Two nearby residents don’t have standing in a CEQA lawsuit against Mt. San Jacinto College, an appellate court has ruled. Even if they did, the court ruled, their claims would be struck down because a purchase agreement for property is not an action subject to the California Environmental Quality Act.

In a 77-page opinion, the California Supreme Court has partially overturned a lower court and concluded that the environmental review of a railroad project is not pre-empted by federal law if the state is the project’s owner and the environmental review does not conflict with the scope of federal regulation. The ruling could have significant consequences for the state’s high-speed rail project, in which federal pre-emption of the California Environmental Quality Act has been a significant issue.

Reports Point to Further Cover-Ups over Misleading SANDAG Ballot Measure In an investigative series, Voice of San Diego reports that the San Diego Association of Governments misled the public on two separate ballot measures. An internal document discussed in November 2016 suggests that agency staff knew that a 2004 ballot measure to increase county sales tax included misleading language but declined to publicly admit the deception. As reported by Voice of San Diego last month, SANDAG misled by telling voters the tax would raise far more funds than the agency actually expected. SANDAG staffers offered the SANDAG board members and the public explanation for its ongoing scandal that they knew were false or incomplete. Agency staffers had multiple opportunities to disclose this information to the board or public and repeatedly withheld the information. The TransNet ballot measure has been running an extreme revenue shortfall, it was predicted to bring in $14.2 billion but now is closer to $9 billion. Now the Voice of San Diego contends that staff at SANDAG took steps to hide public records and delete official documents last year after the major errors in revenue forecasting were revealed. Lake Tahoe Report Card Indicates Warming, Record Precipitation UC Davis’ Tahoe Environmental Research Center released the report, “ From Treetops to Lake Bottom, Tahoe’s Annual Report Card .” In 2016 the lake saw the hottest temperatures on record as well as unprecedented levels of rain and snow. The report looks at the ongoing, decades-long measurement programs as well as what autonomous underwater vehicles are finding in the lake. Key findings include the record numbers of dead and dying trees due to drought stress, insect attack and disease. Climate change has led to the warming of the lake 0.5 degrees per year, longer summers, and increased algae growth in the water. The annual report is aimed informing non-scientists about the most important factors affecting lake health and the influence on decisions about ecosystem restoration and management within the lake basin. Court Strikes Down Sonoma County Climate Action Plan  Judge Nancy Case Shaffer rejected the environmental document supporting Sonoma County’s Climate Action Plan for reducing GHG emissions, finding it does not adequately account for emissions generated outside the county. Shaffer said the plan adopted by supervisors last year is based on insufficient information and violates CEQA. The California River Watch sued the county and the Regional Climate Protection Authority over the plan. Supervisor David Rabbitt says the county and its nine cities are among the first in the nation to initiate such a progressive policy and access River Watch of halting growth. The county now will have to amend the plan or start over. CEQA Suit over Inland Empire Highway Goes to Appeal The Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over concerns of environmental impacts of a proposed 16-mile highway corridor intended to link San Jacinto and Perris. The suit arguing the project is a waste of taxpayer money, will not solve traffic problem, will break up neighborhoods and wildlife habitat. In May, U.S. District Judge George Wu ruled in favor of the proposed Mid County Parkway. The $1.7 billion project is jointly involving the Riverside County Transportation Commission and the Federal Highway Administration. The project is still in the design phase, but RCTC has already initiated the process of identifying how to mitigate impacts related to construction of an interchange in Perris. Greenhouse Gases Fell 0.3 Percent in 2015 California’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 0.3 percent in 2015, meaning the state will most likely reach 1990s levels by 2020, according to the California Air Resources Board's annual greenhouse gas inventories. However, more distant goals may be more difficult to meet. The data shows emissions from electrical plants fell in 2015, largely due to the growth of solar facilities, but the amount of GHG from planes and cars increased. The largest source of greenhouse gases in the state is transportation, contributing around 39 percent of the state’s emissions. Since peaking in 2004 at 489 million metric tons, California’s emissions have fallen 10 percent to 440. Quick Hits & Updates The Trump administration rolled back controversial regulations for wetlands imposed during the Obama presidency. Now the State Water Resources Control Board plans to adopt its own regulations that could protect more of the state’s wetlands from being plowed, paved, drained or otherwise damaged. In March, Los Angeles Metro approved track alignments and funding increase for LinkUS – the estimated $2.75 billion project that would convert Union Station from a stub-end to a run-through station. In July, the Metro Board Planning and Programming Committee introduced an above-grade concourse which would be circular with escalators and stairs down to the train platforms. In October, Metro is expected to released an RFI/Q/P to clarify how LinkUS could potentially proceed with additional private development onsite. The study is currently evaluating possible bike/walk connections between the station and the planned LA River multi-use path. The group leading Sacramento’s bid for a Major League Soccer team has begun pre-construction activities at the site of its planned 19,621-seat stadium. The team’s goal is to complete the first phase of construction before winter. Republic FC officials say the stadium is on a realistic timeline to be completed in time for the 2020 MLS season. The area around the stadium, a former railyard, will also include a Kaiser Permanente hospital complex and 10,000 homes. Anti-abortion protesters have targeted the San Francisco Planning Commission for its recent  approval  of a Planned Parenthood Center on Bush Street. Protestors have shown up at four of the commissioners’ homes and have written messages in chalk on the sidewalk. According to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, some county officials and residents are concerned about the increased number of wells being drilled by cannabis farms in the area. The region has little water, which is very shallow and salty, and the spike from two wells drilled in 2015 to 20 in 2016 is alarming to some. Some county officials are not confident about the current water supply and some lawsuits have been filed against cannabis growers for their potable water wells being drained for cannabis cultivation. According to ApartmentList, the city of San Francisco added one new home per 8.2 jobs between 2010-2015. Census data shows a ratio closer to 10 jobs per home for the City. The ApartmentList numbers come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and US Census survey of building permits. The analysis shows that rents are up 43 percent since 2005. Google has bought roughly four dozen properties in Sunnyvale around Moffett Park for approximately $800 million. The buildings provide around 2.3 million square feet of space and will be part of the downtown San Jose campus the tech company has planned. More than 11,000 employees could potentially work in these buildings. Plans were revealed for one of the largest redevelopments in the county in recent memory: a $1-billion redevelopment of the 20-acre Orange County Register newspaper property in Santa Ana. The project, named 625IVE, calls for 2.35 million square feet of offices, multifamily residential units, retail space, and a hotel. The tallest of the proposed towers would have a maximum height of 493 feet.  San Diego’s real estate department sent city officials the appraisal it commissioned of the Qualcomm Stadium and found the land to be worth $110 million. If the SoccerCity initiative is successful, it would require investors to pay fair market value for the land. This may be the boost Mayor Kevin Faulconer needs to keep alive his push for a special election.  Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 617, aimed at improving air quality in disadvantaged communities. The law imposes new requirement to monitor and reduce pollution near oil refineries, industrial facilities and freight corridors. The City of Newport Beach City Council approved , 7-0, changes to the zoning code and local coastal program to give homeowners in single-family zones the opportunity to construct accessory dwelling units or convert existing space within a structure into livable facilities. Approximately 13,126 homeowners could construct new units on their property and 18,836 are eligible to repurpose existing space. Both cases would require administrative approval and must meet city building codes.  According to a survey from construction analysts finds that the number of cranes at work in Los Angeles has jumped to 36 at the beginning of July. Only Seattle has more cranes in the U.S., and Toronto has 72 cranes. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced he will file another motion in an antitrust lawsuit to stop Valero Energy Corp. from purchasing a Martinez oil terminal, which he says could raise gas prices. The oil terminal is currently owned by Plains All American Pipeline, which imports and exports petroleum. According to Becerra, if Valero acquired the property all three “critical” Northern California terminals would be owned by refineries.

