As an endless parade of recent reports has suggested, California is in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis. The average home price is over $400,000 – more than twice the national average. Meanwhile, the new state housing assessment concludes that the state is down 1.5 million affordable units, meaning production will have to be ramped up, not down, in the next decade. And this may be the year that we see some action on housing in Sacramento. In his budget address, Gov. Jerry Brown laid out some high-level ideas on regulatory reform that might increase housing production, though he yanked $400 million in housing money that he included in last year’s budget because of a looming deficit. Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Ed Rendon and Assembly Housing Committee Chair Stephen Chiu have teamed up to introduce a package of four bills dealing with housing, including two bills that would generate new revenue sources not dependent on the general fund. Those bills might finally create the long-sought “permanent source of funding for affordable housing,” which has been kind of a holy grail for affordable housing advocates in Sacramento for a long time. All this commotion raises two related questions: First, is there a political deal in the offing on housing in Sacramento? And second, whatever the deal is, will it actually help put a dent in the housing production problem? Let’s go to the politics first and look at what’s on the table. In his budget message, Brown placed the blame for low housing production squarely on local governments, whose permit delays he claimed drives up unit costs and discourages construction. He laid out four policy principles he would like to see adopted: Streamlined housing construction. He proposed “reducing local barriers,” maximimize the impact of public investments, and “temper rents through housing supply increases. Last year Brown unsuccessfully proposed by-right construction for certain types of affordable housing projects. Lower per-unit costs. He proposed finding ways to “reduce permit and construction policies” that drive up per-unit costs. Production Incentives . He proposed providing jurisdictions that meet or exceed housing goals with cash or regulatory relief of some kind. This is similar to the Jobs Housing Balance Incentive Grant program that the state used to use to provide cash incentives to local governments for housing production. Accountability and Enforcement . He proposed that enforcement of existing laws such as the housing element should be strengthened.  However, because of a looming budget deficit Brown took $400 million in affordable housing money off the table. He proposed the $400 million in general fund dollars last year as part of the by-right proposal. This year, to the consternation of affordable housing advocates, he said that no general fund revenue could be used for housing. Meanwhile, Rendon, Chiu, and others have come forth with a package of four bills , one of which would provide a permanent source of funding for affordable housing and two of which pick up on ideas contained in Brown’s budget message. AB 71 would eliminate the mortgage interest deduction on second homes, creating a revenue stream of $300 million. The bill would dedicate these funds to increasing the state’s pool of low-income housing tax credit money. AB 72 would appropriate funds for the attorney general to enforce the housing element law and other state housing laws. AB 73 would provide local governments with breaks under the California Environmental Quality Act and cash incentives to do up-front pre-planning and zoning for transit-oriented development that has an affordable component, though the projects would have to be built using prevailing wage. AB 74 would pay for housing chronically homeless individuals who are on Medicare and receive services through certain programs. You can see how the first three bills in particular try to flesh out Brown’s ideas: more money for affordable housing without hitting the general fund, cash incentives to local governments, and more state enforcement of housing element law. You can also see the outlines of a political deal: Prevailing wage is required to buy labor in and money for affordable housing is required to buy in the affordable housing advocates. Providing CEQA breaks is always an iffy proposition, although buying labor in through prevailing wage may blunt some of the opposition. So, a deal may actually be possible. But how much difference will it really make? As Brown noted in his budget message, the state projects that almost 200,000 housing units per year will be required over the next decade – and I think that may not include closing the past deficit of almost 2 million – but recent annual production has been less than 100,000. No matter how significant these changes are, can they really generate 100,000 units per year and make up the backlog? Probably not. The housing deficit is the result of a wide variety of factors, including a lack of land in job-rich coastal areas, a wide range of state and local regulatory constraints, and a complicated interplay between the boom cycle of the ‘00s and the bust cycle of the ’10s. Homebuilders often blame CEQA for a lack of housing supply, even if CEQA were repealed tomorrow developers would still face stiff regulations – and often ballot-box zoning—in coastal areas. And anyway, homebuilders are often looking to make it easier to build single-family homes in inland areas – where land is plentiful and cheap – even though the resulting neighborhoods are far, far away from job centers. More affordable housing money is good, but it’s really just a drop in the bucket. Affordable housing developers are politically powerful and their support is necessary to get anything passed, but even operating at maximum capacity they can’t possibly close the gap themselves. And the state’s own policy layers don’t always line up. The state has never effectively implemented the 15-year-old AB 857, which requires state agencies to align all their actions with what used to be called “smart growth” goals. The Strategic Growth Council’s work is commendable in providing capital for development projects near transit, but it’s mostly turned into another layer of affordable housing financing now that redevelopment has gone away. SB 375, which requires regional coordination of transportation investments and land-use policies, isn’t binding on local general plans. And so on. Yet the lesson we have learned since terms limits were passed in California more than 20 years ago is that comprehensive policy change is impossible. As legislators rush through the Capitol on their way to their next job, incremental change is the most we can hope for. So maybe this year’s incremental change on housing will be a start.

I had two distressing conversations on the same topic with two different people last week. The first worked at the headquarters of a medium-sized California-based chain of fast-casual restaurants that specializes in salads and other plant-based meals. The second used to run her own casual lunch restaurant in downtown Culver City.  I say that the second person “used to work” at her own place, because she doesn’t anymore. After many years in business, she closed up shop a few months ago. The salad chain, meanwhile, is going gangbusters. They’ve slowly raised their prices, with no drop in sales. They are swimming in investor money and have bullish plans for expansion.  Despite their disparate experiences, they both agreed that these two examples represent the foreseeable future of the restaurant industry: chains will prevail while mom-and-pops and other one-off, idiosyncratic places face increasing peril . Indeed, many independent restaurants are already running deficits. Their failure will be a lagging indicator of a trend that is already well underway. Chains and high-end “groups” with multiple outlets (often under different names) will fill the void.  Case in point: that Culver City restaurant was one of eight that closed in the city’s tiny downtown last year. Los Angeles Magazine  referred to it, mixed metaphor and all, as the “epicenter of the restaurant apocalypse.”  This means that something else is in peril: the vibrancy of American cities, and, especially, of coastal California cities.  