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Fights over subdivided parcels from the 19 th Century may seem a bit arcane. But they are likely to become more common in the years ahead as California property owners try to find ways to create more buildable parcels for new housing – especially after a recent ruling from Oakland. A property owner in Oakland has won a court victory declaring that a parcel first depicted on a map in the 1850s is a legal parcel – even though the city claimed it had been merged with other parcels as the result of several conveyances of the property through a single deed. It’s the first major “antiquated subdivision” ruling in almost 20 years. The case involves the property owner’s attempt to establish that an 8,800-square-foot single-family lot in the San Antonio neighborhood of Oakland – which currently has a single-family home first built in 1895 – is actually several lots because the original parcel map was filed prior to the Subdivision Map Act’s passage and the lots existed prior to later Map Act amendments. The property in question is located on East 21 st St. in Oakland, east of Lake Merritt. The existing home has a large yard, so most likely the property owner is seeking to essentially split the lot to allow additional development.

State Lawsuit Against Huntington Beach Amended to Focus on Housing Element The office of Attorney General Rob Bonta, with support from the Department of Housing and Community Development, amended the state's existing lawsuit against Huntington Beach. The lawsuit originally filed against Huntington Beach was on the grounds of the city's ban on the processing of SB 9 and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) applications. Since the bans by the city have been reversed by Huntington Beach City Council, the amendment to the lawsuit now covers the city's failure to adopt a housing element due back in October 2021. Huntington Beach City Council additionally recently voted against a recent state-approved housing plan to address affordable housing in the city. The housing plan would have zoned for almost all 13,368 units required of the city's Regional Housing Needs Assessment. A federal judge last week further rejected Huntington Beach's request for a temporary restraining order against the state for their failed compliance with housing laws. San Diego Residents Sue over Reduced Parking Requirements A group of San Diego residents are suing the city over the environmental impacts of accelerated housing developments. The group claims the city is allowing developers to build higher buildings with less parking behind homes. The lawsuit argues the city amended housing development requirements in an attempt to meet climate action goals in "Transit Priority Areas" without properly reviewing environmental impacts and impacts on communities. These "Transit Priority Areas" allow developers to build higher buildings without parking if within one mile of public transit. Earlier this year, the city voted to expand the distance from a half mile to a full mile. By doing this, the city allowed thousands of acres to be eligible to new apartments and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The lawsuit alleges the city make massive changes to code without proper review. The group is asking a judge prohibits the city issue any further permits without environmental impact reports. Terner Center Releases Database of New Housing Laws The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley released a brief on California's recent housing legislation and a database of every housing law passed in the state between 2017 and 2022. Since 2017, more than 100 new laws regarding housing production have passed in the state. The brief, on which CP&DR publisher Bill Fulton was lead author, features interviews with planners and lawyers to comprehend the impact of new housing legislation on housing production in the state. The brief serves as an attempt to connect new laws and housing production despite difficulties of gathering data on the subject. Furthermore, other issues impact housing production other than legislation, including production costs and availability of land. The brief serves to narrow down the scope and goals of recent legislation using real-life advocates and practitioners as touchpoints in the conversation. Both the brief and the database together serve as an overview of state housing legislation and the impacts of that on housing production today. 50-Story High Rise Proposed in Residential Neighborhood in San Francisco Developers revealed a new plan for a 50-story skyscraper in the Outer Sunset district of San Francisco. The skyscraper would house 712 new apartments and replace a garden center and parking lot. 113 units would be affordable housing, and the site would features 100,000 square feet of retail space and a 212-car parking lot. The affordable units enable the development to take advantage of state density bonus law, according to developers. The skyscraper would join a neighborhood of two-to-three-story homes and tower over the rest of the neighborhood, likely causing pushback from the neighborhood. A previous proposed 12-story building in the area prompted a petition with 1,500 signatures to stop the plan, citing negative impacts on the soundscapes, livelihood of zoo animals across the street from the proposed site and psychological state of the neighborhood. The Outer Sunset has already been slated for more density development, and developers say the city needs to add 11,000 new housing units in the next 7.5 years to the area. Developers received a density bonus of up to 50% more units if there is affordable housing