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The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-2 to support a sweeping new mobility plan that would focus on increasing bicycle and pedestrian safety and reducing car usage by reshaping streets with medians, widened sidewalks, and over 300 miles of dedicated bike and bus lanes, at the expense of car lanes. The plan, dubbed " Mobility Plan 2035 ," (PDF) seeks to cut the fatality rate from traffic collisions to zero within 20 years, partly by keeping cars within speed limits by creating road diets, where vehicular lanes are shrunk and things like medians and sidewalks are widened. Opponents have argued that the plan would worsen traffic throughout the city and worsen emergency response times.  OPR Releases Draft CEQA Guidelines Update The Governor's Office of Planning and Research has released its Preliminary Discussion Draft of its updates to the guidelines for implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act. Notably, the draft proposes efficiency improvements including streamlined environmental checklists and enhanced exemptions for things like mixed-use projects near transit, substantive improvements to include energy impacts analysis and water supply impacts, and technical improvements including clarifying using projected future conditions as an environmental baseline. Notably, the draft does not include changes to transportation analysis including the "level of service" metric as required by SB 743 and will release that proposal separately. OPR is seeking comments on the draft until October 12, 2015. Bay Area Counties Collaborate on Proposed Transportation Funding Tax Measure A transportation advocacy group is asking residents of five Bay Area counties to approve a half-cent sales tax to raise $500 million a year for transportation improvements, marking the first time multiple counties have taken a coordinated regional approach to asking voters to improve highways and transit systems. Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group leading the charge, said that having all five counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Contra Costa vote in the November 2016 ballot cycle would facilitate regional improvements across counties. In order to be approved as a "special tax," however, the measures would face the difficult task of being approved by two-thirds of voters in each county. "The spending will be primarily focused on state highway system and picking up the ball the state has dropped," Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, told Reuters .  S.D. Airport, Coastal Commission Reach Odd Agreement Over Parking Lot In order to build a new $80 million parking structure at San Diego International Airport, officials there must paradoxically encourage the public not to use it in a compromise with the California Coastal Commission. The move comes as the Coastal Commission had asked the airport authority why the proposed three-story, 3,000 space garage was necessary when the airport authority said in 2009 that it wouldn't build the parking garage in order to encourage passengers to use public transit, rideshare and private parking lots away from the coast. Airport Spokesman Jon Heller said in a statement, "Our passengers' reaction to limited parking over the past six years strongly indicates that limiting parking does not increase transit use at San Diego International Airport and additional parking facilities are, in fact, needed." Parking is one of the airport's three top moneymakers, and brought in nearly $39 million in 2014. The Coastal Commission approved the garage on the condition that the airport increase its efforts to encourage the use of alternative transportation.  Solano County General Plan Update to Emphasize Flood Protection The Solano County Board of Supervisors will update a chapter in the Public Health and Safety portion of the county's General Plan to include comprehensive flood protection measures in line with floodplain mapping prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Water Resources. County staff reported to The Reporter that the update identifies rivers, creeks, streams, flood corridors, riparian habitat, and land that may accommodate floodwater for purposes of groundwater recharge and stormwater management. The updated mapping is consistent with requirements established by the Central Valley Flood Protection Board for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Drainage District. The update will also include updated fire hazard maps including state responsibility areas and an Implementation Program for the update. Grand Jury Faults Kings Co. Supes for Rail Lawsuit A grand jury criticized the Kings County Board of Supervisors for filing lawsuits against the state high-speed rail project, saying that supervisors should not have used public funding for litigation involving privately owned land that the state is seeking. In a 167-page report titled "The Train Has Already Left the Station," the jury questioned the expenditure of $150,000 in public funds on the battle, asserting that the rail line would not take any county-owned land except where it crosses public roads. County Supervisor Doug Verboon said the county elected to fight the project when the state in 2011 refused to provide a detailed plan for taking property, choosing to put the line through the middle of farm fields rather than along existing highways. The county is involved in two lawsuits: one saiys that the state will fail to comply with a 2008 bond act requiring the system to operate without subsidies, while the other asserts that the project failed to comply with California's Environmental Quality Act. San Jose Considers Moratorium on Mobile Home Park Closures San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and four City Council members have proposed a moratorium on closures of mobile home parks in the area as the sizzling real estate market there has made land beneath the parks triple in value and make developers eager to build market-rate housing there. The proposal came about after the announced closure of Winchester Ranch Mobile Home Community, which threatens to displace more than 100 mostly-elderly residents. Hoping to beef up protection for low-income residents, the City Council has requested a revision to a never-used 1986 ordinance outlining the process for closing mobile park homes. In the meantime, however, anyone can apply to close a park unless the city adopts the moratorium. State Wins Federal Grant for Habitat Protection California will receive nearly $16 million of a $37.2 million federal grant to 20 states from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to support conservation planning and acquisition of vital habitat for endangered species. Awarded through the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund and funded in part by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the grants will benefit species ranging from the California gnatcatcher and the Karner blue butterfly, and it will enable states to work with private landowners, conservation groups and other government agencies to initiate conservation planning efforts and acquire or protect habitat for the conservation of threatened and endangered species. Electronic Billboard Stokes Dispute Between O.C. Cities The cities of Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa are fighting over a 79-foot-tall Clear Channel electronic billboard that would be a financial boon to Fountain Valley -- producing minimum $150,000 a year -- but a potential visual menace to residents of Costa Mesa, who argue that the sign will illuminate their homes at night. Matt Mogensen, Fountain Valley's interim planning and building director, said that the billboard would produce an ongoing revenue stream and allow the city to advertise its events four weeks annually on the dual 672-square-foot screens. However, Costa Mesa Development Services Director Gary Armstrong wrote a letter to Fountain Valley, urging Fountain Valley to consider alternative locations for the billboard, to lower its height to 31 feet, and to restrict hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The sign would sit on the border of the two cities, and Fountain Valley city staff recommended its Planning Commission to approve the billboard despite Costa Mesa's pleas. Sacramento Considers Regulations on Short-Term Rentals Sacramento could join a growing list of cities across California seeking to regulate the growing online short-term rental market through websites like Airbnb. An ordinance set to go to the city's Planning and Design Commission would limit the number of days a property owner could rent out a home or room before needing to apply for a $2,600-minimum conditional use permit, and it would require renters to pay the current hotel occupancy tax of 12 percent the price of a nightly stay. Airbnb representatives have asked city officials to extend the proposed cap on service to beyond 30 nights, Joy Patterson, the principal planner with the city, told the Sacramento Business Journal. $50 Million Fund Dedicated to Housing in L.A. Los Angeles will expand its New Generation Fund, a public-private partnership between the city and financial institutions, bringing in $50 million to create, preserve and retrofit affordable housing in the city. The New Generation Fund offers pre-development and acquisition funding, using $10 million in City investment to leverage $50 million in private capital. "Early stage funding is critical in the development of affordable housing, especially in a high-cost city like Los Angeles with great market pressures," said Jeff Schaffer, VP and Southern California market leader, Enterprise. Developments Contribute to Sacramento Revitalization Two developments in Sacramento's urban core are sending signals of the revitalization of the central city as city leaders attempt to meet Mayor Kevin Johnson's "In Downtown" housing initiative goal of adding 10,000 housing units there over the next decade. The Sacramento City Council approved plans to open a new Whole Foods in midtown, also adding 141 apartments in a new six-story building. Additionally, the Sacramento City Unified School District voted unanimously to reopen Washington Elementary School in fall 2016, three years after it was closed due to falling enrollment. "This summer, we've seen a vision become a reality," Johnson told the Sacramento Bee . "With the two votes (Thursday), which will bring a supermarket, over 100 housing units and will reopen a school, we are transforming our downtown into a destination for people to live, work and play."