The economic pressures facing independent restaurants aren’t hard to imagine. Labor costs and some wholesale costs are rising. Competition is fierce, and not just from other restaurants. The food truck revolution (which I think has been, on balance, a good thing for cities) competes with lunch-oriented places. Interestingly, the cost of groceries has remained relatively low, so eating in is a better option than ever. Add services like Blue Apron, and every one of those blue-and-white boxes equals up to six seats that will go empty in restaurants.  But let’s get to the meat of the matter. Restaurants are getting clobbered by the same thing that is clobbering everyone else in coastal California: real estate prices. In many cases, landlords are raising rents by amounts that are simply untenable for small businesses. When they move out, many of landlords prefer to let storefronts lie vacant, waiting for a deep-pocketed tenant.  There’s only so much restaurants can do. They can’t start mail-order businesses. They can’t take on roommates or rent sofas on Airbnb. They can’t give up square footage and let some workers telecommute. They’re not allowed to sell their parking lots. They can’t move to the suburbs.  Of course, cities have weathered the loss of book stores, video stores, stationary stores, and the rest. But, as much as I mourn those loses, there’s a difference between a restaurant and, say, a typewriter repair business. For one thing, restaurants are exactly what have filled the the places of many of those forlorn businesses.  More importantly, restaurants are deeply, uniquely intertwined with the fabrics of their respective communities. Urban planners may not always refer directly to restaurants, but I’ve rarely heard a discussion of “place-making” that didn’t implicitly refer to some purveyance of food and drink. Mixed-use buildings need businesses for those ground-floor units. Walkable neighborhoods need places worth walking to.  I suppose Starbucks and Chipotle are places. But you’d have to be a pretty narrow-minded capitalist to argue that they are richer and more interesting than their equivalent mom-and-pop places. Moreover, independent businesses are at the heart of urban economies. They embody all the benefits of entrepreneurship, from abstract virtues like creativity and initiative to the very real economic benefits of keeping profits at arm’s length rather than sending them to Wall Street.  And yet, Blue Apron notwithstanding, everyone still has to eat. That means that someone will fill those spaces. This means that the chains are only going to get bigger and, collectively, stronger. They can afford the rents and onerous startup costs (often made more onerous by municipal regulations). They have backing of investors and can maintain their profit margins through economies of scale and tightly run back offices.  Short of holding bake sales to support their local  watering holes , what can planners do?  In cities that that don’t treat new development like E. Coli, an increase in supply will, hopefully, lead to a flattening out of rental rates. But that’s a long game that goes far beyond the shelf life of many restaurants.  San Francisco has recently experimented with protections and aid for “ legacy businesses .” Their effectiveness is as yet uncertain, and the city’s definition of “legacy” protects only the most longstanding businesses. Though residential rent control is surging in California, I see no appetite for a retail equivalent. I’d love to see disincentives for empty storefronts, since many landlords currently would prefer to let them lie fallow while they wait for for big-money tenants than let an incumbent stay on at a manageable rate. My personal favorite anti-chain ordinances that pretend not to be anti-chain ordinances are those that restrict the large, garish signs that many fast food places rely on.  Of course, even tepid versions of these options would cause landlords to go apoplectic. In the political battle between aspiring restaurateurs and grizzled property owners, that’s like bringing a whisk to a gunfight.  Ironically, the resurgence of urban life over the past decade or so has corresponded almost perfectly with the artisanal, locavore, organic, small-batch, multiethnic, hipster-led resurgence in the culinary industry. There’s probably never been a better time to be a chef, mixologist, restauranteur, or “foodie.” That goes double for California — a hotbed of culinary diversity and probably the farmer’s market capital of the world.  But planners need not enjoy bone marrow or roasted dandelion greens to care about this trend. They need only care about the places they are trying to create — and bring as much imagination to their jobs as todays’ chefs do to theirs.

An audit  of the City of Los Angeles’ affordably-priced housing program and density bonus program finds that they have been relatively ineffectual. Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin completed the audit to determine how well the “density bonus” program was performing since its inception in 2008. The audit found that 21 percent of new multi-family projects of five units or more, built between 2008 and 2014 (169 of 790 projects) utilized some aspect of the density bonus program -- resulting in 4,463 units designated as affordable. However, just 329 of these units were created in market-rate projects throughout the city. Galperin calls this “an arguably minimal impact when considering the city’s overall affordable housing needs.” The rest of the units were in entirely affordable housing projects. The audit recommends that the city create additional incentives, such as additional density or permitting micro units; streamline processes through modifications to the current process of site plan review and expedited processing of environmental impact reports; conduct a legal analysis of what opportunities might exist, within the density bonus program, to allow market-rate developers to create income-restricted units off-site -- or to pay equivalent values into a fund which would build income-restricted units throughout Los Angeles; Review how income levels are defined. The audit also examined oversight and monitoring of the city’s overall stock on 28,482 income-restricted units. While auditors found reasonably adequate monitoring by the city’s contractor, and a 93 percent compliance rate, better oversight tools are needed to deal with conditions of some owners collecting more rent than allowed and some tenants exceeding income guidelines. San Diego Seeks to Increase Urban Forest The San Diego City Council unanimously approved  a five-year urban forestry plan that would significantly increase the city’s stock of street trees, especially those in low-income and urban areas. The city’s Climate Action Plan calls for increasing percentage of San Diego covered in trees from 13 to 35 percent over the next 20 years. Those in favor of the plan say it will boost property values, improve air and water quality, enhance wildlife habitat, and shrink energy costs by reducing the heat island effect. The city is using a $750,000 grant from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention to plant 500 trees in urban areas. The next step for the city is creating an updated tree inventory of the existing urban forest to create a better strategy. Federal Funding Rule Puts High Speed Rail in Bind The Federal Railroad Administration, under the Obama administration, modified  the $928-million grant deadline for the California bullet train from 2018 to 2022. A recent risk analysis shows the California High Speed Rail Authority may need until 2024. The modification requires the state to pay its matching share of the stimulus grant, estimated at $2 billion, before drawing on the grant. This means the state must start funding construction out of state funds instead of relying on federal grants. California can draw on carbon tax fees, which are projected to generate about $500 million annually but have been below projections. It is still unclear what direction Transportation secretary Elaine Chao will do under President Trump. Central Valley Reaps Economic Rewards of Climate Change Policies A report  from Next 10, a public policy think tank, shows that California’s global warming policies have had economic benefits for the San Joaquin Valley. The valley has historically struggled with poor air quality and an economy that’s slower than the rest of the state. “The report, The Economic Impacts of California’s Major Climate Programs on the San Joaquin Valley” analyzed the cap-and-trade program, renewable energy standards, and energy efficiency initiatives, including those initiated under 2006’s