The last time the Office of Planning and Research updated its General Plan Guidelines, climate change was not yet an inconvenient truth rather than a full-blown reality, urban infill meant cheap downtown apartments, and online mapping still meant Mapquest. Times has changed since 2003.

The City of San Diego City Council approved legislation designed to quickly increase the amount of housing constructed at affordable prices to middle and low-income residents. The new law is intended make it easier and cheaper for homeowners to add accessory units; it also expedites approvals. The goals of the 12 initiatives Mayor Kevin Faulconer plans to enact in the next two years are lowering housing costs, boosting supply and promoting “smart growth” along transit lines. The City Council unanimously approved two of the three new laws; looser granny flat rules were approved 8-1. The city’s “Expedite Program” makes it so more projects can benefit if they have at least 10 percent of units reserved for low/very low income families or are near transit lines. Streamlining approvals would revamp the appeals process by increases the cost for an appeal from $100 to $1,000 and requiring hearings to be scheduled within 60 days instead of the average 105 days. New Point Reyes Plan to Eliminate Ranching, Dairying The Point Reyes National Seashore will update its general management plan and prepare an environmental impact statement that evaluates alternatives including eliminating historic ranching and dairying operations. Three environmental nonprofit groups sued the National Park Service last year as ranching was criticized over its impacts to water quality and public access. The park may issue five-year leases to agricultural operations while it updates the general management plan. In 2012, the Interior Department mandated standards for ranching leases and practices but the park argued that it was postponing an update to its general plan in order to prioritize the ranch plan. Those suing the park say this was “unlawfully prioritizing ranching above other uses of the national seashore,” saying there was no environmental review of the ranch operations particularly changes such as global warming, expired reservations of use and occupancy for the ranches, endangered species listings, and evolving visitor uses. The settlement agreement reached states the general management plan amendment and environmental impact statement will address alternatives for future management of the lands within four years. New Santa Monica Downtown Plan to Require Up To 30% Inclusionary Housing The Santa Monica city council approved its new downtown Downtown Community Plan on a 4-3 vote. The plan is the final piece of the city’s updated General Plan, which has been in process for years and been marked by successive efforts to reduce densities from levels the plan had originally envisioned. Height limits throughout downtown zone are 84 feet, while three specific sites can go up to 130 feet. The document streamlines administrative approval for housing projects up to 75,000 square feet. Residential projects are required to provide between 20-30 percent affordable housing for all new condos and apartments. Parking minimums will be eliminated and commercial projects up to 10,000 square feet are required to have administrative approval. Some developers say the high affordable housing percentage would dissuade construction in the city, thus stifling the production of both market-rate and affordable housing; they cite a crash in development that occurred when San Francisco raised its inclusionary zoning requirements above 20 percent. Supporters say other housing incentives may be enough to encourage growth that the plan foresees in the famously expensive coastal city. The City Council will receive a monitoring report on housing production every six months to see the effects of the new requirements. (See prior CP&DR coverage here and here .) PPIC Finds Californias Support Environmental Policies The Public Policy Institute of California released a survey and paper on “Californians and the Environment”. The survey finds a majority of Californians are in favor of state policies related to global warming including the law mandating statewide reduction of GHG emissions and the cap-and-trade program. Even with the reminder that an estimated 15 cents will be added to each gallon of gasoline by 2021 with revenue to be spend on affordable housing near public transit, energy efficiency, high-speed rail, and public transit, 60 percent of adults and 51 percent of likely voters were still in favor of the state’s efforts. Only 25 percent of Californians are in favor of offshore drilling while 73 percent approve of wind power and wave energy projects and 67 percent are in favor of desalination. Related to oceans and beaches contamination of fish and seafood is a big problem (46 percent), declining marine life (45 percent) and limited public access to the coast and beaches (18 percent). While 24 percent of Californians say air pollution is the biggest problem, 38 percent say its somewhat of a problem. However, 55 percent say air pollution is a more serious health threat in lower-income areas and 79 percent are in favor of empowering local air districts to require industries to curb emissions of air pollutants.  SGC Seeks Comments on Transformative Climate Communities Guidelines The Strategic Growth Council released its fourth revision of the Draft Guidelines for the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) Program. This revised draft has updated requirements applicants must meet for implementation and planning grants. Comments are due Aug. 2 via  tccpubliccomments@sgc.ca.gov . The final proposed version will be considered by the SGC Aug. 24. CARB also released a draft TCC Greenhouse Gas Emission Quantification Methodology. CARB will be accepting public comments through Aug. 2. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Sacramento to Demolish Federal Housing to Make Way for new Neighborhood Under a new plan, Sacramento’s Twin Rivers neighborhood will be demolished and replaced with an expanded mixed-income district. The changes for the affordable housing-rich neighborhood will test a new federal housing policy “Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.” The Twins Rivers neighborhood was originally developed in 1952 by the federal government as 218 public housing units. The new project will include 480 units, half of which will be set aside for current residents. The renderings show tree-lined streets with three and four-story townhomes, neighborhood park, grocery store, and new light rail station for existing Blue Line. The existing project will begin demolition in May 2018. The project received a $30 million seed grant in 2015 and the rest is expected to come from tax credits, cap-and-trade funds, and other government grants and private construction loans. Draft Earthquake Maps Reveal Faults in West Los Angeles Officials released new draft maps showing earthquake faults in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and the West Los Angeles as part of a new effort by the state to locate fault lines so that new buildings are not constructed on top of them. An LA Times analysis in 2013 showed more than a dozen projects were approved along the path of the Santa Monica and Hollywood faults in the last decade. Once these maps are finalized, state law will require anyone looking to build in a fault zone to hire a geologist to investigate whether construction can occur on an actual fault line. The maps may still be revised and public feedback is due Oct. 11. Quick Hits & Updates The City of Rosemead filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles Metro for throwing out the 710 tunnel expansion saying the decision was premature and violated state environmental laws. The complaint alleges the board should have waited until the final environmental study was certified by Caltrans, which is not expected until next year. The board rejected the 6.3 mile tunnel saying it does not have the $3-5.3 billion needed.  Joshua Tree National Park will be officially designated as an International Dark Sky Park which is a park that has “an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment”.  Controversial pro-housing advocate Sonja Trauss has announced her candidacy for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Sixth District seat. Jane Kim currently holds the seat but cannot run for reelection due to term limits. Founder of the San Francisco Bay Area Renders Federation, Trauss has become a YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) leader and promotes policies and projects that increase housing stock of all kinds. