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A new California EPA report finds that the more intense forest fires, longer droughts, warmer ocean temperatures, and shrinking snowpack in the Sierra Nevada are an “unequivocal” evidence of climate change. The 350-page report tracks 36 indicators of climate change, including a comprehensive list of human impacts and the effects on wildlife, the ocean, lakes, rivers and the mountains. Although the state has had a 90 percent drop in black carbon from tailpipe emissions over the past half century, CO 2 levels in the atmosphere and in seawater are increasing at a steady rate. While temperatures have increased steadily since the early 1980s, the most alarming fact is that night temperatures have increased 2.3 degrees over the past century. The largest glaciers in the Sierra have shrunk by an average of about 70 percent since 1906 and water temperature in Lake Tahoe has warmed one degree since 1970. Senate Bill 32, puts California on course tor educe emissions an additional 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, the state expects to drop below 1990 levels within the next two years. Report Contends Rent Control Leads to Higher Rents, Constrained Supply The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) Research Foundation released a report, The Impacts of Rent Control : A Research Review and Synthesis, evaluating rent control policies that cap rents and are usually implemented with the goal of improving housing affordability. The literature review includes cases from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Monica (as well as other non-California cities) between 1972 and 2017. The report found that rent control and stabilization laws lead to a reduction in available rental supply, lead to higher rents in the uncontrolled market, do a poor job at targeting benefits, and cause overcrowding or renters to live in units that are too small, large, or not in the right location. Other findings were that significant fiscal costs are associated with implementing a rent control program and that rent-controlled buildings can suffer from deterioration or lack of investment. Instead of using rent control policies, NMHC suggests working with public and private stakeholders to come together and find ways to build more housing and reduce housing costs. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Geographic Economic Disparities Widen in California  Next 10 released three reports highlighting the deepening divisions in California’s economic prosperity, depending on residents’ income and where they live. The reports show job growth and wages has increased, low-income earners haven’t seen the same paycheck increases at a comparable pace. The first report, Current State of the California Housing Market, highlights the high cost of housing in the state and the slow housing construction rate. Most jurisdictions are far behind their RHNA housing goals. California Migration analyzes the main drivers for the over 1 million people who moved out of California between 2006 and 2016. As housing prices near an all-time high, low-paying workers are leaving the state for more affordable lives. The report, California Employment by Income, finds the average annual pay for those making under $27,000 has increased by only 17 percent while those making on average $55,000 have seen wages rise 29 percent. High-wage earners- those making an average of $83,000- saw 42.5 percent increases compared to ten years ago. The San Francisco-San Jose area saw the greatest growth in high-wage employment between 2007 and 2017, followed by San Diego, but the rest of the state’s major metro areas saw a decrease. U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Take Up Railroad Case The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case between the North Coast Railroad Authority and two environmental groups regarding plans to restore nearly 150 miles of railroad between Napa and Willits. The California Supreme Court ruled that the railroad restoration project must comply with state environmental laws, which the railroad authority argues the federal law preempts it from having to conduct state environmental reviews. The decision now goes back to lower court, which has to figure out how to implement the state Supreme Court’s decision. The case stemmed from a 2011 suit filed by Californians for Alternatives to Toxics and Friends of the Eel River, which contended that the original environmental impact report for the railroad was inadequate. The case may be moot as state legislation is pending that would turn the right of way into a hiking and biking trail.  Voters May Decide on $2 Billion Bond for Homelessness State. Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) is proposing a new ballot measure to redirect $2 billion on housing homeless Californians. This measure is a do-over for the 2016 measure that was passed by the Legislature to redirect $2 billion towards building homeless housing from a voter-approved 1 percent income tax surcharge on millionaires that funds mental health services. A Sacramento attorney sued and argued the move violated constitutional rules on approving loans without a public vote and that lawmakers shouldn't take money away from mental health treatment. This new version of the measure would go to voters in November. SB 1206 is schedule for its first hearing in the Legislature this week. It was co-authored by Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa). California Cities Lead Nation in Ethnic Inclusivity A new report published by the Urban Institute found smaller cities have become more racially and economically inclusive compared to larger cities. The report analyzed 274 of the country’s largest cities over three decades. While economic and racial inclusion do not always trend together, the report did note a correlation with economically healthier cities tending to be more inclusive than economically distressed ones. California cities Fremont, Daly City, Torrance, Santa Clara, Elk Grove, West Covina, Sunnyvale, and Carlsbad all made top ten for their overall inclusion efforts. San Bernardino and Fresno were the only California cities that made the bottom ten list for economic inclusion. Brookings Analyzes Sacramento Metro Economy The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program released an independent assessment of the economy of the six-county Sacramento region and examined the economic drivers of the region compared to national markets with similar characteristics. The report found that Sacramento region is relatively productive and prosperous, but the region has struggled over the past decade and is in the bottom-third of the 100 largest metro area in composite rankings measuring improvements in growth, prosperity, and inclusion. In order to take advantage of the changing market, the region must respond to globalization, technological change, demographic transitions, and declining national investment in economic growth and opportunity. Quick Hits & Updates The American Institute of Architects LA Chapter announced the winner of the competition to design the organization’s Mobile Center for Architecture and Design. Entry was open to students at architecture schools throughout the region. The winning design came from Woodbury University student Stephanie Green enables the AIA|LA to host a variety of activities within an eighteen-wheel truck. The Capsule “allows for the Mobile Center to be bigger than ‘just a container’ on the back of an eighteen-wheeler” observes past AIA|LA president Douglas Teiger. LA Metro released its draft Vision 2028 Plan end of April and is having a four-week public comment period. The Metro Vision 2028 document is the agency’s big picture plan to improve mobility in LA County over the next decade. The Metro Board will consider adopting the Plan at their meeting on June 28. San Diego City Council unanimously approved legislation that would shrink fees to build accessory dwelling units. The goal is to help alleviate a severe local shortage of affordable housing by incentivizing construction of more accessory units. San Diego only had 64 granny flat applications last November compared to 1,980 in LA, 583 in San Francisco, and 166 in San Jose. Fees to build granny flat units in San Diego ranged from $30,000 to $49,000 per unit. The new legislation lowers that by as much as 50 percent depending on a variety of factors. The leading contenders in San Francisco’s mayoral race signed a campaign challenge to secure 1,000 units of housing for homeless people in their first year in office. Tipping Point Community charitable organization issued the challenge. Angela Alioto, London Breed, Jane Kim, Mark Leno and Amy Farah Weiss all signed the pledge. LA City Council unanimously backed a proposed set of rules that would allow residents to host night-to-night rental only in their own homes, but bar the from renting out a house or apartments if it is not their primary residence. The rules must still be vetted by the Planning Commission, before the council can vote them into law. The City of San Jose reached a tentative deal with AT&T to allow the installation of about 170 small cell devices on streetlights. The city would receive $5 million in lease revenues from the carrier over the next 15 year. City Council will consider the proposal at the next meeting. The U.S. Navy released a map that would put large areas of the state off limits to future offshore wind farms , including all of San Diego and Los Angeles coastlines, extending up to the Central Coast. However, the military does not have the final say and federal and state officials, as well as wind energy companies and one member of congress, are working with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a more flexible plan. Anschutz Entertainment Group is advancing a $1.2 billion proposal to expand the LA Convention Center and the adjacent JW Marriott hotel. The center hasn’t been expanded since 1997 while San Diego and Anaheim invested in upgraded their facilities. The group is requesting tax incentives from the city for the project. Kanye West announced on twitter his plans to launch a new architecture arm called “Yeezy Home” that would include architectural and urban design. In the tweet, Kanye said he was calling for “architects and industrial designers who want to make the world better”. West says he was inspired by a recent visit to Los Angeles-based Southern California Institute of Architecture.  A long-awaited mixed-use project at Pier 70 in San Francisco broke ground last week. Work will begin immediately on the project which includes 1,100-2,150 residential units and more than 1 million square feet of commercial space, with local retail and services, arts and light industrial space on 28 acres. Phase one consists of four buildings, one park, new utilities, and two new streets connecting Dogpatch and the waterfront. According to data released by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, state taxes on legal marijuana sales in California are coming far short of projections. Approximately $34 million in the first quarter of 2018, about a third of the revenue that was anticipated. Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal predicated that $175 million would pour in from excise and cultivation taxes in the first six months. The figures reflect how difficult it is to set up a large regulated market when an illegal one already. Some jurisdictions have banned marijuana cultivation and sales altogether while others have dragged their feet in passing regulations, which are required before a state license can be issued.

That was fun, wasn’t it? Introduced as stentorian rejoinder to California’s anti-development voices in January and progressively muted into something resembling compromise by its third draft, Senate Bill 827 surely was not as awful as its critics contended nor as revelatory as its strongest supporters contended. It had big, possibly overstated goals and strategic flaws and surely would have been revised within an inch of its life had it not died in committee April 17. It was, in short, a typical legislative process. And yet, few land use laws captured the public imagination and animated the land use community the way SB 827 did in its three short months on this earth. I mean “imagination" literally. Opponents especially took to hyperbole and, occasionally, graphic design to vilify the bill. My favorite meme depicts Sen. Scott Wiener, the bill’s author, and Sonja Trauss, head of the YIMBY group San Francisco Bay Area Renters Federation, wearing business suits and odd ninja-esque hairstyles, pledging to invade new territories against a backdrop of endless apartment towers that appear ripped from Shanghai or Hong Kong. Other memes inexplicably depict Wiener ready to enter a dance-off against  John Travolta . I think we can all agree thatyou’ve really arrived in politics when your opponents equate you with disco. (Wiener praised the memes as “exceptionally gay.”)