AB 36. According to the study there has been $13.4 billion in economic benefits, primarily from the construction of solar generation facilities. The report warned that uncertainty regarding the cap-and-trade program had to be removed and auction proceeds spend on valley programs that cut GHG emissions. It also recommends that energy efficient incentives have to be expanded in the valley where greater energy savings are found compared to more temperate parts of the state. League of Cities Considers Draft Housing Assessment The League of California cities recently weighed  in on the Draft 2025 Housing Assessment “California’s Housing Future: Challenges and Opportunities.” The draft discusses the serious need for more affordable housing, the full range of required housing, as well as an analysis of the economic impact of where housing is located. However, according to the League, the report places a disproportionate focus on the role of local governments and not private market forces. Additionally it fails to mention the loss of over $1 billion annually in affordable housing resources after the dissolving of redevelopment agencies. Concerns are also raised with several apparent conclusions presented in the report on the role of local government in the development of housing which lack sufficient supporting research and evidence. Finally, the League is wary of some language that alludes to a top-down approach to the statewide housing crisis. Suits Claim Cap-and-Trade Imposes Illegal Tax In two separate ongoing lawsuits, last week the California Chamber of Commerce and a tomato packing company argued  in front of a the 3 rd District Court of Appeal to invalidate California’s cap-and-trade program. Plaintiffs claim that cap-and-trade fees constitute a tax, rather than a fee. A tax would be impermissible under Proposition 13 without public approval. While the legislation, AB 32, did allow an auction it amounts to a tax increase that would require approval of two-thirds of the Assembly and Senate. The cap-and-trade system is not under question, only the state’s selling of pollution permits. The Air Resources Board considers the auction similar to regulatory fees, and therefore not required the two-thirds majority. The judges have until late April to make a decision, however lawyers form both sides said they would appeal to the California Supreme Court if they lose. ‘Rouge’ Bike Share Company Walks Back Plans in S.F. Bluegogo, a Chinese-backed bike-sharing startup, has abandoned  plans to deposit hundreds of bikes on San Francisco streets without city permits, approval, or letting anyone know its plans. Rather than use permitted bike stations, Bluegogo would have parked bikes haphazardly around the city. The program was scheduled to launch this week. Instead, it intends to operate as a conventional bike share service, with dedicated stations. The San Francisco Bike Coalition says the original plan would have left “thousands of uninspected and unpermitted bicycles to be stored unattended for long periods of time on sidewalks, in parks and on our streets.” A Bluegogo official told the Mercury News, “We didn’t want to be that startup that literally shows up to the city first and then deals with all the problems later.” Contest Envisisions 'Resilient' Bay Area The Bay Area: Resilient by Design Challenge invites  designers, policymakers and developers to imagine climate change solutions for the San Francisco area. The contest is being funded with a $4.6 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and is modeled after a similar New York-area contest in 2013. The challenge will be divided into two phases: in the first, teams will participate in a three-month “exploratory research and community engagement period to develop initial design concepts for specific sites” and the second phase will be a, “collaborative five-month intensive design phase” working with residents, businesses, organizations and local politicians. (See prior CP&DR coverage.) Quick Hits & Updates Sacramento officials are asking  the 350 largest property owners adjacent to a downtown streetcar line to contribute $2 million a year in taxes. The Sacramento Streetcar Community Facilities District would include all commercial property owners that have parcels larger than 12,600 square feet. The tax district would help pay the project’s operations costs once it’s built. This is the second attempt in three years to win a downtown vote that city officials say is needed to pull together the final pieces of the 4-mile streetcar. The tax will be voted on in May. The Costa Mesa City Council voted , 4-0, to drop a 2014 lawsuit against the Civic Center Barrio Housing Corporation. The city lent the affordable housing nonprofit money to purchase and develop three properties. In 2015 the city issued a credit bid of more than $2.38 million and took possession of 22 apartment units within the complexes. The city took over the property to preserve affordable housing for low-income families after the units fell into foreclosure. The Oakland Raiders officially submitted  a relocation application and are taking the first step towards moving to Las Vegas. The Raiders must get approval from three-quarters of the league’s 32 owners to move, which will likely take place at the annual NFL meeting in late March. However, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is still fighting to keep the team with a new $1.25-billion stadium proposal. The City of Anaheim is hitting  short-term rental owners operating illegally with fines and shutting down utilities for the units. The new rules include limiting the number of guests, quiet hours, and requiring owners to respond to complaints within 45 minutes. In the last four months the city has collected $8,000 in fines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed  the removal of the Hidden Lake bluecurls, an alpine wildflower found in the San Jacinto Mountains, from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants. The flower was added to the list in 1998 to save protect it from hikers and equestrians. Biologists are worried about climate change threatening the flower since it only grows in a specific area under specific conditions. EDF Renewable Energy  signed  a deal with Marin Clean Energy to purchase electricity from its 150-megawatt Desert Harvest solar project. Although construction has not begun, the 1,200 acres of federal land south of Joshua Tree National Park will be located in one of the nation’s clean energy hot spots. While there were originally objections from NRDC and Defenders of Wildlife because of potential disruptions to critical habitat for the desert tortoise, EDF has agreed to buy private land near the project and set it aside as protected habitat. Airbnb released  a report indicating that hosts in Los Angeles have generated more than $13 million in tax revenue for the city since this summer, and a “vast majority” of the funds are going towards homeless assistance. In fact, only around $5 million is going to homeless support, with the rest going to the city’s general fund. Under a new agreement, hosts from Airbnb are paying the same 14 percent tax that hotels pay. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and city planners have issued  a redesign proposal  called the Civic Center Public Space Design to make the plaza around City Hall more inspiring, sustainable, and inclusive. The planning department has had initial meetings with candidates, and final proposals are due Feb. 10. The winner will receive a contract of up to $600,000 to draft a full proposal. The Elk Grove City Council postponed action on deciding whether the proposed $400 million Indian casino  will lead to a referendum or go along with petitioners’ demands. The casino would be built adjacent to an unfinished mall, and the mall developer says the casino would drive traffic to the mall. However, petitioners collected enough signatures to overturn the council’s earlier decision to pave the way for the casino. The council will take up the matter again in two weeks. Developer Wessman Holdings is suing  the City of Palm Springs for denying his 42.2-acre luxury home development. The project, Crescendo, was initially approved by City Council nine years ago. After the recession and legal challenges from Advocated for Better Community Development, the developer asked for a time-extension that was not granted. Wessman paid 150 percent of required fees for priority processing but received no such preferences.