The Pismo Beach City Council voted to impose a moratorium on all new development in anticipation of a drastic drop in water supply next year. The moratorium, which is the city's first since 1988 and believed to be the first in the state in the current drought cycle,  immediately halts all building permit applications for vacant parcels and requires redevelopment or building changes at existing properties to consume less than or equal to the amount of water currently used. The city did not meet its 24 percent water conservation target set by the state for the months of September and October. State officials have announced that it expects to deliver only 10 percent of the water it allocates to California cities as reservoirs are still well below capacity, contributing to the decision to enact the moratorium. If the city's anticipated water supply falls below two triggers -- 1,130 acre-feet and 850 acre-feet -- two more building restriction tiers will go into effect: one prohibiting any new building permits, and another requiring new commercial use and redevelopment of existing buildings to show that water demand would be at least 30 percent less than the year before the tier was triggered. Fresno to Miss Deadline for 45,000-Home Expansion The city of Fresno's plans to expand development into an area called the Southeast Growth Area have languished, as it appears that the city will miss agreed-upon deadlines with the county to build on the land within 20 years. A decade ago, the county approved an expansion of the city of Fresno by 14 miles to the south and east to build a projected 45,000 homes accommodating 110,000 residents, along with the already-built $23.5 million Clovis Unified elementary school. Now, with none of the area built out and the state calling for more infill development and less sprawl, some members of the Local Agency Formation Commission -- which approves future boundaries for cities -- are calling for a reduction of the size of the growth area. SGC Releases RFP for Technical Assistance Pilot for AHSC The Strategic Growth Council has released a request for proposals to provide direct technical assistance to disadvantaged communities interested in applying for the 2015-16 Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program. This Request for Proposal (RFP) is to solicit competitive proposals from experienced and qualified contractors who will be engaged to provide technical assistance and specific services to eligible participants through a contract(s) with the SGC for the 2015-16 AHSC program funding round. Selected contractors for the SGC Technical Assistance Pilot will provide direct grant writing, analytical, and project management support to applicants to ultimately achieve successful AHSC applications for projects benefiting disadvantaged communities that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The RFP can be found by looking for Bid #RFP SGC 15100 - AHSC Technical Assistance Pilot on the  Bid Sync website. Federal Transportation Bill Includes $26 Billion for California California will receive $26 billion in federal funds for a variety of transportation projects as Congress agreed on a long-term transportation bill to raise federal spending on highways by 5 percent and transit by 8 percent in its first year. The bill, pushed through by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California) and James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), comes just in time to avoid the expiration of the Highway Trust Fund. It lacks a sustainable funding source, all but ensuring that the funding deficit for repairs will be even worse when the bill expires in five years. Instead of securing a sustainable funding source by raising the 18.4 cents a gallon federal gasoline tax, which both parties have shunned, Congressional negotiators scoured the budget for obscure alternatives, raiding the Federal Reserve's cushion against bank losses to revoking the passports of citizens behind on their taxes by $50,000 or more in an effort to get them to pay up.  Newport Beach Bans Marijuana Dispensaries The Newport Beach City Council voted to ban marijuana dispensaries and delivery services in the city in response to the state's Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, effective Jan. 1, which will create California's first statewide rules for growers and retailers. The state act forces cities either to take immediate action to enact rules or bans for medical marijuana, or to allow the state to become the sole authority for licensing and regulation. Newport Beach's municipal code previously did not address medical marijuana, but dispensaries have not been allowed to operate in the city, according to City Manager Dave Kiff. However, online searches found that several services say they deliver marijuana to people in the city. Riverside County Considers Steep Development Fees in Eastvale, Jurupa Valley A new proposal from a Riverside County water district would charge developers more than $5,000 per residential unit to pay the cost of water for homes being built in Eastvale and Jurupa Valley. The proposal from Jurupa Community Services District would first tack on a new $3,557 per-unit water resource fee charged to developers. "The goal of this new fee is to fairly apportion the cost of water supplies and sewer service between existing customers and new development," general manager Todd Corbin told the Press-Enterprise. "If we didn't do this, it's clear that existing customers would be subsidizing the cost of new development." The district is also proposing to hike  existing fees developers pay to connect their projects to water and sewer systems. All in all, the costs to builders would rise from $13,170 to $18,983, an estimated 44 percent increase. The Eastvale City Council adopted a resolution formally declaring its opposition to the increases.  San Francisco Mayor Looks to Another Housing Ballot Measure With San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approving pro-housing ballot measures in November, Mayor Ed Lee is convening a group of developers and affordable-housing advocates with the hopes of crafting a ballot measure for next year's ballot to increase the percentage of below-market units included in new projects. The city currently requires 12 percent affordable housing under 2012's Prop. C, which dropped the requirement from 15 percent. With development booming in the city, Lee said that the goal will be to offer developers benefits, such as raised height limits, higher densities, or fast-tracked approvals, to offset increased affordable housing requirements. While some projects in the city have agreed to go as high as 40 percent below-market-rate units, developers warn that increasing the requirements could halt the smaller projects that make up the bulk of the city's housing production. Los Angeles Housing Authority Loses Section 8 Suit A federal appeals court ruled that the Los Angeles Housing Authority's 2004 reduction in rent subsidies for about 20,000 poor people violated their right to due process. The court's ruling hinged on notifications of the cuts sent by the Housing Authority to Section 8 beneficiaries. Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt said the law requires the Housing Authority to give recipients a year's notice of possible cuts, and the notification fliers were so confusing and inadequate that the authority violated the recipients' rights to due process. The flier "uses the term �payment standards' six times without ever defining or explaining the term's meaning," Reinhardt said in the ruling. "A short and simple explanation, such as �this means that the Housing Authority has reduced the maximum amount it will contribute towards recipients' rent,' would have provided at least a small measure of clarity." The lawsuit came in a class action brought by the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness.  Santa Ana Loosens Limitations on Accessory Dwelling Units Santa Ana is updating city code to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units, or " granny flats ". Current regulations limit second units to 750 square feet or one-third the size of the lot's main house, with at least one parking space per bedroom. Thpse rules don't necessarily match up with the realities of how people live in the city, Hassan Haghani, executive director of the Santa Ana Planning and Building Agency, told KPCC. He imagines "good-sized" granny flats that could house a small family with a bathroom and full kitchen. "We have an awful lot of square footage of unused space in Orange County in the form of single-family homes," he said. A neighborhood not interested in packing in more families could request to be excluded from the ordinance under rules currently being written by City Council staffers. S.F. to Create City Department Dedicated to Homelessness San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced the creation of a city department that will group all of San Francisco's homeless services under one roof to streamline coordination and reduce clogs in the system. The new department, which may have as many as 30 employees, will inherit homelessness tasks currently performed by other city agencies, mainly the Department of Public Health and the Human Services Agency, and will oversee street outreach counseling teams, homeless housing services and mental health programs aimed at indigents. It comes as Lee plans to lay out his goal of spending at least $1 billion over the next four years to help 8,000 people out of homelessness.  "I'm not going to...say I am ending homelessness," the mayor said. "But I will use that phrase to say that everybody who works on this problem has the goal to end homelessness for a single person, a veteran, a child, a family member. I want a department that is dedicated to that outcome every day."  Olympic Valley Withdraws Application to Incorporate Efforts to incorporate the Squaw Valley area of Placer County � also know as Olympic Valley -- have officially come to a halt, with organizers withdrawing their application from the county's Local Agency Formation Commission. Inocorporate Olympic Valley, the group heading the bid, said that it would withdraw because LAFCO's stance has been staunchly negative on the financial viability of incorporation. An analysis from the State Controller's Office agreed with 18 of the 31 concerns of the group and found that the proposed city would net $15 million in revenues over its first 10 years. The effort was largely launched to gain greater say over development proposals in the Squaw Valley area, including one 200-unit housing development for resort employees. San Diego Council Member Proposes Alternative Infrastructure Plan  San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey unveiled an infrastructure financing plan for the next 30 years to secure $4 to $5 billion for neighborhood infrastructure needs without raising taxes. The plan would dedicate future sales tax growth for the next 30 years and savings from voter-approved pension reform for the next 30 years, and it would preserve half of all new major general fund growth for the next 10 years to finance ongoing infrastructure needs. Kersey, the chairman of the Council's Infrastructure Committee, said that the full council will take up the proposal next year so it can be ready for the primary election ballot, where it would need a simple majority of voters to go into effect. "I think if we look at the past history, city leaders have shown an unwillingness to invest in needed (infrastructure)," Kersey told the Pomerado News. "With a voters mandate, infrastructure will be a top city priority."

The San Diego City Council unanimously approved a new  Climate Action Plan , one of the nation's most ambitious plans to cut carbon emissions by creating legally binding mandates for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The plan requires annual emissions be cut in half during the next two decades based on a strategy to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. The plan will also require that the city boost the urban tree canopy by 15 percent by 2020 and 35 percent by 2035, recycle or compost 75 percent of all solid waste by 2020 and 90 percent by 2035, and cut car trips in key transportation areas by 20 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2035. Importantly, since the plan is a legally binding mandate, the city opens itself up to lawsuits from environmental groups and the state attorney general if it doesn't follow through on the plan's promises. The most controversial decision could be whether to implement community choice aggregation, a program that would take control away from the local electric utility when deciding how much renewable energy a city uses. L.A. Approves Sale of Ontario Airport The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a $250 million agreement to return control of Ontario International Airport to the city of Ontario. The move comes in the wake of a 2013 lawsuit that Ontario filed against Los Angeles claiming that the city, Los Angeles World Airports, and the airport's board of commissioners had made administrative moves  since 2007 that cut flight service and cost millions of passengers and billions of dollars to the local economy. Though the Los Angeles vote concludes local government and airport board approvals for the agreement, no transfer can take place without Federal Aviation Administration approval. If the FAA decides to approve the transfer, the city of Ontario will reimburse Los Angeles World Airports about $60 million for all outstanding Ontario bonds. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) U2's The Edge Gets Blessing from Coastal Commission for Five Homes U2 guitarist the Edge received approval from the California Coastal Commission to build five homes atop an undeveloped ridge in an unincorporated area of Malibu despite a decade of protest from environmental groups and residents who say the project would needlessly despoil sensitive habitat and mar the visual landscape. Each house will be more than 10,000 square feet and feature its own swimming pool. However, the approved plan is a step back from original plan. It includes efforts to use exterior colors that help the structures blend in with the environment, won't contain as much glass as originally proposed, and the guitarist will conserve 140 acres of the property as open land and allow a hiking and equestrian easement linking to the Coastal Slope Trail. Construction of the homes, on just over five acres, of the property will require 63,390 cubic yards of grading and disturb 17 acres of habitat classified as environmentally sensitive. Bakersfield Moves Ahead with Station Area Planning The Bakersfield City Council unanimously approved spending $750,000 to hire a Chicago-based urban planning and engineering firm to plan a downtown station for the state high speed train project. The council voted to hire Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, whose projects include the expansion of Denver's historic Union Station into a regional transportation hub; a master plan for Philadelphia's 30th Street Station Precinct; a high-speed rail terminal in Tianjin, China; and three stations for the All Aboard Florida passenger train network. "They impressed us with their planning and urban design experience. The fact that they've worked on some rail and transit-oriented projects," Community Development Director Doug McIsaac told Mass Transit Magazine. "The main premise is how the city can best leverage and take advantage of the station being located here, for the benefit of the surrounding area and the entire downtown." Bakersfield will contribute $200,000 in staff time to help create the station area plan, but most of the $550,000 to hire Skidmore comes from federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.  