Residents of San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood have filed a class action lawsuit against Tetra Tech Inc., the firm contracted by the U.S. Navy to rid the area’s former naval shipyard of radiation. The lawsuit, filed by attorney Charles Bonner on behalf of over 34,000 residents, is seeking $27 billion in damages for “blatant, conscious, callous disregard of Bayview Hunters Point residents live, born, and unborn”. Tetra Tech has recently come under fire for allegedly falsifying testing to suggest that the $1 billion cleanup effort, conducted mostly between 2006 and 2012, had proceeded properly. The property must be remediated in advance of the redevelopment of 500 acres, including over 10,000 homes, according to a master plan approved by the city in 2010. “Tetra Tech stands by its work at Hunters Point. Our work was done properly and to the standard required by the U.S. Navy,” accordingly to a company statement quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle  “We believe so strongly in the quality of our work that we have offered to pay for independent testing to demonstrate the false and misleading allegations, such as contained in this lawsuit, are wrong.” (See prior CP&DR coverage .) San Jose Sharks Sue over BART Construction Sharks Sports & Entertainment, parent company of the San Jose Sharks NHL team, is suing Bay Area Rapid Transit and Valley Transportation Authority alleging that they failed to adequately plan for construction impacts and lost parking near the SAP Center. The company’s President John Tortora said, “we are completely supportive of BART coming to San Jose” but is concerned about loss of parking and impacts from construction. Sharks representatives said the wrangling of single- versus double-bore tunneling methods and trying to obtain federal funding quickly, resulted in promises for a construction management plan without many details in the plan itself. VTA and BART are seeking $1.5 billion in federal grants, about one third of the $4.7 billion project cost. The lawsuit asks VTA rescind approval of the project and stop all work until it completes a clearer plan for managing the construction phase and proving it can provide adequate parking for BART riders. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said the city is planning Diridon and downtown “for people, not cars”, although he has not responded to this lawsuit. SACOG Approves ‘Green Region Plan' The Sacramento Area Council of Governments board approved the Green Region Plan , which outlines programs aimed at reducing vehicle emissions, and moving towards a zero emission future. The three goals are: bringing existing and new partners together to work on a cleaner regional transportation system, showcase region’s ability to come together and create a zero emission system that the state will help fund, and work with existing efforts at SACOG and around the region to create an equitable approach to meeting air quality and GHG goals. The five program areas are disadvantaged communities; personal vehicles; shared rides and vehicles; public and private microtransit and shuttles; and medium and heavy-duty fleets. Supreme Court Upholds Ruling Striking Down S.F. Eviction Law The California Supreme Court denied an appeal filed by tenants rights groups to overturn an ruling striking down an ordinance limiting evictions. The ordinance was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors and took effect in April 2016. Appellants include groups protect school employees, families with children, and childcare center workers from evictions during the school year in San Francisco. The law requires landlords to wait until summer before evicting families or school employees to remodel the property, convert it to a condominium, or demolish it. Supporters of the measure say most teachers could not afford to live in the city with the districts average income of $65,240 a year and one-bedroom apartments at the median rent of $3,500. The ordinance was in effect for less than five months before Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay overturned it, saying state law barred local governments from limiting the ground for eviction. Los Angeles’s Rent Burden Remains Worst in U.S. Los Angeles tops Forbes’s list of worst cities for renters in 2018. The average monthly price to rent an apartment was two-third higher than the national average and rent eats up 41 percent of the local median household income. Vacancy rates are low in LA, 3.8 percent, allowing landlords to raise rents at a much faster pace than in the rest of the country. San Francisco is second on the list with the average monthly price to rent an apartment at $3,288 which eats up 35 percent of the local median household income. Other California cities on the list are San Diego (fourth), Riverside-San Bernardino tied for fifth with Miami, San Jose eighth, Orange County ninth, 11 is Sacramento, and 13 is Oakland.  According to a survey released by the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, residents across LA County are increasingly anxious about the cost of living , with housing the top concern . This is especially apparent in younger residents who must live further from their work to have cheaper housing. The survey calculated the “quality of life index”, which in LA went down to 56 from 59 the year before. Cost of living was the lowest ranked of all nine categories. Quick Hits & Updates  The US Supreme Court has asked environmentalists who sued tech financier Vinod Khosla to respond to his appeal. This is the first sign that the highest court might take up Khosla’s attempt to block the public from Martins Beach and potentially rewrite the state’s Coastal Act. While this does not mean the court will hear the case, it is significant and increases the likelihood that the court will take it up. Four of the nine justices must agree to take up a case. The LA County Transportation Committee approved Metro’s plan to expand the bike share program in the city. The $17.5 million expansion plan would be over two years and add a total of 1,700 bikes in the greater downtown area and Westside. The cost would include capital, operations and maintenance. Around 22 new stations are planned for the USC area and communities along the Expo line. LA would pay 50 percent of the capital costs and 65 percent of the operations and maintenance costs. Chariot has been issued San Francisco’s first private transit operator permit according to SF MTA. Under the permit, Chariot must share GPS and passenger data with the city. The company has already changed about 100 drop-off/pick-up spots to legal curb spaces, and must relocate another nine percent of its 204 stop locations by late summer. MTA spokesman Ben Jose wrote in a blog post, the new permits ensure that private transit services “have minimal impact on public transit, implement business practices consistent with city policies and respond more effectively to the needs of our communities.” Los Angeles County won possession, through eminent domain, of a four-acre property in South Los Angeles  that has sat empty since the building burned down during the 1992 riots. The county argues the 16 parcels would accommodate affordable housing, boarding school, transit plaza and community-serving retail. The county has set aside $15.7 million in taxpayer money to obtain the land. However, neighbors of the vacant site say the county’s plan is overwhelming. San Diego State University provided details on how its proposed 35,000-seat stadium could be expanded to 55,000 seats and accommodate an NFL franchise. SDSU director of athletics John David Wicker said in a news conference, “ we knew we needed to ensure our Aztec Stadium site could accommodate an NFL venue should an owner want to build at SDSU Mission Valley”. While only four NFL stadiums are shared between NFL and college teams, Wicker said “it’s a discussion. It’s a negotiation, perhaps.” Proponents of an initiative to give residents the power to weigh in on large projects in Irvine failed to submit enough signatures by the deadline. Opponents of the initiative say it could hurt economic growth and slow down crucial developments in Orange County’s third largest city and employment hub. In 2013, the cost to move AT&T, PG&E, and other utilities out of the way of the High-Speed Rail section from Fresno to Madera counties was estimated at $25 million. The cost has ballooned to $400 million, according to a new analysis. The agency currently has three active construction contracts for the 119 miles between Madera to north of Bakersfield. This has increased the budget of this section of construction from $1.2 billion in 2013 to $1.5 billion today. The agency still has to acquire 607 of the 1,900 land parcels necessary for construction in Madera, Frenso, Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties. The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a permit that allows SpaceX to build and operate a facility at the Port of LA to develop its BFR rocket and spaceship system. The formal approval came days after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced SpaceX would build its next-generation rocket and spacecraft at the 19-acre site at the former Southwest Marine Shipyard at Berth 240. Production and fabrication of the rocket would begin in about two or three years. SpaceX will have an initial 10-year least at the port with rent around $1.38 million a year. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said he would consider extending rent restrictions in the city to cover newly build apartments if California voters repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act , which bans cities and counties from capping rent increases on apartments build after 1995. Garcetti said it “seems to be unjust” that tenants in newer buildings do not have the same protections from hefty rent increases. Republican activists have collected enough signatures for an initiative to repeal recent increases in California’s gas tax and vehicle fees and qualify the measure for the November ballot. The initiative targets a law approved last April that is expected to raise $5.4 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and improvements to mass transit. The money comes from a 12 cents per gallon increase in gas tax, 20-cent increase in diesel fuel excise tax, and a new annual vehicle fee ranging from $25 to $175. Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has proposed a gondola that would take passengers from Union Station to Dodger Stadium in five minutes.  The gondola would be one of several major infrastructure investments proposed by LA County that would not be built by Metro or funded by taxpayers. Frank McCourt’s investment firm would fund a portion of the project’s estimated $125 million cost and would seek private financing for the remainder.  Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters, “I am absolutely confident that this will happen. It’s not actually crazy.” According to a new report from nonprofit Circulate San Diego , the Metropolitan Transit System maintains hundreds of parking spaces at most of the trolley stops but some of the park-and-ride fields are only 30 percent full at peak hours. The report says MTS controls some 57 acres of prime developable land and could construct more than 8,000 homes. Circulate San Diego found the agency has not issued request for proposals in more than ten years. AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced it has purchased the historic King Edward Hotel on the edge of skid row as the next step in its initiative to provide affordable housing for homeless people. The foundation’s new homeless division will refurbish the hotel and lease its 150 rooms at rates as low as $400 per month. President Michael Weinstein said the project will demonstrate how homeless people can be housed quickly and at far lower costs than through the construction of housing program pursued by the city. The foundation’s goal is to open 10,000 units in five years. AHF backed Measure S, a slow-growth citywide ballot measure that failed last year. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) A report by consultants at Keyser-Marston found that rising construction costs related to a labor shortage and President Trump’s tariff plan may hinder high-density housing development in San Jose. The reports predicts rents would be even more unaffordable in order to make residential tower construction profitable for investors. Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo, told the Mercury News that the city might need to slash developer fees to counteract market forces. UrbanFootprint  has partnered with the State of California to offer over 500 California cities, counties, and regional agencies access to its cloud-based, city planning software. This partnership will give public agency planners, designers, and officials throughout California access to a comprehensive data library, advanced scenario planning capabilities, and real-time analysis modules built to evaluate plan impacts in terms of emissions, land consumption, water use, energy use, walking and transit accessibility, and more.