CP&DR Vol. 32 No. 10 October 2017

The Sierra Club, Cleveland National Forest Foundation, and Save Our Forest and Ranchlands filed  a lawsuit in the San Diego Superior Court against San Diego County. The lawsuit argues that the county adopted an amendment to the Forest Conservation Initiative based on faulty environmental analysis and that it failed to identify opportunities to minimize the impacts of the new plan. The original Forest Conservation Initiative was approved by more than two-thirds of county voters in 1993 to protect the Cleveland National Forest from piecemeal development. The initiative included a clause requiring voter approval of any zoning changes within the protected area protected until early 2011. The county now seized the opportunity to allow further development in the forest by passing the most recent amendment. Those in favor of the zoning change said it will alleviate the serious housing shortage in the region. The Sierra Club’s ultimate goal is not to approve any large-scale development in open spaces until the county’s climate action plan is in place. Developer Floats Concept for Qualcomm Stadium Redevelopment With the San Diego Chargers moving to Los Angeles, stakeholders in San Diego are considering how Qualcomm Stadium can be redeveloped . Community members in Mission Valley say the stadium could be used for education by a university, or by the city in something that will help residents. Others say it could house a Major League Soccer team. JMI Realty, described as the “frontrunner” by NBC 7 TV is envisioning a mixed use, transit oriented development project that is self-contained and does not create burdens in terms of traffic and environmental impact to the community. JMI’s conceptual rendering for the project includes housing, science, research labs, and a much smaller stadium for San Diego State University. JMI is heavily involved in the redevelopment of the area around San Diego’s downtown baseball stadium. Study Describes Economic Impacts of L.A. Ballot Measure A new study shows  that Los Angeles’s Measure S would put a $2 billion dent in the local economy, put 24,000 people out of work, cut $70 million from city funds, and slow housing construction. On the March ballot, Measure S, knows also as the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, would place a two-year moratorium on buildings requiring zone changes or general plan amendments. Those in favor of the measure say it would fix the “pay to play” system and only affect 5 percent of new construction. The study, conducted by Beacon Economics, found the moratorium would cost nearly 120,000 jobs in a decade, $19.3 billion in ten years and block 45 new single family homes and 2,800 apartments. (See prior CP&D coverage .) Report Warns of 50 Percent Cost Overrun for First Segment of High Speed Rail The initial 118-mile segment of California High Speed Rail could cost  $3.6 billion more than previously estimated, accoring to a new report. This 50 percent increase. The Federal Railroad Administration’s risk analysis projects that the bridges, viaducts, trenches, and tracks from Merced to Shafter could cost between $9.5-$10 billion, compared to the original $6.4 billion. Additionally, the HSR Authority anticipated completed the Central Valley track by this year, but now isn’t scheduled to complete until 2024. The report is a “confidential-draft deliberative document for internal use only” and was presented by senior FRA executives to CHSRA officials in Washington late last year. FRA Chief Executive Morales said the estimates are based assumptions that the authority wants to verify, and he assured the construction will cost less than the risk analysis indicates. Faulconer Outlines Land Use Goals in ‘State of the City’ Address In this the annual State of the City address, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer proposed  an array of policies related to land use: a hotel tax hike to pay for a convention center expansion, more homeless programs, increased spending on road repairs, expanded density bonus program, a revitalization of Balboa Park, and a boost in the city’s technology industry. The hotel tax would increase from 12.5 percent to 16 percent, with majority of the money going to the convention center and the remainder to homeless programs and road repairs. Faulconer said he is confident a ballot measure with multiple initiatives that poll well with voters will be able to get the two-thirds support required for approval. The mayor mentioned affordable housing as one of the main problems in San Diego. Sacramento Gives Boost to Rail Depot Redevelopment The Sacramento City Council has dipped  into its Innovation and Growth Fund to add $2.4 million the rehabilitation of the historic Sacramento Valley Station. This project will serve as an Amtrak depot, as well as office space for startups and high-tech companies, retail outlets, cafes, rooftop terrace and brew pub. The project was expected to cost $30 million but has already grown to $36.5 million due to unexpected issues in construction phases. The project ran into difficulty while looking for tenants of the 29,000 square feet of available space. All the interested tenants said they wanted the city to pay for additional improvements to make the spaces move-in ready; these costs weren’t in the budget, as tenants often absorb these costs. The Innovation Fund provides financial incentives to help entrepreneurs, startup companies, and tech companies in Sacramento. The depot should be completed next month. California Cities Ranked on Pedestrian Danger Index According to a report from Smart Growth America, between 2005 and 2014 more than 45,000 pedestrians died  in the U.S. because of cars. The group examined 104 metro regions and created a “pedestrian danger index.” This index calculated the total number of pedestrian deaths relative to the number of pedestrian commuters in the region. Houston was the least safe largest metro in the country at 15th, Los Angeles was 51st and New York City 95th. In California, Bakersfield was 12th and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario as 18th. The Bay Area did best among California metros, ranking 85 th out of 104. The study also reviewed 51 metro areas that had been studied in 2015 and found 18 grew more dangerous with Riverside having one of the largest increases (21.2 percent). The report also found people of color represent only 35 percent of the population but 46 percent of pedestrian deaths. Infamous Los Angeles Toxic Site Moves Closer to Cleanup The Department of Energy released  a draft environmental impact statement outlining how the agency would move forward with cleaning the soil in Area IV, part of the Santa Susana Field Lab. The approximately 280 acres in the northwestern corner of Los Angeles were once used for testing rocket engines and nuclear power. The agency also presented plans for removing contaminated structures and dealing with groundwater. Options range from doing nothing until the chemical compounds in the soil deteriorate over time, to a strict remediation plan that would clean the soil beyond federal standards. While the latter was agreed upon between the DOE, NASA, and state regulations in 2010, DOE now says those standards may do more damage than good because of the large amount of land that would be disturbed and the large volumes of soil that would be removed. Boeing Co. owns a portion of the site and is committed to cleaning its portion to residential standards and then leaving it as open space. Oakland Curbs Evictions in Improvised Artists’ Residences Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf issued  an executive order intended to ease the threat of eviction for artists and makers occupying improvised residences and work spaces. The City inspectors are ordered to give landlords with illegal units 60 days to come up with safety plans, and more time to make necessary improvements. Schaaf says the city has money from a housing bond and other sources to help landlords pay for safety improvements, as long as the rents remain affordable. A related issue arising is the question of how to legally throw a party in Oakland. The current permitting procedure is considered arcane , with some provisions coming from the Prohibition era. These moves are, in part, responses to the Ghost Ship fire. Quick Hits & Updates The California Supreme Court declined  to hear a case filed by opponents of the Golden State Warriors’ $1 billion Mission Bay arena. The ruling enables development of the area, which has already broken ground, to proceed unfettered. The alliance of academics, staff and benefactors of UCSF still have a suit pending in Alameda County Superior Court over a memorandum of understanding describing potential traffic problems that could interfere with access to UCSF hospitals. Researchers  at the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy say Orange County's rising poverty, high housing costs, aging demographics, and falling employment in technology, manufacturing and finance mean the region could be in serious trouble. The report, “OC Model: A Vision for Orange County’s Future,” critique’s the county’s reliance on tourism and real estate, which offer primarily low-paying jobs. LA Metro is looking into extending  the Red and Purple line subway eastward past Union Station to include stations in the Arts District. Metro already owns a large maintenance yard along the LA River, which could be used for one of the new stations. Metro is also planning on building a light-rail line between Union Station and Artesia that could include an Arts District station. Nearly 20,000 acres of land known as Eagle Mountain may be transferred  from Bureau of Land Management to Joshua Tree National Park. This would increase Joshua Tree to 820,000 acres. The mountain provides habitat for bighorn sheep. The proposed acreage is currently part of Riverside County and contains some private property that would either need to be sold or donated to the park. The Federal Transit Administration announced  a $75 million loan to help fund the Van Ness Avenue bus rapid transit project. The Van Ness line is 2 miles down the center median with nine stops from Union to Mission streets. The first phase of construction on the $223 million project began in October and should be complemented in 2020. The Federal Transit Administration issued a letter announcing its support for the Orange County streetcar to officially enter the engineering phase. The FTA’s current review of the OC Streetcar project focused on ridership projections and benefits to the community, as well as OCTA’s financial commitment to the streetcar project and the agency’s ability to build and operate it. The engineering phase is the final stage before OCTA seeks a full funding grant agreement from the FTA, which could fund up to half of the $298-million OC Streetcar that will run through the heart of the county, serving Santa Ana and Garden Grove. The City of Vacaville planning staff will present  an overview of the city’s General Plan, updated in 2015. This year, the city will update the city’s sphere of influence, amending the zoning map, updating the zoning ordinance to implement General Plan policies, and evaluate the residential design standards for single-family development.

