The Office of Planning and Research has released long-awaited CEQA guidelines that, by many accounts, promise to revolutionize the way developers and lead agencies measure the transportation impacts of projects under the California Environmental Quality Act. The guidelines call for applicants to analyze not the impacts on nearby intersections — the commonly used metric known as “level of service,” which was never mandated by CEQA but has been the de facto standard — but rather to analyze “vehicle miles traveled”: the amount of driving that the project is likely to generate. “This proposal will streamline project review, particularly in cities and for transportation projects such as new bike or bus lanes that improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gases,” said OPR Director Ken Alex in a statement. "These rules make clear that reducing vehicle miles resulting from projects is a state goal and an environmental benefit.” Planners have long felt that LOS backfired, privileging cars over all other forms of mobility. “It exacerbates the very problem it pretends to solve. It’s really bad for motorists,” said Jeff Tumlin, Principal at Nelson\\Nygaard. “Metrics like VMT actually help solve the problem motorists experience by using development to make it easier not to drive.” The use of VMT is mandated by Senate Bill 743, which passed in 2013. Complementing Assembly Bill 32 and Senate Bill 375, SB 743 seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by influencing transpiration and land use patterns. Essentially, VMT analysis enables lead agencies to favor projects that generate fewer miles and, therefore, less traffic and fewer emissions, rather than projects that relieve localized congestion. Since its passage, OPR has engaged in a long, methodical process of drafting and outreach — including several preliminary draft guidelines — to arrive at the current iteration of the guidelines. (See prior CP&DR coverage of VMT v. LOS.) OPR has transmitted the update — which cleans up other elements of the CEQA guidelines beyond VMT analysis — to the California Natural Resources Agency. The Natural Resources Agency will soon begin the formal administrative rule making process, which will entail additional public review, and may lead to further revisions. The guidelines survived a legislative challenge in 2015 that could have delayed them further. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Rave Reviews While the guidelines took longer than many proponents had hoped, the response from many planners has been overwhelmingly positive. “They did an excellent job in thinking through how you would apply this to the transportation and land use projects,” said Matthew Baker, policy director at the Planning & Conservation League, an advocacy group which often serves as the primary defender of CEQA in the state. In order to accommodate the state’s broad range of agencies and geographical, the guidelines enable agencies to define VMT in absolute terms, per capita, per household or in any other measure. This flexibly was crucial for broad buy-in, because the guidelines apply to the entire state rather than to only transit-oriented neighborhoods, as some stakeholders had suggested during the drafting process. The guidelines do not mandate what threshold jurisdictions must adopt, but they recommend that thresholds be reasonably lower – 15 percent – than existing regional averages. “OPR struck a very clever balance in order to get broad political support for this remarkable change,” said Tumlin. “Part of that balance is providing a great deal of flexibility for lead agencies.” The guidelines also enable cities and regions to set their own thresholds of significance. Thresholds will likely be set based on a region’s existing average VMT, with significance levels set somewhat below existing conditions. It may be a tricky process for some regions, especially those with rural and urban areas. “We’re trying to weigh the pros and cons of (15 percent thresholds) as opposed to establishing something specific for Sacramento County,” said Todd Smith, principal planner at the County of Sacramento. “If we set our significance threshold low, that’ll have potentially political implications for those geographical locations where the VMT would be higher for (many) projects.” “It's not expecting developers in Madera to be able to achieve a trip generation rate comparable to downtown Los Angeles,” said Tumlin. Planners in large cities predict that the guidelines will essentially obviate the need for environmental impact reports for most infill developments, especially those in dense urban cores. Projects that would have been prohibitive under LOS because of their vehicular impacts to nearly intersections may not need any transportation analysis review if their VMT per capita falls below thresholds. The result, say some planners, can make their — and developers’ — jobs much easier, and it could be revelatory for cities that are trying to increase densities and pursue progressive planning strategies. “Transportation as an area of analysis under CEQA is essentially gone for many infill projects,” said Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law. “If you’re within a half-mile of a major transit stop…it’s very likely that you’re not going to have to do any sort of transportation analysis.” Unintended Consequences? For all of the exuberance surrounding VMT analysis, critics warn that their benefits may be over-hyped and even irrelevant to the actual goals of SB 743, which include GHG emission reductions, development of multimodal transportation networks, and diverse land uses. Moore noted that, under SB 743, VMT addresses these goals only by implication. “It’s an indirect measure, so it has all the problems that tend to come with indirect measures,” said Adrian Moore, vice president at the Reason Foundation. “If you’re worried about congestion, sprawl, pollution, and GHG emissions – VMT is just a crude approximation to try to get at them.” Moreover, the advent of electric vehicles promises to nullify VMT analysis’ effect on greenhouse gas emissions. “What does the VMT metric...mean when we're looking at increased availability and use of electric vehicles?” said Sacramento County’s Smith. Even if SB 743 is seen from an urbanist perspective rather than an environmental perspective, the complexity of California’s urban landscape may further muddle both the planning and emissions-related goals of SB 743. Moore offered the example of a proposed Walmart store that might, on its face, exceed VMT thresholds and draw many customers from, say, a 10-mile radius. And yet, those customers might already be visiting a Walmart 30 miles away. Thus, what seems like unfavorable VMT analysis could obscure even worse existing conditions. ”Are we sure that it’s….not going to create a lot of unintended consequences that are just going to beget more interventions?” said Moore. While Moore said that LOS’s promotion of sprawl is “100 percent true," he made the broader point that cities and job centers often shift in California. So favorable metrics that relate to one job center might turn terrible with the development of job centers elsewhere. "Polycentric doesn’t even capture (California)…it’s super-polycentric,” said Moore. “This measure...doesn’t take into account the dynamic changes as people choose to live and work in ways than minimize their personal costs.” And, in some ways, Moore seems VMT as an enabler of sprawl — just with slightly better access to amenities and alternative modes of transportation. On balance, though, proponents say that VMT analysis will be beneficial even in rural areas, and it might inspire developers to change their business models. “There’s a very easy solution for a Central Valley developer: focus on infill even in the small towns. That’s all you need to do,” said Tumlin. While VMT metrics seem to favor new developments nestled in dense urban areas, proponents say that they also benefit residents of existing single-family homes and suburban communities. That’s because new development in urban cores may equal less development on the urban fringe and, therefore, less traffic for residents to contend with as they commute to and from job centers. On the urban fringe, VMT metrics may compel developers to create more complete communities rather than single-use bedroom communities that are tied to job centers and amenities only by long stretches of semi-rural highway. “It holds the developer's feet to the fire and the county's to make sure we have planned, sustainable, smart growth strategies in place as we’re entertaining new development,” said Matt Treber, planning director of Madera County. Most controversially, highways themselves — and all other roads — are exempt form VMT analysis. Many proponents of VMT consider this move to be counterproductive, since the building of new roads can, in some places, create induced demand. “Roads, being the largest VMT generator in the transportation system, and the primary way that enables more low-density, car-oriented development that runs completely counter to the intent of 743,” said Baker. Even this provision may have an upside. Because metropolitan planning organizations typically set priorities for intra-regional transportation projects, including roads, their decisions carry significant weight under SB 743. This, in turn, links VMT analysis with each region’s Sustainable Communities Strategy. “I think it wisely suggests a lot of importance on the SCSs,” said Tumlin. “It closes some doors for highway opponents to stop projects that have been already programmed and environmentally cleared in regional plans. But in doing that, I think it elevates the value of regional planning." Early Adopters A handful of jurisdictions — mostly major cities — have already adopted VMT metrics on their own. They did so in part to anticipate SB 743 and in part because they independently determined that VMT metrics complimented their urban planning goals. Pasadena was the first and has been followed by San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, among others. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Early reviews from those jurisdictions have been positive. “(LOS) was flawed, time-consuming, expensive. We had a real vested interest in doing environmental review in a way that is more comprehensive that looks at the method of travel, how far a person is going, how many other people are in the vehicle, etcetera to look at the effects on the environment,” said Lisa Gibson, Director of Environmental Planning at the City and County of San Francisco. "It is a very easy to understand metric overall. It's not something that’s subject to a lot interpretation. It’s empirical….it’s a clear threshold…. The results have been easily understood,” added Gibson. In Pasadena, which was the first city in California to adopt VMT metrics, Planning Director David Reyes said that developers have been eager to collaborate. He cited a large apartment complex near a Gold Line light rail station that, because of the application of VMT metrics, was found to have no impacts and approved without an EIR. The city and developer are discussing mitigation measures like transit passes for residents and pedestrian improvements whereas under LOS the only option might have been to widen nearby streets and create additional turn lanes. “At first was confusion,” said Reyes. “Everybody for so long had been conditioned to understand vehicles trips and delay at intersections. When you flip the script on them, there’s an educational process.” For the majority of the state’s jurisdictions, though, the release of the guidelines initiates a long-awaited process by which planning departments statewide will have to devise new thresholds, retool their methodologies, and adopt a new frame of mind. The process could even strain department resources in smaller departments. New Paradigm for Planners The upside, however, is that VMT analysis promises to be much simpler and less time-consuming in the long run. “It is a very easy-to-understand metric overall,” said Gibson. "It's not something that’s subject to a lot interpretation. It’s empirical, it’s a clear threshold, you’re either above it or below it.” By contrast, LOS relies on a letter grade system and requires analysis of as many individual intersections as could be impacted, thus creating a snarl of data points. Even some places that might seem to be at odds with VMT analysis, such as rural areas that do not have the dense neighborhoods and abundant transit options that VMT favors, are already prepared for the new metrics. “It wouldn’t be a significant barrier to those developments because they are planned appropriately with jobs and housing balance,” said Treber. “In every instance the county has been looking at these to ensure that we don’t have a bedroom community to the city of Fresno.” One of the big policy questions that these jurisdictions will likely have to address is that of impact fees. Currently, impact fees are assessed according to the magnitude of a project’s impact on traffic flow and on the cost of associated mitigation measures — typically meaning roadway improvements. "One thing that cities struggle with is LOS is actually written into their impact fees,” said Manoj Madhavan, transportation planner with the San Francisco Planning Department. Under VMT, jurisdictions will have to recalibrate their fees and, in many cases, identify a whole new suite of mitigation measures, which might include everything from funding for bike lanes to subsidies for bus passes to sidewalk improvements. “They're losing CEQA as an exactions tool for roadway infrastructure,” said Tumlin. “Fortunately it’s very easy to do transportation impact fees in California, but it requires effort.” Ultimately, CEQA analyses are enforced by lawsuits. VMT metrics may open the door to a whole new subchapter in the long story of CEQA case law as opponents challenge projects. Then again, VMT might even prove to be far less contentious. “The way the guidelines are written, they gives more deference to lead agency determinations on transportation,” said Elkind. “That could help shield the lead agencies and project proponents from lawsuits.” Elkind noted that litigiousness is usually not limited to transportation impacts anyway. “If somebody is going to sue over the CEQA analysis they’ll probably lump in the transportation analysis anyway,” said Elkind. "They always sue under a bunch of different areas of CEQA analysis.” Contacts & Resources  CEQA Guidelines Update , Nov. 2017 (including VMT analysis) Matthew Baker , Policy Director, Planning & Conservation League Ethan Elkind,  Director, Climate Program, Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, UC Berkeley School of Law,  eelkind@law.berkeley.edu Lisa Gibson , Environmental Review Officer/Director of Environmental Planning, Planning Department, City and County of San Francisco lisa.gibson@sfgov.org Manoj Madhavan , Transportation Team Lead Adrian Moore , Vice President, Reason Foundation,  adrian.moore@reason.org David Reyes, P lanning Director, City of Pasadena,  davidreyes@cityofpasadena.net Todd Smith , Principal Planner, County of Sacramento, smithtodd@saccounty.net Matt Treber, Planning Director, Madera County, matthew.treber@co.madera.ca.gov Jeffrey Tumlin,  Principal, Nelson\\\\Nygaard,  jtumlin@nelsonnygaard.com Prior CP&DR Coverage of VMT: OPR Revises SB 743 Guidance, Putting Thresholds in "Advisory" Category Bill to Delay Implementation of SB 743 Gains Traction Pasadena Ushers in Era of VMT Metrics LOS to VMT: the arguments have begun OPR's transportation metric drafters hint they're more open to change Insight: What comes next after LOS?

The Mountain View City Council unanimously approved the North Bayshore redevelopment plan that would create a dense, city-like campus of offices and homes. The new master plan would include nearly 10,000 new homes and apartments, about 3.6 million square feet of office space, and a mix of pedestrian-friendly parks, retail shops and businesses. Google, which is based in Mountain View, endorsed the plan. Around 70 percent of the new housing units are targeted for studio or one-bedroom apartments and 20 percent of the apartments would be affordable units. The buildings are expected to be 8 stories for offices and 15 for residential units. Vice Mayor Lenny Siegel said in a statement, “This is a cutting edge plan that sets a standard. Not just for the Bay Area, but for the rest of the country.” Mountain View has a ratio of 2.7 workers for every housing unit, the second-highest in the region behind Palo Alto with 3.8 workers per home. Sonoma County Creates Office to Address Fire Recovery Sonoma County supervisors created the new Office of Recovery and Resiliency to help the region bounce back from the recent devastating wildfires. The office will also assist with charting a formal vision for the long-term recovery of the local housing market, the economy, the environment, safety net services, and local infrastructure. The new office will have its own budget and seven staff members who will for the next five years support the production and implementation of a plan to guide the community’s recovery and improve its ability to withstand future disasters. Santa Cruz Sues Fossil Fuel Companies over Climate Change The City of Santa Cruz and County of Santa Cruz filed separate lawsuits against 29 oil, gas, and coal companies seeking climate-change related damages that could range up to hundreds of millions of dollars. The complaints allege negligence on the part of the companies and seek damages for the mounting financial, environmental, and public health costs tied to global warming. The suits claim the extraction-industry giants knew about the impacts of fossil fuels on climate and seal levels for 50 years but concealed the risks and fought back against attempts at regulation. Other lawsuits from San Francisco, Oakland, and San Mateo County have been filed in recent months. According to Central Coast Wetlands Group Director Ross Clark, “Santa Cruz and Capitola are no longer going to be beach communities.” Plan Envisions 146 Projects to Revitalize Lower Los Angeles River The Lower Los Angeles River Working Group released a draft plan for the revitalization of the river’s 19-mile stretch from Vernon to Long Beach. The plan calls for 146 individual projects in and around the river including new trails, parks, crossings, and more. Included are seven “signature projects” that include development of new green space, public art display and affordable housing around Cudahy Park; new park, trials and dirt bike facility around Atlantic Boulevard in Vernon; a trio of park-topped bridges, new landscaping at the Rio Hondo confluence in the City of South Gate; floating boardwalks through Long Beach; pathways, recreation areas, and links to existing bike trails between Greenleaf and Del Amo boulevards; new crossings, rest areas and a nature overlook at Compton Creek; and a new park, expanded wetlands; stormwater capture facilities, and an amphitheater around Wrigley Heights. The group also proposed streetscape changes to make it easier for residents to access the river. Adajaye Named New Master-Planner for S.F. Hunters Point The firm of Ghanian-British architect Sir David Adjaye has been named to design a new master plan for the 420-acre former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The developer, FivePoint, has been working on the shipyard since 1999 and 309 homes have been completed so far in the first phase with 138 more under construction. Adjaye wants to keep two of the remnants of the military past: a former ship repair facility and a four-story concrete warehouse. Adjaye’s vision is to replace the exterior and show the muscular ironwork. The two spaces would become commercial areas and “incubation zones” where high-tech jobs and mixed-income housing share a space. City’s Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure must authorize the changes to the plan and FivePoint will take Adjaye’s work to the office’s commission for a vote. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Ballot Measure Would Alter Prop. 13, Create ‘Split-Roll’ Property Tax The League of Women Voters of California and community organizing nonprofits California Calls and PICO Network have filed a proposed initiative for the November 2018 statewide ballot. The group proposes making dramatic changes to Prop 13’s property tax restrictions by allowing the state to receive more tax dollars from commercial and industrial properties by assessing them at their current market value. This would be known as “split roll” because the existing tax protections on residential uses would remain in place. Advocates of the measure say it could raise billions of dollars that could be spent on public schools and community colleges.