Los Angeles River Seeks Federal Planning Funds Thirteen Los Angeles-area members of Congress have signed a letter asking President Obama to include $4.2 million in the fiscal 2017 budget for planning and redesigning the proposed 51-mile Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration project. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said last year the federal government would split the cost, putting the the city on the hook for about $500 million, but a report by L.A.'s chief legislative analyst stated that the city's share of the estimated $1.3 billion cost could rise to as much as $1.2 billion. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Downey) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) were the original signers of the letter, and were joined by 10 colleagues from the Los Angeles area. "The progress of this project is the product of several years of collaborative work by citizens, stakeholders, and elected leaders to reestablish Los Angeles River as a source of Angelino pride and vitality," they wrote to Obama. "Your leadership to move this transformative project forward will not only improve our communities for today, but the world we leave for our children tomorrow." Court Rejects Malibu Anti-Chain Store Measure  The Superior Court of California overturned Malibu's Measure R, which voters approved to enact a 30% cap on the number of chain stores in shopping centers citywide and to create a voter-approval requirement for new commercial centers if they measure over 20,000 sq. ft. After their case against the City of Malibu was declined to be seen by a federal judge, opponents of the measure filed the suit in state court. Carson Considers NFL-Inspired Development Moratorium  In an attempt to entice the National Football League to move both the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders to a shared stadium in Carson, the City of Carson is considering putting a development moratorium on about 600 acres of land adjacent to the proposed stadium. Carson Mayor Albert Robles said the moratorium, affecting land west, north and east of the 157-acre stadium property, will help the city bring appropriate development to the area. Controversial Hollywood Project Gets Boost The Los Angeles City Planning Commission officially backed the proposed Palladium Residences development, which would bring two 30-story residential towers and 731 housing units to Hollywood on a stretch of Sunset Boulevard served by bus routes and the nearby Metro Red Line subway. A spokeswoman for Palladium developer Crescent Heights told the LA Times that the company will restrict rents in 5% of the project's apartments for tenants who earn 120% of the region's median annual income. The neighboring AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has said the project is too big for the neighborhood and will accelerate the gentrification of Hollywood, promises to keep fighting as it heads to a City Council vote next year. Mixed-Use Transit Center Proposed for N. San Diego County The North County Transit District heard four developers present competing plans to build a mixture of parking, retail, shopping, and residential buildings with the upcoming renovation of the Solana Beach Transit Center. All developers agreed on the basic outline of the project, which includes preserving the hut-shaped train station, expanding parking, adding new uses and fitting in with nearby architecture and activities. Chestnut Properties of Solana Beach proposed The Station Solana Beach, based on "lifestyles and beach culture"; the Strategic Assets Group led by two local businessmen proposed three levels of underground parking and an additional bridge across the below-grade railroad tracks; the Creative Housing Associates of Los Angeles proposed a boutique hotel, which the community currently lacks, and automated parking; the Dahlin Group of Solana Beach proposed an iconic restaurant, 96 apartments, and a park-like area for the community. Anaheim Streetcar Plan in Jeopardy Dealing a significant blow to Anaheim's beleaguered streetcar project, a committee of the Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors is recommending that Anaheim officials drop their plans for a 3.2-mile streetcar system. Citing the over $300 million cost and the likelihood that federal funding won't materialize, the ad-hoc committee is recommending that the city quit the streetcar project and instead explore alternatives, like enhanced bus services. "This is not a project that's in the best interest of Orange County taxpayers, who are ultimately going to be asked to pay for the entire project, which will be, including operations and maintenance, $400 million to $500 million,"  board Chairman Jeffrey Lalloway said, according to Voice of OC.  Rents in San Francisco See Rare Decline For the first time in eight months, San Francisco's rental market saw a decline in prices, as the city's rent fell by 4.6 percent to $3,500 per month for a one-bedroom in November, according to research from Zumper. Oakland, on the other hand, jumped to become to the fourth-most expensive city,  as one-bedroom rents surged to $2,190, a 19 percent increase over the past year, which is the biggest jump anywhere in the country. "East Bay migration is definitely a compelling argument � the fact that Oakland rents continue to outpace San Francisco. in percentage terms shows there's a healthy appetite for property there, even as prices are now ahead of Washington, D.C. and San Jose," said Devin O'Brien, head of strategic marketing at Zumper. "I think there's also a certain threshold at which it doesn't make sense for people anymore. Once rents hit a certain percentage of income, people just will refuse to pay and look for alternate options, perhaps with a commute." One caveat of the data is that it focuses on one- and two-bedroom units, and San Francisco and Oakland both have a large percentage of their stock as single-family homes, which are often rented out to multiple tenants. $11 Million at Stake for Oakland Transit Village Oakland may finally realize its long-awaited transit village next to the Coliseum BART Station, but not before contributing an $11.6 million subsidy to the project with no guarantee of ever getting it back. The Oakland City Council's Community and Economic Development Committee will vote on Dec. 22 on whether to sign a development agreement with Oakland Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit corporation that has consisted of a transient cast of businessmen and whose non-profit tax status was earlier revoked for failing to file tax forms for at least three consecutive years. Until recently, the development was planned as a market-rate project, but now the developers say that half of the apartments on the 1.3-acre lot would be affordable.  The plan requires Oakland to provide public funds via an $11.6 million loan with a 55-year term and a stipulation that Oakland Economic Development Corp. won't have to pay a cent back if half the apartments remain affordable. BART would have to agree to lease the parking lot to the developer. Riverside Considers Streetcar Line Riverside officials are looking to Arizona for evidence that a long-awaited 12-mile streetcar line could revitalize the city's ailing downtown area through an influx of development and college-aged students into the area. Several Riverside officials, including Mayor Rusty Bailey and three City Councilmembers, took a trip to Arizona to see the cities of Tucson, Tempe, and Phoenix, all of which have thrived with new streetcar lines near millennial hubs, which helped convince them that a new streetcar would be directly followed by private building projects. The trip could help sway the opinion of several officials that have been on the fence about Riverside's project. The city's study is six to eight months behind schedule because city planners aren't satisfied with the estimates of how many people might ride a streetcar, and officials acknowledge that  laying tracks would be years away and cost hundreds of millions. Kings Seek EB-5 Funds for Development Around Arena The Sacramento Kings are utilizing a federal program that trades green cards for hefty investments that create jobs to lure Chinese investment dollars to finance redevelopment of the site around the new Sacramento Kings downtown arena. The Kings and their development partner, JMA Ventures of San Francisco, are planning to build more than $300 million of development in the Downtown Commons, including a hotel-office tower and a shopping and dining district. The EB-5 program, which provides permanent U.S. residence to foreigners who provide investments of at least $1 million, is a source of controversy, with many members of Congress seeking reforms to the program after it sunsets on Dec. 11. The program has produced $11.2 billion in investments in the United States since its launch in 1990 and has provided investors with as many as 10,000 green cards a year, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Developers in California may have a more difficult time creating mitigation plans in wetland areas as of this year. The US Army Corps of Engineers released a new set of guidelines adding more rigorous requirements to mitigation plans, which "will undoubtedly complicate and significantly increase the cost of preparing and implementing mitigation plans for new development." The guidelines are intended to keep up with 25 years of research since the last update, placing greater emphasis on preservation of California's wetlands. San Francisco Loses $1 Million of Impact Fee Funds Officials in San Francisco  are puzzling  over the disappearance of $1 million of public funds intended for park and pedestrian developments- possibly ending up in the hands of a developer. Officials in the mayor's office argue that a portion of the city's Market Community Stabilization Fund was incorrectly given to the developer of One Rincon Hill without permission from the mayor's office. However, an Association of Bay Area Governments official said that the developer was entitled to the money as a reimbursement for bonds sold to a special tax district designed to improve public spaces. HCD Invites Applications for $120 Million in GHG Reduction Funds The Department of Housing and Community Development announced the availability of approximately $120 million in funding for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program. The AHSC Program furthers the purposes of AB 32 and SB 375 by investing in projects that reduce GHG emissions by supporting more compact, infill development patterns, encouraging active transportation and transit usage, and protecting agricultural land from sprawl development. Funding for the AHSC Program is provided from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, an account established to receive cap-and-trade auction proceeds. A complete original concept proposal must be submitted to HCD using the Financial Assistance Application Submittal Tool (FAAST) system no later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 19, 2015. The AHSC Program's full application forms, workshop details, and related program information, will be posted on its website at http://www.hcd.ca.gov/fa/ahsc . Inglewood One Step Closer to a Pro Football Stadium The City of Inglewood  cleared its first hurdle  to building a new 80,000-seat football stadium for a possible move by the St. Louis Rams. Backers of the stadium plan gained over 20,000 signatures in a petition drive to put a question about rezoning the proposed stadium site on an upcoming city ballot. By going through the initiative process, developers are hoping to avoid doing a costly and time-consuming environmental review for the 238-acre site, which is the location of the shuttered Hollywood Park race track. Much of the Hollywood Park site is already being redeveloped as a residential community. Veterans Administration to Dedicate West Los Angeles Campus to Homeless The US Department of Veterans Affairs will provide permanent housing for homeless veterans on its 387-acre campus in west Los Angeles a result of a legal settlement . A suit alleged that the VA was misusing its property by giving leases to private corporations and non-veteran related companies. The ACLU Foundation of Southern California sued in 2011, alleging that "the VA was misusing the campus while failing to care for veterans" by neglecting to provide adequate housing and to use the campus for the direct benefit of veterans. As a result of the settlement, the VA will hire a homelessness expert to craft a master plan for the campus. The parcel, which was deeded to the VA in 1888, has long been coveted by developers. Oil Project Abandoned in Carson Oil company California Resources Corp.  abandoned a huge drilling project  in Carson in the wake of community opposition and a drop in oil prices. Residents near the proposed site had expressed concerns that the company, a recently spun-off subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, would use controversial drilling methods in its operations. The City Council went as far as to issue a moratorium on all oil drilling in the city last year as lawmakers studied the effects of fracking and acidization. With depleting capital budgets because of the fall in oil prices, the company abandoned the project for now. Glendale Sues State Over Redevelopment Agency The city of Glendale  sued the state for over $30 million  in lost funds from its now-defunct redevelopment agency. The redevelopment program was shut down in 2011 as part of Gov. Jerry Brown's efforts to return tax increment monies to state coffers, and Glendale was still owed millions of dollars for loans it had given for revitalization projects. However, the city alleges that also it should have received payment of interest based on a rate that existed at the time of the origination of the loan. The state claims that Glendale is only entitled to a 0.28% interest rate, cutting the amount they would receive from outstanding loans by over $30 million. Report: State Parks System Needs Overhaul California's parks  are deteriorating and need a new source of funding  to be fixed, according to a report by the California Parks Forward Commission. The report links the failing conditions of the parks system � denoted by increasing fees to hikers, outdated technology, and a lack of accountability � to shrinking budgets, a backlog of $1.3 billion, and money source of the parks. Right now, funds for the parks system come from the state's general fund, making the budget subject to the whims of the state budget. To fix the system, the state needs to allocate a specific funding source outside of the general fund, according to the report. SPUR Opens Oakland Office The urban policy think tank and advocacy group San Francisco Planning and Urban Research has extended its reach further by opening an office in Oakland. Based in San Francisco's Financial District,  SPUR  also has a location in San Jose. According to a statement, SPUR is committed to both regional and local planning in the Bay Area and will use the Oakland office to focus on issues specific to the East Bay.