Several Los Angeles City Council members are proposing  legislation to ban donations from real estate developers during and shortly after city reviews of their building projects. Late last year, a Los Angeles Times investigation found donors with direct and indirect ties to a real estate developer gave more than $600,000 to support City Council members as his 352-unit apartment project was being reviewed at City Hall (the project was approved over objections of both city planners and Garcetti’s own appointees). The city already prohibits political contributions from companies that are bidding on city contracts, this proposal would expand the ban to real estate interests. As Council Member Paul Koretz said, the council would not have been able to get enough votes to carry out a developer donation ban six months ago, but with the Measure S campaign and the Times’ article there has been a public perception of a “pay-to-play” culture at City Hall. Report Details Redevelopment of Central Soma Neighborhood of S.F. The City of San Francisco hopes a new neighborhood plan for 17-blocks of Central Soma will increase property values according to a report released by the city’s planning department last month. A portion of the funds generate would pay for affordable housing, parking, open space, and other public benefits. The report looks at a few specific sites and found zoning changes and the subsequent new development would affect their values. In all the cases, more than 50 percent of the added value goes towards public benefits. This plan assumes that land-owners and developers of under-built sites elect to take advantage of the new opportunities. Under the plan, the city hopes to add 25,000 new residents, 40,000 new jobs, and 7,500 new homes to the neighborhood. However, residents are worried about similar gentrification fears that occurred in the Mission neighborhood. Chargers to Relocate to Los Angeles Following Defeat of Stadium Measures The Chargers announced that the team is relocating  to Los Angeles from its longtime home of San Diego and will begin the 2017 NFL season as the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers’ temporary home will be StubHub Center, located on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills in Carson, which is owned and operated by AEG. In 2019 the team will move to a $2.1 billion stadium that the Los Angeles Rams are building in Inglewood. The move to Los Angeles comes after years of often tense negotiations over a new stadium in San Diego. The Chargers have played at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly Jack Murphy) for the majority of their existence; the team claims that the stadium is aged and does not offer sufficient amenities. San Diego city officials have consistently hesitated to commit significant public funding to a new stadium. In November, San Diego voters defeated two ballot measures that would have approved a degree of public funding for two different downtown stadium proposals. The failure of those measures precipitated the Chargers’ move. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Three of 24 New National Historic Landmarks in California U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced the designation  of 24 new National Historic Landmarks. Of the 24 new national historic landmarks, three are located in California. Chicano Park in San Diego represents the Chicano Civil Rights Movement where community residents in April 1970 protested the construction of a California Highway Patrol substation on land the City had promised as a community park. Neutra Studio and Residences (VDL Research House) in Los Angeles is one of the few properties where one can see the architect Richard Neutra’s progression of style over the years. In San Jose, Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission Chapel connected Mexican American civil rights movement, Catholic ministry to ethnic Mexicans and provided ongoing efforts to organize ethnic Mexican migrant farmworkers. This chapel was the home of the Community Service Organization whose work helped spur the activism of Cesar Chavez and others. Santa Clara Valley Considers Bus Overhaul Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) unveiled  a proposal for its first major service overhaul in nearly a decade. It calls for scaling back or ending bus services on a few lightly traveled lines, adding to popular routes, and possible restructuring fares to allow free transfers. These proposed changes will be discussed at nine public hearings in San Jose. By April, the VTA board will vote on changes that would impact the 70 bus lines and 42 miles of light-rail. Transit ridership has fallen in Santa Clara County because of ride-sharing programs such as Uber and Lyft. Report Anticipates $11.2 Billion in Economic Activity from L.A. Olympics A report released by Beacon Economics LLC and UC Riverside School of Business Center for Economic Forecasting and Development shows  the LA 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games could increase economic output in the Los Angeles region by up to $11.2 billion and by $18.3 billion nationwide. The report was commissioned by LA 2024 as a required step from the International Olympic Committee. It will be submitted with the bid book due Feb. 3. Beacon analyzed direct expenditures by visitors to the games, as well as supplier and employee expenditures. L.A. would also benefit from additional tax revenues of around $167 million, 79,000 new full-time jobs, $7 billion in direct additional spending, and $5.1 billion in worker earnings. Statewide Poll Finds Support for Climate Change Action The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released a study  about Californians' views on climate change. It found 59 percent of adults nationwide say the effects of global warming have already begun and 64 percent of Californians said the same. Four out of five (81 percent) Californians say global warming is a serious or very serious threat to the state’s future, and those with lower incomes (below $40,000) are more likely to hold this view: 59 percent versus 49 percent of higher income holders. In general, two in three Californians (67%) favor state efforts, independent of the federal government, to address global warming, while 26% are opposed. Only 20% of Californians believe that state policies to combat global warming would mean fewer jobs. Court Forces Los Angeles Measure S Opponents to ‘Scale Back’ Ballot Language Opponents of Los Angeles’s Measure S, known as the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, have agreed  to scale back some of the claims submitted in the city voter guide after being sued by the initiative’s supporters. The claims were concluded to be misleading and bought and paid for by the opponents of the measure. According to the agreement, the opponents’ study, conducted by Beacon Economics, can no longer be called “independent” and the disputed wording must be changed. Measure S would place a two-year moratorium on all developments that do not conform with existing zoning and community plans, and it would require the city to update its community plans within that time frame. Measure S will appear on the March ballot. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Supreme Court to Resolve Property Tax Dispute between San Jose, Santa Clara San Jose and Santa Clara County have been battling  in court for four years over $40 million in property taxes. The money comes from a special property tax voters approved in 1944 to fund Santa Clara County’s retirement obligations. However, it applied differently in redevelopment areas. San Jose’s redevelopment agency, established in 1956, was receiving about $7 million a year from the additional tax levy. In 2012, when redevelopment agencies were abolished Santa Clara County withheld the revenue from San Jose. The tax in recent years has been 33.8 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value. The California Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the case by mid-February, if they decline the appellate ruling against the county would stand. Quick Hits & Updates Voters in Elk Grove will decide  whether an approved $400 million Native American casino gets built in the city. Casino opponents submitted enough valid signatures to place the anti-casino referendum on the Elk Grove ballot for the March election. The casino was approved by City Council in October. SCAG’s Transportation Committee approved the release  of the Draft 2016-2040 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy Amendment #1 and Draft 2017 Federal Transportation Improvement Program (2017 FTIP) Amendment #17-03 for public review and comment. The 30-day public review and comment period ends Feb. 6.  The new expansion map of Bay Area Bike Share  into the East Bay has been released and shows the additional 66 locations in Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville. This brings the total number of bike share stations in East Bay to nearly 130 and 1,500 bikes. This is the last phase of the three phase joint program from Motivate and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan has proposed  a measure strengthening tenant protections by nearly doubling the relocation fee property owners must pay upon evictions. Property owners have recently been evicting tenants from non-permitted housing and live-work space after the December 2 Ghost Ship fire. Mayor Libby Schaaf urged the City Council to approve the measure to protect undocumented immigrants, low-income families, and struggling populations. A group of 20 homeowners has  filed a lawsuit both the builder and city officials knew of, but did not disclose to buyers, evidence that the luxury high-rise was sinking at an unexpected rate. The complaint alleges that Millennium Partners knew in 2009, before residents moved in, that the tower has sunk 8.3 inches rather than the 1-2 inches project engineers said it would have settled upon completion. According to a new survey  by RentCafe the cities of Sacramento and Stockton are numbers 1 and 2, respectively, in annual rent increase nationwide. Sacramento had a 12.2 percent spike and Stockton 10.6 percent last year. San Francisco is the second-costliest market for renters, with San Jose sixth and Oakland seventh. However, San Jose’s rental market remained unchanged over the past year while San Francisco’s fell 0.9 percent and Oakland grew 4.7 percent. The Metropolitan Transit System, which operates buses and trolleys in San Diego County, found  4 million fewer passenger trips, or a drop of 4.3 percent, in fiscal year 2016 compared to the previous year. The drop is most likely due to low gas prices and competition from ride-sharing services, as well as high employment and low interest rates that have allowed people to buy cars. SCAG will hold community meetings to discuss the feasibility of connecting  the Green Line to the Metrolink Norwalk station. By 2023 the Green Line will fully connect with LAX terminals and if the Norwalk extension is completed it could provide rail access to the airport from Orange County and Riverside. Republican Congressman David Valadao has introduced HR 23, designed to streamline  the dam approval process. It would put the federal Bureau of Reclamation in charge of coordinating local, state and federal permitting of new dams. The bill would impose deadlines to finish feasibility studies on proposals for Sites Dam along the Sacramento River and the Temperance Flat Dam along the San Joaquin River. San Francisco voters will be asked to approve a $350 million bond to fund the first round of improvements of the city’s 100-year old Embarcadero seawall . The entire project will cost anywhere from $2 to $5 billion. Since a study last year was released on the devastating effects of an earthquake on the seawall the City has budgeted $10 million to begin a detailed study to find the most vulnerable sections. The San Francisco 49ers are suing  the City of Santa Clara over the team’s financial management records at Levi’s Stadium, confirming their claim that they have turned over all the documents they are legally required to disclose. The City has accused the team of withholding documents on their maintenance, operation, and long-term spending plans for the $1.2-billion stadium and Mayor Lisa Gillmor said the City would take over management of the stadium if it did not receive all documents.