The Senate Environmental Quality Committee released a study examining how state transportation, parks, and other projects were handled under CEQA over a five-year period starting in FY 2011/2012 to 2015/2016. Ninety-four state agencies were surveyed and 47 of those served as a lead agency at least once during the five-year period. The study found 1 percent of projects required detailed analyses under the law and less than 1 percent of them were sued. A majority of the state projects subject to CEQA completed a Categorical Exemption (87.8 percent) and approximately 6 percent filed a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration. Sen. Bob Wieckowski, chair of the committee who commissioned the study, said “This extensive review of state agencies clearly finds that CEQA is doing what Gov. Reagan and the Legislature hoped it would do when they passed it in 1970 — providing transparency, accountability and reducing harmful impacts to our environment as we undertake important projects to enhance our state.” The study did not examine private developments.  Study Anticipates Shift Away from Gas Tax A new Caltrans study , the “California Road Charge Pilot Program Report” estimates the effects of abandoning the current gas tax to a system where drivers pay based on their odometer readings. The report include a road charge experiment with 5,000 volunteer drivers that had their mileage monitored over nine months of driving. Caltrans Deputy Director Carrie Pourvahidi said next year the state will send out a request to technology companies for ideas on a simple communication system at gas stations or electric charging stations that can instantly tell how many miles the car has driven. While other states have looked at switching to a per-mile road tax, California seems to be the first to look at point-of-purchase technology. Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature passed a controversial set of tax and fee increases this year but are still struggling to come up with adequate per-gallon pump revenues as more cars get higher mileage. Some environmental groups say the pay-per-mile concept would help reduce vehicle miles traveled, it would also have a negative effect of hitting lower-income communities harder. San Francisco to Update Urban Design Guidelines The San Francisco Planning Department released a new set of temporary guidelines with 24 parameters that will help guide the look and feel of the city’s future. The Design Guidelines are categorized into site design, architecture, and public realm. The guidelines include recognize and respond to urban patterns (S1); create, protect, and support view corridors (S4); harmonize building designs with neighboring scale and materials (A3); design active building fronts (A8); locate and design open spaces to maximize physical comfort and visual access (P2); and program public open spaces to encourage social activity, play, and rest (P6). Jeff Joslin, director of current planning with the city, said “the primary goal here is to improve the predictability and consistency in the review of design qualities of the projects… Contributing to the clarity and certainty of future projects will both encourage development, and improve the efficiency of review.That efficiency will translate directly into bringing down project costs, while adding design quality.” The planning commission will hear an informal presentation on the guidelines Jan. 11. Los Angeles to Adopt Linkage Fee on New Market-Rate Units The Los Angeles City Council approved the funding of more affordable housing through a new linkage fee on construction projects that is estimated to generate up to $100 million per year. City officials say Los Angeles was the only major city in California without such a fee. Mayor Garcetti says the initiative will allow ensure the city “grows for everybody, and when we see luxury condominiums go up we can make sure there is money paid in to build housing for the rest of us as well.” Those opposed to the fee argue it will actually slow down affordable housing construction. Developers could potentially pay up to $15 per square foot for residential projects and between $3 and $5 per square foot for commercial projects. S.F. May Face Ballot Measure to Upzone SoMa Affordable housing group Todco and urban think tank SPUR are  proposing  a ballot measure that would temporarily relax the cap of new office space in San Francisco to allow a wave of office development South of Market. The office space approval cap was established in 1986 and capped the approvals at 875,000 square foot a year. The two groups say the cap will block city efforts to upzone Central SoMa, a 17-block area. The Central SoMa plan is expected to be approved by Board of Supervisors next year, and property owners in the area have proposed 5.5 million square-feet of new office construction. The ballot measure would require all development fees to be paid when a project is approved, rather than when the building permit is pulled, meaning community benefits and fees that add up to about $2 billion would be fast-tracked. The proposed measure was submitted to the city attorney for a 15-day review, and after that proponents have until Feb. 5 to gather 18,970 signatures to place the measure on the June 5 ballot.  Homelessness Rises Nationwide, with Surges in Calif. Metros According to new data released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development homelessness increased 0.7 percent nationwide from the year before. During a one-night count in January, 553,742 people were found living outside or in shelters across the country. HUD officials say the surge in homelessness is almost entirely increases in cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, and Sacramento, all of which face shortages of affordable housing. Overall, the nation’s homeless numbers are 13 percent lower than they were in 2010. However, Los Angeles reported a nearly 26 percent rise in homelessness this year over 2016 and Oakland 39 percent increase since 2015. HUD Secretary Ben Carson says the federal governments needs to work more with nonprofits, faith-based communities, state and local governments, and the private sector to address the problem. According to the report, family homelessness was down 5.4 percent from last year and 27 percent lower than it was in 2010. S.F. Mayor Ed Lee, Champion of Affordable Housing, Passes Away  San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee passed away last Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack at the age of 65. Gov. Jerry Brown called Lee a “true champion for working people who epitomized the California spirit”. In 2011 Lee cut payroll taxes for six years on a blighted stretch of Market Street and lured thousands of tech jobs and workers to the city. The area now has been redeveloped with new offices and hotels and has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. More recently, Lee focused on the homeless crisis opening Homeless Navigation Centers and creating a new Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. The Board of Supervisors approved one of Mayor Lee’s final land-use initiatives: to fast-track construction of shelters for homeless people. Lee also wanted to declare a citywide emergency but several supervisors contested and ultimately delayed the vote until January.  Quick Hits & Updates Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to approve a new construction timeline and design plans for expanding the Sacramento Convention Center. The council supported adding a large ballroom to the plans and allowing the center to be closed for 18 months so work can be done quicker than initially planned. Renovations would begin in early 2019 and continue until fall of 2020. The city is also planning on renovating the adjacent Community Center Theater and a new 350-room hotel. Santa Cruz City Council has referred 99 potential housing solutions to a subcommittee for prioritization and feasibility. The council set aside $15,000 for six-month city tenants’ legal support fund and directed city staff to investigate city-owned lands, such as parking lots, that could be used for housing development. The subcommittee is expected to return with a housing-related strategy by March 27 . San Francisco’s Central Subway won’t be completed until 2021, more than a year later than the city insists the line will be ready, according to a new report from the main contractor, Tutor Perini Corp. The report also says the $1.6 billion project is running tens of millions of dollars over budget.  Sacramento and Ontario are the two finalists for a $35 million grant from the cap-and-trade program aimed at developing green infrastructure in low-income communities. The Sacramento plan would add a range of housing units in the River District as well as a new light-rail stop, bikeways and several other projects.   The approval of a commercial development next to California’s oldest continuously lived-in neighborhood has led to a petition to recall two San Juan Capistrano City Councilmembers, Mayor Kerry Ferguson and Councilman Derek Reeve. The recall supporters say the redevelopment of the former Ito Nursery into a shopping center would irreparably damage the adjacent Los Rios Historic District.  Los Angeles City Planning Commission is considering new land use and zoning regulations for stations around San Fernando Valley’s Orange Line busway. The proposed Transit Neighborhood Plan would target five stations: Sherman Way, Reseda, Sepulveda, Van Nuys, and the North Hollywood terminus. The stations would include low and multifamily residential, mixed-use commercial, and some would include incubators or light manufacturing. Social Bicycles (SoBi) will launch its electric-assist bike share program in Davis, Sacramento, and West Sacramento May 15, 2018. The program will open with 300 e-bikes and add an additional 600 over the summer. The launch is a public-private partnership between SoBi, SACOG, and the cities. After three years of debate, the San Diego City Council failed to reach an agreement on short-term rental regulations. Multiple proposals were discussed in the hopes of reaching a consensus but after more than four hours of debate and more hours of public testimony, the nine-member council could not secure the required five affirmative votes.  The City of San Diego launched a new initiative focused on supporting entrepreneurs from low- to moderate-income communities. The initiative includes a new facility, which will open next summer to support entrepreneurs that earn about $30,000 to $70,000 a year to give them a better chance at success. The Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation in Southeast San Diego, a and Connect, a start-up support company, are putting up $2.5 million over the next three years to help finance the program. Sacramento’s Regional Transit board unanimously agreed to reduce student fares next month from $55 per month to $20 in hopes of boosting sagging ridership among teens. The proposed cuts only apply to K-12 students as the colleges already have deeply discounted fares through contracts between SacRT and the colleges. A Los Angeles City Council committee recommended Peebles Corporation, MacFarlane Partners and Claridge Properties to to develop the 2.24-acre Angels Landing site, arguably the most significant development site in downtown Los Angeles. The proposed project includes one 88-story tower and a 24-story structure that would be connected by a sky bridge. The two towers would include 400 apartments and 250 condominiums with 20 apartments set aside as affordable housing.

