CP&DR - Blogs

SB 375 Continues To Dominate Planning Discussion

Jan 26, 2009

Senate Bill 375 dominated this year's UCLA Land Use Law and Planning Conference. While there were few comments about the merits of the new law, there was extensive discussion regarding the law's impact and implementation.

If there was a common theme, it was this: SB 375 has the potential to change dramatically both California's land use planning system and growth patterns, and the law is very much a work in progress.

Although it was largely unsaid, the implication is that the era of the large-scale, low-density, single-family housing tracts has passed.

Growth Issues Fill Obama's Domestic Agenda

Jan 21, 2009

When Barack Obama took the oath of office Tuesday, he tried to strike a delicate balance between the soaring rhetoric he is famous for and an almost dour message about how much work and sacrifice will be required to put America back on its feet. Nowhere will that balance be more difficult to strike – or more important – than in the vast combination of federal policies that help to drive growth and development patterns around the country.

Asking Hard Questions About SB 375

Jan 19, 2009

Senate Bill 375 needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed this year. So says Rick Bishop, executive director of the Western Riverside Council of Governments.

Bishop is not an advocate of sprawl-and-pavement über alles, which is the way many SB 375 opponents have been painted. In fact, Bishop has no gripe with the intent of SB 375, which is to reign in low-density, segregated use sprawl and to encourage public transportation spending that best serves higher-density, mixed-use areas (that's my description, not his).

Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation - Annual Environmental Legislative Symposium: February 7, 2009 in Sacramento

Jan 19, 2009

Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation
Annual Environmental Legislative Symposium
Steps to a Sustainable California
Saturday, February 7, 2009 – 9:00A – 4:15P
Downtown Sacramento

A Truly Worthwhile Conference

Jan 12, 2009

If you attend only one conference all year, it should be the UCLA Extension Land Use Law and Planning Conference, scheduled for January 23 in downtown Los Angeles.

The Sacramento River's Salmon Dwindle

Jan 9, 2009

I use an admittedly imprecise technique to monitor the health of the Sacramento River's salmon. Several times during November and December, I walk onto the Diestelhorst Bridge in Redding and peer down at the river.

Back in the 1990s, I often spotted half a dozen or more salmon within a couple minutes. This year, I saw very few salmon. Same story last year. On my two most recent trips to the Diestelhorst Bridge, I saw not a single swimming salmon or post-spawning carcass.

Draft CEQA Guidelines For Greenhouse Gas Emissions Released

Jan 9, 2009

The Governor's Office of Planning & Research (OPR) has released a draft of the new CEQA Guidelines for assessing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming impacts of and on projects as mandated by SB 97 (Public Resources Code § 21083.05).

Redevelopment Proposal Still Alive As Governor Reveals 18-Month Budget

Jan 6, 2009

The notion of using redevelopment to help solve the state's budget deficit continues to percolate in Sacramento. Meanwhile, analyses of the governor's proposed 18-month budget that was released on New Year's Eve are trickling out.

UCLA Ext: The 23rd Annual Land Use Law and Planning Conference - Friday, January 23, 2009

Jan 6, 2009

The Top 10 Stories Of 2008

Dec 30, 2008

TopStories

In the world of land use planning and real estate development, 2008 will go down as a memorable year, but not necessarily for positive reasons. If the housing market bubble burst in 2007, it crashed to the ground Hindenburg-style in 2008. The fallout from the housing market disaster continues to affect nearly every aspect of planning and development in California.

Federal Infrastructure Package – A Chance To Get It Right

Dec 16, 2008

"Isolated transit-oriented developments in a sea of automobiles."

That's how Robert Cervero, one the country's foremost authorities on transportation and transit-oriented developments, described this country's approach when I spoke to him recently while working on a story about SB 375, AB 32 and other climate change policies for the February edition of Planning magazine. The chair of the University of California, Berkeley, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cervero says we're getting it wrong.

Greenhouse Gas Plan Defers To SB 375 Process

Dec 12, 2008

An AB 32 Scoping Plan that places a great deal of emphasis on the SB 375 process was approved on December 11 by the California Air Resources Board.

The plan tentatively calls for land use actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. Environmentalists and some smart growth advocates argued for a higher land use target, while building industry representatives and some local government officials said 5 MMT should be the maximum.

Crucial Air Board Decision Anticipated Thursday

Dec 9, 2008

The California Air Resources Board is scheduled to decide this week on a broad plan for implementing the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction law. The board's decision could have profound implications for both growth patterns and individual development projects.

Lawsuit Challenges Redevelopment Tax Shift

Dec 5, 2008

The California Redevelopment Association has filed its threatened lawsuit over a state budget provision shifting $350 million from redevelopment agencies to schools. The CRA argues that directing tax increment revenue away from the redevelopment agencies violates the state and federal constitution and even amounts to an uncompensated taking of property.

But I have to wonder: Is anyone listening?

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