The California State Transportation Agency announced that $2.4 billion from increases in the gas tax and vehicle fees will be spent on dozens of transit projects statewide, including works to prepare Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics. The money will be divided between six Metro expansion projects, including light-rail extensions to Torrance and Montclair, speeding up Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink, and additional rapid transit service along congested corridors. In the Bay Area, the funds will help complete the BART line to San Jose and create new SamTrans express bus routes along the US 101 corridor. These funds are part of the $5.4 billion expected to be raised annually for road and bridge repairs and mass transit improvements that was approved last year by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown. However, Republican activists are preparing to file more than 830,000 signatures in an effort to qualify a measure for the November ballot that would repeal the 12-cents-per-gallon gas tax increase, 20- cent diesel fuel excise tax increase, and new annual vehicle fees. Audit Faults State’s Approach to Homelessness The Legislatives Analyst’s Office released an  audit finding the state’s response to homelessness needs to be improved. The audit was ordered last year in response to complaints from state Sen. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority was shortchanging the Antelope Valley in shelter funding. The report found “California has more people experiencing homelessness than any other state in the nation, and it does a poor job of sheltering this vulnerable population.” According to the audit, California did not have a single statewide entity for addressing homelessness and no mechanism for coordinating the many homeless programs that the state funds until recently. The recently created Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council has no permanent staff and the audit recommends the Legislature provide funds for a staff, including executive director, and direct the agency to develop and implement a statewide strategic plan by next April. Lung Association: Unhealthful Air Persists in California  According to the American Lung Association’s annual “ State of the Air ” report, eight of the nation’s ten most polluted cities are in California.  Los Angeles/Long Beach is the most ozone-polluted city, and has been for nearly the entire 19-year history of the report. Bakersfield was second on the list, Visalia-Porterville-Hanford third, Frenso-Madera frouth, and Sacramento-Roseville fifth. San Diego-Carlsbad came in sixth, Modesto-Merced seventh, and Redding- Red Bluff was ninth. The only non-California cities on the top ten list were Phoenix which was eighth and New York which came in tenth. While California has the most cities on the list, it also has the most stringent environmental regulations. However, the Lung Association says California has done more than any other state to counteract air pollution. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland were 13th on the list of most ozone-polluted cities, tenth on year-round particle pollution and sixth on short-term particle pollution.   UCLA Study Predicts Volatile Weather from Climate Change According to a new study released by researchers at UCLA, California should expect more dramatic swings between dry and wet years as the climate warms. The study warns that California’s volatile climate will become even more volatile as human-cause climate change tinkers with atmospheric patterns over the eastern Pacific Ocean. While the long-term average of annual precipitation in the state is unlikely to change much, there will be more extreme wet years and more really dry years. Such sudden wings between drought and intense storms will increase the threat to aging dams and flood-control networks, accentuate the wildfire threat and make management of the state’s complex waterworks even more daunting. The scientists found California will experience a 100-200 percent increase in very wet years by the end of the century. In Southern California, the frequency of extremely dry years is expected to rise 200 percent. Los Angeles Touts Progress on Green Goals The City of Los Angeles has released its third annual Sustainable City pLAn progress report at Los Angeles Business Council’s annual Sustainability Summit. The city had an 11 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2016 and created 6,464 green jobs, a 31 percent increase over last year. In the third year of the Sustainable City pLAn, the city has met or exceeded 55 of the 61 targets set for 2017 and two goals set for 2025. The city has an ambitious goal of a 45 percent reduction by 2025. The reduction in GHG emissions is largely due to a shift away from coal-powered energy, as well as an increase in renewable sources. The city also launched the BlueLA Electric Car Sharing Program, the nation’s largest EV car sharing program for underserved communities and secured $35 million in state funding for Watts from the Transformative Climate Communities grant program which will fund affordable housing, urban greening, emission-free transportation, and energy efficiency retrofits. Bay Area Cities Fare Well in Survey of Dog Parks; S. Calif Cities Do Not The Trust for Public Land released its annual city parks survey and found that dog parks are among the fastest growing park amenities in the combined parks systems of the 100 largest US cities. There are currently 774 dedicated dog parks in the 100 largest cities, an increase of 38 over last year. Oakland is 7th on the list with 3.8 dog parks per 100,000 residents (16 parks), San Francisco 8th with 32 parks (3.7 per 100,000 residents, Fremont 12th with 6 parks, Sacramento 17th with 11 parks (2.2 per 100,000 residents), Bakersfield and Long Beach were tied 19th with 2.1 per 100,000 residents.  Other California cities include Chula Vista (23), Fresno (34), San Diego (43), Stockton and San Jose (46). Towards the bottom of the list are Riverside and Anaheim (69), Irvine (84), Los Angeles (91), and Santa Ana (96). Forest Service Bans Extraction in San Gabriel Mountains The US Forest Service released a management plan that bans new oil, gas, mineral exploration and development in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. The plan prioritizes environmental protection over economic development, and even bans overnight camping along the East and North forks of the San Gabriel River and Aliso Creek Canyon due to the ecological toll. Rare and endangered species including mountain yellow-legged frogs, red-legged frogs and the Santa Ana sucker live in these “critical biological land use zones.” President Obama established the 346,000-acre monument four years ago. Quick Hits & Updates The Ninth Circuit court judges reaffirmed a lower court decision stating endangered wildlife would not be threatened by the housing development at Newhall Ranch and the EIR was properly administered. The Friends of the Santa Clara River and the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment filed a complaint in October claiming the US Army Corps of Engineers did not properly administer the development’s EIR. Grading for the project began late last year. Groundbreaking on construction for the project’s first two phases is scheduled to begin later this year. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Backers of the SoccerCity  proposal in San Diego filed a lawsuit saying the rival SDSU West Initiative is violating state law by misusing the SDSU name and earning a place on the ballot by “cynically tricking voters into signing the petition.” The suit argues that San Diegans have been led to believe that the SDSU West proposal has been sanctioned by the university and violates the state’s Education Code, Government Code and Elections Code by using the SDSU name for private development. Friends of SDSU called the lawsuit a “desperate attempt” to “eliminate voter choice” about the use of the stadium site. Oakland’s Port Commission is entering into exclusive negotiations with the Oakland A’s  for the second time in four years for the Howard Terminal as a possible ballpark site. The first step will be to do a feasibility analysis to address both the challenges and what would be required approvals from the State Lands Commission, Bay Conservation, Development Commission, and other regulatory agencies that have jurisdiction over the port.  (See prior CP&DR commentary .) San Francisco’s latest vision for Caltrain would alter the current alignment putting a new tunnel beneath Pennsylvania Avenue, starting at 25th  Street, to avert problematic street-level rail crossings at 16th S treet and Pennsylvania Avenue and Seventh Street and Mission Bay Drive. The $6 billion plan would take until 2027 to complete. A study, after over three years of work, will be released this week. An earlier version of the plan, proposed by then mayor Ed Lee, would have demolished a portion of I-280 and rerouted the train through Mission Bay to help grow the neighborhood. San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell announced the city is taking steps to become carbon-neutral by 2050. The first step is to plant 2,000 trees, which will cost roughly $4 million. Farrell says its imperative for cities to take up the mantle of climate stewardship because the federal government is reluctant to confront climate change or even directly acknowledge its existence. The city also announced that all public and private San Francisco Bay ferries and tour boats would shift to run on renewable diesel fuel made from organic matter to cut emissions by 22,000 metric tons a year. Murrieta City Council upheld its approval of spending $5,000 to join a coalition of other cities and counties for Revitalize California Cities Tax Increment Financing membership. The goal is to have the state return a portion of Redevelopment Funds that were taken away in 2011. Chula Vista’s Bayfront redevelopment has received the financial backing to begin its $1.1 billion hotel and convention center. Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego approved a development agreement, revenue-sharing plan and public subsidy for the project. Houston-based RIDA Development will put up $785 for the project, while the city and Port pay $343 million. Additionally the Port will forego ground lease revenues for 38 years, resulting in a $245 million subsidy. To fund their portion of the development, the city and Port created the Chula Vista Bayfront Financing Authority and will issue taxable and tax-exempt bonds. A Washington, D.C., Circuit Court panel upheld a lower court’s ruling denying a challenge to the proposed North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians’ plans to build a casino on Highway 99 north of Madera. The panel reaffirmed an earlier ruling that the Interior Department has the authority to take the land into a trust, and the project complied with federal laws. One of the major concerns of those opposed to the proposed casino is that it does not sit on a tribal reservation but is 35 miles away. San Diego leaders have said preservation of existing low-rent apartments is part of a new initiative to solve the city’s affordable housing crisis. Countywide, more than 1,200 subsidized apartments have been lost over the last 17 years because their government-sponsored ret restrictions expired. Another 2,400 apartments face the same risk over the next half decade, including 1,300 within the city. Executive Director of the San Diego Housing Federation, Stephen Russell, said, “preservation is inherently more cost-effective than building new housing. So we have to preserve the housing stock that is there and protect the existing public investment we’ve made.” However, vice president of the local chapter of the Building Industry Association says the city should remain singularly focused on increasing housing supply. The PolicyLink All-In Cities Anti-Displacement Policy Network is a group of city leaders finding solutions to improve affordability and reduce the burdens of evictions. The effort launched in late March and includes teams from ten U.S. cities, which met at the Summit in Chicago in mid April. San Jose is the only California city to participate. The Trump administration has approved a new oil well and small pipeline in the Carrizo Plain National Monument in an old oil well that has been slated for restoration. The conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, are challenging the approval and say the project falls short of the high environmental standards required to drill on protected lands. However, E&B Natural Resources Management Corp., an independent oil and gas company, says the oil field has been around for decades and is in a previously disturbed area which minimizes land disturbance and is an environmental best practice. Santa Ana City Councilmembers unanimously agreed to bring legal action to bring all 34 Orange County cities into a homelessness lawsuit under the jurisdiction of federal Judge David O. Carter, who has warned cities they need to expand homeless shelter options. The move would grant Carter the ability to follow through on his warnings about banning enforcement of anti-camping laws it city officials, especially south county city officials, don’t make progress in picking one or more shelter locations. Carter has repeatedly said Santa Ana has done its share to host emergency homeless shelters and services and its time for other cities to step up with a “proportional” share of services. The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has prepared minor updates to its Technical Advisory on Evaluating Transportation Impacts in CEQA. A copy of the April 2018 Technical Advisory is available at on OPR’s  Transportation Impacts (SB 743) webpage . OPR will continue to update the Technical Advisory as needed over time, and as more public agencies implement vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and provide real-world case studies.  The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority purchased an 11-acre plot of land near the Angeles National Forest for $4.4 million in state and other public funds. The land provides a critical natural habitat, and an idyllic backdrop to Sunland-Tujunga’s residential communities. Authority officials say they will halt illegal vehicle access onto the land, clean-up dumped trash, and begin studying what habitat restoration efforts are needed. The land will be preserved as publicly owned open space. The  California Air Resource Board  is holding several community meetings they are holding across the state through May 11 to seek public input for the upcoming revision of the  California Climate Investments  funding guidelines. CARB wants to ensure that the guidelines best fit the needs of the communities that would be using them. The  California State Coastal Conservancy  is soliciting applications for a new round of Climate Ready grants. The Conservancy seeks to support multi-benefit projects that use natural systems to assist communities in adapting to the impacts of climate change. Applications are due July 2.