Planners in Long Beach have found that, sometimes, no good deed goes unpunished. Adopted in September, the Southeast Area Specific Plan (SEASP) covers a decidedly tricky part of the city. It includes residential neighborhoods, a congested and largely unattractive stretch of Pacific Coast Highway, and one of the last remaining patches of wild wetlands in Los Angeles County. The plan paves the way for redevelopment of PCH, replacing big-box stores with smaller developments and promoting hotels. Importantly, it calls for aesthetic improvements to connect the commercial area to the waterfront and includes protections for the Los Cerritos Wetlands, a 2,400-acre coastal marsh partially encompassed by the specific plan area. “The most important thing that this plan does is memorialize that the wetland areas, whether they’re publically owned or privately owned, are going to remain open land forever,” said Long Beach planner Christopher Koontz. “It concentrates development on existing developed sites.” The centerpiece of the plan is funding for upkeep of the wetlands, paid for by development impact fees. That’s the element about which Long Beach planners are most proud — and which, they hoped, would gain the support of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust (LCWLT). “It’s sort of a watershed for how you can do good planning in a very urbanized area with large housing and economic needs but also be respectful and actually have a positive influence on the adjacent wild lands and be able to do wetlands restoration,” said Koontz. What they got instead was a lawsuit.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency approved , 5-0, "surge pricing" for every parking meter in the city starting in 2018. The hourly rates at the city’s 30,200 meters would vary depending on demand and fluctuate based on time of day and location. The approach is intended to convince drivers to park farther away, remain for shorter times, or leave their cars at home and use an alternate source of transportation – or pay the higher rates. The city will become the first in the nation to have citywide demand-based parking rates. The program would set hourly meter rates within three daily time bands –9 a.m. to noon,noon to 3pm, and3 to 6 p.m. The program was already in use in about 7,000 meters in the busiest neighborhoods: downtown, South of Market, the Mission, the Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf, Mission Bay, the Fillmore, and the Marina. New Oakland A’s Stadium Site in Peril The Peralta Community College District’s Board of Trustees decided in a closed-door session last week to break off discussions between themselves and the A’s. The team was hoping to build a privately financed baseball stadium on land owned by the district in downtown Oakland. The board says it is not ruling out the idea of a ballpark, but wants to evaluate the “best” uses for the site. The A’s team says there is no plan B, and is not interested on renovating or building on the current Coliseum site. Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan is in favor of keeping the A’s at their current home saying “the fact that environmental clearance is already completed for the Coliseum site would also provide cost savings and time savings for development at that site” and that the site could be upgraded with more shops, bars, restaurants, and hotels. Santa Rosa Reconsiders Housing Policies in Wake of Fires The City of Santa Rosa is holding  meetings to revise key housing policies after the Tubbs Fire incinerated 5 percent of its already limited housing stock. The first meeting is a community workshop to revamp its Housing Action Plan that will focus on density bonuses to incentivize developers to build more housing types. Consultant M-Group was commissioned by the city to analyze how it should change its density bonus rules and a 62-page white paper was produced. The city has also been working on updating its permit processes and inclusionary housing ordinance. The second meeting is a study session before the City Council to discuss immediate housing needs in the city. This includes the people displaced by the 3,000 homes lost in the two fires and the huge workforce required to rebuild. Official Study Ups Projected Impacts of San Diego SoccerCity The San Diego Association of Governments released a study  (pdf) of traffic impacts for the proposed SoccerCity mixed use development on the former Qualcomm Stadium site and it found on average 97,000 daily trips. SoccerCity’s developers  estimate 71,500 daily trips and are disputing the findings of the SANDAG study. The SDSU Mission Valley proposal would generate 55,140 daily trips. The SANDAG study was paid for jointly by FS Investors and a coalition of Mission Valley developers: Public Land, Public Vote. Critics contend  that implementing the SoccerCity proposal would make it difficult for San Diego to reach its goals in its Climate Action Plan. City voters next year will decide the whether the proposal to build 4,800 homes, office, retail, river park and soccer stadium will happen. California Reaps Cap-and-Trade Windfall Revenues from cap-and-trade credits  soared  in the second half of 2017 leading to $1.5 billion for clean energy program and the high-speed rail project. However, state regulators, academics, and analysts agree that businesses are stocking up on credits and holding them for future years. This past July, lawmakers extended the cap-and-trade program through 2030, and the state sold every available credit even though emissions are lower than regulators expected. As Energy Innovation wrote in a report last month: “Left unaddressed,oversupply and the resulting banked allowances (credits) threaten California’s 2030 emissions reduction success.” San Diego Considers Locations for Increased Density San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s office unveiled a new strategy for choosing which neighborhoods in the city would be the focus of increased job and housing density. The goal is to create denser, more walkable neighborhoods that will in turn cut down emissions. Engineering firm Fehr & Peers is developing a new mapping tool would assign communities individual targets for increasing residential and commercial densities in an effort to place new development close to public transit and jobs centers. Critics  of the program say this will not make homeowners more accepting of increasing density in their neighborhoods. The new tool is expected to be completed next winter, and be applied to all community plans moving forward. Orange County Transit Ridership Rises after Overhaul OCTA launched an overhaul of its bus system, called OC Bus 360, last year, and has recently seen increases in bus ridership on key routes. Ridership had declined three percent countywide, but ridership on routes in core areas improved by up to 19.6 percent. Some of the improved routes include the Bravo! and X lines, which offer increased bus frequency and fewer stops. Part of the overhaul last year was cutting service in southern parts of the county and adding service to north county routes with highest ridership. The agency has plans to pilot on-demand transit service next summer in Huntington Beach, Laguna Niguel, and Mission Viejo. A new addition to the program is the OC Bus mobile-ticketing app which allows riders to buy passes on smartphones which has led to an average of 300 new app users per week. OCTA has released its Transit Master Plan for the decade, which highlights 11 heavily-used corridors that are candidates for BRT, rapid bus, or a new light-rail line. Two such corridors are north Harbor Boulevard between Fullerton and Garden Grove, and 17thStreet/Westminster Avenue, which would connect Westminster to UC Irvine. Federal Watch: House Approves Brownfields Funds The House of Representatives passed H.R. 3017, the Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act of 2017 that would allow up to $250 million to clean up brownfield sites each year. US EPA’s Brownfields program has created thousands of jobs and helped communities prevent, assess, safely cleanup, and sustainably restore over a million acres of contaminated land. The act improves brownfields program by funding the program at an annual level of $200 million through 2022, expand grant eligibility to nonprofit groups and partnerships, and allow the EPA to award multi-purpose grants up to $1 million to cover different activities or remediation, and increase maximum amount for other grants to $500,000 per site with a cap of $750,000 per site. Quick Hits & Updates Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved new neighborhood community plans for South L.A. and Southeast L.A. after years of discussions with residents about protecting their neighborhoods against gentrification. The plans include guidelines for what can and cannot be built in local areas. The group, United Neighbors in Defense Against Displacement, has worked with the city over the last decade to create incentives for developers to include affordable housing in the new community plan. In an effort to stop Measure S, council members pledged to approve the city’s 35 community plans every six years. These two plans are the first to be updated since that pledge was made. The Strategic Growth Council awarded nearly $34 million to fund 25 agricultural conservation easements and two strategy and outcome grants through theSustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) program. The winning projects were located in 19 counties.  