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.

Since Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement a few weeks ago, he has been hailed - and reviled - as the Court's "great liberal voice" of the past couple of decades. But especially in land use, Stevens' legacy rests with not only his ardent support of government regulatory power, but also his skill in mustering five votes, on a pretty conservative court, in favor of aggressive use of land use regulation. President Obama's choice to replace Stevens will undoubtedly be "liberal" - but it remains to be seen whether this replacement will be as skilled at building majorities in land use cases.

Was Tuesday's election the turning point in the San Francisco density battles?