An appellate court has nullified the result of a 2013 initiative that approved a Walmart in the Town of Apple Valley, saying the town violated the Brown Act in accepting a gift from Walmart to pay for the election.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development released the 2025 Statewide Housing Assessment  Public Draft, entitled “California’s Housing Future: Challenges and Opportunities,” at the recent California Housing Forum . The report found annual housing production over the last decade has fallen to 100,000 new homes short of demand; homeownership rate are at lowest since the 1940s; one-third of the state’s renters spend more than half their incomes on housing costs; and the state has 12 percent of the nation’s population but 22 percent of the country’s homeless population. The report presents a variety of broad solutions including streamlining local and state land-use and environmental rules and boosting funding for low-income housing. Broad categories of responses include the following: reforming land use policies to advance affordability, sustainability, equity; addressing housing and access needs for vulnerable populations through greater inter-agency coordination, program design, and evaluation; investing in affordable home development and rehabilitation, rental and homeownership assistance, and community development. HCD will hold a webinar Jan. 13, and workshops will be held in San Diego Jan. 23, Fresno Jan. 30; workshop dates in Sacramento, Bay Area, Redding and Los Angeles are to be announced. East Palo Alto Sues Menlo Park over General Plan Update The City of East Palo Alto is suing  Menlo Park over changes to its general plan and zoning code, claiming that they were adopted in violation of CEQA. The changes in Menlo Park’s M-2 industrial zone would allow up to 2.3 million square feet of nonresidential uses, up to 4,500 residential units, and up to 400 hotel rooms. The lawsuit includes concerns about how the general plan update will affect East Palo Alto, including displacement of residents, traffic, and housing. Facebook recently announced it will donate $20 million to East Palo Alto community organizations to help provide affordable housing however $4.5 million is contingent on any challenge to Menlo Park’s general plan update being “resolved in a manner that is reasonably acceptable to Facebook.” Menlo Park City Council voted to adopt the general plan update, 4-1, which would add as many as 11,570 residents and 5,500 workers between now and 2040. Review Calls for Administative Reform at Coastal Commission A recent “ non-audit review ” (PDF) of the California Coastal Commission by the Department of Finance urges the agency to clean up  its books. The audit came in response to the commission’s request for a $1.46 million loan from the state in June to cover operating expenses. The commission claims that the loan was needed simply because, at the time, it did not have the staff to collect grant payments and reimbursements it was owed. The loan in June was the second loan in two years. The audit found the commission has a billing system that results in half of its invoices staying open for more than 121 days. The agency says last year was a particularly difficult year with the dismissal of executive director, staff turnover, and adoption of a new accounting system. The finance department recommends the commission centralizes its billing practices, develops written procedures, adopts an invoice schedule and increases the frequency of its billings to speed up collection. New Border Community Envisioned in San Ysidro Community Plan The City of San Diego recently adopted  a Community Plan  (PDF) for the neighborhood of San Ysidro that rezones hundreds of acres to attract commercial and residential spaces, as well as adds more parks. The plan is meant to revitalize the relatively poor community, which surrounds what is generally considered the world’s busiest border crossing. This new community plan will replace the existing one that dates back to 1990. The plan would allow mixed-use development for the first time in San Ysidro. The “old town” area would create a 124-acre San Ysidro Historic Village and a “Mexican Village” would become a visitor destination with restaurants, performance spaces, and a theater. The plan increases the community’s number of housing units by 31 percent, to nearly 10,000, and seeks to decrease the percentage of residents who commute by car. Banning Ranch Suit Goes Before Supreme Court The California Supreme Court heard arguments last week on a preservation group’s lawsuit challenging the Newport Beach City Council’s approval of the Banning Ranch development. The Banning Ranch Conservancy is accusing the city of violating its own general plan when the council in 2012 approved a large residential and commercial development for the area. The original plan has been significantly downgraded, but the Coastal Commission rejected the most recent plan and the developer sued in Orange County Superior Court challenging the denial and requesting damages of $490 million. The Conservancy’s ultimate plan is to acquire the property and manage it for public use. The Los Angeles Times reports  that justices “appeared skeptical” that the city had in fact reviewed the project adequately. The court has 90 days to decide the case. Santa Rosa City Council May Decide Fate of Rent Control Regulation Upon completion of a signature-verification process, Sonoma County elections officials  concluded  opponents of Santa Rosa’s rent control law have gathered enough valid signatures to force a citywide referendum. City Council must now decide how to proceed: scrap the suspended law or put it in front of voters. The rent control law has been suspended since the petition was filed in late September. The signature-gathering got complicated when 155 signers asked to be removed after claiming they were misled. The petition gatherers were from out of the area and paid $5 per signature may have intentionally misled people into signing. The City Attorney’s Office investigated and hired a retired police lieutenant to look into the allegations. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Los Angeles Subway Receives Nearly $1.5 Billion in New Federal Funds Los Angeles Metro announced the promise of $1.5 billion in new federal grants and loans for extension of the Metro Purple Line Extension to Beverly Hills and Century City. Metro received a $1.187 billion construction grant agreement through the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant program, as well as approval for a $307 million loan through the Department of Transportation’s innovative TIFIA program — for a total of $1.487 billion. The project also will receive $169 million in federal funding through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program. Coupled with Metro’s $836 million local match made possible by the Measure R and recently-passed Measure M, providing $2.5 billion now designated to continue construction of one of L.A. County’s most critical public transit projects — a subway primarily underneath Wilshire Boulevard that will connect Downtown to West Los Angeles. Quick Hits & Updates The California Clean Energy Committee filed  a lawsuit against Placer County over the Tahoe Basin Area Plan. The three causes of action according to the lawsuit are failure to comply with CEQA, inadequate findings in the EIR, and failure to recirculate the EIR. The CCEC challenged Placer County’s approval of the EIR in the Homewood Mountain Ski Resort Master Plan. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Commercial property owners in La Jolla have filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego to undo  a newly approved La Jolla Maintenance Assessment District that taxes homeowners, apartment-owners, and commercial property owners and uses the funds to spruce up local streets, sidewalks and parks. Those opposed to the tax say it violates California law because it is collecting funds for several services taxpayers are already paying the city to deliver. Commercial properties cover 85 percent of the bill, while condos and single-family homes contribute the remaining 15 percent. An analysis by the Union-Tribune indicates  that SANDAG must find new ways to finance new trolley lines and highway improvements as Measure A, a half-cent sales tax, was rejected by voters in November. Additionally, past revenue projects were too optimistic and variables had to be recalculated in the forecasting model. This means the major projects that were planned will proceed on a slower schedule and with different financing. A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge agreed to halt  implementation of Measure V, Mountain View’s new rent control law. Voters approved the rent control law, which includes rent and eviction controls as well as rolling rents back to October 2015 levels. The Arthouse, a 6,500-square foot warehouse  that housed artists in Fresno is closing its doors because of the increased scrutiny after Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire in early December. The fire led to debates about the safety of these warehouse art spaces, and many across the nation have been forced to close. While the Arthouse was not particularly targeted, the Fresno Fire Department was prompted to inspect the building following a call about possible code violations.