Apple Inc. donated $1.8 million to the City of Cupertino to help fund the first leg of a protected bike lane project on Stevens Creek Boulevard. The city plans to start work early next year with a consultant to design bike lanes separated from vehicular traffic or Class IV lanes. Elon Musk  released  detailed engineering plans for an “express” high-speed underground public-transportation system its detailed engineering plans for the Long Beach Airport to Sherman Oaks Loop. The all-electric system would transport passengers inside rectangular pods attached to autonomous skates more than 30 feet below ground. San Francisco will compensate  Chinatown merchants whose businesses have slowed down due to the construction of the Central Subway. The $225,000 Mayor Ed Lee set aside for parking and other services in Chinatown was frozen during budget negotiations in June. The board’s Budget and Finance Committee released that money last week after months of negotiations between Supervisor Peskin and the mayor. The project has already been delayed a year, and is now expected to be completed in 2019. The City of Santa Ana is the only Orange County city to date to authorize the sale of recreational marijuanastarting January 1.Under new city regulations, the 17 existing legal medical marijuana dispensaries will be able to sell commercial marijuana to people over 21 once the businesses sign new agreements with the city. The city will allow 10 more recreational marijuana businesses, for a total of 30 citywide. The $1.5 billion six-station Foothill Gold Line extension from Glendora to Montclair broke ground last week. The 12.3-mile extension is expected to take nine years to complete. The project is also the first Measure M-funded rail project to move forward to construction. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced his office has filed a civil enforcement action against Uber over its massive October 2016 data breach that led to 600,000 US drivers’ names and license numbers to be stolen. The lawsuit alleges that under California law, Uber was required to promptly notify the affected California drivers but instead paid the hackers to destroy the data and then pressured them to enter into a nondisclosure agreement. Uber made the breach known 13 months later.  French architecture firm Agence Ter and Gruen Associates released new renderings of their planned Pershing Square redesign. Some of the key items include removing the walls along the park’s perimeter and lowering the top of the parking garage to allow the park to be level with the surrounding sidewalks. The design also includes a great lawn, pergola, gardens, and promenade. San Francisco will conduct a survey on local businesses and transit riders on banning private vehicles on Market Street. The draft environmental review for the project and the conceptual engineering report would be released in late 2018 or early 2019. The Municipal Transportation Agency is studying merchants along Market Street who depend on loading zones.

At the urging of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. County Metro has assembled a list of its top 28 new transportation projects that must be completed in time for the 2028 Olympics. The “28 by 28” plan includes the Crenshaw light rail line to LAX, the Purple Line Wilshire subway to Westwood, and the Regional Connector in downtown LA. More than half the projects are scheduled for completion using revenues from the Measure M sale tax increase approved by LA County voters last year. Other projects include a subway under the Sepulveda Pass, light rail between Artesia and downtown LA, and an expansion of freeway toll lanes. Metro is hoping to work with private companies to fill some of the funding gaps of accelerating projects and adding new ones. The Metro board will vote on the final, prioritize list of 28 projects at its next meeting in January. New Palo Alto General Plan Envisions 4,420 New Housing Units The Palo Alto City Council  adopted  a new comprehensive plan which outlines the city’s vision for housing, transportation, parks and other quality of life issues. The plan will guide development through 2030. New non-residential development will be capped at a total of 1.7 million square feet citywide (not including the 1.3 million square feet already approved for the Stanford University Medical Center). The plan preserves ground-floor retail, ensures coordination with the local school district over land use and development, and guides operation and improvements at Palo Alto Airport. The council directed staff to support the production of new housing and preservation of existing units through incentives for small units, protecting cottage clusters, and implementing minimum density in multifamily zoning districts. The plan envisions an additional 8,435 to 10,455 residents over the next 13 years and 4,420 new housing units will be added. Realtors to Seek Ballot Initiative to Expand Prop. 13 Provisions The California Association of Realtors has launched a signature drive to put a new proposition on the November 2018 ballot that would expand Prop. 13 to give tax breaks to homeowners age 55 and older or those who are disabled. The new measure would allow seniors and disabled homeowners to transfer their low, existing Prop. 13 tax assessment to a new home anywhere in the state. Realtors say the provision would help older owners buy a new residence, because many are reluctant to give up low Prop. 13 tax assessments. The group maintains that at least 70 percent of seniors have not moved in 17 years. This will free up the homes for new homeowners. Newport Beach Sends Banning Ranch Back to Drawing Board In keeping with a court order, the Newport Beach City Council unanimously voted to rescind approvals for proposed development on the historic Banning Ranch oil field. Environmental group Banning Ranch Conservancy is asking the council to partner with the nonprofit to purchase and turn the 401-acre property into an open-space amenity. Senior project manager for developer Newport Banning Ranch, Michael Mohler, is willing to sit down with the council and nonprofit to discuss potential options. The developer is looking at a scaled-down project from the 895 homes, hotel, hostel and 80 percent open space that was approved last year; that rendition was far smaller than original proposals, dating back to the late 1990s.  Environmental Groups Sue over Cadiz Approvals The Center for Biological Diversity along with the Center for Food Safety is suing the Bureau of Land Management for allowing Cadiz Inc. to build a 43-mile pipeline to transfer water from its Mojave Desert wells into the Colorado River Aqueduct to be sold to water districts. The BLM during the Obama administration had released guidelines to block construction of the pipeline along an existing federal railroad right-of-way, but the Trump administration reversed them this year and putting the project on a priority infrastructure list. According to the lawsuit, Cadiz could draw billions of gallons of water from fragile desert aquifers that would dry up streams that are important for plants and wildlife. Critics have lost several previous court battles to halt the project. California Transportation and Planning Agencies Protest Federal Tax Plan A coalition of transportation agencies from Southern California issued a joint letter to Congressional leadership raising concerns that the current tax reform proposal poses a threat to the current transportation system and consequently the health of the regional economy. The tax plan would hurt by eliminating advance refunding bonds, revocation of employer deduction for transportation benefits, and failure to renew alternative fuel benefits. The letter is signed by SCAG, Imperial County Transportation Commission, LA Metro, Metrolink, OCTA, Riverside County Transportation Commission, San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, SANDAG and Ventura County Transportation Commission. Quick Hits & Updates San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved , 10-1, new regulations on cannabis dispensaries in the city. One new rule is the reduction of school buffer zone from 1,000 to 600 feet. The board also approved an amendment requiring half the city’s dispensaries to qualify for an equity program that benefits low-income residents, people displaced from their homes and people with marijuana convictions. The board also unanimously passed an amendment allowing existing medical dispensaries to sell recreational marijuana beginning Jan. 5. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Two LA City Councilmembers, representing Arts District and Venice, have proposed creating an affordable housing program for those in creative arts. An estimated 65 to 70 percent of artists that were in the Arts District 15 years ago are gone. However, the city’s Housing Department said it would run into legal challenges by giving preferential treatment to certain groups. A deputy city attorney suggested that officials commission a study to determine whether artists deserve special consideration. San Francisco City Hall and the Port of San Francisco have started a $40 million 10-year contract with a team of 21 consultants to remake the Embarcadero in case of earthquake and sea-level rise. The schedule set by the port is for the designs and environmental studies to be completed by 2022, with construction to follow. Mayor Ed Lee and the Board of Supervisors will most likely be placing a $350 million seawall bond on the November 2018 ballot. The City of Sacramento was named  one of the four finalists by Major League Soccer for the two expansion spots in the nation’s top professional soccer league. The other expansion finalists include Detroit, Nashville, and Cincinnati. MLS is expected to announce its decision Dec. 14. Assemblyman Jim Patterson requested an emergency audit of the California High Speed Rail. The chair of the joint audit committee, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, denied the request saying it would deny the legislature and public an opportunity to review and discuss the issue in public. The state auditor last reported on the $64 billion bullet train five years ago. The Hollywood Central Park, a linear 44-acre green space covering a one-mile segment of the US-101 freeway between Hollywood and Santa Monica Boulevards, needs more funds to complete the EIR and associated technical studies. Last week, Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell introduced a motion, which would direct $1.53 million in CRA/LA excess bonds to fill the funding gap. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) After a decade of planning, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District opened the 6,142-acre La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve. The area has been a Mexican land grant, dairy farm, hideout for members of Jesse James’ outlaw gang, oil field, redwood logging mill, cattle ranch, and retreat for heirs to the Weyerhaeuser lumber and Folgers coffee fortunes. The open space district is funded by property taxes, has come under criticism for buying land but keeping roughly half closed to the public. Last week, four California Public Utilities Commissions joined administrative law judge Peter V. Allen to hear final oral arguments in PG&E’s request to retire California’s last nuclear power plant, San Luis Obispo County’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant. In a preliminary ruling Judge Allen, approved PG&E’s request to close the plant, and allow the company to increase customer rates enough to recover over $190 million to pay for closure costs (salaries over the next eight years, retraining workers, and license renewal costs). The final decision from Judge Allen will go for a vote by the complete five-member commission which is scheduled for Dec. 14. Robert Half employment agency released a study with the major U.S. metro areas with the longest commutes and most anxiety-inducing trips to work and found Southern California tops the list for the most stressful commute. The region is just eighth in the nation on the longest average trip list with 53.7 minutes. The study suggests mass transit options in a region can lower anxiety created by traveling to and from work. For instance, San Francisco had the second longest commute (59.2 minutes), but the BART and Caltrain system put it 5th on the list for stressful commutes.  Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Koretz is seeking to add the 20,000 square-foot Playboy Mansion to the city’s historic-cultural monument designation list. Hugh Hefner owned the mansion from 1971 until last year, when he sold the property for $100 million. The designation would put limits on what alterations could be made to the property and prevent the mansion from being demolished without review.  San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted, 7-4, to overturn the $90,000 sale of a private street, Presidio Terrace, in the Richmond district The exclusive street was sold to a San Jose couple when its residents failed to pay $994 in back taxes because the bill was being mailed to an accountant who hadn’t worked for the Presidio Terrace Homeowner Association in years. The property was erroneously classified as a vacant lot and put up for auction in 2015. Developers seeking to build a 1,130-room hotel across from LA Convention Center could receive $103.3 million in public financial assistance over 25 years under a proposal heading to the City Council. Under the 25-year agreement the project, Fig + Pico, would have blocks of rooms reserved for future conventions and the 2028 Olympics. The financial aid package was endorsed unanimously by the council’s three-member Economic Development Committee but now must go to the City Council. The developer claims a $67.4-million financial gap, in part because of higher construction costs. The City of Port Hueneme City Council agreed to pay former Housing Authority director Joseph Gately $1.5 million to a settle a whistleblower suit against the city. Gately sued the city after he alleged he was fired in 2015 for alerting officials the city had been mismanaging federal housing dollars. US HUD investigated Gately’s claims and found the city had been improperly charging the authority for services. The agreement does not admit fault. Los Angeles housing advocates contend that a downtown apartment buildings advertised as a “Level Furnished Living” is being run as a hotel in violation of city law. The group of housing and labor advocates have sent a “request to investigate” to the City Planning Department. Onni Group, the operator of the 303-unit building offers immediate booking unless customers are seeking 30+ nights of accommodation. Onni Group says the use is permitted under the zoning. The groups say if the structure was anything other than residential it should pay city hotel taxes. The City of Los Angeles is considering plans to place a giant inflatable dam and 70-foot waterwheel to move water into a stream landscaped with trees adjacent to the Los Angeles River. The city is expecting the final permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers by the end of the year, which could mean construction begins in January. The $10 million project will be operated by the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation.

Although lead agencies under the California Environmental Quality Act have to analyze alternatives, they also have to identify a preferred alternative or else they are not providing an “accurate, stable and finite description of the project”.

CP&DR Vol. 32 No. 11 November 2017

The California Natural Resources Agency announced the 39 winning green infrastructure projects through the state’s Urban Greening Program  (pdf). The $76 million in funding for the winners is funded through the Cap-and-Trade program and supports projects that reduce greenhouse gases and convert built environments into green spaces. There were winners from 19 of the counties throughout the state, however Los Angeles County had 13 winning projects. Projects in disadvantaged communities received 92 percent of the funding. A few of the winning projects include: Alameda County received $4.1 million for the “San Leandro Creek Urban Greenway”, City of Richmond was awarded $4.1 million for “Greening the Yellow Brick Road”, and the Trust for Public Land received $3.7 million for the “Zamora Park Renovation Project”. Oakland Releases Economic Development Strategy The City of Oakland released its Economic Development Strategy for 2018-2020. Mayor Libby Schaaf’s letter in the beginning notes the decrease in unemployment rate, commercial vacancies being filled, business and tourism thriving, and construction of residential and office space. However, the rents are increasing, cost of business is going up, congestion is worsening, and “the pressure of outside forces changing the Oakland we love.” The report shows an increase in educational attainment from 2000 to 2015, more than 10 percent decrease of unemployment black people between 2013 and 2015, and 43 percent of businesses owned by women and 51 percent by people of color. The city saw a spike- over 1500- in multi-family residential building permits in the first quarter of this year, but it dropped to around 800 permits in the second quarter. The report shows more than 3,006 housing units are currently under construction with another 8,990 units approved. Oakland is prioritizing development of two dozen of its properties to create 2,300 homes, 4,000 construction jobs, and 3,700 permanent jobs in the next three years. The goal is to “make Oakland an easy, efficient, and prosperous place to do business, and to reduce racial disparities and help all Oaklanders achieve economic security so that everyone has an opportunity to thrive.” LAO Questions Efficacy of Statewide Green Building Program According to a new report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012 executive order directing about 8,000 state departments buildings to offset their energy use dramatically drives up cost of construction while delivering uncertain environmental benefits. These “zero net energy” projects tend to include features that limit energy use while generating power through solar panels. The analysis found the ZNE status can add 17 to 29 percent to the projected cost for some buildings. The report also states the cap-and-trade program is more efficient and less costly as a solution for the state to reduce GHG emissions. The LAO Report concluded the state departments should conduct a cost-benefit analysis before proceeding with zero net energy projects. The Brown administration contends the ZNE designs will save money over time in energy costs. Since the directive, the state has completed nine ZNE projects with another 22 under development. State Releases Initial Rules on Cannabis Businesses The California Department of Health, Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Bureau of Cannabis Control released new temporary rules that  regulate who can legally sell and deliver marijuana to how it must be packaged and transported. Big farms may still be located in Mendocino and Monterey, and small delivery services can operate legally. Business cannot be located within 600 feet of schools. But pot cannot be transported in self-driving cars or bicycles and is banned in strip clubs. These guidelines come in less than six weeks before the sale of recreational marijuana becomes legal on Jan. 1. State agencies are working on more permanent rules next year. Here are the different sets of regulations: Bureau of Cannabis Control regulations (PDF) ;  Department of Food and Agriculture regulations (PDF) ;  Department of Public Health regulations (PDF) . (See prior CP&DR coverage .)  