Wary as I am of hyperbole, I reckon that Jeremy Stoppelman deserves five stars.  Stoppelman is the CEO of Yelp, the popular online rating website and app. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Stoppelman appeared on a panel last week alongside Sonja Trauss, of YIMBY group S.F. Bay Area Renters Federation, and State Senator Scott Wiener, still on the speaking circuit after the demise of his Senate Bill 827. Stoppelman was there to explicitly support SB 827 and to reaffirm his support for the YIMBY movement.  Stoppelman, whose company is based in San Francisco, knows that their wages have to correspond with their employees’ cost of living. If YIMBYs can get more housing built, companies like Yelp will indirectly benefit.  “You end up paying more,” said Stoppelman, as reported in the Chronicle. "That’s the most straightforward solution.” Last year, Stoppelman wrote a $100,000 check to SF-BARF. This donation got Trauss in trouble with some of her anticapitalist critics, who  complained  that she was just doing the bidding of big business. I’d like to think, though, that it’s the other way around: this is one instance in which business is doing the bidding of — or at least supporting — the common good.  Frustratingly, when it comes to housing, Bay Area Tech companies have a long, proud history of doing…. nearly nothing. After promoting some half-assed programs to assist employees, Facebook is just beginning to understand that its employees have to live somewhere in the real world with a proposed development in Menlo Park. Google is planning a campus in downtown San Jose, presumably with housing. As for Apple… they’re too busy polishing the doorknobs on their new headquarters to care about anything else that happens in Cupertino .  Meanwhile, down in Los Angeles, the B Team of Silicon Beach — including Snap, Hulu, and Dollar Shave Club -- has been similarly oblivious to the pot of rising rents that threaten to boil their employees alive.  Stoppelman called out his fellow tech giants directly the other night: "Google and Facebook have started to engage locally, Stoppelman said, and he’s surprised that “'more tech leaders weren’t paying attention to this problem as it was developing,’” according to the Chronicle. Not exactly damning criticism, but it’s a start.  All of this gets me thinking: What’s different about Yelp?  A few months ago at an event in Los Angeles on a similar topic, a speaker made a chilling observation: wherever they may be located, tech companies do not consider their neighbors to be their customers. People in Detroit buy automobiles. People in Pittsburgh buy ketchup. People in Rochester (used to) buy cameras. Even if a hometown customer base constitutes a small fraction of a company’s global base, local customers still tie companies to their respective locations. They humanize the business relationship.  What did this mean for cities? Involvement and largesse: everything from sponsoring Little League teams to funding museums (to, yes, tax breaks and political pressure). Say what you will about capitalism: baseball and art are OK by me.  What happens, though, when you don’t really have “customers”? Or, if you do, what if they come in the form of usernames and avatars, not corporeal humans? You end up with companies with all the civic spirit of a plague of locusts.  Yelp’s users come from the same faceless mass of bits and bytes that Facebook’s, Google’s, and Snap’s do. But, whereas those other companies seek to create their own “communities” online Yelp is one of the few tech companies whose product is linked, intrinsically and immutably, to the real world. (No offense to Pokémon Go.) Stoppelman spends most every waking moment figuring out not how to improve and monetize the online experience but rather how to improve (and, yes, monetize) the real-world experience. Particularly the urban experience.  Yelp has lent crucial support to independent businesses — the very businesses that help make cities vibrant, interesting places. I mean, if you’re going to Applebee’s, you’re not doing it because of a review. But if you’re in a new part of town, or a new town entirely, you probably turn to Yelp to find a nice place to get lunch, get your suit cleaned, or fix your computer. Cities thrive when Yelp works properly, and Yelp thrives when cities work properly.  I don’t want to psychoanalyze Stoppelman. But I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that his business sensibilities inform his urban sensibilities. For one thing, he’s in Oakland, not Silicon Valley. And anyone with urban sensibilities in coastal California knows that we need more housing. And the type of dense urban housing that YIMBY's often promote goes hand-in-hand with the local businesses that populate the upper reaches of Yelp's ratings. It stands to reason, then, that Stoppelman would keep his feet on the ground while others have their heads in the Cloud.  Now, whether the YIMBY approach is the right approach is open to debate. But let’s give Stoppelman credit for trying. And, though I know tech billionaires are supposed to be iconoclastic, with their black turtlenecks and all, I hope some of his counterparts will also try to raise their ratings as corporate citizens.  This article has been updated since its original publication.

Los Angeles Board of Building and Safety Commissioners tentatively signed off on a proof of concept tunnel for The Boring Company , a tunneling company based in the Los Angeles area and founded by engineer-entrepreneur Elon Musk. The proposed initial segment for the rapid transit tunnel to be built with the company’s highly touted tunneling technology will run 2.7 miles down Sepulveda Boulevard, north of Pico Boulevard until the intersection with Washington Boulevard in Culver City. City Councilmember Paul Koretz has introduced a motion, which was unanimously approved by the City Council’s public works committee, that would exempt the proof of concept tunnel is from CEQA and therefore the Bureau of Engineering could begin issuing permits. However, the public works committee recommended that the Boring Co. seek approval from Metro before digging can start. A memo from Metro CEO Phil Washington expresses skepticism about the project and asserts Metro’s jurisdiction over any such project. Construction of the proof of concept tunnel is expected to take nine months. A Boring Co. spokesperson said the tunnel would only be used for testing and would complete and EIR and secure all necessary permits before any passenger service begins. (See prior CP&DR  commentary .) San Francisco Groups May Invoke SB 35 in Tenderloin  Mission Economic Development Agency and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. submitted an application to invoke Senate Bill 35, which allows developers to skip expensive and lengthy environmental review in exchange for building a certain amount of affordable apartments. The proposed project is a 130-unit family housing project on 681 Florida Street, a site that was donated to the city as part of the community benefits package for a 195-unit, market rate development at 2000 Bryant Street. The developers must commit to at least 50 percent affordable units. Additionally, under HOME-SF passed last year, the developer will be able to build two extra stories in exchange for 44 additional units. This will be the third project in California to seek to invoke SB 35. (See prior CP&DR coverage here and here .)  Report Analyzes Mobility and Environmental Impacts of Shared-Mobility Technologies NRDC and Nutter Consulting released a report and recommendations “ Los Angeles Shared-Mobility Climate and Equity Action Plan ,” which studies whether technology-enabled shared mobility options, such as Uber, Zipcar and shared bikes and scooters are helping the environment while providing more accessible mobility options or adding more traffic and worsening air pollution and urban sprawl. The report presents a policy framework for how shared mobility can help cities reach their climate and equity goals. The research has six recommendations: (1) design shared-mobility programs and policies with and for underserved low-income communities; (2) manage city assets to prioritize walking, biking, public transit, and shared mobility over private vehicles; (3) electrify shared-mobility fleets and install ubiquitous charging infrastructure; (4) create seamless and widely accessible transit rider information systems, including payments and real-time transit data; (5) require that shared-mobility providers and the city exchange data; and (6) design system-wide shared-mobility policies and programs to enable the best environmental and social performance from all shared-mobility modes. For each of the recommendations is an action item such as eliminating minimum parking, creating an equity advisory committee, incentives, data gathering, and piloting a "Go Zone." Court Strikes Down S.F. Eviction Ordinance The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco struck down a San Francisco ordinance that requires landlords who evict their tenants and go out of the rental business to wait 10 years before rebuilding or renovating any of the formerly rented units, under the Ellis Act. This local law was enacted in December 2013 but the court said it penalizes property owners for exercising their rights under the Ellis Act and thus conflicts with California law. The lawyer who represented owners in the case said, “we’re hopeful that San Francisco will take heed of the decision… and be more respectful of the rights of small property owners.” Palo Alto Adopts Zoning to Facilitate Affordable Housing Palo Alto City Council approved , 7-2, the creation of an “Affordable Housing Combining District”, a new zoning designation that will loosen development standards for affordable-housing projects, granting them greater density, higher heights, and less stringent parking regulations. These new developments would be located near transit. The Council also voted to go with the broader definition for affordable that would apply to residents who make up to 120 percent of area median income ($102,000 for a two-person household) instead of the more restrictive 60 percent AMI. Each affordable housing project would still need to be reviewed by the City Council on an individual basis before receiving approval. According to a citizen group focused on expanding housing and transportation options, Palo Alto Forward, the city has not approved any affordable housing since 2009. The ordinance currently only applies to commercial zones where 100-percent affordable housing were not allowed in the past. San Francisco Starts to Regulate Scooters San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance that requires motorized scooters to obtain a permit to be parked on a sidewalk. The ordinance created by Sup. Aaron Peskin allows SFMTA to create rules for the stand-up vehicles unceremoniously dropped in the city last month by LimeBike, Bird and Spin. While some people praised the scooters as environmentally conscious alternatives to cars, others have said they are dangerous, clutter the sidewalks, and that tech companies are unfairly using public roadways to run a business. Earlier this month, the city’s Department of Public Works impounded dozens of scooters in response to complaints that they were blocking sidewalks and building entrances, and creating a hazard for pedestrians, especially those in wheelchairs. City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent a cease-and-desist letter to each of the companies, calling their scooters a “public nuisance.” (See prior CP&DR commentary .) Hunters Point to Become ‘Incubation Zone’ for New Tech Businesses San Francisco’s Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure unanimously approved a comprehensive reimaging of the 400-acre former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard project as an “incubation zone” with a hotel, schools, and maker spaces. The city commission assumed oversight of the property in 2011 after Gov. Jerry Brown abolished local redevelopment agencies. The new plan will make the shipyard more diverse and eclectic neighborhood than originally envisioned. The plan by developer FivePoint would increase housing from 10,500 to 10,672 units and would add a 120-room hotel, two or three educational institutions, a building for micro manufacturers, and would preserve several historic buildings that had been slated for demolition.  