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is seeking a court order to force Uber and Lyft to share records on driver safety, disability access and other operations. The actions are an attempt for the city to ensure drivers are not creating “a public nuisance by jeopardizing public safety, discriminating or otherwise violating local and state laws.” Lyft originally was willing to work with the city but demanded unreasonable provisions and Uber refused to cooperate. Last month, San Francisco County Transportation Authority found that these rideshare programs make up 15 to 20 percent of the city’s traffic during the week. San Jose Councilmember Johnny Khamis is pushing back on a proposal to rezone a piece of Valley Transportation Authority-owned property near a light rail station be from Agriculture to Mixed-Use. Transit advocates contend that the parcel is an ideal place for high-density transit-oriented development Khamis, along with neighbors of the Branham LRT station, say the application would first have to address traffic because a land use amendment could be considered. Los Angeles City officials have decided to take the remaining 37 parcels of Manchester Square near LAX through eminent domain in preparation for expansion of airport facilities. Of the remaining parcels , owners of 26 properties have decided to sell and tenants will receive relocation assistance. The remaining 11 properties whose owners are holding out are waiting to receive proper compensation. City Council is expected to vote next month. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a new Office of Cannabis in advance of recreational marijuana sales starting early next year. The office will analyze disparities that keep certain minority groups out of the business and make recommendation on how to keep medical marijuana affordable. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) The Los Angeles City Council  approved a plan to legalize 1,700 unpermitted units in apartment buildings that will increase the housing supply. The apartments can become legalized if they existed before 2016, meet standards for safety and other measures, and if the landlord is willing to rent that unit – or another one- at below market rates.

CP&DR Vol. 32 No. 7 July 2017

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors certified a revised environmental impact report and approved two subdivisions in Newhall Ranch, the controversial master-planned community northwest of Los Angeles. The EIR was revised in response to a 2015 Supreme Court decision ruling that an earlier version of the document did not properly account for greenhouse gas emissions and threats to native fish. The project, developed by FivePoint, has been rebranded “Netzero Newhall” and includes a range of features designed to lessen the development’s environmental impact. These are the first major approvals for the project, which has been in development for over a decade. Both were approved in 4-0 votes. Members of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning and the Environment had planned to speak out during a public hearing at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting. The group is concerned over environmental changes made for the 21,500 units proposed as Newhall Ranch development. The group had asked the board to hold off certifying the plans for two housing tracts, which would make up 5,500 residences, until the public has more time to review changes made to the EIRs. The recent changes made include adding electric car chargers in garages and two bridges that would go over the Santa Clara River. (See pior CP&DR coverage .) Coastal Counties Sue Fossil Fuel Producers over Climate Change Marin County, San Mateo County, and the City of Imperial Beach are suing 37 oil, gas and coal companies for allegedly knowing their fossil fuel products would cause sea level rise and coastal flooding and failing to reduce GHG pollution. The suit continues that although there was a narrow window to take action, the companies engaged in a “coordinated, multi-front effort” to discredit scientific evidence and “persistently create doubt”. The counties are looking for compensatory damages, punitive damages, and disgorgement of profits and lawyers’ fees. Marin County Supervisor Kate Sears says the lawsuit has similarities to what state attorneys did with the tobacco industry in the 1990s. The group Sher Edling will be representing the counties. Arts Council Names 14 Cultural Districts Statewide The California Arts Council announced 14 districts that will serve as California’s inaugural state-designated Cultural Districts that highlight thriving cultural diversity and unique artistic identities across the state. The cultural districts in the San Diego Region include Balboa Park, Barrio Logan, and Oceanside. In the Deserts Region there is only the BLVD Cultural District in Lancaster. The San Francisco Bay Area Region has the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District in San Francisco, Downtown San Rafael Arts District, Rotten City in Emeryville, and SOMA Pilipinas. The Los Angeles Region has Little Tokyo and San Pedro Waterfront Arts, Cultural & Entertainment District. Other Cultural Districts throughout the state include Eureka, Grass Valley-Nevada City, Redding, and Truckee. These 14 districts will receive the designation for five years and receive benefits such as technical assistance, peer-to-peer exchanges, branding materials and promotional strategies. Santa Clara’s Proposed CityPlace Garners Key Support A trio of environmental agencies have accepted Related Co.’s plans for CityPlace, $6.7 billion mixed-use complex with up to 1,680 housing units across from Levi’s Stadium on a former landfill. The company's massive technical document, which includes elaborate safety systems to block the escape of methane gas and other dangerous vapors and prevent groundwater contamination from the landfill, was accepted by environmental overseers Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health, California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (also known as CalRecycle) and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. The project would also include 5.7 million square feet office, retail, and a hotel. The City of San Jose sued the City of Santa Clara last year because of the imbalance between jobs and housing units. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Environmental Groups Sue over Proposed Border Wall The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the federal government in District Court early July over the environmental resources at stake if Trump decides to build his 14 miles of double-layer border fence. The proposed fence would stretch inland from Imperial Beach through a sensitive salt marsh, which is home to the Quino checkerspot butterfly and vernal pools. The lawsuit claims that the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection failed to prepare and publish legally required environmental impact analyses for the project. The Center also alleges violations of the Freedom of Information Act because the Center’s attorneys did not receive responses for FOIA request in the legally required timeframe. The government has until early September to respond to claims in the lawsuit. Bay Area Bike Share to Rebrand, Expand San Francisco’s Bay Area Bike Share has been rechristened Ford GoBike and is planning a massive relaunch of 7,000 bikes throughout the region. East Bay already received its first phase of 450 bikes at 43 stations in Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville. GoBike is a public-private partnership between Motivate and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission with Ford as the title sponsor. To ensure more equity in the program, GoBike launched a $5, first-year annual membership for low-income residents, cash payment options for residents without credit cards, and a commitment to playing 35 percent of the stations in “communities of concern”. The group TransForm conducted outreach and created a report called OakMob 101 (Oakland Mobility) and found of survey respondents, 33 percent did not have access to a bike at home. Environmental Group Sues over Proposed Carpool Lanes in Sacramento The Environmental Council of Sacramento is suing Caltrans over plans to build carpool lanes on Highway 50 in downtown Sacramento saying the state failed to analyze health impacts on local residents from potential increased vehicle emissions. Caltrans chose not to conduct a full environmental review because it did not expect significant environmental issues. ECOS argues the freeway expansion would lead to a significant increase in vehicles on the freeway and instead encourages Caltrans to turn one of the existing lanes into a carpool lane. Caltrans plans to begin construction in 2019 for the $187 million project if it can obtain the funds. For the first part of the lane expansions between Watt Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard, the two groups settled out-of-court and Caltrans agreed to spend $7 million on improvements to the Sacramento Regional Transit light-rail line. Quick Hits & Updates The Fremont City Council backed away from pursuing rent control measures after weighing options and hearing from dozens of landlords and tenants. The council did not vote on any of the three rent-control options that were presented. Landlords said rent control measures make it more difficult to evict problem tenants while those in favor say the city has taken too long to tackle renter protections. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) The state has finalized its environmental review of the California WaterFix. The project still needs a number of other permits and financial support before construction can begin. Present to voter-approved Measure JJJ, the Los Angeles Department of City Planing has drafted a proposed Value Capture Ordinance to link approval of certain discretionary entitlements that allow for consideration of increased density or floor area ratio (FAR) with affordable housing requirements. Currently, affordable housing requirements are only imposed on residential development projects proposing more than 10 units that requireapproval of a general plan amendment, zone change, or height district change. The Coastal Commission unanimously approved an agreement to end beach sand mining in Monterey County. This decision ends the last operation of its type in mainland US. Instead of facing court battles, Cemex agreed to stop extracting sand from 400 acres of beach in the city of Marina by Dec. 31, 2020. The settlement also requires Cemex to sell the site at a reduced price to a nonprofit organization that would preserve the property and provide public access. The Department of Housing and Community Development is awarding  (pdf) $36 million to 64 cities and 31 counties across the state for the Housing-Related Parks Program. The program’s funds will go towards creating or improving parks and is funded through Proposition IC, the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006. This will be the last round of funding, as the grant funds have been used over the last seven years for a variety of projects such as community centers, parks and recreation facilities, playgrounds, and improvements to existing parks. Gov. Jerry Brown signed controversial legislation, SB 106, allowing cities in Marin County to continue to impose strict limits on the number of new homes built in their jurisdictions, regardless of Regional Housing Needs Allocation numbers. The sponsor of the bill, Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael), says it allows for more affordable housing because smaller buildings would lower construction costs. San Francisco officials have requested the City Attorney’s Office to look into legislation that would allow the city to impose a vacancy tax, similar to Vancouver's, on property owners who “warehouse” their valuable residential and commercial units. Commissioners remark that more units seem vacant and that the city lacks data on numbers. According to the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey , San Jose is the least affordable city in the US and 5th least affordable in the world. Los Angeles comes in 8th and San Francisco 9th in the 10 least affordable cities in the world. The first phase of the new Jordan Downs public housing complex is set to be finished next year with 115 new apartments. However, a report shows the city’s 17-month effort to clean up the former industrial property had failed as toxins were detected below the surface in groundwater and soil vapors. Of the 21 lots only one poses health risks and that area will require vapor barriers and to be deed-restricted to commercial uses.  Orange County Great Park will open the long-awaited first phase of the 194-acre park Aug 5. The available amenities include a 2,506-seat soccer stadium, six soccer fields, 25 tennis courts, and five sand volleyball courts on 53 acres. The new sports park is part of the 713 acres FivePoint is building for the city in exchange for approval to build more than 4,600 homes adjacent to the park.  Transbay Joint Powers Authority voted to let San Francisco-based Salesforce put its name on the transit center opening next year. The 25-year $110 million sponsorship agreement will change the name of the facility to the Salesforce Transit Center and place the company’s name or logo on as many as 177 signs throughout the building. The station is adjacent to the new Salesforce Tower.  Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners approved plans this week to renovate two terminals and lease a future terminal to Southwest Airlines. This future terminal will be sandwiched between Terminals 1 and 2 and cost an estimated $490 million to build and open in 2020. Delta Air Lines will spend up to $1.9 billion to upgrade Terminals 2 and 3. The City of Huntington Beach has unveiled its General Plan Update through 2040. Residents and city officials will review and discuss the document in the upcoming months and it will be presented to the City Council Sept. 18.

Urban freeways are often described in the language of carnage. Bisecting neighborhoods, disrupting street grids, harming disadvantaged populations, and barreling through valuable downtown real estate, they are variously referred to by detractors as scars, gashes, and wounds inflicted on the urban landscape.  Now, as California’s urban resurgence continue apace, several cities are considering reconstructive surgery.  The poultice of choice is made out of the same material as the scar itself: concrete. Cities are now envisioning caps that are, essentially, bridges that cover trenched freeways, typically for three or four blocks. Traffic would pass under them undisturbed while cities would gain acres of new space while restoring their street grids for the benefit of pedestrians and residents.  Cities in California have considered freeway cap projects for years, predating the recession of the late 2000s. Several projects performed initial studies, including several that received initial planning grants from the Southern California Association of Governments. But none has yet gotten past preliminary planning stages.  Now, with the resurgent economy and dearth of urban land, cities are redoubling their efforts.  Several projects are competing for the title of California’s first freeway cap.  Los Angeles’s Park 101 would cover a section of the 101 Freeway on the north side of downtown, where the freeway separates Chinatown, Olvera Street, and Union Statin from the Civic Center and the rest of downtown. A few miles north, the Hollywood Central Park would cover a 38-acre diagonal slash of the 101 through a medium-density commercial and residential part of Hollywood. The City of Glendale has similar plans for the 134 Freeway on the north side of its downtown, branded Space 134.  The 101 Freeway would disappear under a proposed cap park in downtown Los Angeles.  “There’s all this urban design, active transportation, health benefits to it,” said Cecilia Estolano, co-CEO of Estolano LeSar Perez, a planing firm that has conducted studies on Park 101. “There are also financial benefits. You’ll be unlocking the value of these parcels that heretofore have not been useful.” More speculative projects include one in downtown Santa Monica, extending the McClure Tunnel and connecting the city’s retail district with its civic center; coastal Ventura, where Highway 101 separates the city from its beachfront; downtown Oakland; and two projects in San Diego.  Many of these projects have received support in the form of planning grants, and some are championed by nonprofit groups set up by civic leaders.  “We continue to fund them because now we see them as providing destinations, non-motorized connections, active transportation, park amenities, economic development, the whole range of benefits,” said Marco Anderson, program manger at SCAG and convener of the agency's ad hoc Freeway Cap Coalition.  While caps could support all manner of buildings, most of these projects propose that parks and other types of public space would occupy the reclaimed real estate.  “We’re a built-out city as many are,” said Glendale City Manager Scott Ochoa. “How do you create new property for open space?” “With property values rising...imagine trying to build this type of park by acquiring land in downtown,” said Estolano. “We have dedicated so much land to the automobile. We are finally seeing a generational shift in our thinking. We want to reclaim this space for people.” That’s the case in Glendale and both Los Angeles projects. Ventura, though, takes a more pragmatic approach. Ventura Community Development Director Jeff Lambert said that the city doesn’t necessarily need more park space, at least not in that location, since it’s a few blocks from the beach. And the cap could enable the city to demolish an obsolete beachside parking structure and thereby create more recreational space. Lambert said that the cap could provide for a whole host of projects, including a parking lot, a conference center, and, ideally, a new train station created from the existing Union Pacific trestle. “We are in some ways creating new land….. if we can move that structure on to the freeway, we create a whole beachfront property for development,” said Lambert. “We have a beach, so we don’t necessarily need the open space. We need something more commercially oriented." In many ways, boosters see freeway caps as true win-win situations, enhancing the public realm without distributing the essential transportation function of the freeways they cover. But several impediments lie in their way.  