Plans to build a $5 billion, 6.3-mile tunnel to close the "gap" of the 710 freeway are gaining headway as both the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments  recommended that project as the best option. The tunnel, which would have two lanes in either direction and would be completely underground for 4.2 miles. It would shave 7-14 minutes off commute times, providing a benefit of $1.5 to 1.6 billion over 20 years at a cost of $3.15 billion to build. Additionally, the SGVCOG voted to support the tunnel plan over surface-street alternatives, saying that the plan is in line with the Southern California Association of Governments Regional Transportation Plan of 2012. A recently released draft environmental impact report describes five alternatives for closing the gap, considered by some to be a crucial link between the ports and the warehouses of the Inland Empire. A previous version of this brief incorrectly stated that the California Transportation Commission had endorsed the tunnel; the CTC, in fact, has issued no comments on the DEIR.  Tribes Sue to Block Solar Plant A group of Native American tribes filed a lawsuit to stop construction of the Blythe Mesa Solar Project in the Mojave Desert, saying that the 3,660-acre project's Environmental Impact Report failed to take into account the project's impact on traditional tribal lands. The suit comes after Riverside County Supervisors approved the project, which covers nearly six square miles of developer land. "The project is located in the ancestral homelands of the Colorado River Indian Tribes' Mohave and Chemeheuvi members, in a region rich in cultural resources that have been used since time immemorial," tribal Councilwoman Amanda Barrera told the Press-Enterprise . L.A. Study Seeks to Promote Manufacturing Economy Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti along with Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and Dun & Bradstreet have partnered to form a survey contacting Los Angeles businesses to identify the businesses that support the design, manufacture, and retail sales of physical goods in the greater Los Angeles area. The results of the survey, called " Make it in L.A. " will be used to determine the ways that City Hall can support the manufacturing ecosystem. "Producing physical goods is essential for the health of our economy and for creating quality skilled jobs," Garcetti said in a press release. "For the City of Los Angeles and its partners to make a positive impact, we have to know which businesses play a part in turning an idea into a product that consumers and corporations want and need. Having this information will help L.A. hold its position as king of the nation's manufacturing mountain." Grand Jury Finds S.F. at Risk of Rising Tides San Francisco faces risks of rising tides in the San Francisco Bay due to climate change, and efforts to stanch the problem before it worsens have been hampered by a lack of coordination to find a regional solution, according to two grand jury reports . Measurements at the Golden Gate show that San Francisco Bay rose eight inches over the past century and could rise another 16 to 55 inches by 2100. Experts at a conference on the subjet agreed that the most damage won't be done by incremental encroachment of water, but by major storms and extraordinary "king tides," and that San Francisco authorities should coordinate and begin constructing or modifying levees, elevating structures, changing building codes, restoring wetlands and abandoning low-lying areas to prepare for a catastrophe. L.A. Identifies 660 Acres for Urban Agriculture The Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan -- a plan to develop mixed-use, modern neighborhoods in a 660-acre sector along the Los Angeles River -- would be a prime location for urban agriculture, according to a study by the Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation. KCET describes the CASP area as a "food desert," or an area without access to fresh produce and other food, making the area ripe for community-based agriculture. The LARRC study suggested dividing the neighborhood into nodes for specific agricultural activities, and then working around the infrastructure of the area by implementing creative solutions like renovating areas like the Lincoln Heights Jail into a community hub, aquaponics facility, and brewery/restaurant. Survey: Bay Area Residents Warm Up to Housing Half of residents in the Bay Area now support building more housing in the area, even if it means increasing density and building more affordable housing in their own neighborhoods, according to a new poll by the Bay Area Council. With San Francisco's jobs sector booming and seeing an historic housing shortage, 76 percent of resident also want policy makers and developers to direct their efforts toward the creation of housing for low- and middle-income people. "Water isn't the only thing that is in short supply in the Bay Area," Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council, told Inside Bay Area . "Our region is growing, our economy is humming, but the housing shortage could be our Achilles heel." Los Gatos Approves Specific Plan The Los Gatos Town Council approved its North 40 Specific Plan to guide development of 44 acres between highways 85 and 17, the last large undeveloped parcel of land in the town. The plan includes a 35 foot height limit for most buildings, a 30 percent open space requirement, and 501,000 square feet of commercial, retail, and office space. Vice Mayor Barbara Spector, who voted no on the plan, wanted more information on conditional-use permit requirements for businesses. "Show us how uses--i.e. a super drugstore--are controlled in other parts of town," she said at the council meeting, according to the  San Jose Mercury-News . National Trust Identifies Two Endangered Places in California Two structures in urban California are listed on a list of "11 Most Endangered Historic Places," released by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They are The Factory in West Hollywood and the Old U.S. Mint in San Francisco. The Factory, which famously became a pioneering gay disco in 1974, is in danger of demolition for a large-scale hotel project. The Old U.S. Mint, which was one of the few downtown buildings to survive San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, "stands shuttered, deteriorating, and at risk of being forgotten," according to the Trust's website. L.A. Reveals Master Plan to Capture Stormwater The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officially presented its Stormwater Capture Master Plan , an initiative to collect stormwater runoff on a wide scale for city use. Among other, smaller-scale initiatives, the plan would include three large aquifer recharges in the San Fernando Valley to collect rainfall in basins and then slowly feed it into the city's primary underground water source. Under the plan, the city could collect 100,000 to 200,000 acre-feet of water by 2035 at a cost of $600 to $1,100 for each acre-foot of water captured. That would come in addition to the 27,000 acre-feet it already collects in flood control dams and spreading grounds. Bike Share to Finally Arrive in L.A. The board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority  approved an $11 million contract with Bicycle Transit Systems, Inc. (BTS) to bring a bike share program to Downtown Los Angeles. Part of a planned countywide system, the first phase will bring in nearly 1,100 bikes at 65 stations by next Spring. Following the downtown launch, plans are to expand the program into Pasadena in 2017, and then to eight more communities to bring the total number of bicycles to 4,000. In the first phase, bicycles will be available at of downtown locations such as Union Station, L.A. Convention Center, Staples Center, Grand Park/Music Center, 7th Street/Metro Center , Grand Central Market, Pershing Square, and the Arts District. BTS recently launched a bike share system in Philadelphia. Bike share in Los Angeles has been long-awaited by delayed by problems with previously considered vendors.  Anaheim Anticipates Major Development at Stadium Chinese development company LT Global formally filed an application for a $500 million mixed-use development adjacent to the Anaheim Angels stadium. The proposal, which would build 600 condos and apartments, 65,000 square feet of office space, 387,000 square feet of retail space, and 250 hotel rooms, is reliant on using 1,300 parking spaces at Angels Stadium -- parking spaces which the team has nevertheless repeatedly refused to hand over for the development. "It is unclear how a project could file an application relying on land and parking they do not have the right to use," Angels spokeswoman Marie Garvey told the Orange County Register . "The stadium parking is a critical part of the fan experience and our operations, and is legally bound to the Angels as part of the lease with the city." Los Angeles Streetcar Plan Loses Speed Two years after downtown Los Angeles residents overwhelmingly approved a new property tax to fund a streetcar line through their neighborhood, progress on the project has stalled . The estimated cost of the line has increased to $282 million, far exceeding the $62.5 million secured and possibly forcing officials to cut part of the route. Additionally, new estimates that the trains would only go 3.5 mph in rush hour and 4.5 mph overall has caused politicians to hesitate, with City Councilman Mike Bonin asking "Doesn't the average person walk 3 or 4 mph?" at a City Hall committee meeting. Officials in charge of the project hope to secure a $75 million federal grant, but to do that they must keep the project below $250 million. To close the $32 million gap, planners could eliminate the portion that passes the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Grand Avenue, reduce the costs of utility work, or seek a private company to build and operate the line. The setback follows Sacramento's recent decision to pull back on its plans for a streetcar .  Manhattan Beach Considers Curbs on Short-Term Rentals The City of Manhattan Beach has joined a growing number of municipalities throughout California in opting to restrict its short term rental market. Citing quality of life issues in the wealthy community of 35,000, the City Council there voted 4-1 to outright ban short-term rentals of 30 days or less in residential areas -- one of the strictest bans passed yet. "The residential nature of our community, the peace and quiet of our residents � that rules over someone's profits," Mayor Wayne Powell said at the City Council meeting. Billboard Companies Sue L.A. Two Southern California companies have filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, alleging that the city's billboard laws allow big companies like Clear Channel Outdoor to maintain billboards while permits are denied to other firms. Federal judges have previously upheld the city's right to enforce its 2002 ban on outdoor billboards, though in one recent case with Louisiana-based company Lamar Outdoor currently in the Court of Appeals, a judge ruled that the ban violates the state constitution. The lawsuit states that the city allowed CBS Outdoor, now Outfront Media, and Clear Channel to put up signs following a 2006 agreement but denied permits to other companies, thus discriminating against smaller companies with less financial resources.