The vote took place even as the U.S. Navy has admitted that the $1 billion clean up of the Superfund site was done incorrectly with widespread fraud and cheating. The proposal still needs approval from the Board of Supervisors, who will most likely consider it this fall. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Feds Tie $1.4 Billion in Rail Funds to Safety The Federal Transit Administration took the unusual step of issuing a public warning to California and 29 other states of a looming deadline for those states to prove they have complete programs to oversee and promote rail safety. Without meeting the safety requirements, California is at risk of losing at least $1.4 billion in federal train funds next year. Several national Amtrak crashes recently have highlighted the push for more safety. Officials with the State Public Utilities Commission, which oversees train safety in California, says they are finalizing the application and hope to submit to the federal government next month. California is second behind New York with the most to lose funding-wise. The deadline for meeting the safety requirements is April 15, 2019. SPUR Launches Regional Planning Initiative in Bay Area San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) is launching a major new project: the development of a regional strategy for the Bay Area. The organization is working with groups such as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Facebook, Genentech, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Sage Foundation, and Stanford University to “ask an important set of questions, engage the civic community and propose bold ideas that will define the public conversation over the coming years.” SPUR will develop a Regional Strategy for the Bay Area over the next three years through research, scenario planning, and analysis from SPUR policy staff and a team of consultants. The final product will attempt to advance a coherent vision of what the Bay Area can be in 2050 and a set of strategies to realize that vision. Quick Hits & Updates California Association of Realtors announced it has submitted almost a million signatures for a stationwide initiative aimed at expanding Prop. 13 for senior homeowners to qualify for November’s ballot. Election officials must verify the petitions to make sure they contain the required 585,000 voter signatures required. If approved, the Prop. 13 “portability” measure would allow homeowners over 55 to take their low property tax base with them after selling their home and buying a new home anywhere in the state. There would be no limit on how many times they can use the provision and no limit on home prices (although buying a more expensive home would result in a slightly higher “blended” tax assessment). Bay Area venture capitalist Tim Draper says he has received enough signatures to qualify dividing California into three states on the November ballot. The CAL 3 campaign plans to deliver the 600,000 plus signatures, which Draper says represents all 58 counties, next week. Only 365,880 signatures are required by state law to get the initiative on the ballot. The Northern California state would be the entire northern portion north of Monterey, California would include Monterey County to the Orange County border, Southern California would include central California and the counties surrounding LA County. Officials from nonprofits and public agencies met for the first time recently to begin updating the LA River Master Plan from 1996. However, some people are wondering why an update is required. The goal would be to have one unified plan for the whole river. The committee will meet seven more times and hold nearly two dozen subcommittee meetings to focus on specific aspects of the river from now to December 2019, when a draft review of the master plan update is expected to be made public. The California Association of Counties selected one of its own key staff members to serve as its new Executive Director. Graham Knaus served as Deputy Executive Director or Operations and Member Services for the past three years. CSAC is the voice of California’s 58 counties at the state and federal level. The High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Authority, in charge of multimodal transportation links between Victor and Antelope valleys, has been studying extending Metrolink service from Palmdale to Victorville. Potentially, stations would be built in Adelanto and Victorville. Currently, an ambitious 63-mile connection between the two adjacent valleys with a four lane in each direction toll freeway is under construction. However, XpressWest, the privately funded high-speed rail would bridge Las Vegas and Victorville, and later Los Angeles. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) The California Coastal Commissions supported Santa Cruz’s cap on short-term rentals, 8-2. The new rules would cap hosted rentals at 250 and phase out non-hosted rentals for vacationers in the city. Santa Cruz currently has about 330 short-term rentals with permits, half hosted with the owner on the premises and half non-hosted. An AirDNA report prepared for the city estimates 1,000 units have been listed on Airbnb at some point, with the state agency estimating “roughly 600” short-term rentals in the city. California Coastal Commission staff called the proposal a ban, and recommended the commissioners reject the proposal. UC Davis has released an updated Long Range Development Plan and Draft EIR. The DEIR assess the potential environmental impacts of the proposed plan along with new housing projects and is available for public comment through end of May. Since 2015, the university has had extensive public outreach through forums, events and the “Campus Tomorrow” website. A public hearing to take comments about the report will be held May 3. The plan creates capacity for an additional 8,500 students, with two million square feet of additional classrooms, research labs, administrative and support space, as well as two new housing projects with approximately 5,200 beds. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inspector General has announced it will audit the $3.5 billion in federal grant money awarded to California’s high-speed rail project. State auditors are currently conducting a review on the $77 billion project. The inspector general’s office did not provide a timeline for when the federal audit will be completed. The federal money awarded to the state comes with specific conditions that the Authority’s new CEO Brian Kelly has promised to meet. These include completing a 119-mile segment of track now under construction in the Central Valley and finishing environmental reviews for the full line by 2022. San Luis Obispo City Council began reviewing proposed new zoning laws currently under draft by city staffers with input from the Planning Commission. The vision for SLO is a denser city with smaller-sized and tiny homes, rooftop decks and more bikers and walkers. The city is concerting new development to its interior areas while preserving green spaces on the outskirts. The new policy would be the city’s first zoning update in 15 years as it moves towards its estimated population of about 57,000 by 2035. The city currently has about 46,000 people. Union City and county officials are voting to divert $75 million in funds earmarked for a new BART station to build a new, wider road instead. The complex 3-mile roadway project is expected to cost upwards of $320 million and comes as city officials contemplate declaring a fiscal emergency and asking residents to raise their taxes to cover basic city services. City officials say the new road is critical for the station- and the proposed development around it- to thrive. San Francisco’s Capital Planning Committee voted unanimously to put a $425 million bond measure to kick-start vital repairs to the city's seawall on the November ballot. The proposed general-obligation bond measure needs to be approved y the Board of Supervisors before going before voters. If the bond measure wins a two-thirds approval from voters, the money raised would fund the majority of the first round of planning, construction and repair work on the seawall. A poll conducted earlier this year found that 73 percent of voters would support a bond for seawall improvement. The owner of the Mall of America is negotiating to acquire the 47-acre site of the former rocket-engine manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne in LA’s West Valley. The property is expected to sell for approximately $150 million and would be developed as an urban neighborhood with 3,950 residential units, office space, shops, restaurants, and a 210-room hotel. The California Coastal Commission wrote two letters to the City of Del Mar emphasizing that "managed retreat" must be one of the tools in the toolbox in dealing with sea-level rise. The city has decided to include “managed retreat” as a last-resort option despite widespread objections from homeowners. Managed retreat is a term that describes planning for ways to remove homes, roads, public buildings, and other structures from the path of the rising sea. The idea is controversial in Del Mar, where hundreds of multimillion-dollar homes are built near sea level on the northern end of town near the beach and San Dieguito River. Residents of the city prefer a combination of beach replenishment, sand retention, and flood management projects. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed $91 million to fund Vision Zero , an initiative to eliminate traffic-related deaths in the city by 2025. Garcetti is releasing the budget this week, but revealed during a City Hall news conference that he has tripled the amount that was budgeted for the program last year.  (See prior CP&DR commentary here and here .)