For the most part, engineering is the least of cities’ worries. Arguably less complex than the freeways they cover, caps present relatively straightforward engineering challenges. As massive as they are, they are essentially very wide bridges. They do not need supports because the trench walls already exist.  “The technical component is not challenging at all,” said Estolano. “This is not an engineering masterpiece, as I understand it.” Freeway caps are, therefore, not necessarily as expensive as other meaty pieces of infrastructure might be. The 22-acre Park 101 is estimated to cost roughly $390 million, while Glendale officials estimate about half that for its 5.2-acre proposal . By far the largest proposed freeway cap, Hollywood Central Park is estimated to cost $1 billion. (By comparison, developable land in downtown Los Angeles has sold recently for well over $20 million per acre.) “It’s not a small sum of money, but building it and getting the money to build it are not one of my bigger concerns,” said Glendale Community Development Director Phil Lanzafame. He noted that the immediate neighborhood has recently seen over $1 billion in investment for two retail centers alone.  In return for these investments, Estolano noted that the development of Park 101 would enable the city to develop several parcels that are currently moribund because of their proximity to the freeway, thus defraying the cost. It would also free up real estate by eliminating several little-used on- and off-ramps. And the plan calls for improvements throughout the surrounding area. She also suggested that freeway caps present ideal opportunities for cities (or other lead agencies) to use Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts, a relatively new funding tool based on tax-increment financing. (See prior CP&DR coverage here and here .) “EIFD’s are really going to be pivotal,” said Estolano. “To make these projects work in this day and age, without redevelopment, we’re really going to have to figure out value capture.” Even with these funding opportunities, freeway caps are not going to build themselves, in part because they are not considered amnesties and not essential infrastructure.  "While the public sector is going to play the kind of key facilitating role...what’s really going to move the needle is a private sector foundation and champion….and to raise a lot of the seed money,” said Anderson. Even with funding, none of these caps will see the light of day without approval from the California Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the freeways in question. When many of these projects were first conceived, Caltrans’ cooperation seemed unlikely. Caltrans officials hesitated to support freeway caps because they would essentially prevent widening of the freeway segments that they covered. There was also debate about ownership of air rights.  “It’s not something that’s conceived of in the Caltrans manual,” said Estolano. Recently, though, the agency has taken on a supportive tone. Anderson said that new leadership at Caltrans and the adoption of Smart Mobility Framework has encouraged the agency to embrace sustainability more so than in the past. It even sponsored a study of a cap over a small portion of State Route 94 in San Diego.  “It goes hand in hand in the last five years with the realization in LA County….those segments of freeway aren’t going to be widened anyway,” said Anderson. “Now there’s an understanding that Caltrans and SCAG and Metro are in a position to say, we know this segment is not going to be widened so we are comfortable going ahead.”  That’s not to say that Caltrans will rubber-stamp any of these projects.  “Our biggest issue is convincing folks that the money question isn't the major question; it’s the collaboration among government agencies,” said Ochoa. But at least cities now see some hope.  Regardless, none of these projects will proceed without public support and political will. Lambert said, for instance, that Ventura’s project has stalled in part because of the retirement of former City Council Member Carl Morehouse, who had been its leading proponent.  But boosters claim that the time may be right for many of these projects. The continuing renaissance of downtowns, like those in Los Angeles and Glendale, plus the dearth of park space make freeway caps essential and urgent, according to backers.  “LA can’t wait,” said Estolano. “We need to create better health impacts for people. We need to address some of the environmental inequities that occurred in the last half-century.” Moreover, these mega-projects have, of late, become less fanciful and less daunting. Boston’s “Big Dig” — which included not just a cap but also an entirely new sunken highway — notoriously ran billions of dollars over budget in the early 2000s. But, in 2012, the 5-acre Klyde Warren Park opened atop a 1,200-foot stretch of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway in downtown Dallas. It cost $50 million, paid for with a combination of philanthropic, municipal, and federal funds.  “It is possible,” said Anderson. “It's not kind of a fantasy idea.” As idyllic as they sound, some critics see a dark side to freeway caps — and they’re not just referring to light-deprived tunnels.  Chris Sensenig, an urban designer with Van Meter Williams Pollack in the Bay Area, founded a group called Connect Oakland. It advocates not just for capping Oakland's 980 Freeway but rather for its removal entirely. Sensenig’s position is grounded in a fundamental opposition to urban freeways.  "Freeways were created to connect cities. They were never meant to go through cities. The way they were implemented in cities were, quite frankly, systematic racism.” Sensenig said that the 980 in particular never should have been built in the first place, that it’s under-used. At the same time, it commits all the other sins that urban freeways are accused of. Sensenig envisions removing the freeway, reconfiguring the surrounding streets, and reclaiming land for development. Most ambitiously, Sensenig sees it as a possible BART station served by a proposed second Transbay Tube.  The prospect of removing the freeway and turning it into a multi-lane boulevard with opportunities for development is included, in rough form, in Oakland’s recently adopted downtown plan. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) And Sensenig rejects the win-win notion of a traditional freeway cap, which, he said, simply perpetuates cities' reliance on automobiles and automobiles’ offenses against cities. He believes that caps accommodate — literally covering up — something that cities should be demolishing with enthusiasm.  “Fundamentally, caps are foolish endeavors. It doubles-down on the freeway,” said Sensenig. “You’re putting that much more investment in the freeway being there. It’s going to be there forever, once that second round of investment is made.”  Despite objections such as these, support for freeway caps statewide may be reaching critical mass. And once one project gets approved, others may follow as the novelty wears off and regulations catch up with cities’ ambitions.  “If Hollywood cracks the nut, we will follow along,” said Estolano. “I would hate to think that each project will have to through all the same battles on their own.” “It would be very interesting to see a piece of legislation that would map out a process that others could use,” said Estolano. Selected Freeway Cap Proposals  East Lost Angeles (pdf.) Glendale Space134 Hollywood Central Park Friends of Park 101 (Downtown Los Angeles) Connect Oakland (Interstate 980) San Diego State Route 94 Contacts & Resources  Marco Anderson , Program Manager, Southern California Association of Governments, anderson@scag.ca.gov Cecilia Estolano , Co-CEO, Estolano LaSar Perez, cecilia@elpadvisors.com Jeff Lambert , Community Development Director, City of Ventura, jlambert@cityofventura.ca.gov Phil Lanzafame , Community Development Director, City of Glendale, PLanzafame@glendaleca.gov Scott Ochoa , City Manager, City of Glendale, sochoa@glendaleca.gov Chris Sensenig , Founder, Connect Oakland, info@connectoakland.org Images courtesy of Friends of Park 101 and Space 134.