Paul Petrovich first started working on his Curtis Park Village development in the early 2000s. In a saga whose 15-year duration would surprise no one involved with urban land use in California, Petrovich produced countless iterations of his mixed-use infill project with 267 homes and a retail center on a 79-acre former rail yard in a close-in neighborhood in Sacramento. By his count, Petrovich produced an environmental impact report 2,000 pages long and, after over 200 community meetings, made 43 concessions to a group of neighbors that commented on project.

Last month there was a new development in an old story that I thought had been dead and, well, buried a long time ago.  Needless to say, the City of Los Angeles generates its fair share of sewage. I don’t think any of us want to imagine just how much that is. The people who least want to imagine it are the folks of Kern County. That’s where, for many years, the Los Angeles Department of Sanitation has shipped treated “biosolids" from its Hyperion Swage Treatment Plant. The department owns a euphemistically named Green Acres Farms, where it puts 450,000 annual tons of waste to use as fertilizer.  In 2006 some of those Kern folks decided that these shipments were both insulting and unhealthy. They launched a countywide voter initiative to ban the shipments. The campaign used slogans such as “Measure E will stop LA from dumping on Kern,” and “We got the bully next door flinging garbage over his fence into our yard.” Sensationalist headlines have read , “L.A. Dumps 500 Tons of Human Excrement on to Kern County Daily" -- as if every day a monsoon of sewage rains down on the entire county. The ban passed.  Meanwhile, L.A. kept on flushing and kept on trucking. The city filed lawsuits  to oppose the ban and was allowed to maintain its practice. Last month, a Superior Court judge struck down  the ban, possibly for good. We’ll see whether the anti-sludge forces turn up their noses yet again or whether they learn to live with indignity.  (Meanwhile, a similar protest has arisen over the arrival of high speed rail. Whereas Fresno has largely embraced the train, Bakersfield is ground zero for protests over eminent domain takings. Some aren’t even sure that they want a station .) This spat has long fascinated me. It is possible the most petty example of intra-state rivalry in California, and certainly the most pungent. It’s a rivalry that’s become even more poignant in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential victory, which put the nationwide divide between urban and rural areas on full display.  As the Trump vote suggests, rural areas often revile urban areas just as much as urban areas ignore rural areas. The implication is that cities somehow exploit rural areas and that rural areas are irrelevant to cities. Of course, neither case is true — but rivalries are not always rational. Kern County voters took personal offense. Los Angeles became a menacing invader that literally craps on rural folk. Unfortunately, these stereotypes belie the benefits that both places derive from each other. Whereas the anti-sludge campaign implied that every Kern resident lives within a whiff of L.A.’s shipments, that’s not exactly the case. Kern County is 8,100 square miles. It's one of the biggest counties in the country. Green Acres Farm is 4,600 acres, in a nondescript quadrant between Taft, Buttonwillow, Mettler, and Bakersfield.  It’s the sanitation equivalent of the Princess and the Pea. In reality, there’s no reason to think that Los Angeles’s trash isn’t Kern County’s treasure. All that manure isn’t going to tend to itself.  In fact, nasty as it sounds, Green Acres is an apt symbol of the symbiosis between rural and urban areas. For every bale of cotton, head of lettuce, and handful of almonds that comes out of the Kern soil, there’s someone in Los Angeles ready to buy it at Whole Foods. Solid waste is part of the cycle of life. Farming itself is hardly a pristine industry. And, indeed, the relationship between the counties is much more complex than trees and turds. Los Angeles has, by some measure, sending entire people to Kern County for decades. Places like Bakersfield, which have always been skeptical of dense urbanism (and, incidentally, supportive of property rights), have become bedroom communities for places like Los Angeles, thanks in part to planning regulations that push development out further and further from center cities (that trend is even more acute in communities like Tracy, farther up the Central Valley). Kern farmers probably don’t like competition for their land, but surely everyone else — from the shopkeepers to county supervisors — is glad to have more residents. In other words, the age-old exchange of material goods for cold, hard cash persists. The odd reversal of Green Acres Farm is but an anomaly in an otherwise healthy, vigorous economy. The lawsuit suggests that the only thing unhealthy is the relationship between places and the images that we have of each other.  And, in case sewage sludge still makes you cringe, don’t forget that Kern County exports something far more disgusting than human waste: oil.