Nobody expected Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB 827 to bite the dust so quickly. The controversial bill overriding local zoning power around transit stations had received so much publicity nationwide that everybody thought it had legs, even if Wiener had to amend it pretty significantly to get it through. Jonathan Chiat in New York magazine talked about how the bill was “the great test for progressive politics”; it even got some publicity in Houston. Indeed, just two weeks ago, I told the assembled planning commissioners of California at a League of California Cities event in Monterey that they had to get ready because “something like” SB 827 was coming down the pike. And yet we were all wrong. The bill failed its first committee test this week and now it’s dead for this year at least. There will be a lot of post-mortems as to why this happened. But the important question is: Will SB 827 – or something like it – be back next year? And if so, what are the odds of its success? I can’t say for sure what a future SB 827 – or a package of bills designed to promote housing – might look like. But I will say this: In the last two years, Wiener has succeeded in transforming the entire policy debate about housing in California. He’s done it by taking a well-documented issue that nobody wanted to face and moving it forward with provocative bills that nevertheless seems to have a chance of passing. His SB 35 last year passed in part because it was part of a larger package of housing bills and because – though it encompassed the same general idea of overriding local zoning to build housing – it was more limited in scope. As we documented not long ago, SB 35 has already given developers more leverage in both Berkeley and Cupertino . But SB 35’s success, coupled with SB 827’s failure, points to a couple of strategies that seem to increase likelihood of success for a local override bill. The first is limiting the override to affordable housing. And the second is tethering the override to the housing element. Developers can use SB 35 only in cities that have not met their production goals under the housing element – though, practically speaking, this means virtually all cities in the state . That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on Wiener’s other major bill – SB 828, which would essentially require cities to double the amount of housing they zone for in order to account for the existing shortage of some 2 million housing units across the state. (Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times recently provided an excellent overview of the bill.) Unlike SB 827, SB 828 is still alive. It may be just nerdy and obscure enough to pass – and that will change the world of housing even more, at least for local government planners around the state.

The San Diego Association of Governments agreed to settle the remainder of a lawsuit challenging the environmental review of its 2050 Regional Transportation Plan adopted in 2011. SANDAG prevailed at the California Supreme Court on a key issue of the dispute, but has now agreed to pay $1.7 million attorney’s fees to the plaintiffs (Cleveland National Forest Foundation, Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and others). San Diego Forward: The Regional Plan and its EIR in 2015, has superseded that plan and has received no legal challenges. In March 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, focusing on the issue of whether the EIR for a regional transportation plan must include an analysis of the plan’s consistency with the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in Executive Order No. S-3-05 to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act. In the ruling released last summer, the court concluded that SANDAG properly conducted the GHG analysis in the environmental review and “sufficiently informed the public, based on the information available at the time, about the regional plan’s greenhouse gas impacts.” Los Angeles County Faces Loss of 11,000 Affordable Units According to a draft report released by the California Housing Partnership Corporation, Los Angeles County is at risk of losing roughly $3 billion worth of affordable housing over the next five years. The report found 11,000 units countywide that are at risk from being converted from affordable housing to regular apartment rentals. Many of the apartments that are in areas that are gentrifying or close to transit, have found landlords more willing to opt to get out of the affordable housing business, especially as properties age and become more expensive to maintain. However, with Prop HHH, 24 projects with 1,800 units have been approved so far which will construct more affordable units. LA City Council recently approved a linkage fee with the money going into an affordable housing fund. Federal resources are disappearing, specifically low-income housing tax credits. According to CHPC President Matt Schwartz, LA County saw a 21 percent decline in tax credit funding for new affordable housing developments in 2017. CHPC is expected to present recommendations to the LA County Board of Supervisors and lobby the state legislature and governor’s office for more investments in affordable housing. Big City Mayors Clamor for State Funds to Combat Homelessness Mayors from California’s 11 biggest cities have formed a coalition to  lobby in Sacramento for Assembly Bill 3171, which would allocate $1.5 billion from the state budget to cities addressing the growing homelessness crisis. California’s homeless population is around 134,278 according to 2017 statewide counts- and increase of 16 percent from 2015. Many cities across the state are using money from their own general funds and voter–approved ballot measures to provide shelter and services, but are asking for state funding. AB 3171 was authored by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and is scheduled for its first legislative hearing before the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee on April 25. Some of the cities included are San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Sacramento, and San Francisco. SANDAG Study Projects Major Housing Shortfall SANDAG officials  unveiled estimates they’ll use to update the region’s growth forecast and found the county will fall 152,000 homes short of what it will need by 2050 even if San Diego cities build all the housing they expect to allow over the next three decades. SANDAG staff concluded city and county plans permit 357,000 more units between now and 2050, falling far short of the 509,000 additional homes SANDAG estimates the region will need.  SANDAG conducted an analysis of existing housing stock in San Diego County and found about 57,000 homes, or nearly five percent of the total stock in the region, are either vacation or second homes, and are often vacant. These types of homes can exacerbate the housing crisis because they are unavailable to people who work and live in the region, or would like to. This is part of the county’s regional planning agency effort to project how many homes the region needs to build by 2050 to keep up with demand. The new analysis suggests the county has nearly double the number of homes unavailable to residents than it has been able to permit over the last three years. The research relied on census tract-level vacancy rate estimates from the 2010 census, population projections from the state Department of Finance, and regional land use information from the San Diego County Assessor’s Office.  Settlement Reached over Amador County General Plan  After nearly two years of litigation, the Foothill Conservancy and the County of Amador settled over the terms of the county’s General Plan. Under the settlement, the county will consider code amendments to better protect homes from wildland fire areas; reduce likelihood of agricultural lands conversion; preserving wildlife, aquatic resources, and water quality; require applicants for commercial projects of 5,000 square feet or more to conduct an economic impact analysis; as well as ordinances to protect rural scenic quality along county roads, establish design standards to protect community character, and limit light pollution. Google’s Downtown San Jose Plans Taking Shape  A top company executive at Google  told the Mercury News that the company is nearing ownership of enough downtown San Jose properties and parcels to create a “viable” transit-oriented development near Diridon train station. At the recent meeting of the Station Area Advisory Group, the first major presentation of its development philosophies and plans were shown. Google and its development ally Trammell Crow have spent at least $221.6 million buying properties on the western edge of downtown San Jose, beginning north of the SAP Center and reaching south nearly to I-280. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Quick Hits & Updates The Town of Windsor approved, 4-1, its 2040 General Plan update, General Plan EIR, and Statement of Overriding Considerations. The EIR revealed two impacts that were significant and unavoidable: agriculture and transportation/ traffic. If fully built out, the General Plan would result in conversion of farmland however the loss of land is less than was written into the previous 2015 General Plan. California Supreme Court justices unanimously denied a ruling by a state appeals court that said Oakland was violating a state law, enacted in 2010, that requires cities to set up independent appeals boards to hear property owners’ challenges to their penalties, or let their City Council itself hear the appeals. The court said the state law was intended to direct a property owner’s appeals “outside the enforcing agency” rather than having them heard by an officer chosen by the “very enforcing agency whose decision is being appealed.” A coalition of environmentalists, including the Sierra Club, has filed a complaint with state water officials seeking to force the Santa Clara Valley Water District to protect endangered steelhead trout in the Guadalupe River. The group is claiming SCVWD has not released enough water from its dams into the creeks that feed the Guadalupe and that the concrete barrier the district built on the upper river roughly 50 years ago to diver water to recharge underground aquifers is killing the fish. Superior Court Judge Joanne O’Donnell overturned the City of Los Angeles's approval of a 27-story apartment tower in Koreatown and is ordering a full environmental impact report for the 269-unit residential project. Judge O’Donnell says more study is needed to assess the tower’s effect on traffic, public safety services, and land use patterns. In the four-page ruling, O’Donnell wrote the city did not obtain input from the city’s police and fire departments and the school district,  Caltrans, and other agencies expressed concerns about car trips generated by the project. San Luis Obispo City Council unanimously passed a new policy that will increase development fees for larger-scale homes but drop for smaller buildings. The new general cutoff for fee reductions is homes built under 1,400 square feet, though fees related to water and wastewater are lowered for homes under 1,200 square feet. Under the existing fee program, two new single-family homes of 1,100 square feet and 1,800 square feet would both be charged $38,617. The city’s new development impact program is expected to generate $146 million. According to a Chapman University poll, 59 percent of Orange County residents support rent control , which is a major disconnect between local attitudes and laws. Only one of OC’s 34 cities, San Juan Capistrano, has any form of rent control, and its limited to mobile homes. The rest of the local city councils have repeatedly rejected calls for rent control in recent years. Urban land Institute Los Angeles has named Marty Borko its new executive director. Borko left his post as principal at Gensler architects in LA to command the day-to-day working and long-range planning of one of ULI’s largest and most active regional chapters. The City of San Diego has purchased a former indoor skydiving facility for $7 million. The three-story downtown building will be re-outfitted as a “housing navigation center” to help connect homeless people with supportive services. The 26,000 square foot center is part of a multi-pronged, multi-jurisdictional response to the housing crisis in the region. If everything goes according to plan, the center will open August 1. The Coastal Commission is poised to approve a $1.45 million settlement with the owner of an oceanfront apartment complex in Pacifica that the agency says failed to properly maintain a seawall and public access stairs to the beach, then illegally graded a public beach and covered it with giant boulders. Under a state law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014, the commission was given the authority to issue fines of up to $11,250 a day for people who block public access to California’s beaches. Alameda County supervisors agreed to negotiate the sale of their share of the Coliseum complex to the City of Oakland in the hopes of keeping the A’s in the city. Because the city controls land use at the site, supervisors say it makes sense for Oakland to become the sole owner and bargain with the A’s for the property. In addition to keeping the A’s in Oakland, supervisors hope the sale of the Coliseum will spur development around the area. Los Angeles lawmakers tentatively backed new rules that would bar residents from renting out a house or apartment to night-to-night guests if it is not their primary residence. This rule is meant to prevent homes from being turned into “de facto hotels."  The draft regulations would also cap rentals at 120 days annually, but hosts could get city permission to exceed the cap if they are in good standing.  MTC, Muni, BART, Golden Gate Transit, and Caltrain are proposing a 20 percent discount to low-income riders in an effort to make public transportation fares more affordable. If the plan is enacted, anyone with an annual income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level: $24,280 for a single person, $32,920 for a couple of $50,200 for a family of four would be offered the discounted fares. The proposal will be discussed at the next MTC committee hearing. Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a $4.9 billion elevated train that will bring passengers in and out of Los Angeles International Airport 's central terminal area and carry them to a car rental facility, ground transportation hub, and a station on the Metro Crenshaw Line. The project will break ground this year and is expected to being service in March 2023. Oyster Point Development CEO Chau Wu asked that its application to add housing to a previously approved project in San Francisco be put on hold. The proposal to build as many as 1,200 housing units on the waterfront at Oyster Point faced opposition from South San Francisco’s powerful biotech industry. Genentech and the California Life Sciences Association has argued that the two uses--life sciences and housing--are incompatible and adding several thousand residents could hamper the research and development.