City of Irvine Clashes with Orange County over Homeless Shelters Orange County Supervisors have rejected a proposal to create emergency homeless shelters on 108 acres of vacant land next to the Great Park and instead approved, 4-1, a project to build a hotel, office space, and market-rate housing. The county says the proposed project would generate much-needed revenues to fund public services. County officials say 15 percent, or approximately 300 of the 2,000 proposed homes, would be affordable. However no members of the public spoke in favor of the project and urged the supervisors to delay a decision until it resolves concerns for Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County’s distribution center access or builds a homeless shelter or affordable housing. The City of Irvine City Council voted to sue to stop the county form moving forward with its plans. The food bank has also hired its own attorney to challenge the environmental analysis. One of the central disputes in the case is whether the county overstepped Irvine’s authority to regulate commercial land developments within the city.  Appeal Court Updates Ruling on 2011 SANDAG Transportation Plan The California Court of Appeal issued its revised ruling this week on a challenge to the 2011 environmental impact report prepared by SANDAG for its federally-required Regional Transportation Plan of 2011. The Court of Appeal revised ruling follows a July 2017 California Supreme Court ruling earlier this year. The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of SANDAG on the key element of the original Court of Appeal ruling in 2014. The Supreme Court ruled that SANDAG properly conducted the greenhouse gas analysis for the 2011 environmental impact report. The original petitioners, the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and others, asked the Court of Appeal to reissue its earlier decision incorporating the Supreme Court’s ruling.  Study: Gold Line Extension Worth $2.6B to Inland Empire According to a study released by Beacon Economics, the 12.3-mile extension of the Gold Line light rail from Glendora to Montclair in San Bernardino County will provide a $2.6 billion economic boost to the region. The $1.5 billion project includes six new stations and is slated to break ground in December and be completed around 2026. The study found the project will generate more than 17,000 jobs, $1 billion in labor income, and nearly $40 million in tax revenue to LA County. Once service begins, the project is expected to benefit the county annually by more than $52 million in economic output, $17 million in labor income, $800,000 in tax revenues, and 277 jobs. The study also notes the project has spurred $1 billion in private investments in residential and commercial development near the future Montclair station. However, the nine years of construction will cause dust, detours, and delays in six foothill cities.  S.F. City Attorney Clarifies City’s Take on Upland Ruling San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera recently released a memo contending that half the vote plus one will be enough to pass taxes via voter approval in the city. This comes after a recent state Supreme Court ruling, in which citizen-instigated ballot initiatives to raise taxes now only need a simple majority to pass instead of two-thirds. Last year, a ballot measure was put to voters to divert a portion of San Francisco’s hotel-tax revenue to pay for arts program and homeless family services won well over half the vote (63.7 percent), but not the two-third majority that was the standard for twenty years. Economics professor at UC Berkeley, Alan Auerbach, said Herrera’s conclusion will certainly mean be more initiative-based tax proposals, which can be good and bad. (See prior CP&DR coverage here , here , and here .) Quick Hits & Updates The Strategic Growth Council will host workshops to provide researchers and community members an opportunity to learn about the newest grant program: Climate Change Research Program, and the component of the Draft Research Investment Plan, as well as provide feedback to SGC staff. Written comments will be accepted until December 15. SGC will host three public workshops in Oakland Monday November 27,  Fresno Tuesday November 28, and Los Angeles Wednesday November 29. San Jose City Council is discussing a proposal to create a vacant storefront registry to spur property owners to clean up or lease blighted buildings downtown. The city’s code enforcement division would manage the program and charge $202 every three months for a building that remains empty. The vacant building monitoring program focuses on neglected and abandoned properties, but not storefronts specifically. Under the current rules, building owners do not have to enroll in a registry when their property becomes vacant. The pilot program will focus on downtown, but the hope is to eventually expand citywide. San Jose metropolitan area had a 19.2 percent increase in median cost of a home to $1,049,000 and the number of homes for sale in October fell by 51.6 percent. This new analysis from Redfin shows the severe lack of supply in housing in the area. The three most competitive markets in the U.S. for single-family homes, condos, and townhomes are San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. In these three cases 78.6 percent, 76.3 percent, and 63.7 percent of homes are selling above asking price. LA Metro CEO Phil Washington acknowledged the importance of a Metro rail station in the downtown Arts District, but said unless there is a financial miracle, the area won’t receive a station. Metro studied the idea of erecting a station at either Third or Sixth streets because of the rush of housing development in the area. The priority for Metro in the Arts District is preparing for the coming Purple Line Extension, slated to be opened in 2024. The third annual Schroders Global Cities 30 Index reports that Los Angeles is ranked first as a "hot spot" for global real estate investors. Other cities include New York, London, and Chicago. Last year LA was sixth place, but the good weather, entertainment industry and “silicon beach” has increased demand for office space and residential property. The city has proven to be the best long term value for fixed asset investment. The Oakland A’s have  hired Sasaki, Snøhetta, Studio T-Square, and HOK to design the stadium at Peralta Community College and integrate it into the surrounding neighborhood. The goal is the new stadium will help catalyze investment along Lake Merritt without alienating the existing community. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission voted, 4-2, to rename  Herman Plaza on Market Street to reflect changing attitudes towards redevelopment  Justin Herman led the Redevelopment Agency in the 1960s and was linked with the city’s urban renewal and slum clearance projects that displaced thousands of residents and small businesses.   Developers of a 20-story apartment tower in Hollywood announced that they would voluntarily make all 210 new units rent-controlled to cap rent increases at three percent per year. The project will demolish a cluster of low-rise apartment buildings and therefore the developer has also announced all tenants from the older buildings will be able to move into a “comparable unit” in the new project and pay the same rent. The project is expected to begin construction in 2019 and be completed in 2022. As part of San Francisco's Vision Zero strategies, Mayor Ed Lee is asking the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Authority to create a “rapid response team” to enact immediate safety improvements in areas where traffic fatalities occur. According to data from the city, traffic deaths have not decreased significantly in the city since Vision Zero framework was adopted. There were 31 deaths in 2014 and 2015 and 30 deaths in 2016.  Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has filed an application with LA officials seeking approval to begin digging within city limits to construct a tunnel underground that would whisk commuters from San Fernando Valley to the Westside through a tunnel parallel to the 405-freeway. The project would be funded entirely by private money and would allow cars, pedestrian and cyclists to use the system. Uplift Inglewood, an advocacy group, is pushing to get a rent control measure on the city’s ballot in 2018. While many cities across the state are facing escalating housing costs, Inglewood has a new NFL stadium due to open in 2020, which is expected to further raise rents. Housing activists are also pushing for rent control initiatives in Pasadena, Glendale, and Long Beach. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced preliminary plans to close the AES power plant and redevelop the 50-acre site to create a coastal resort and public park. In 2015 voters in the city decided against closing the power plant because a project with 600 residential units and a hotel would have risen in its place. Hahn says developers and officials would have to alleviate community concerns around traffic and development in an already dense area. The San Diego City Council was set to finalize a $5.85 million deal to build over 100 low-income homes on city-owned property in southeastern San Diego when a board member of San Diegans for Open Government said there was a potential conflict of interest. The group is worried one of the Civic San Diego board members, Phil Rath, has been a registered lobbyist on behalf of the nonprofit developer Affirmed Housing Group since 2013. The City Council will now review the allegations in the letter before making a decision on the project.

