fire for supposedly missing deadlines under the Permit Streamlining Act, and Zisser said the department has more open complaints about San Francisco than about any other city in the state. Zisser also said he expects the San Francisco review to focus only on policy issues but the department will work with the attorney general’s office if it also finds violations of state rlaw. “It is important to think the review as largely a policy audit, at the end of the analysis we will have hopefully a really good set of recommendations that are policy-oriented for the most part,” Zisser said. “That said, as we dig in we may find things that lead us to see a potential violation of state law. And where that happens, we will be consulting with the AG’s office as needed.” On August 9, HCD initiated an unprecedented review of the City and County of San Francisco’s housing processes – the most aggressive move so far by a state government that is increasingly pressuring cities around the state to plan for approve more housing. In a statement , HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez said: “We are deeply concerned about processes and political decision-making in San Francisco that delay and impede the creation of housing and want to understand why this is the case. We will be working with the city to identify and clear roadblocks to construction of all types of housing, and when we find policies and practices that violate or evade state housing law, we will pursue those violations together with the Attorney General’s Office. We expect the cooperation of San Francisco in this effort.” The legal basis for HCD's move is Government Code Section 11180  et seq.,  which specifically gives state department heads the authority to "make investigations and prosecute actions concerning ... all matters related to the business activities and subjects under the jurisdiction of the department." Zisser said the review was expected to take about nine months, once HCD puts a researcher under contract. HCD's press release said the review would be undertaken with UC Berkeley’s Institute for Urban and Regional Development – part of Berkeley’s College of Environment Design, which also contains the Department of City and Regional Planning, but Zisser did not say for sure that IURD would be the contractor.

A beach protection district created by the City of Malibu to restore Broad Beach cannot lay off all the costs of the project onto property owners. Rather, under Proposition 218, the district is required to separate out special and general benefits, an appellate court has ruled. Broad Beach is a one-mile long beach near Trancas Canyon facing the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, which includes 121 private homes and two county parks. But it is no longer broad. The shoreline has retreated 65 feet since 1974 and now consists of a narrow strip and almost no sand beach at high tide. Local property owners created a revetment to protect their houses, apparently without any governmental permits. Subsequently, they asked the City of Malibu to create a special district for beach protection – which the city did. The district divided property owners into three zones, depending on the amount of benefit received from the improvements. Vacant parcels received a discounted assessment and county parks parcels were not assessed any amount. In the process of legalizing the revetment and making other improvements, however, the district had to bear additional costs imposed by the Coastal Commission and other government agencies.

For decades, it’s been an article of faith that you can create an expansive general plan designation and then box individual zoning with more specific zoning designations – often, a zoning designation that allows a lower density than the general plan would permit. But now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that under SB 330 the general plan designation prevails – and single-family zoning means essentially nothing.

San Bernardino County Developer Leads Secession Drive Following a suggestion from a San Bernardino developer 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 want to understand whether or not San Bernardino receives a fair amount of funding considering a portion of inland residents believe that coastal cities collect more than their fair share. Proposed Whole Foods Faces Lawsuit from Neighbors in San Jose A proposal to bring a new Whole Foods market to San Jose in its El Paseo de Saratoga retail center redevelopment is facing legal trouble on environmental grounds. Citizens for Inclusive Development is arguing that the city's failure to include plans for the 40,000 square-foot market in its environmental impact report misled the public by failing to consider pollution and traffic dangers. The group wrote that the city's rushed actions are not only a violation of CEQA and the State Planning and Zoning law but of local residents' need for safe, affordable housing. The new development is intended to include 165,949 square-feet of commercial space, with buildings reaching 132 feet. California Metros Among Nation's Most Unaffordable The rental and ownership housing crisis has reached the entire country, with a nationwide shortage or underproduction of 3.8 million homes and prices increasing over 30% during the past few years. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura has taken first place for the metro area with largest increase in housing shortage (-11%) over the past decade, according to nonprofit research group Up for Growth, which has identified the severity of housing shortages throughout the United States. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario took fourth place, lacking 9% -- over 138,000 units. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim came in sixth, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara took tenth, and several other California metro areas filled spots in the top 20. The largest issue, according to CEO of Up for Growth Mike Kingsella, is outdated zoning restrictions. Up fro Growth's analysis suggests that the housing shortage is extending beyond coastal cities to inland communities, pointing to extreme shortages and, accordingly, high demand, in areas such as Merced, Stockton, Vallejo, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Yuba City. In 2012, Merced had a +1.9% surplus of housing units, but in 2019, its shortage reached as low as -8.7%. Meanwhile, coastal cities, especially those in Northern California, are seeing demand cool remarkably fast, with many potential buyers priced out of their housing options. RAND Estimates Potential for Commercial-to-Residential Conversions Transforming underused commercial buildings into housing could add about 100,000 residential units to Los Angeles County's housing stock, according to a new report from RAND Corporation. Researchers found that redeveloping vacant hotels, motels, retail centers, and office buildings could account for 9% to 14% of the housing that the county must provide by 2030, as required by the RHNA. About 2,300 underused complexes are available for adaptive reuse, though the hotel layout would be most translatable to more easily complete a new housing development. Due to existing infrastructure, the process of adaptive reuse is expected to be financially feasible, depending on real estate prices and the scope of the project. (See related CP&DR coverage.) Quick Hits & Updates San Rafael approved an ordinance that will set in-compliance height, design, and parking restrictions on SB 9 projects. While the city originally planned to allow for eight residences on split lots, community input regarding traffic and density has persuaded officials to only allow for four residences. Los Angeles' largely unused General Hospital Building will be transformed into an affordable housing site after Los Angeles County Supervisors approved a plan to move forward with construction and financial brainstorming. Supervisors have given planning officials four months and $194.7 million to produce 184 market-rate and 371 affordable units. Instead of allowing voters decide, Laguna Beach officials will move forward with plans to place restrictions on new projects to prevent overdevelopment. New design guidelines would include height, mass, and bulk restrictions to preserve the city's small-town character. A lengthy environmental report on a proposed South County mine near Gilroy details the damage that would be caused to Indigenous people, air quality, and wildlife habitats if developed. The report also states that producing sand and gravel locally could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, stressing the debate over the project whose fate will soon be decided by the city council. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has requested that the federal government include the site of Exide Technologies, notoriously polluted with lead, arsenic, and cadmium and abandoned, on the National Priorities list. If added, the site would be eligible for clean-up funding, though the battery recycler already released severe contamination to many surrounding working-class Latino neighborhoods during its operation. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will not have to draft an environmental review before making decisions about water deliveries to city-owned pastureland east of Yosemite. The agency is celebrating the state appellate court decision, citing the difficulty of delivering water and meeting environmental requirements during a severe drought. Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved funding to relocate train tracks operating along a stretch of eroding San Diego seaside cliffs as part of the state budget. Previously, local governments had been paying to build structures that support the deteriorating sections of the bluffs. Though many members remain in support of rent control, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors chose to table a charter amendment that would have rent-controlled new housing due to concerns that opponents of the measure could have been successful at preventing it from passing on the November ballot. In support of the potential of ADU's, new research from UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation details the various financing options for building ADUs and proposes recommendations for facilitating construction, including considering ADU rental income in underwriting, improving ADU appraisal, and updating loan eligibility requirements. California's forests are suffering from the climate crisis, with 1,763 square miles (6.7 percent) of tree coverage destroyed since 1985, mostly due to wildfires. While northern California shows more resiliency, the damage to carbon dioxide absorbance and clean air remains an extreme threat to residents local and widespread.