With essentially the entire state talking about — and arguing over — Senate Bill 827, Sen. Scott Wiener  released  Version 3.0 yesterday with some major updates.   SB 827  rose meteorically from the Statehouse the first week of January with a bold proposal to up-zone vast swaths of urban California in order to alleviate the state’s housing crisis. Designed to promote transit oriented infill development, the original bill defined transit zones broadly, allowed overly large buildings, and seemed to override local zoning. Critics also characterized it as a blank check to market-rate developers, without regard for concerns about displacement and social justice.   History will judge whether Wiener went too aggressive too soon. In an  interview  with CP&DR six weeks ago, Weiner insisted that he always intended to amend SB 827 and that the first version was just a start. His  first revision  suggested that he’d taken much of the feedback to heart, and the third version – downscaled like a high-rise in the gunsights of neighborhood opponents – does more of the same.   Wiener’s new provisions include the following:   Affordable Housing Requirements:  Previous versions of SB 827 allowed cities to impose inclusionary requirements or other regulations to promote affordable, subsidized housing. The new version requires inclusionary housing, even if a city does not already have such a provision. Weiner has based the inclusionary requirements on existing Density Bonus Law.  Restrict Demolitions : Responding to concerns about displacement, SB 827 would forbid demolition of any building that has had an Ellis Act eviction within the previous five years.  No Net Loss : Projects built under SB 827 may not decrease the stock of affordable units; developers must offer a right-of-return to any tenants displaced by construction.  Height Restrictions : Some critics of SB 827 published doctored photos showing endless banks of high-rises, apparently lifted from photos of Hong Kong or Shanghai, superimposed on California cities. In reality, SB 827 allowed buildings of up to eight stories (possibly more, with density bonuses), but that has been cut to 55 feet around rail and ferry stations, with no mandatory height increases around bus lines. The revision still allows for increased density and decreased parking.  Redefining Qualifying Bus Stops : The original SB 827 defined “transit” so broadly as to cover vast swaths of many cities. Critics contended not only that it would lead to overdevelopment but also noted an important nuance of bus service: service levels can change. The revision defines headways that qualify.   Delayed Implementation : The provisions of SB 827 would not go into effect until 2021.  Parking Minimums and Transit Passes : The revision fiddles with parking minimums to allow cities to require a certain amount of parking beyond a quarter-mile radius of a major transit stop. It also requires developers to provide residents with transit passes — possibly a strong enticement for them to use transit, but also an expensive amenity for developers.  Square Footage : Projects must dedicate at least two-thirds of their square footage to residential uses.   The big question remaining is whether stakeholders who were turned off by the original bill — some of them calling it tone-deaf, some of them calling it much worse — can be swayed. While SB 827 has had vocal supporters, including individuals and organizations in the YIMBY movement and  planning scholars  from around the country, it has also roused serious organized opposition from social justice organizations, tenants rights groups, and even environmental groups such as the presumably pro-infill  Sierra Club . The city councils of both Los Angeles and San Francisco  (where Wiener was a city/county supervisor) have voted on and proclaimed their opposition to the bill.   Typically, bills get negotiated quietly in Sacramento, among lawmakers and only the most interested stakeholders. Very few receive this sort of public attention, so it remains to be seen whether this more nuanced version of SB 827 will drive the discussion forward or simply give the sides more to howl about. As well, it remains to be seen whether Weiner’s staunchest YIMBY supporters will weaken their resolve in the face of what could be considered watered-down bill.   SB 827 is scheduled to receive its first public hearing April 17. This article has been updated since is original publication.

The American Planning Association announced five National Planning Excellence Awards and sixteen National Planning Achievement Awards , six of which went to people or programs in California. The late Margarita Piel McCoy won the Planning Excellence Award for Pioneers. She was the first woman appointed to a full ventured position in planning at a major university and the first department chair, at Cal Poly-PomonaT The award for Best Practice-Gold went to the Spanish Planning Committee (SPC) for the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. The SPC consists of 16 planners who routinely review and translate documents and provide live interpretation services during public hearings and community meetings. The Best Practice-Silver went to San Francisco’s Accessory Dwelling Unit and Unit Legalization Program. Because of the San Francisco program, ADUs cost on average one-third of a typical unit in new development, and ADU owners can recoup the costs in a few years. Since March 2018, 1,200 new ADUs were in the housing pipelines. Sea-Level Marin Adaptation Response Team from the Marin County Community Development Agency won Gold for Environmental Planning for a board game and community outreach related to climate change. San Francisco’s Street Air won Gold for a Grassroots Initiative, which was led by three high school students that studies street design and air pollution levels on Columbus Avenue in downtown SF that led to a short documentary film. The City of San Jose was awarded Silver for its Public Outreach in the creation of a video tutorial, "Designing an Addition to Your Single-Family Residence.”  Environmentalists Sue Trump Administration to Protect Waterways The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the Trump Administration for violating the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act that was passed more than nine years ago by Congress. The Act requires the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to draw up plans for designated waterways that won’t impede water flows, protects plants and animals from harm, and provides recreational opportunities. About 100 miles of these waterways are in Inyo, Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. According to the Act, the managing agency must develop a plan for managing the rivers within three years. The lawsuit is focusing on eight rivers in Southern California and claims the agencies “unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed” compliance with the law. The following waterways all received wild and scenic designations from Congress: Amargosa River in Inyo and San Bernardino counties; Owens Headwater and Cottonwood Creek in Inyo, Piru Creek in Ventura County; North Fork of San Jacinto River, Fuller Mill Creek, and Palm Canyon Creek in Riverside County; and Bautista Creek near Hemet. U.S. Sues California to Lift Restrictions on Sale of Federal Lands The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit in Sacramento suing to reverse a state law that seeks to keep the federal government from selling any of the 45.8 million acres of property it controls in the state. The lawsuit is the latest effort from the federal government to roll back California’s strict environmental protections as the Trump administrations plans to open more lands in the west for mining, drilling, and other interests. In October, after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced plans to cut protections for 10 national monuments in the state, California legislators passed a law, the Public Lands Protection Act, that gives the state lands commission the power to block the sale, donation, or exchange of federal lands. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, “The Constitution empowers the federal government- not state legislatures- to decide when and how federal lands are sold.” However, author of the bill Sen. Benjamin Allen (D- Santa Monica), argues the law didn't actually prevent any sales, just that the state wouldn't recognize the deed of sale as legal unless the Lands Commission approved it. Allen said, “We’re not trying to seize the land, we’re not trying to take the land. Ninety-nine percent of the land sales the federal government wants to do will be just fine. What we want to do is protect against the more extreme cases that have been threatened.” Last month, the Trump administration sued to block three California state laws saying they were an unconstitutional attempt to thwart enforcement of federal immigration laws. Study Lauds Fruitvale Station TOD for Promoting Social Equity Researchers from UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Initiative issued a study contending, among other findings, that the Fruitvale BART station is a prime example of successful transit-oriented development without resulting in gentrification . In the mid- 1990s the Spanish-speaking community development organization, Unity Council, opposed the plans to place a parking garage adjacent to the Fruitvale station and after a decade of debate, ultimately ended up taking over the project’s development. The transit village now is home to a charter high school, senior center, public library, pediatric clinic, union office, Clinica de la Raza, restaurants, housing, and a weekly farmers market. The study from UCLA identified 12 other census tracts in the Bay Area and 12 elsewhere in California with similar demographic composition, household income, and average rent in 2000 before the transit village was constructed. Using the census data, they looked at how those neighborhoods changed in 15 years. Fruitvale saw higher growth in household incomes compared to similar neighborhoods in both the Bay Area and the state, along with more residents graduating from high school, and getting bachelors degrees. Over the 15 year period, Fruitvale lost only one percent of its Latino population, four percent of its black residents, less than one percent of its white residents, while gaining six percent of new Asian residents. Rents in Fruitvale increased higher than the Bay Area on average, with an 83 percent increase, compared to 71 percent in similar Bay Area neighborhoods, and 66 percent in similar California neighborhoods outside the area. Cap-and-Trade Annual Report  California Climate Investments released its 2018 Annual Report to the Legislature of Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds. The Annual Report describes the status of funded programs and lists the projects funded. The report highlights AB 398 which clarifies the continuation of the Cap-and-Trade Program post 2020 and that the Legislature has appropriated nearly $6.1 billion to State agencies from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). The document highlights the thirty programs that received monies from the fund. The report highlights projects such as the Urban Forestry Outreach in Imperial Valley and the UC Cooperative Extension to Technical Assistance to Farmers in Fresno County. Nearly $615 million or 31 percent of cumulative implemented