Since today is Small Business Saturday, following pitifully on the grotesque excess of “Black Friday” (a day as ill-named as it is ill-conceived), I’m compelled to ponder the state of small businesses in the California landscape. By my small sample set, it’s not great. Obviously, tons of small businesses aren’t retailers. But retail is clearly the focus on Small Business Saturday, and, of course, retail thrives in well conceived urban environments. In theory, planners draft regulations and approve developments to foster nice retail environments, developers create the actual places, and entrepreneurs do the rest. Naturally, online retail has upended this process. And, in Los Angeles, it's getting further twisted in at least two different ways. This tale of two storefronts begins in Boyle Heights, the historically Latino neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles. Boyle Heights has become the epicenter of debates over gentrification in Los Angeles, and the most potent symbol of those debates is Weird Wave Coffee Brewers. If ever there was a classic small business, it’s Weird Wave. They’re independent and founded by a group of local entrepreneurs. It's exactly the type of place where American Express wants you to swipe your Platinum card when you’re en route from the organic toy store to the fair trade haberdashery. And yet, since it opened about six months ago, Weird Wave has weathered every conceivable accusation  and form of protest. According to the critics, its owners are not noble entrepreneurs but rather colonizers, trying to whitewash the neighborhood, drive up prices, drive out locals, and perpetuate capitalist predation. All of this in about ten feet of storefront. Meanwhile, the McDonald’s across the street serves up its nutritionless gunk by the billions. Gentrification is a serious issue, and residents have every right to be concerned. But talk about aiming for the wrong target. Over on the Westside, an equally troubling, if far less boisterous drama is playing out. In fact, it’s not a drama at all. It’s the absence of drama. For at least a decade, a Noah’s Bagels and a Jamba Juice sat side-by-side on San Vicente Boulevard. Around the same time that Weird Wave opened, both of them cleared out. Their departure is hardly a blow to western civilization. The absence, though, speaks to a major disturbance in the economics of real estate. Since they left, their storefronts have been dead as doornails. The windows are painted over, and the streetscape has one more void. You’d think that they’d both be prime real estate, if not for a independent entrepreneur then for somebody. And they are — but there’s prime and there’s prime. RIP, Jamba Juice and Noah's Bagels. What I suspect is going on is that the building’s management (or real estate agents) haven’t yet heard that physical retailers are struggling. They probably jacked up the rent and, either because of ego or wishful thinking, aren’t willing to do the economically sensible thing: lower it until it reaches the spot on the supply curve that intersects with the demand curve. That’s the thing about this retail apocalypse: of all the factors that go into a successful store, rent is the one that’s most flexible, if landlords are willing to be flexible. If the world wants to buy fewer bagels but you can reduce the cost of rent, you can still make it work. Unfortunately, landlords - especially of buildings that are already paid off — don’t have much incentive to fill their spaces. The corporate owner of the former Noah’s and Jamba spaces surely cares less about the vacancies than do those of us who drive and walk past them every day. The same can be said for countless other storefronts in Los Angeles and elsewhere, including New York City . So there you have it: On the Eastside, a genuine small business that promises to enhance is neighborhood is catching anti-capitialist fervor. On the Westside, capitalism itself has pretty much broken down. Happy Small Business Saturday, everyone.

Two California projects are among the 13 worldwide winners of the Urban Land Institute’s 2017-2018 Global Awards for Excellence . The Emeryville Center of Community Living and Half Moon Village in Half Moon Bay received the awards, along with six other winners from the United States. The Emeryville project is a $96 million center that brings educational, health, family and recreational services into one site. The Center includes STEM classrooms, dedicated community multiuse space, daycare, family wellness center and health and dental clinic, library, commons, cafeteria, performance space, kitchens, swimming pool, studios, ad athletic fields. The Half Moon Bay project transforms an underused site into an innovative community for seniors with 160 affordable rental homes to low-income seniors and gardens, patios, bocce court, fitness center and community rooms. The Awards for Excellence program, established in 1979 and subsequently expanded to a global program, recognizes real estate projects that achieve the highest standard of excellence in design, construction, economics, planning, and management. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnerships, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial viability.  Environmental Groups Sue to Protect Coastal Gnatcatcher Habitat A lawsuit was recently filed to secure the coastal California gnatcatcher’s position on the federal Endangered Species List in light of new scientific evidence of its scarcity. In 2014, federal officials were presented new biological data indicated the gnatcatcher, a type of shorebird, does not belong on the Endangered Species Act list, and therefore its habitat is protected. The report concluded the bird was not an imperiled subspecies living only in Southern California but actually was part of a larger and healthy species found throughout Southern California to the tip of Baja, Mexico. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected the findings in 2016. Advocates for the gnatcatcher’s listing, including a group of homebuilders, submitted the petition are suing the officials to force them to reconsider. Represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, the group argues the first review was cursory, biased and lacked transparency, and that the peer-review research deserves objective analysis. Irvine Sues Orange County over Development Near Great Park The Irvine City Council voted unanimously to sue the County of Orange over the development plan for the 108 acres south of the Great Park. The County Board of Supervisors certified, on a 4-1 vote, the project’s environmental impact report for up to one million square feet of office space, 2,100 homes, 200,000 square feet of retail, and a 242-room hotel. Irvine Mayor Don Wagner calls it an “ill-conceived project”. Councilman Jeff Lalloway said the county is violating a 2003 agreement when the Great Park land was transferred to Irvine but the 108 acres south were kept. Lalloway said housing, office, and retail development were never in the agreement as it was meant for government and institutional uses. Typically land developments must be approved by the city they are located in, but the county claims it’s exempt under “sovereign immunity”. San Jose to Maintain Current Rent Control Increase The San Jose City Council voted , 6-5, to maintain the current cap for the nearly 45,000 rent-controlled apartments instead of tying the rent increases to inflation. The city currently limits the rent increases to no more than five percent each year. However, hundreds of renters urged the city to tie rent hikes to the Bay Area consumer price index- which has ranged from 2.1 percent to 2.8 percent in the last five years. The City Council also rejected Councilman Don Rocha’s plan to add 11,000 duplexes to the properties subject to the rent control law. The City Council approved a registry to track rents in rent-controlled units and a proposal to allow renters to add new tenants to their leases without fearing eviction. USC Analysis of Expo Rail Line Wins National Award USC Price School of Public Policy Professor Genevieve Guiliano and two PhD students were awarded the 2017 Chester Rapkin Award by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) for their work analyzing the LA Metro Expo Line’s impact on transit ridership and traffic. The study looked at transit, freeway, and arterial data to explore the impact of the Expo Line on transit ridership, freeway traffic and arterial traffic within the corridor the line services. The research found a new rail line does not divert enough passengers from cars to make a significant difference. However, benefits include increasing transit accessibility and person throughput within high-demand corridors, but the effects on roadway traffic are small and localized. Landlords Flout S.F. Affordable Housing Program  An investigation by KPIX in San Francisco found dozens of cases of landlords violating a city program and renting out their below-market-rate (BMR) units at full prices. In one cases, a homeowner posts ads for the BMR property on Craigslist while living in a $1.5 million home in another part of the city. Another owner of a BMR property rents out her unit for $149 a night on Airbnb while living in a multi-million dollar condo in the new Millennium Tower. Director of Homeownership and Below Market Programs for the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, Maria Benjamin, told KPIX, “the amount of people misusing the system are so small compared to the people using the system for its purpose.” The city attorney is prosecuting three cases involving alleged BMR cheats and the Mayor’s Office of Housing is investigating approximately 40 cases, roughly 1 percent of the BMRs in the city.

Following up on the California Supreme Court’s recent ruling in environmentalists’ challenge to the San Diego sustainable communities strategies, a split appellate court has concluded that the case is not moot simply because the San Diego Association of Governments has completed a new SCS with a new environmental impact report. The court further concluded that the 2011 SCS EIR is deficient in several respects – most particularly by focusing alternatives on traffic congestion relief rather than lower vehicle miles traveled.