It’s tempting to say that the big SANDAG sustainable communities strategy lawsuit ended with a whimper and not a bang. After all, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of the San Diego Association of Governments’ approach to dealing with possible 2050 emissions reduction targets in the environmental impact report for the 2011 SCS. At the same time, environmentalists were arguing off the record that this was the best loss they could have imagined, because it didn’t say that SANDAG’s approach was adequate for future analysis.

The nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists released a report and interactive tool that forecasts what parts of the country are likely to see regular flooding from rising sea level rise. Areas that are expected to experience frequent flooding by 2030 are northern parts of Huntington Beach and the peninsula in Newport Beach, Balboa Island, the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, the Port of Long Beach, residential peninsula near Belmont Shores, and neighboring Naples Island. These areas will experience flooding of streets and beaches in just 13 years, decades earlier than previously predicted. In the Bay Area, Alameda, Oakland, San Mateo, San Rafael, and South San Francisco will be chronically inundated under a moderate global warming scenario in 2100. In a more rapid warming scenario San Francisco, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Burlingame, East Palo Alto and Palo Alto could see chronic flooding in 2065. In the research, the scientists used high-resolution topographic maps, sea level rise projects, and tide gauges. The Union of Concerned Scientists predicted the number of US communities facing chronic flooding to increase by 83 percent, to 167 communities in 2035. The hope in releasing this report is to encourage cities and the federal government to adopt policies that will discourage building in flood-prone areas and enhance federal policies to support communities dealing with rising sea levels. The report does not include infrastructure plans in place to mitigate some of the effects of rising sea levels. Legislature Narrowly Approves Extension of Cap-and-Trade Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon proposed a new Cap-and-Trade extension plan and air quality program that was introduced in bill form last week. After weeks of contentious debate and uncertainty, the package, introduced as AB 398 and SB 617, passed with 28 votes in the Senate and 55 in the Assembly, each one more than the two-thirds needed in each house. The program funds a range of land-use grants, including Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities. The two-bill package includes AB 398 which sets forth the extension plan and AB 617 which would create a new air quality monitoring program. In addition to extending the program through 2030, AB 398 would establish funding priorities for how the state would spend auction revenues over the next decade and establish an Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee to report to the ARB and the legislature on the environmental and economic performance of the program. The new air quality program, AB 617, would require stationary sources to report annually emission of criteria pollutants and toxic air contaminants, require a statewide strategy to reduce air emissions in communities with a high cumulative exposure burden, and require local air districts that have not attained air pollutant goals under the Clean Air Act to expedite retrofits of industrial sources. Gov. Jerry Brown defended his efforts to extend the cap-and-trade program, which he says “if we don’t get it, it’d be a tragedy for California, and for the world.” The measure generated criticism from environmentalists and academics saying the package moved too far to the right in the hopes of appeasing industry. Facebook Proposes Mixed-Use Campus in Menlo Park Facebook has proposed a vast expansion of its Menlo Park campus, which would include 1.75 million square feet of office, 1,500 housing units, retail, grocery store, parks and plazas. Facebook has said it intends to set aside 15 percent of the units at below-market rental rates. The goal is to create a new mixed-use village that will provide services, housing, transit solutions and office space. The company submitted plans to the City of Menlo Park and hopes to begin construction in 2019. Construction will occur in phases, and the first will include the grocery store in the semi food desert, retail, housing and office hopefully completed in early 2021. OMA New York is the architectural firm designing the campus’ master plan. California Public Lands Could Open to Drilling Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order that would open more public lands for oil and gas extraction, including millions of acres in California. The order calls for federal oil and gas leases to be auctioned off at least four times a year in every state where reserves are available. The order will also attempt to reduce the nation’s backlog of drilling applications through speedier approval of permits. Environmentalists worry this will end the de facto moratorium of no new onshore oil and gas leases on federal land in the last four years because of environmental fights. In California, this could intensify the push by energy companies to broaden drilling in the interior Central Coast region and the southern San Joaquin Valley. The action would apply to 700 million acres of underground mineral reserved managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This order, according to Zinke, is part of Trump’s broader “America first” energy policy. Los Angeles River Restoration Gets Funding Boost The 51-mile Los Angeles River will  receive  $100 million in bond money in the recently approved state budget for river projects. The money would come from Proposition 1, a water bond approved in 2014, with half the money funding projects in the upper part of the river and the other half the lower portion. Two public agencies, the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy and the San Gabriel & Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy will oversee the grant and award to projects. Cities and private organizations will apply for the funding, including River LA a non-profit working with Frank Gehry. The money will benefit less affluent communities to ensure all traditionally neglected segments of the river get their fair share. Revitalization of the river is considered a catalyst for redevelopment in central Los Angeles.  