Articles

Has climate change lit a fire under California's professional planners, and if so, how much impact will they have on the climate change debate?

State bond money and local tax dollars are flowing into new school construction at record rates, and school officials are learning that a "green" campus is both better for students and teachers and is less expensive to operate.

Many things have improved in the past 30 years. Examples are the quality of digital cameras, the design of camping tents and the critical standing of comic books. Others have gotten worse, such as gasoline prices, the narrowing separation between church and state and the reputation of postmodern architecture. But - has sustainable planning gotten better or worse?

Marin County has adopted a new general plan that emphasizes "sustainable communities" and reflects a strong concern about global climate change. Although the Board of Supervisors adopted the Marin Countywide Plan only in November, there is already evidence the plan could serve as a model for other jurisdictions in California and across the country.

A roundup of green news: San Francisco may soon have the most stringent environmental building standards in the country; the state's "million solar roofs initiative" gets a slow start; new Oakland office tower would be among the tallest and greenest.

Green building strategies are being embraced by a growing number of local and state governments. In some cases, the trend is being driven by a desire to reduce water and electrical use in areas where those critical resources are in limited supply or costly to import. Some elected officials also seem motivated, however, by frustration over the Bush administration's foot-dragging in response to scientific warnings about global warming, and are determined to take steps on their own to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Cities and counties cannot regulate tailpipe emissions or, for the most part, coal-burning power plants. They can, however, regulate land use and building design, and that's where they are focusing.

A federal law protecting religious institutions from land use regulations does not extend to a Masonic Temple operated for commercial purposes, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A federal judge has told Half Moon Bay to pay a property owner for making his property unbuildable; Placer County has sued a former planning commissioner for alleged Subdivision Map Act improprieties; government agencies are suing over a San Diego State expansion plan; Humboldt County has dropped proposed timber zoning resrictions; and more news about flood issues in Sacramento.

Proponents of placing land use ballot measures before voters in San Mateo and Riverside have lost separate appellate court rulings.

News from around the state includes a ruling against opponents of a new community planned next to the University of California, Merced, campus; a jury's award of $89 million to Southern California developer Rick Caruso; final approval of a multiple-species habitat conservation plan for the Coachella Valley; and redevelopment accounting discrepancies found by the state controller's office. 

With about half of the cities and counties in California facing a June 30, 2008, deadline to file updated housing elements, the often-controversial policy of inclusionary zoning is receiving renewed interest. Already, one-third of cities and counties have inclusionary zoning policies, and now other local governments — including Los Angeles, San Jose and Oakland — are considering the idea.

San Diego County's adult business ordinance has mostly survived two federal court challenges. In separate rulings, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the ordinance's zoning provisions pass constitutional muster.

Call it the Year of the Election.

Every time you turn around during 2008, Californians are going to be voting on something. February. June. November. And, on the local level, probably some dates in between.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued two takings decisions from outside California favorable to property owners.