The state released  a 90,000-page environmental review of the $15.7 billion water tunnel project proposed for the Sacramento Bay-Delta. Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan is pushing for final federal and state approval of the 35-mile long tunnels, which would provide more reliable water supply for Central and Southern California. While the report concludes the tunnels would take 5 percent more water from the Sacramento River than current diversions do, it would be the least disruptive of all possible options. Brown said in a statement that the tunnel project is “absolutely essential if California is to maintain a reliable water supply.” Proponents of the plan include the Brown administration and water agencies in Central and Southern California. Those opposed include some Northern California water districts, farmers, and environmental groups. The project still needs an agreement on financing it by the water districts that would benefit, plus federal and state decision on whether the project complies with endangered species laws. Court Ruling Support S.F. Streetcar Route The First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled  the city had adequately analyzed the Muni streetcar loop in the project’s first environmental report in 1998 and did not have to prepare a new one. The route will be in the city’s Dogpatch area and will make more light-rail service available during peak traffic and special events, such as the Warriors’ planned arena nearby. A lawsuit by a group of residents and business owners argued the 1998 study was obsolete because of an increase in apartments, condos and stores in the neighborhood and therefore the project should be rerouted six blocks south. The original study addressed noise and vibration, dust, air quality, parking, and roadway capacity and found no significant impacts. LAFCO Association Announces Annual Awards The California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions (CALAFCO) announced  its 2016 Achievement Award Winners. Don Tatzin from Contra Costa LAFCo received Outstanding Commissioner, Cheryl Carter-Benjamin from Orange Outstanding LAFCo Clerk, and Steve Lucas from Butte Outstanding LAFCo Professional. Peter Brundage from Sacramento was given an award for Distinguished Service and John Leopold from Santa Cruz Outstanding CALAFCO Member. Countywide Water Study in Marine was the Project of the Year and Southern Region of CALAFCO received an award for Government Leadership. San Luis Obispo LAFCo was Most Effective Commission. Bob Braltman and Ed Robey received Lifetime Achievement awards. San Diego Program to Promote Biotech, Craft Brewing The City of San Diego is launching  a new incentive program to spur expansions in biotech and craft brewing industries. The program is modeled after a similar effort in Sacramento that lowers the steep cost of paying special sewer hook-up fees that often exceed $100,000. These high fees frequently force businesses to pursue smaller expansions, delay expansion plans or abandon them altogether. The program will use $750,000 from a defunct state tax credit program and buy “stranded” sewer capacity controlled by businesses that use little water but occupy buildings that could use more water. The City plans to buy the excess capacity back at roughly half price and sell it to businesses pursuing expansion at roughly 60 percent of what they would normally pay. Quick Hits & Updates California Coastal Commissioner Wendy Mitchell resigned  after six years on the panel. Mitchell was one of seven commissioners who voted to fire Executive Director Charles Lester earlier this year. She was appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Strategic Growth Council is hosting  the Transformative Climate Communities Stakeholder Summit on February 10, 2017 from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm at the California Health and Human Services Agency East End Complex in Sacramento. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required by February 3, 2017. The California Supreme Court must sort out opposing appeals court decisions  about Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to take land into trust for tribes. While the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno ruled against Brown when he concurred in 2012 with a federal decision to put 305 acres into a trust for the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Sacramento ruled for Brown and his decision to take 40 acres into a trust for a Yuba County tribal casino.  The San Diego Association of Governments has admitted  its researchers underestimated the amount of money that would come in from its sales tax. The agency says to finish all the highway expansion, new transit lines, and other transportation projects promised in a 2004 sales tax extension, it would need almost $17.5 billion from additional sources. Uber announced  it would suspend its self-driving car program in California. This was after at least two cars ran red lights and state regulators tried to revoke their registration. The San Diego Chargers have agreed to lease  part of a Costa Mesa office campus, The Hive, and are working with city officials to secure permits for 3.2-acres of practice fields. Team owner Dean Spanos must decide by Jan. 15 whether he wants to remain in San Diego or join the Rams at its new stadium in Inglewood, which is scheduled to open for the 2019 NFL season. The new Anaheim City Council has ended  the city’s luxury hotel subsidy program and the $300 million Anaheim streetcar project. The reason for the official end is the archaic mode of transportation is incapable of adapting to shifts in demand or population. Southern California home prices  reached a median price of $465,000, which is a 5.9 percent increase from November 2015. In the six-county region home prices have risen every month for more than four years and far outpaced income growth. The Obama Administration awarded  San Francisco $75 million for the $223 million Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit Project that will create a dedicated transit lane and station-like stops. When the project is completed, buses will run every four to five minutes and will improve access to jobs, health care, and opportunities throughout the Bay Area. Line in the Sand, the political arm of Still Protecting Our Newport, has gathered  enough signatures calling for a referendum on a planned 25-story luxury condominium tower in Newport Beach. The group needs 5,800 signatures from local voters to potentially bring the 100-unit Museum House project to public vote.  Airbnb reported it generated  $478 million in economic activity in San Francisco and $128 million in Oakland and Berkeley last year. A previous report from the company showed a majority of the spending goes to the restaurant industry or shopping.

I haven’t had the pleasure of interviewing the president-elect, nor do I ever expect to, unless California actually secedes . But I recently spoke with someone who has discussed land use with him.  Paul Petrovich is the developer who, as I wrote about in CP&DR this week , is suing the City of Sacramento over what he claims is an improper denial of a conditional use permit for proposed gas pumps at his entitled Curtis Park Village. National politics didn’t play directly into what is a hyper-local article, filled with some nasty rivalries. But in my interview with him, Petrovich took a moment muse on national affairs.  As a self-described fiscal conservative, Petrovich said that he was on Trump’s dance card when he visited Sacramento in June. Petrovich shared with Trump a story that California’s developers, Democrat and Republican alike, know all too well: it has taken him the better part of 15 years to pour concrete at Curtis Park Village (notwithstanding the lawsuit). In that time, he said he held over 200 neighborhood meetings and adapted his project in countless ways to satisfy neighbors. He did so in part to insulate himself against CEQA lawsuits that they surely would have filed had he failed to cross a “t" or dot an “i."  Granted, it’s a large project: 72 acres, hundreds of residences, a large retail component, and remediation of a toxic brownfield. It demands careful environmental review. But, still, Petrovich’s point was that regulations — CEQA included — and community opposition have been egregious.  Not surprisingly, Trump, himself a developer, sympathized with Petrovich’s plight. In fact, Trump was “blown away,” according to Petrovich. Petrovich said that Trump has cited, with full Trumpian incredulity, a situation like his in interviews, referring to developers who have to wait 10-plus years to win approvals and land clear of the courts.  Petrovich acknowledged that his is hardly the only tale of regulatory woe. And that’s the point: stories like his gave Trump, and other conservatives, plenty of material for anti-regulation tirades. So, like any number of the microscopic regulations and esoteric court decisions that, collectively, make CEQA a regulatory enormity, so did it pile on to all the factors, large and small, that inspired Trump voters.  CEQA was not explicitly designed to be an obstructionist law. It was designed to uphold environmental quality, a worthy goal if ever their was one. But there’s no doubt that it has, collectively, added eons to the pace of development in California, sometimes with dubious, or nonexistent, benefits to the environment. Pouring molasses on the highway are neighborhood groups — such as Petrovich’s nemeses, Councilmember Jay Schenirer and the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association — that send plans back to the drawing board, and, indeed, file suit even after entitlements are granted.  Many of these groups and many other fans of CEQA are genuine environmentalists. Often their efforts do lead to greener projects — but, with adversarial attitudes towards (and from) developers — they lead to delayed projects. Collectively, these obstructionist tendencies add a supertanker's worth of fuel to the anti-regulation fire.  This year, while NIMBY's were tittering about LULU’s, the “drill baby drill” crowd was marshaling its forces. The result: President Trump. Secretary of State Tillerson. Energy Secretary Perry.  Now the country’s environmentalist are facing what may be the most anti-environment administration since God created the Earth. Whatever localized gains California’s environmentalist groups and concerned neighborhood groups have made via CEQA are likely to be undone, and then some, by the policies and projects that Trump will promote.  Petrovich may yet get his gas pumps. And, with a pro-petroleum, climate change denier in the White House, America may yet burn.