Report Warns of Effect of Housing Prices on Bay Area Jobs Beacon Economics released a report contending that the Bay Area’s job market being disrupted from a lack of skilled labor and skyrocketing home prices. According to the report, job growth has slowed in Santa Clara County, East Bay and San Francisco because of lack of affordable housing and skilled labor. However statewide, California employment is expected to expand at a range of 1.6 to 2.2 percent this year. In 2016 job markets grew by 2.9 percent in the Bay Area whereas this year it is between 0.7 to 1.8 percent across the Bay. The East Bay has the highest growth in tech jobs with 4.1 percent compared to 0.8 percent in San Francisco-San Mateo and 3.7 percent in Santa Clara County. One of the major challenges is long commutes, and lower-skilled workers not able to afford housing. Legislative Updates Senate Bill 106 was approved by the state Senate last Thursday, within the bill was a measure that allows Marin County’s largest cities and incorporated areas to maintain extra restrictions on how many homes developers can build. Housing advocates criticize it as hindering affordable growth in the area. The County had an exemption until 2023 but this has been extended to 2028 because a report on an earlier measure’s impacts isn’t due until 2019. The California state Senate approved , 27-12, a new fee on some real estate transaction documents that is expected to generate between $200 and $300 million annually for affordable housing projects. The $75 fee on deeds and notices, would be capped at $225 per transaction, and would exclude sales of residential and commercial property. Updates & Quick Hits Silicon Valley companies Google, Facebook, and Genentech are pushing for increased tolls for the Bay Area’s state-run bridges. The increases were first discussed in December at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission workshop, which proposed $9 for the Bay Bridge, which has congestion pricing, and $8 on other bridges. The additional revenue, estimated to be as much as $125 per year, would go to traffic congestion-easing projects like additional BART cars, BART service to San Jose, more high-occupancy vehicle lanes on Bay Area freeways more ferry systems and express buses, and the new Transbay Transit Center. The City of Los Angeles is moving ahead with a study of the public health benefits and economic consequences of phasing out oil and gas development around homes, schools, hospitals, and other public places. Activists are hoping for a 2,500 feet buffer around where people live and gather, which California Department of Oil Gas and Geothermal Resources estimates could shut down 90 percent of the city’s 322 active wells. A coalition of 12 Bay Area water agencies introduced plans to expand Los Vaqueros Reservoir, one of the largest reservoirs in the Bay Area located in the hills near Alameda-Contra Costa county line. The $800 million plan would raise the earthen dam by 55 feet to 273 feet high and expand capacity from 160,000 acre-feet to 275,000, enough for 1.4 million people annually. The water agencies are hoping up to $400 million will come from Prop 1, and the deadline to apply under the measure is August 14; the remainder of the costs would be covered by customers of each participating agency. Construction may begin in 2022 and be completed in 2027. The Imperial Irrigation District is using its power as the agency with the biggest water entitlement along the Colorado River to press California officials for their commitments to keep the Salton Sea from turning into an environmental disaster. The water district has been progressing towards a consensus with other water authorities and agencies. IID has warned the state that a credible, well-funded “road map” is needed to restore deteriorating shoreline habitats and cove up growing stretches of dust-spewing lakebed. Multiple agencies have worked together to create a 10-year, $383 million plan, which was sent to the state end of June.  Pres. Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year would end funding for the $12 million tsunami detection system completed in 2008. A House of Representatives subcommittee is expected to release more details of its own version of budget this week. The system has 39 sensors on sea floors around the world, which are tethered to floating buoys that communicate with the nation’s two tsunami warning centers via satellite. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) League of California Cities is looking for speakers and session topics for its 2018 Planning Commissioners Academy in Monterey April 4-6. The conference is for new and experienced planning commissioners, planning directors, staff and other interested officials that focus on current issues and topics that assist planners in their daily roles and operations within their cities. Proposals can be submitted online until August 14. The City of Solana Beach has approved a new fee that would spread the cost of future transportation projects across all new developments. The change will add $15,714 to the cost of a new single-family home, $11,205 to a new apartment, and on a square-footage basis to new commercial and industrial development. It is estimated to roughly generate $19 million- which would pay for bike lanes, pedestrian paths, and other improvements for the increased traffic. According to Los Angeles Metro, the one-year-old Expo Line reached its projected 2030 daily boardings this year. The rail line which, connects Downtown Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Pier, has an average daily ridership of 64,000. The first phase, to Culver City, reached its 2020 projected numbers in 2013. San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved two ordinances intended to keep lower-and middle-class residents in the city. The first law lays out several proof-of-residency requirements for landlords evicting tenants saying they want to occupy a dwelling themselves. The second law requires developers of large properties to make 18 percent of rentals and 20 percent of condominiums affordable. Amendments to the second law include at least 25 percent of all new units have two or three bedrooms, and that 10 percent of those be three bedrooms. The other required that every below-market-rate studio set aside for a higher income tier be inhabited by at least two people. San Francisco’s Muni Central Subway project may be delayed by almost a year if the construction contractor and the SFMTA do not catch up with ongoing construction delays. The nearly $1.6 billion project will give Chinatown its first subway, connecting the neighborhood to BART and the Muni subway network. The timeline to develop a streetcar in downtown Los Angeles has been pushed back seven months to July 2021 at the earliest. The streetcar was originally estimated in 2013 to be ready for business in 2016. The new project cost estimates are $274.2 million, up from $250 million. At least $200 million could come from Measure M sales tax funds, but the money isn’t available until 2053 unless LADOT asks Metro to move up the schedule to release the funds early. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced 33 projects that will share $5 million as winners of the Knight Cities Challenge. The City of San Jose won for two projects: Local Color received $180,000 for activating commercial sites with a creative bazaar and Reimagining the City: City Designer for San Jose received $150,000 to ensure the city develops into a walkable, green and engaged metropolis by hiring a visionary chief architect.

The California Supreme Court’s long-awaited ruling in the SANDAG Sustainable Communities Strategy case last Thursday gave the regional planning agency a very narrow victory – but also gave environmentalists something they could call a win as well.