Another group has arisen in the long-running battle to challenge Proposition 13. A coalition of several public employees unions and other interest groups, the Make it Fair organization seeks to place a measure that would upend Prop. 13 on the 2016 statewide ballot. The proposed measure would seek a "split-roll" solution, taxing commercial properties at market rates while leaving residential tax rates frozen according to purchase prices. Prop. 13's freeze on property taxes has long been cited as a complicating factor in local government finance, particularly for school districts. Supporters of the measure say that its passage could result in an additional $9 billion in annual tax revenue. "California is losing billions of dollars every year thanks to problems in the law that allow some big corporations and wealthy commercial property owners to avoid paying their fair share," campaign spokesman Anthony Thigpenn said in a statement quoted by the Sacramento Bee . "By continuing to raise taxes, the state is forcing businesses out of California, and they're taking our jobs with them," Rex Hine of California Business Properties Association told the Bee.  L.A. Metro May Seek to Raise $120 Billion Via Ballot Measure The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is exploring another ballot measure to raise billions of dollars for the county's transportation system. Dubbed by non-profit Move L.A. as "Measure R2," the new sales tax would require two-thirds voter approval to pass and would likely go on the 2016 presidential ballot, hoping to get a better turnout to reach the needed supermajority. Metro's wish list totals about $300 billion; the agency estimates that Measure R2 could raise as much as $120 billion over 40 years by raising the county sales tax to 9.5 percent and extending the expiration of the 2008 Measure R sales tax by an extra two decades. The funds could be used for major transit projects such as a rail and automobile tunnel under the Sepulveda Pass, a rail link to LAX airport, and the extension of the subway to Santa Monica. According to the Los Angeles Times, a recent Metro poll suggests that the proposal has considerable support - as much as 79 percent depending on how the question was posed and how much information the respondents had.  Audit Finds Improved Richmond Housing Authority Three years after employees were implicated in illegal activities and a federal audit wrote a scathing report calling its leader "ineffective," the Richmond Housing Authority has made improvements. It is now considered "adequate," according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The agency implemented procedures to keep proper records, follow reporting requirements, and have the finance staff work directly under the city's finance department, all designed to help catch fraud that previously ran rampant in the department. The Richmond Authority came under fire when an audit flagged it for lacking internal controls resulting in ineligible expenses, poor record keeping and debt the reached $6.8 million.  Water Company Cadiz Hit with Suit over Groundwater Pumping In an attempt to block a Los Angeles-based Cadiz Inc. from shipping Mojave Desert groundwater out of San Bernardino County to Orange County residents, three conservation groups have filed opening briefs in an appeal of a Superior Court decision upholding the project. The project would involve pumping 16 million gallons of Mojave groundwater through a 43-mile pipeline for up to 50 years, averaging about 50,000-75,000 acre-feet per year. Critics said the Santa Margarita Water District improperly seized control of the environmental review process, which San Bernardino County officials should have overseen. They also state that the pumping would eliminate crucial desert habitats like springs and lower the water table, potentially having disastrous environmental consequences. "Let's call this what it is: a water-privatization scheme that will ship San Bernardino's water resources, essential to the health of the ecosystem, off to fuel suburban sprawl in Orange County," Adam Keats, head of the Center for Biological Diversity's California Water Project, told the San Bernardino Sun . S.F. Mayor Asks for $1 Billion for Muni Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco unveiled a $1 billion budget for the Municipal Transportation Agency in the coming fiscal year, giving it a $48.1 million boost to the previous budget. With the goal of adding 18 new buses and 40 new Muni Metro cars, bike and pedestrian signal improvements, and hiring 244 new employees, the mayor wants to bring in $31.4 million from the city's general fund and $16.7 million in developer fees to modernize the nation's eighth-largest transit system. Ruling Complicates Efforts to Build A's Stadium in San Jose Another roadblock has come up against San Jose in its bid to lure the Oakland A's to a downtown ballpark. A judge recently ruled that under local laws the city should have gone to voters first before entering into a land-purchase agreement with the team for a site, thus invalidating the latest version of the deal between the city and the team. The San Jose City Council voted to appeal the court's decision, but the setback is just one of several for the planned move to Silicon Valley: the San Francisco Giants also have protested the move, asserting territorial rights to the South Bay, and a federal appeals court sided with the Giants in an antitrust case.  State Adopts Guidelines for Desalination Plants California became the first state last week to adopt environmental guidelines for building and operating desalination plants, hoping to make seawater potable without killing fish or emitting huge amounts of greenhouse gases. The rules represent a significant move in trying to monitor environmental impacts while heading off the water crisis, as construction of the state's first desalination plant is now underway in Carlsbad with seventeen more plants in the planning stages. The new rules seek to regulate the downsides to the desalination plants: that they kill fish as they suck in briny water and use too much energy to run, spewing greenhouse gases into the air. The rules will require plant operators to use screens if open ocean intakes are necessary to keep from killing fish, and water salinity of areas near discharge sites may not increase by more than 2 parts per 1,000. Lemon Grove Votes to Dissolve Planning Commission The Lemon Grove City Council voted 3-2 to dissolve its city's planning commission and to transfer its duties to the City Council, with the possibility of forming an advisory group that would act as a quasi planning commission without the official title or responsibilities. The city said that the move was provoked by cost-saving considerations, estimating that the planning commission meets four to seven times per year at a nonrecoverable cost of $7,500 for staff time and work. "Lemon Grove is a small town, and we just don't have the size or resources to support the commissions and committees larger cities do," City Councilman Jerry Jones told the U-T San Diego . The dissenting votes came from City Councilors who were both former planning commissioners. Sacramento to Dispose of 77 Redevelopment Properties The City of Sacramento is offering up for sale several high-profile parcels of land near the construction site of the new Kings basketball arena, taking its first step to sell off its 77 properties that were formerly part of its redevelopment agency. The sales will bring cash to the city and county, and will benefit Sacramento in the development of land that has long been underutilized. However, complicating matters, the Sacramento Kings have a right of first refusal on the downtown properties as a part of the city's subsidy of the arena project, allowing the Kings to match any offer in kind. Mixed-Use Development to Complement AT&T Park The San Francisco Giants' ownership revised its plans to build a massive new mixed-use development across the street from AT&T Park, opting for shorter buildings and more affordable housing at the development in response to changing winds in California land-use politics. Voters recently passed Proposition B, a ballot measure requiring voter approval of any development on port property exceeding height limits, and Mayor Ed Lee has set goals for affordable housing in the city. Sensing these changes, the Giants decided to lower the building heights from 380 feet to 240 feet, and to increase the percentage of below-market-rate units from 15 percent to 33 percent. The proposal, known as Mission Rock, would be a 28-acre redevelopment including 1,500 units of housing, eight acres of parkland, and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space. S.F. Arena Backers Fend Off Criticism Developers of a new Warriors basketball arena in Mission Bay are standing firm amid new criticism that the development could have significant impact on hospital traffic and parking. The group Mission Bay Alliance recently cited concerns that traffic for the development will impede emergency access to UCSF's hospitals, and that shared use of 950 parking garage spaces with two 16-story office towers that will also be built on the site. Officials with the Warriors, however, said that they have been studying these effects for the past year and have determined that their project won't have any significant effect on traffic or parking, as most sporting events take place at night, while the office towers will be used during the day. Report: Sprawl Costs U.S. $1 Trillion Annually A new report  (pdf)  from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute and LSE Cities states that urban sprawl costs the U.S. economy over $1 trillion each year, with people living in sprawled communities bearing $625 billion in direct incremental costs and the governments, businesses, and other households bearing an extra $400 billion in external costs. The study, coming from the New Climate Economy, a global commission on economy and climate, said that providing public infrastructure and services costs $750 annually per capita in the most sprawled fifth of American cities, 50 percent more than in the least sprawled cities. The report also stated that residents in compact communities save more money and have greater economic mobility, spending on average $5,000 less per year on transportation expenses, and that children who grow up in these communities tend to be much more economically successful in the future. Los Angeles Seeks to Figure Out New Transportation Technologies Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a new fellowship at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to create a citywide strategy that outlines the future of road safety, traffic regulation, and traffic enforcement, and will, supporters say, create a policy plan for a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The technology advisor, serving in a one-year fellowship, will work with city staff to mold Los Angeles as a model in sustainable, tech-enabled transportation. "It's about time the car capital of the world planned for the future of transportation in the digital age -- moving beyond the car to bikes, ride shares, and autonomous vehicles," said Garcetti. Recent discussions in the city have centered on the potential for ride-hailing services and even self-driving cars to relieve traffic congestion and reduce the need for parking in the city.