funds have been awarded to projects located in disadvantaged communities and 51 percent of funds (over $1 billion) to projects benefiting disadvantaged communities. San Diego Initiates Update of Parks Master Plan City of San Diego officials launched a three-year effort to update the parks master plan for the first time since the 1940s. The goal for the plan will follow the “smart growth” shift of adding density to existing neighborhoods rather than allowing sprawl outwards. The new plan will re-evaluate how many acres of parkland each neighborhood needs and to distribute parklands more equitably across communities and income levels. The definition of park will likely be loosened to include urban plazas, hiking trails, and some open space areas. City officials say San Diego has approximately 6,200 acres of regional parks and beaches, 3,000 acres of community and neighborhood parks, and an additional 27,000 acres of preserved open space areas. The city also has 57 recreation centers, 17 off-leash dog areas, 13 aquatic complexes, seven skateparks, and three municipal golf courses. However, a recent survey from the Trust for Pubic Land found 23 percent of residents live farther than a 10-minute walk from a local park or recreational facility. Quick Hits & Updates The San Francisco Planning Commission is slated to certify the EIR for the Central SoMa Plan on April 12. The Commission could then immediately vote to approve the plan and recommend its adoption to the Board of Supervisors, but an attempted appeal is likely to occur. The plan, as proposed, raises the proposed height limits for numerous neighborhood parcels, add an additional 7,500 units of housing, and enough office space for an additional 45,000 workers. The California Transportation Commission has adopted its 2018 State Transportation Improvement Program , which will fund over $3 billion in transportation improvements, including new capacity projects over the next five years. More than $2 billion of these funds come from the stabilization of gas tax revenue from the Road Repair and Accountability Act. California Transportation Commission also adopted the 2018 State Highway Operation and Protection program. The four-year program dedicated almost $18 billion for repairs, safety improvements and operational improvements to the State Highway System. A coalition of citizen groups in Santa Ana filed paperwork last week to put rent control on the city’s November ballot. If the filing complies with the city requirements, Santa Ana will become the seventh city in California, and the fifth in Southern California, where citizens are circulating petitions seeking to limit rent hikes and requiring justification for issuing eviction notices to tenants. Statewide, a ballot drive to repeal the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Act is also underway. The City of Santa Ana has created a panel of landlord and tenant advocates to work together on tenant protections. The proposed “Community Preservation, Rent Stabilization and Renters’ Rights Act” would limit annual rent hikes to the rate of inflation or five percent, whichever is lower. The San Francisco Federal Credit Union filed a lawsuit with San Francisco Superior Court saying SFMTA failed to regulate taxi medallions by allowing Uber and Lyft to take over the taxi business. The credit union agreed to finance the sale of taxi medallions in 2009 in cooperation with SFMTA. The suit is seeking $28 million in damages from the city, claiming that the medallions are now worthless.  A Los Angeles County auditor had a critical review  of the fiscal management of the LA Homeless Services Authority. The review found that the authority’s finance operation is understaffed, lacks management oversight and pays its bills too slowly. The homeless authority, which was formed in the 1990s, currently administers about $100 million in funds and is expected to raise about $355 million annually from the quarter-cent sales tax approved last year. LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas filed a motion asking for a report from top officials on “relevant structural adjustments necessary… to improve the outcomes and accountability of Measure H funds.” The Anaheim City Council approved , 7-0, new rules for permit parking in residential neighborhoods. The changes include shortening the application process to convert a neighborhood to permit-only street parking, addressing concerns that the program favored homeowners over renters, and preventing spillover issues that push cars from permitted streets to nearby neighborhoods. Any city street will now be eligible for permitting. Parking permits will cost $30 for two years, after which the permit will need to be renewed. Each household can purchase up to 100 guest permits each calendar year for $1 each. Homeowners in Montecito must hold off on additions or rebuilding until FEMA draws a “recovery map” for the area. The owners of 350 homes that were destroyed or badly damaged early January have been advised by the county not to spend money on rebuilding plans until FEMA finishes their work. The study is based on LIDAR data – remote sensing imagery collected by air shortly before the natural disaster- that will help delineate the boundaries of “hazard zones” in Montecito and Carpinteria. Within the hazard zones, FEMA will show the elevations of floodwaters, marking how high the water is expected to rise during a 100-year rainfall. Preparing the maps will likely take three to four months, according to FEMA officials. A three-judge panel of California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal overturned a Los Angeles County Superior Court that would have prevented demolition of a 1960s modernist bank building to make space for a planned Frank Gehry-designed mixed-use project on the western edge of Hollywood. The court confirmed the city council’s decision to “approve a project that meets the city’s objectives." One of the project’s opponents also declared victory, saying the ruling will force the council to rescind its November 2016 decision to approve the project- and then carry out a formal review of a planned lane closure. Cannabis technology company American Green bought the old ghost town of Nipton for $5 million last year, and sold it to Delta International Oil & Gas for $7.7 million for exploratory drilling. Phoenix-based American Green said, “Buying and building towns is very cash intensive. Up until now, the cost of attracting capital has been very expensive for our company.” The goal is to create an 80-acre cannabis-themed resort on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

It’s often been argued – in these pages as well as elsewhere – that one of the struggles in California planning is the struggle to apply suburban standards to an increasingly urban society. And you just knew that sooner or later this underlying issue was going to come up in calculating school impact fees.

Marking a first for Senate Bill 35, a break-through-the-jams housing statute enacted last year, a homebuilder earlier this month invoked the law to both bypass the California Environmental Quality Act and speed up the approval process for a 260-unit rental complex in Berkeley. Half the units in the 1900 Fourth Street development are reserved for low- to-moderate-income households, far beyond the city’s inclusionary requirement of 13 affordable units. The developer is WBI, a subsidiary of Danville-based Blake Griggs Properties. Sponsored by State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), SB 35 exempts projects from both CEQA and local land-use laws for projects that meet at least one of two conditions: In communities that have already built required number of affordable units, projects set aside 10 percent of units for low- and moderate-income households (those earning 80 percent of the area or less of area median income (AMI). In cities that have not yet built their “fair share,” 50 percent of the units are to be set aside for the same category of renters. Additionally, construction workers must be paid prevailing wages. The project is the latest of many that have run the gauntlet of Berkeley land-use politics, local opposition consistently leads to the rejection or down-sizing of both commercial and residential projects. Subjecting conforming projects to CEQA review is par for the course in Berkeley, according to lawyer Jennifer Hernandez, a partner at Holland & Knight who represents the developer. “There are no ministerial approvals in Berkeley,” she said. The city required the developer of 1900 Fourth to prepare an EIR, even though the proposed housing conformed to existing ordinances, and did not need to be down-sized or otherwise changed. Local anti-growth groups latched onto the alleged remnants of Indian artifacts in the soil as the means to bring CEQA into the development dispute. Activist groups like Indians Organizing for a Change claimed construction would disrupt ancient shellmounds, which were funerary towers built by ancestors of the Ohlone Indian Tribe. The remains of more than 300 mounds, some of them 20 feet tall, were built as early as 3700 BC. After testing the subsurface for shellmound remains, including trenching, the construction site did not overlay any shellmounds, according to Berkeley planning consultant Mark Rhoades, a consultant to the developerThose findings were included in the 2016 draft EIR, although Indian representatives remain unconvinced Facing the force of SB 35, the city announced on March 8 it was fast-tracking the approval of the development, officially starting the 180-day countdown to approval, as required in the statute. Other components of the project include 27,500-square-feet shopping center with a restaurant, a 7,000-square-foot park, and a 1,300-square-foot community center. Indian representative Vincent Medina Jr. said he was “surprised and taken aback” by the city’s decision to go forward with the housing. Speaking to Berkeleyside, a local news site, Medina said he found the move “deeply unsettling … that our burial spaces, our sacred sites are not protected or respected by people who want to make a profit on these places.” Hernandez, for her part, she said she was impressed by the muscle in SB 35: the city has already scheduled meetings involving multiple departments to iron out traffic-circulation and other details necessary for final project approval. “The clock is ticking and the city has been very cooperative,” she said, referring to the 180-day deadline for project approval required under the new state law. The use of SB 35 to bypass both CEQA and local ordinances has the potential to become a popular toll for home builders across the state that previously have hit roadblocks of zoning restrictions, hostile neighborhood groups, or both. Technically, SB 35 is applicable to the great majority of California municipalities. According to a SB 35 Statewide Determination Summary, prepared by the California League of Cities, only 13 cities or counties statewide had approved or built their share of affordable units according to the Regional Housing Needs Assessments (RHNA). “It is not surprising that the (summary) includes nearly every city and county in California,” says the League of Cities report. “Because state formula-generated housing need numbers have always ignored actual market conditions restrictive local zoning and the loss of affordable housing funds due to the termination of redevelopment agencies.”