The Strategic Growth Council released its Annual Report ( pdf ) to the legislature for the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year. The SGC has seven programs that award funding with a majority of the funding coming from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program awarded $291 million in October 2016, Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation gave $40 million in awards last August, and this December the Transformative Climate Communities and Transformative Climate Communities Planning Grants will award $140 million and $1.5 million respectively. The Technical Assistance Pilot for CCI’s will award $2 million this fiscal year as will the Sustainable Communities Planning Grants & Incentives Best Practices Pilot award $250,000. The Integrated Regional Conservation and Development Program awarded $290,000 in February of this year. Report Analyzes Impact of AHSC Grants A trio of nonprofits released a report assessing the stat’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities grant program. “Collaborative Investments to Reduce Greenhouse Gases and Strengthen Disadvantaged Communities” ( pdf ) was compiled by the California Housing Partnership Corporation, Enterprise Community Partners, and TransForm, which contribute to the AHSC program in technical assistance, research, advocacy, and financial consulting assistance to applicants. The report examines the climate and community benefits of AHSC developments and urges California to make a long-term commitment to provide continuous and stable levels of funding to the AHSC program beyond 2020.The AHSC program was established in 2014 and invests in affordable homes and transit infrastructure developments in disadvantaged communities to improve economic well-being and physical health for underserved Californians while also reducing GHG emissions. The program selected 58 out of 236 applications to invest $443 million throughout the state. The developments will reduce 1.1 million metric tons of CO2 over the course of their operating lives, which is essentially removing 8,000 cars from the road. More than 80 percent of total AHSC funds will be located within or will directly benefit disadvantaged communities. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Feds Propose Repeal to ‘Waters of U.S.’ Rule The U.S. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed to repeal a controversial Obama administration regulation that extends the federal government’s oversight over smaller waterways, known as the “Waters of the United States” regulation. Under the proposal federal officials would go back to enforcing guidance documents from 2008 when deciding whether a waterway is subject to federal oversight for pollution control purposes. This is the first formal step to fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to repeal the 2015 “Waters of the United States” regulation, which opponents have argued is costly and time-intensive. The goal is to return power to the states and provide regulatory certainty to farmers and businesses says EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. Supporters of the regulation say the Clean Water Rule is vital for protecting small streams and wetlands that families, communities and businesses depend on. The new proposal will be published in the Federal Register within days and then the public can comment. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Harvard Study Looks at Displacement in Los Angeles, San Francisco Data-Smart City Solutions at Harvard University released a report , “Where is Gentrification Happening in Your City?”, which focuses on six cities nationwide, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. The report looked at multiple cities and the demographic and physical changes that occur in neighborhoods that lead to an influx of wealthier residents, greater investment and more development. The report combined maps and information from six cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, Portland and Boston. Los Angeles’ analysis came from Mayor Garcetti’s Los Angeles Innovation Team (i-team) and the Urban Displacement Project from UCLA and UC Berkeley. The i-team came out with the Los Angeles Index of Neighborhood Change in 2016 that allows users to explore degree of gentrification for various zip codes between 2000 and 2014. The Urban Displacement Project tracks neighborhood change in Los Angeles using census data, Geolytics’ neighborhood change database, and LA’s open data they mapped trends in gentrification from 1990-2013. In the Bay Area the project initiative studied displacement risk, analysis trends and potential policy solutions. The group found that 48 percent of census tracts and 53 percent of low-income households lived in neighborhoods at risk or already experiencing displacement or gentrification. Los Angeles Proposes Streamlined Approvals for Large Developments The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to look into updating a 1990 ordinance that requires developers with proposals that include 50 or more units to go through site plan review. The current process can take years, especially if lawsuits related to CEQA review are filed. The proposed update would increase the 50-unit threshold and help streamline the approval process. Principal city planner Ken Bernstein told the Los Angeles Times, “Currently, even if a project conforms to zoning and other city codes, if it calls for 50 or more units, it must go through site plan and CEQA review.” Removing smaller housing projects from CEQA review will hopefully help LA’s affordability and housing crises. However, an overwhelming majority of public comments submitted in regard to the policy are in opposition of the proposed changes. Lawsuits Filed over Proposed Water Tunnels The Natural Resources Defense Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Bay Institute and Golden Gate Salmon Association filed two lawsuits over the $17 billion plan to move water under the Sacramento Bay-Delta via a series of water tunnels. The environmental and fishing groups challenged approvals given earlier this week by the Trump administration that said the project wouldn't cause significant harm to salmon, smelt, and other fish and wildlife. Environmentalists, Delta farmers and some northern California lawmakers are calling the tunnels a water grab by Los Angeles and corporate farmers that would harm water quality in the San Francisco Bay and Delta and drive some fish to extinction. Water District Sues State over Delays to Flood Control Project in San Jose The Santa Clara Valley Water District  filed a lawsuit against state officials claiming they are threatening the completion of a flood control project near Coyote Creek with too much bureaucratic delay. Coyote Creek flooded this year causing $100 million in damages in San Jose. The $35 million project is designed to provide 100-year flood protection to 2.2 miles of Upper Berryessa Creek between North San Jose and Milpitas. While the Upper Berryessa Creek did not flood this year it is located in a heavily urbanized area and overflows every 10-20 years, the last of which was 1998. The project was approved in 2014 but in April, state regulators told SCVWD that they had to restore 15 acres of wetlands or nearly 3 miles of creek somewhere in the South Bay to offset the harm to the environment from the project. The water district sued the regional water board saying the decision was unfair, illegal, and likely to cost millions. Quick Hits & Updates The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, sponsor of this year’s failed slow-growth Measure S in Los Angeles,  agreed to drop a lawsuit again a planned Hollywood office complex after developer Hudson Pacific Properties promised to scale down the size from 15 stories to 13. The developer has also abandoned plans for a supermarket on the ground floor. Foundation President Michael Weinstein sees the agreement as a legal victory for the organization saying there will be less traffic impact on local streets. The City of Irvine  hired its first transportation director in an effort to relieve traffic congestion in the city. The new director is Mark Linsenmayer, former deputy executive officer of countywide planning for LA County Metro. He will develop and implement transportation initiatives, including a plan to promote more pedestrian and bicycling activities. There is also a new five-member Transportation Commission, which held its first meeting May 16. The City of Santa Monica has proposed a plan to conserve water by requiring new or remodeled properties to use no more water than what the property required on average over the previous five years. According to city officials, water usage is at its lowest levels since 1990s and the new rules are meant to keep consumption low. The new requirements will be enforced for major remodels and new constructions and, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press, 75 percent of projects affected will be new single-family residences and large-scale renovation projects. The City of Oakland plans to use some of its $500 million in bond money approved by voters to purchase at least one downtown single-room occupancy hotel to house homeless residents. One organization, EveryOne Home, estimates Oakland has more than 1,900 people living without shelter. The city would use $14 million of Measure KK to purchase the hotel, which could serve a few hundred people a year. The City of San Juan Capistrano is suing  the California Public Utilities Commission over a proposed $350 million electrical transmission line that critics argue is unnecessary and costly. The city asked the court to stop the project, citing reports of excess power on the state’s electric grid. The initial evidence comes from a Los Angeles Times report that detailes how California regulators continue to approve new power plants even though the state is producing more electricity than it needs. Similar cases are pending in Oxnard in Ventura County and Porter Ranch near Aliso Canyon. The Los Angeles City Council approved unanimously, 14-0, the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art which may begin construction this year at Exposition Park. Ma Yansong of MAD Architects will design the museum, which is expected to open in 2021. The museum is estimated to cost $1 billion, which the Lucas family will pay for. The California Coastal Commission  reached an agreement with Cemex to shut down the Lapis Sand Plant, an 8-acre operation on a remote beach in Monterey County. The agreement allows the plant to extract smaller amounts for the next three years, and at the end all equipment must be removed from the beach. Cemex would also be required to restore the land and protect sensitive species and sell the land for less than market rate to a nonprofit or governmental entity that would open it up to the public. TPS Parking Century and TPS Parking Management, which run the Parking Spot near LAX, are suing the city in an attempt to overturn approval of $5 billion ground transportation improvements. The parking lot operators argue the EIR does not adequately address the potential effects of the project and how to mitigate them. Trident Winds is proposing 60 to 100 wind turbines off the coast of San Luis Obispo. The farm could generate 1,000 megawatts and would be more than 20 miles offshore, out of sight except for the Hearst Castle hilltop. The power would reach the mainland through underwater transmission lines to the PG&E substation in Morro Bay. The project is subject to 33 permits and leases, and could be operational in 2025.