San Diego Climate Plan Ruling Ordered Published On November 24, the Fourth Appellate District's Division 1 issued a publication order for its October ruling rejecting San Diego's climate plan. That same day the same division issued its major decision rejecting the EIR for the San Diego Association of Governments' regional transportation plan. The effect was to give value as precedent to two cases that impose stricter greenhouse gas reduction standards on local and regional planners. Kruger Nominated To Fill State Supreme Court Vacancy Governor Jerry Brown has nominated Leondra Kruger, a senior Justice Department lawyer noted as a rising star, to fill the vacancy on the California Supreme Court created by the retirement of Justice Joyce Kennard. Kruger has argued a dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, most prominently in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC , a 2012 case on the interaction of a religious employer's prerogatives with an employee's disability rights. Kruger has seldom taken positions on land use issues as an attorney, but as a Harvard undergraduate she had a front-row seat for the demise of Massachusetts rent control per a November 1994 statewide vote and she clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens , a former city attorney who often sided with government agencies on land use and property rights issues. Originally from Pasadena, she was editor of the Yale Law Journal, clerked for D.C. Circuit Judge David S. Tatel as well as Stevens, served briefly as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and worked with the firms of Jenner & Block and Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr before joining the Justice Department. Migratory Bird Survey Removed From San Jose General Plan Agenda San Jose came close to approving a general plan amendment that would have required surveys of birds during the mid-year nesting season before any trees could be removed or disturbed. But the San Jose Mercury News reports the item was removed from a November 18 council agenda by "a last-minute decision." Planner Whitney Berry told the paper the plan was worked out with environmental, development/construction and Fish and Wildlife representatives in hopes of streamlining CEQA review. The paper says developers "expressed concerns" that it would slow development -- and then on November 14, current mayor Chuck Reed, mayor-elect Sam Liccardo, and Councilwoman Rose Herrera prepared a critical memo on the proposal, saying it amounted to "precluding construction for seven months of the year." The amendment was expected to resurface in revised form in 2015. It's Still Not Over In El Dorado County This November, El Dorado County voters defeated three slow-growth measures and the Placerville Roundabout Menace . The roundabout may have been knocked flat -- but there are more slow-growth initiatives where the last three came from. The Sacramento Bee reports the Board of Supervisors had held back two measures for further study, but has now agreed to place them on the June 2016 ballot. Both measures are directed against new subdivisions. One would prohibit subdivisions that lack sufficient access to water supplies. The other would protect views and areas near farmland. Long Beach Preparing For Freeway Removal Project The Long Beach City Council is expected to approve a contract December 2 with the Mel�ndrez firm of Los Angeles for planning and conceptual design services on the Terminal Island Freeway Transition Plan. The Longbeachize blog says it's a big step in moving forward on plans to remove a large section of the Terminal Island freeway, with accompanying plans to approve quality of life in the "park poor" area of West Long Beach. (Item via Streetsblog LA .) Does Mayor Of Benicia Have To Stop Commenting on Oil Trains? Should a mayor have to stop talking about a public issue for fear of showing bias on the subject? The question has come up in Benicia, where the Valero Refining Co. has proposed to bring crude oil by train to its refinery in the city. The Sacramento Bee reports Mayor Elizabeth Patterson of Benicia has disclosed that when she frequently commented on safety issues involving oil trains, the city attorney "advised her to stop talking about the oil trains and sending out mass emails containing articles and other information, and to recuse herself from voting when it came before the council". Patterson's comments on oil train safety have included "E-Alert" messages. In a recent email, she wrote regarding these messages: "What I do is repost national, regional and local stories about rail safety. My job is to affirm public, health, safety and welfare and to keep my constituents informed about these issues. No opinion is expressed." Her other public comments have included an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle last March calling on Governor Jerry Brown to issue an executive order on safety in the transport of petroleum products. The Council agreed on November 18 to waive its attorney-client privilege and release an opinion issued last summer that was the apparent source of the advice: it came from a city-retained outside attorney, Michael Jenkins of Jenkins & Hogin . A community Web site opposed to the oil trains, the Benicia Independent , has posted a copy of Jenkins' opinion . Jenkins wrote in part, "This is a close case. The evidence I have reviewed can be interpreted to suggest a probability of bias on the part of the Mayor." At issue is the prospect that Patterson would take on a quasi-judicial role in helping to adjudicate Valero's permit application for the oil train project, in which case the company would have a due process right to a hearing before a disinterested authority. In a more recent post on the Benicia Independent site, Patterson protested that Jenkins had reviewed her "E-Alert" statements selectively and that her own attorney had advised her differently. Benicia Approves Housing Element Update In separate November 18 City Council action, the city of Benicia voted to revise its housing element and to adopt an ordinance for transitional housing supportive housing and "emergency shelters", amid concern from Council member Marilyn Bardet that hazardous industrial materials might exist in the Arsenal historic district, which was identified as a site for transitional housing and shelters. For details see the Benicia Herald and the Council's November 18 agenda .

A new report released by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that California's housing market continues to recover from its low at the beginning of 2012. Median home values in the most populous counties have increased by 39 percent since 2012, though they remain 20 percent lower than they were at the market's peak in 2006-2007. The report also shows that the housing recovery has caused a problem for some less affluent residents, as "increasing prices place housing out of reach for many Californians." It finds that homeownership rates in California have fallen more sharply than the rest of the nation, with California falling to 53.8 percent as compared with a 64.7 percent nationwide. Another report  released by NYU's Furman Center describes the percentage changes in rental populations in major US cities from 2006 to 2013. Los Angeles and San Francisco rank among nine cities where more than 50% of the population rents, as of 2013. San Francisco scored in the top five increasing rental populations, with 22% more San Franciscans renting since 2006; Los Angeles' rental population increased by 11%. Richmond-San Rafael Bridge closer to getting new lane, bike path The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge near the northern end of the San Francisco Bay  is one step closer  to getting an extra lane of traffic and a new, separated bike path following an approval of $4.65 million for the project by a committee of the Bay Area Toll Authority. Though no structural work will be necessary on the bridge, officials say that some components on the ground will need to be adjusted on the 5.5-mile bridge to accommodate the new lanes, and they will need to reconstruct an approach on the east side of the bike path to protect bikers from traffic. The Bay Area Toll Authority hopes that the extensions will alleviate the increasing congestion on the bridge. The vote now goes to the full board of BATA for a vote on Feb. 25. Construction will not begin until 2017. SF Proposes Development Curbs in Mission District A San Francisco supervisor  is attempting to limit, or impose a full a moratorium on , the development of market-rate development in the Mission District, one of the most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in San Francisco. Supervisor David Campos said that he is responding to a community outcry in the district for more affordable housing.  "There has been a cry from the community for the last couple years that there is a housing crisis and the projects that are in the pipeline are not responding like it is a crisis," Campos told the San Francisco Business Journal.  He will likely propose legislation in the next few weeks that could attempt to either a moratorium on market-rate housing or create a special-use district near the 24 th  street BART.  So far, about 500 housing units in the district  have been approved for upcoming development  by the Planning Department, but only 34 affordable units have been generated. Prop. K, due on the ballot in November, will attempt to make one-third of all units in the city affordable. Property Owners Vote to Support Sacramento Streetcar Two-thirds of property owners near Sacramento's proposed new streetcar line  voted in favor  of providing funds to help finance the $150 million project. Project advocates said that the mail-in vote - while only advisory in nature- showed that local businesses are on board with the benefits that the trolley line would bring in creating a more vibrant downtown, boosting property values, and serving as a connector between historic and commercial locations. The Federal Transit Administration is also considering funding the 3.3-mile project this year with $75 million in requested money, covering half the project's cost. In May, a an advisory ballot measure will go before 3,800 voters who live within three blocks of the project. Chargers, Raiders Propose Shared Stadium in Carson The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders recently  made a surprise proposal  to build a shared stadium in a city near Los Angeles. The teams announced that they will continue to pursue options for stadium deals in their current cities, but that they will jointly pursue the $1.7 billion stadium in Carson as an alternative. Both the Chargers and the Raiders are on year-to-year leases with their current stadiums, and both teams have shown restlessness with city reluctance to fund new stadiums with taxpayer dollars. The teams stated that they plan to launch a petition drive immediately to put the stadium to a vote of city residents. Gold Line Authority Pushes for Extension to Montclair The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, which is constructing Phase II of the Gold Line light rail in eastern Los Angeles County, has asked for funding for the next phase, from Azusa to Montclair. It would be the first light rail line to reach into San Bernardino County -  have asked for a transfer  of $33 million in sales taxes for the 12.3 mile extension. The money would come from leftover construction funds from an 11.5-mile extension from East Pasadena to the Azusa city limits, which will be completed in September. The authority says that it has already completed its Environmental Impact Report and hopes that it can get the funding to be ready for operation by 2023. Proponents say that the $1.18 billion project should undoubtedly be a priority for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, but with several other public transportation projects fighting for money, it could be difficult to get the needed funds. "I would say there is no question our project (Azusa-to-Montclair Gold Line) should be a priority. But this is a political game," Doug Tessitor from the Construction Authority Board told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The demise of redevelopment may leave the city of San Diego with a monstrous bill : $271 million to cover the development of its downtown stadium, Petco Park. When the stadium's financing plan was approved in 1998, general obligation bond funds were to be routed through the Center City Development Corp., one of the city's redevelopment agencies. In anticipation of the 2012 shutdown of redevelopment, CCDC transferred over $200 million to the city. The state then determined that these funds were not authorized for exemption from state "claw-back." In a 9-0 vote earlier this month, the City Council determined that it would pursue legal action against the state. Opponents of Sacramento Arena Raise EIR Concerns in Court Foes of the efforts to build a new stadium for the Sacramento Kings  aired their concerns in court  earlier this month, calling the project's environmental impact report inadequate. Justices in the Court of Appeals asked lawyers for the city whether planners had surveyed other alternative sites and considered the impact of stadium traffic on I-5. Opponents of the project are concerned about a $255 million public subsidy that the city is giving to the arena, and that state lawmakers passed SB 743, written specifically for the project and intended to make it much harder for foes to block construction. The hearing ended without a ruling. Sen. Jackson Seeks to Streamline CEQA Process The  latest attempt to reform CEQA  comes from State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (Dist. 19 � Santa Barbara). Her bill, SB 122, attempts to streamline the CEQA process but does not make substantive changes to the law. SB 122 would make lead agencies keep an administrative record of all actions on a project in real time. Jackson claims that this change would help streamline much of the data-gathering process, which is now typically done only after a lawsuit is filed. The bill would also establish an online clearinghouse through the Office of Planning and Research that would post all documents relating to environmental impact reports across the state. Finally, the bill would reform what Jackson calls "document dumping" at the scheduled close of the public comment period on draft EIRs. City of San Francisco Must Pay for Tree Upkeep The San Francisco Board of Supervisors agreed that the city's Department of Public Works, not local property owners,  should be responsible for upkeep of the city's street trees . The vote is a move away from dumping the cost of tree maintenance to homeowners and is in line with the Planning Department's Urban Forest Master Plan. But, the supervisors did not allocate any money toward the $15 million annual cost of upkeep.  That could be the toughest part, as Supervisor Scott Weiner said, "trees don't do well in the budget process." A parcel tax is being considered for the 2016 ballot. Meanwhile, the city is hoping to add 50,000 street trees to its urban forest by 2035. San Diego Awash in Unused Development Impact Fees An investigation by the San Diego Union-Tribune  found that the city has let pile up millions  of unspent dollars of developer impact fees, designed to offset the local impacts of big projects. These monies may be used for local infrastructure projects such as parks and fire stations. Over $78 million collected has not been spent as of June 2014; $35 million of that has not been designated for any specific purpose. Public officials have expressed frustration in the wake of a staggering backlog of infrastructure improvements in the city that have not been fixed. Ranking Gentrification in California According to a new ranking of incidence of gentrification in America's 50 largest cities, Sacramento and Oakland are the most rapidly gentrifying cities in California. Governing Magazine ranked them Nos. 9 and 11, respectively, in its "Gentrification in America" report. Around 30 percent of both cities' census tracts were determined to have gentrified since 2000. Though California cities have some of the highest rents in the country, cities including San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose ranked lower in part because they have already gentrified dramatically. The report defined a neighborhood as gentrified if growth in its median household income and home value was in the top third percentile as compared with other neighborhoods in its metro area; median incomes and home values had to be in the bottom 40% in 2000 for a neighborhood to be eligible. High Speed Rail Opposition Files Petition Two counties in the Central Valley  have filed a petition with the 9th District Court of Appeals , hoping to overturn a ruling by a federal agency prohibiting state courts from citing CEQA in opposition to the high speed rail coming to California. The Surface Transportation Board ruled in December that the state couldn't use CEQA because doing so could "deny or significantly delay an entity's right to construct a line that the (Surface Transportation) Board has specifically authorized, thus impinging upon the board's exclusive jurisdiction over rail transportation." Kings County and Kern County, in association with several anti-HSR groups in the Central Valley and Bay Area, contend that the previous ruling "violates petitioners' constitutional right to seek redress of grievances" and that it violates California's sovereignty as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment.

In California land use news this week: The Monterey Herald is reporting that Cal American Water has settled with landowner Cemex ahead of its Coastal Commission appearance on Wednesday to seek permission to drill a test well under the City of Marina. The well would go under the sea floor to check if water could be taken from that area for a desalination plant proposed for the Cemex sand mining site in North Marina. Cal Am and Cemex had been on the point of litigation . Marina officials have criticized the plan because they feared that it might worsen saltwater intrusion into groundwater and that, once dug, it might be used permanently for extraction, not just for testing. The Commission's agenda packet as of this writing showed a staff recommendation for conditional approval. For prior coverage see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3610 . The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has proposed to cut two BART stations planned for San Jose and Santa Clara. The station in San Jose, on 28th Street in the Alum Rock area, has been popular with its proposed neighbors, who worked willingly with public officials on a transit-oriented development project. Details via Planetizen at http://www.planetizen.com/articles/node-71983 and in the San Francisco Business Times . The HomeAway vacation rental Web site has sued San Francisco over the city's recently passed law legalizing certain vacation rentals, saying it favors Airbnb over other companies. Carolyn Said reported on the dispute in the San Francisco Chronicle . As she noted, City Attorney Dennis Herrera posted a statement saying he would "vigorously defend" against the suit, and complaining, "HomeAway's challenge pushes a dubious legal theory that the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause somehow prohibits local jurisdictions from making local land use decisions." The VTA issued an environmental assessment on its planned Bus Rapid Transit project along El Camino from Palo Alto to San Jose. See http://www.vta.org/el-camino-brt . Reports of the death of "dinosaur planning" may be exaggerated. The LA Times reported last week on the opening of a partly built first "neighborhood" of a 1200-unit "community" to be known as Park Place, in the enormous planned "New Model Colony" town in Ontario, California. The paper describes it as "the first New Model Colony project to debut since the financial crisis." Economist Gerd-Ulf Krueger told the paper, "The dinosaurs... have come alive." Los Angeles Metro held a groundbreaking on the Purple Line . For initial reactions see the #purpleline Twitter hashtag. Ethan Elkind posted a bittersweet note of celebration . The LA Times reports the line that was once dreamed of as the "subway to the sea" will in fact most likely stop at the VA hospital in Westwood. It's a long if pretty walk from there to the ocean. The Sacramento Bee reported the Kings basketball team released plans for mixed-use residential, commercial and office construction ancillary to their new arena in downtown Sacramento. A Modesto group, Stamp Out Sprawl, started a petition drive to place an urban growth boundary limit on the November 2015 ballot to steer big-box retail stores away from the Wood Colony area. The Modesto Bee has details at http://www.modbee.com/news/local/article3545807.html . The LA Times reported the Zillow real estate site found 47.9% of working-age adults in Los Angeles and Orange Counties live with a roommate or adult family member other than a spouse. On the real-estate-oriented HousingWire site, that story led to a somewhat different headline: " Zillow: Millions of potential houses lost to 'doubling up' ". The original Zillow report refers to the doubled-up people as "hidden households." As anyone knows who was at the APA-California convention in September, the Disneyland area of Anaheim could use a smoother transportation setup between the theme parks and convention center, and the many blocks of hotels that serve them. Now Planetizen reports some critics are seeing connections between Disney's political contributions and a proposal for a streetcar in the area. A hearing is set for November 12 on Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approval of the Antelope Valley Area Plan and its EIR, discussed in our recent news feature at http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3603 . For plan materials see http://planning.lacounty.gov/tnc/ . For the Board of Supervisors agenda see the November 12 entry at http://bos.co.la.ca.us/BoardMeeting/BoardAgendas.aspx . Links to the Board's agenda materials are at http://file.lacounty.gov/bos/supdocs/89590.pdf and include a 118-page draft Statement of Overriding Considerations. An initial hearing was held November 5 on a draft renewable energy ordinance for unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, including some large high desert tracts where large solar arrays have been controversially proposed. See http://planning.lacounty.gov/energy . The Sacramento Bee reports the solar industry is rebounding after losing ground during the home mortgage crisis. Investigative freelancer Darwin Bond Graham writes on his blog that the exclusive city of Piedmont is willing to allow affordable housing in its Housing Element, but principally by encouraging owners of large houses or lots to add second units -- in some cases by re-converting actual former servants' quarters into -- yep, servants' quarters again. The Los Angeles Times reports the statewide plastic bag ban is actually kind of popular . Last week the LA Times reported in detail on seismic protections in the New Wilshire Grand tower . Los Angeles is in a quandary over increasing costs of privately contracted street tree maintenance. Planetizen has a roundup at http://www.planetizen.com/articles/node-71873 of attempts by the City of Lancaster to close its Metrolink station, which serves 400 commuters, based on claims that it brings homeless people to the city. Planetizen picked up a plan to spend $2.8 million developing a rail trail along Slauson Avenue in Los Angeles. See www.planetizen.com/articles/node-71893 . And The Planning Report has an interview with Esther Feldman of Community Conservation Solutions about Zev Yaroslavsky's work creating a missing link for walkers in the LA River Greenway Trail. Stockton is officially out of bankruptcy .

President Obama's proposed 2016 budget, announced last week, includes several nods to development and transportation in California to the tune of over $1 billion. In the plan, Los Angeles  would receive $330 million  for an expansion of the Purple Line of its subway, along with a downtown connector to tie together several strands of the system.  The budget also included $150 million  to fund a streetcar line  in downtown Sacramento. To receive the money, the city has to get approval from residents within three blocks of the proposed line, and it will have to raise $30 million in matching funds from property owners nearby. Officials hope to have the trolley operating by 2018.  Some of the projects that are likely to survive Congressional whittling,  according to the Sacramento Bee : restoration projects of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, upgrades to Yosemite National Park, and funding for improvements to Central Valley flood control. Meanwhile ,  the  San Diego Union-Tribune pondered  the fate of a new stadium for the Chargers - a hotly debated subject in San Diego - if Obama's budget is passed. O ne proposal within the budget would bar cities from issuing tax-free bonds to finance new projects for professional sports facilities, an incentive usually used to push stadiums through.  "This is one of those areas where there's consensus among economics professors that these are not good projects for the use of public dollars," said one urban planning professor. Property Owners Decide Against Protest of Transbay Vote A group of heavyweight property owners  decided not to sue  the City and County of San Francisco over the creation of a new Mello-Roos tax district to help fund the Transbay transit center, which is currently under construction. The creation of the district was approved in December by a vote of over 50 percent of local property-owners. Developers with nearby projects, including Hines and Boston Properties, objected to the fact that the vote on the tax district had been a foregone conclusion, since government agencies own over 50 percent of land in the area and therefore had a built-in majority. Opponents had also objected to a tax increase from $3.33 to $5.11 per square foot since the special district was first proposed in 2012. Opponents had 30 days from the original vote to file a protest, but they did not do so, meaning that the election is certified and the district is officially approved.  Wastewater Pumping Taints Central Valley Drinking Water As the historic drought continues, California water users in the Central Valley have had to resort to groundwater pumping to get the water that they need, causing land in the Central Valley to actually sink. Things just got a lot scarier, as the  San Francisco Chronicle  reported that oil companies have been pumping wastewater laden with bits of oil back into the ground due to bureaucratic errors in enforcement of bans against that pumping. The EPA is investigating whether the wastewater pumping has polluted groundwater, and it could seize control of the injection wells from California officials. Santa Ana Uses Blind Luck to Permit Marijuana Dispensaries Santa Ana  employed a lottery system  to determine who would get one of the 19 permits issued for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, becoming the first city in Orange County to issue the permits since most California cities banned the shops years ago. However, some criticized the structure of the lottery system, saying that officials should have done preliminary screening before opening up the lottery to over 630 applications.  "Instead of going through all of this ... you should be vetting people up front, figuring out who doesn't have a criminal record and all of that, and then have the lottery," attorney Randall T. Longwith said. Quarry Rejected in SLO The San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission  narrowly rejected  a 41-acre granite quarry in Santa Margarita following community opposition over traffic impacts on the town. Commissioners cited concerns of an increase in traffic and the safety of trucks carrying heavy granite through downtown Santa Margarita as reasons for the rejection.  Further south in San Luis Obispo County, developer Tom Blessent  proposed a housing project  that would triple the size of the community of Avila Beach, adding 1,000 to 1,500 homes. The developer is expected to face heavy resistance from conservationists, who failed at an attempt to conserve all 2,400 acres of Wild Cherry Canyon. Atkins Proposes Plan to Fund Infrastructure Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins released a plan to fund California's crumbling infrastructure following Governor Jerry Brown's call for statewide improvements. Citing the problem of increasingly fuel-efficient cars stifling the money that the state raise from gas taxes, Atkins proposed a $52 per year tax on California drivers. The tax could be tacked on to insurance bills or vehicle registration charges.

California's $68-billion high speed rail is facing setbacks in its construction throughout the proposed route from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Local elected officials and homeowners groups in suburban Santa Clarita as well as blue-collar San Fernando, Pacoima, and other communities are demanding the state abandon a proposed route that would use above-ground tracks and tunnels through the mountains between Palmdale and San Fernando, instead insisting that only underground routes should be considered. They expressed their concerns at a recent meeting of the HSR board. San Fernando officials said that the proposed train would cut their city in half with 20-foot-high walls and could destroy dozens of businesses and a police station at a cost of $1.3 million per year and 850 jobs. Additionally, an analysis by the rail authority shows that within a half-mile of the track, there could be noise and vibration affecting about 20,000 residences, 25 parks, 47 schools, 48 churches and nine hotels, as well as archaeological sites and wetlands. Also, in a settlement with the city of Bakersfield over the environmental impact of the train, the rail authority will cut eight miles of track from the first construction of a 130-mile section through the Central Valley and will review its proposed route through the city. EPA Releases New Environmental Risk Database A new tool released by the EPA highlighting the low-income, minority communities that face the greatest health risks from pollution, with some stark standouts in the Los Angeles area. The map tool, known as EJSCREEN , allows residents and policymakers nationwide  to look up how their level of environmental risk compares to the rest of the nation. With measurements based on census block groups averaging about 1,400 residents, the EPA found that many communities in southeast Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire and the San Joaquin Valley are among the most at-risk in the nation. Environmental justice groups, which for decades have battled the concentration of landfills, refineries, rail yards and other polluting facilities in poor communities of color, said they would use the map to press for more emissions-cutting projects and environmental enforcement in the most affected areas. Major Sacramento Housing Development Approved; Seeks More Units Downtown The Sacramento Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the Sacramento Commons Project, a proposal to replace 1960s-era low-rise apartments with high-rise and mid-rise condominiums in a section of downtown known for its lush canopy of trees and pedestrian-oriented streets. Though the Sacramento Preservation Commission recently nominated parts of the project area to the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources and recommended denial of the project, the proposal maintained the support of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality District and the Sacramento Regional Transit for its proximity to an RT station, and it was also backed by labor unions, hotel and restaurant workers, and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, which represents property owners. "We need an infusion of market-rate housing downtown, and we need it at increased density," commission member Todd Kaufman said at the Planning Commission meeting. Meanwhile, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson launched a new housing initiative known as "Think Downtown" to market the city's downtown area as the region's "in" place to live and to develop new housing. The announcement follows Johnson's plan to build 10,000 housing units in the central city in the next 10 years, with a mix of 6,000 market rate units, 2,500 affordable units, and 1,500 units for people in more dire need of housing. Sacramento's downtown region has already rebounded from a virtual cession of development during the recession, with developers currently building or finishing projects like the 16 Powerhouse Project, the Warehouse Artists Lofts, and Township 9. Los Angeles Consideres Plan to Legalize �Bootlegged' Apartments Los Angeles landlords and tenant advocates have become unusual bedfellows in an attempt to legitimize the city's "bootlegged" apartments, wherein a landlord rents out a space usually carved out from a permitted apartment for an unlicensed lease. In many cases, the main barriers to legalizing these units are not construction or safety problems but city codes that mandate a minimum number of parking spots and limit the number of units on a lot. These problems have eliminated more than 1,700 apartments and exacerbated LA's housing crisis, officials say.Planning associate Matt Glesne told the Los Angeles Times that the existing process to seek relief from zoning requirements is "not cheap and not quick," costing landlords upward of $10,000, taking six to nine months, and forcing many landlords to simply shutter the unit. Under the new proposal, landlords would have limited time to seek to legalize existing bootlegged units, and would have to undergo a review process yet to be hashed out.  Threatened Salmon Prompt New Water Policy in Sonoma County In an effort to protect the state's highly endangered coho salmon populations, a new proposal would force around 13,000 landowners in 113 square miles of watersheds in Sonoma County to report their use of water from both surface sources and wells. Covering four tributaries of the Russian River, the new rules, if approved, would require all residential and commercial property owners, including wineries and vineyards, to use "enhanced conservation measures" and impose penalties of up to $500 per day to landowners who do not provide water use information. Piggybacking on last fall's unprecedented statewide move to regulate groundwater as well as surface water, Sonoma County officials are now also working on a local groundwater management plan likely to include well monitoring within the county. Orange County Accused of Mismanaging $1.7B Worth of Property An Orange County Grand Jury issued a report lambasting county officials for failing to keep adequate records of over $1.7 billion in unused or underutilized property that it must manage. The jury found that there are 2,300 real estate properties that must be managed by the county, but that the county has only partially complete or updated databases of its real estate holdings, and that the information is not consistent. "With the potential for future real estate decisions being based on unavailable or inaccurate data that could lead to less-than-desirable stewardship of (the) county's tax dollars, the grand jury believes that comprehensive and compatible real estate data information is necessary," the grand jury wrote in its report. AG Seeks to Depublish Decision on Tiered Water Rates; Riverside Sues Over Water Cuts The office of the state attorney general has asked the state Supreme Court to depublish a ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeals making it illegal for water agencies to use tiered rate structures to curb water use throughout the state. The court had found the tiered rate system -- wherein water guzzlers were charged higher rates for their use -- unconstitutional because the city of San Juan Capistrano charged more for water than it cost the city to provide the service in violation of Prop. 218. At least two-thirds of California water agencies now use some type of tiered-rate structure. If the state Supreme Court decides to depublish the appellate court ruling, that ruling could not be cited as authoritative in any other trial court or appellate court decisions, Proposition 218 expert Kelly Salt told the Los Angeles Times . In other drought news, t he city of Riverside has sued the state over a directive to cut water use 28 percent within the city as mandated throughout the state. Arguing that it has its own independently-owned, treated groundwater, Heather Raymond, a spokeswoman for Riverside Public Utilities, told the LA Times that Riverside's use has "zero effect on the state water supply" and that the city should be eligible for inclusion in a 4 percent conservation tier set up for localities with independent supplies of surface water. But, as Michale Lauffer, chief counsel for the State Water Resources Control Board, told the  Los Angeles Times , "Groundwater for many areas is the savings account available during times of drought, and the limited, 4% reduction tier is not available for communities who are relying on that savings account to weather the drought." Sacramento to Overhaul Housing Projects The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is seeking to overhaul two public housing projects whose poverty-stricken residents have a long history of disconnect and disenfranchisement from the rest of Sacramento. The housing agency's plan is to replace the rows of antiquated barracks-like brick buildings in the Alder Grove and Marina Vista housing projects and temporarily relocate residents in order to construct a mixed-use neighborhood with both market-rate and affordable housing units.SHRA is looking at replacing the 751 current units with either 1,200 units or 1,500 units. The new community would build higher-density, five-story buildings with detached single-family residences at the south end of the neighborhood to help blend with the existing Land Park neighborhood. To realize the redevelopment, local housing officials hope that the federal department of Housing and Urban Development will give Sacramento up to $30 million through its Choice Communities Initiative grant program. However, the financing gap remains large, possibly totaling more than $70 million.  Pomo Tribe's Pot Farm Must Conform to Local Laws The Pinoleville Pomo Nation has scaled back plans to create a medical marijuana farm near Ukiah in an effort to clarify laws governing the tribe's jurisdiction. The tribe's initial plan, bolstered by similar projects proposed throughout the nation as tribes explore new ways to generate income, called for a $10 million pot-growing operation in multiple greenhouses spanning 110,000 square feet of the tribe's rancheria. However, the land is not held in federal trust, which would exempt it from local regulations, and the local sheriff contends that the tribe is limited to the 25-plants-per-parcel required for the rest of the county. "We're just staying within the law," tribe business board leader Mike Canales told the Press Democrat, indicating that the tribe would stay within the 25 plant-per-parcel limit for now. OPR to Host California Climate Action Conference  Cal Poly and the Governor's Office of Planning & Research have announced the second C alifornia Climate Action Planning Conference , to be held August 13 & 14 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The program will cover topics including greenhouse gas emission targets beyond 2020, learning from climate action plan updates, recent court rulings and state policy, public outreach and education, regional collaboratives for climate and sustainability, challenges and solutions for the agriculture sector, public health and climate change, and climate adaptation strategies.