included. The Planning Department Chief of Staff stated he believes the plans are not in compliance with state and local laws. CP&DR Coverage: Legislature Considers Deluge of Planning Laws In recent years, legislators have coordinated to propose core sets of bills to promote housing production. Last year included the vaunted “Senate Housing Package,” most of which got signed into law. This year , in part because rough one-third of legislators were newly elected in November, bills covering housing and other aspects of land-use appear to be more of a hodgepodge, with a range of new and old approaches. Some, such as those that would increase funding for affordable housing, are bound to delight planners of all stripes; others, like Assembly Bill 1485, may strike fear in the heart of staffers and consultants who already feel overworked. Arguably, the most controversial bill comes from a predictable source—or, rather, it may be controversial because of its sources—Sen. Scott Wiener. SB 423 would extend in perpetuity his 2017 bill SB 35, which is scheduled to sunset in 2026. Quick Hits & Updates The Southern California Association of Governments Regional Council adopted its Digital Action Plan to help 191 cities and six counties across the region access broadband internet. Presently, more than 1.7 million Southern California residents do not have proper internet speeds or access to the internet. The plan will seek and secure funding, coordinate with local agencies and the public to bridge the digital divide, advocate for better data and gather information through technical and strategic studies to inform decision-making and the public. Riverside is considering selling naming rights to city property, including a number of. downtown buildings. Last month, the city council voted overwhelmingly to hire a consultant to develop a Corporate Partnership Program to increase city revenue. In a move to protect agricultural land from housing or commercial development in the central Imperial County, Oswit Land Trust and the Trust for Public Land obtained almost 2,000 acres of farmable land. The funding came from the California Department of Conservation's Sustainable Agriculture Conservation program, conserving critical agriculture acreage at risk of conversion to commercial or housing usage. An oversight board in San Francisco proposed that $30 million of a $85 million transfer tax - enacted by voters in 2020 - should go towards housing for public-sector employees. The recommendation will now go to the city's Housing Stability Fund Oversight Board. The transfer tax is paid anytime a property changes ownership in the city. A UCLA researcher studied the impacts of land-use regulations in San Diego and their impact on residential housing in high-risk areas with exposure to wildfires. The paper found zoning and land-use regulations prohibit residents from moving away from high-risk areas and will be exacerbated as climate change worsens. A new analysis from a San Francisco policy research group and local chapter of the Urban Land Institute found that the destitute downtown area could once again see life with over 11,000 new housing units with the city's funding assistance. According to the preliminary summary analysis, if 40% of the vacant areas in SF's downtown area were converted, 11,200 new housing units could be created. The full analysis will be published later this spring.

In a complicated ruling, an appellate court has concluded that Clovis – an affluent suburb of Fresno – violated the Housing Element Law by using a citywide overlay zoning district (known as the Regional Housing Needs overlay) that still allowed lower densities than the Housing Element called me.

Opponents of Housing Project in Livermore Seeks Relief from State Supreme Court Save Livermore Downtown, a group of residents pushing back against an affordable housing project, developed by Eden Housing, for downtown Livermore, filed a petition to the California Supreme Court to review the appellate court's published decision in favor of the housing development. The questions posed by Save Livermore Downtown for state Supreme Court review center on the project's consistency of the general or specific plan for the project by the city of Livermore, and how much regard the court should consider such plans. They also posed the question of how much detail a city must provide in its approval of a project under state planning and zoning law. The group argues that there are many ways to consider the project inconsistent with Livermore's Downtown Specific Plan and land-use plans. The city attorney, when pressed for questions, pointed to the previous unsuccessful legal actions by Save Livermore Downtown. Eden Housing stated the group's efforts are only stalling the project after two years of lawsuits. Save Livermore Downtown has not released a pubic statement. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Nine Cities, Two Counties Receive Prohousing Designations Jurisdictions of Emeryville, Fresno, Needles, Rancho Cordova, Redwood City, Riverside, Salinas, Stockton, Ukiah, San Diego County and Yuba County have joined nine other state communities as designated Prohousing . Announced this week by Governor Newsom, these jurisdictions are now eligible for funding incentives and additional resources through state grant programs to accelerate production of housing in the state. The jurisdictions previously proved their commitment to housing through "taking responsibility and committing to building their fair share of housing," as per Newsom's announcement. The jurisdictions must indicate a promotion of climate-smart housing development and policies, including, for example, up-zoning near job-rich areas to decrease commuter transmissions, creating affordable housing in historically-exclusionary communities and streamlining multifamily housing developments. The number of Prohousing Designation jurisdictions has nearly doubled in the last month since Newsom's last prohousing announcement. The incentives for the Prohousing Designation jurisdictions include advantages towards funding programs from the state's Housing and Community Development Agency. The jurisdictions are also eligible for the Prohousing Incentive Pilot Program, rewarding them with additional funding. HCD Releases Online Tool to Map, Promote Fair Housing The Department of Housing and Community Development released the Affirmatively Further Fair Housing Data Viewer 2.0 . Assembly Billl 686, passed in 2018, codified the requirement that all state and local agencies take meaningful actions towards Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH). The bill created requirements for all state housing elements to include assessments of fair housing practices, as well as reports of the relationship between available sites and areas of high or low resources and actionable programs. The AFFH Data Viewer 2.0 studies statewide projects related to fair housing enforcement, segregation and integration and maps racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty in the state. The AFFH Data Viewer's intended use is to "proactively combat discrimination and increase access to safe, affordable homes near jobs, schools, healthcare, and parks for all Californians." Survey Reveals Housing Costs Departures from California; 45% Consider Leaving The Public Policy Institute of California released a study of the number of Californians considering leaving the state, finding that 45% of residents state housing costs have made them consider moving. Three quarters of that group have said that they would leave the state to seek more affordable housing and lower costs of living. This number of individuals considering moving is double the number of studied residents in 2004, but the numbers have remained more or less unchanged in the last six years. In 2004, 15% of adults studied said they would seriously consider moving out of the state, contrasted with the 34% of adults studied this year. PPIC estimates that 407,000 residents actually left California from July 2021 to July 2022, while even fewer residents moved to the state. A study found that, between 2010 and 2021, 7.7 million residents left the state while only 5.8 million people moved to the state from other parts of the nation. The last few years of population changes in the state were particularly marked by the state's inability to gain college graduate residents or retain them. The state is now losing higher-income individuals at a record rate, with residents citing high housing costs (500,000 adults since 2015 name this as the main factor of leaving the state). It is also thought that conservatives in the state are more eager to leave due to political outlook. CP&DR Coverage: Fulton on the Latest Prospects for CEQA Reform A string of recent cases have illustrated the urgent need for CEQA reform. After a case involving UC Berkeley, Gov. Gavin Newsom promised action. And more recently, Sen. Scott Wiener - who has previously sought to end-run CEQA with bills like SB 35, which expand ministerial approval of housing projects - has now promised to take on CEQA more directly, promising that an upcoming bill would be “pro-housing, pro-climate action” and have a “strong coalition behind it.” We've been here before - so many times it's hard to count. Soon there will be two or three appellate rulings beefing up requirements to analyze wildfire evacuation routes in CEQA documents, and eventually the state will incorporate that requirement into the CEQA Guidelines. This is pretty much happened several years ago with greenhouse gas emissions. That means it's up to the Legislature to box in CEQA, because judges mostly can't or won't do it. Quick Hits & Updates Following Huntington Beach's federal lawsuit challenging the state's 53-year-old housing mandates, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson and Whittier filed jointly against the state. The four cities are suing over Senate Bill 9, which allows the construction of up to four units on one single-family lot. (See related CP&DR coverage .) In the latest action of "Waters of the United States," Congress voted this week approving a resolution to overturn the Biden administration's newest protections to the country's waterways, citing the protections as environmental overreach and damaging to businesses. In order to improve the living conditions of nearly 1,500 low-income tenants of the Skid Row Housing Trust, the Los Angeles city attorney requested a judge to appoint a receiver for the struggling housing nonprofit. The petition requests the 29 buildings be turned over to a receivership firm specializing in court-ordered nuisance abatement. UC College of the Law San Francisco - formerly UC Hastings - is in the midst of developing an "academic village" in the Tenderloin District, claiming the over 1,300 units will provide housing for students and create more safety in the neighborhood. San Bernardino responded to the accusations by the state over the Carousel Mall redevelopment plan, claiming city officials did negotiate with affordable housing developers prior to pursuing an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with the developer the city chose for the redevelopment plan. The city said that officials just did not submit proper documentation to the state regarding the negotiations. A full staff report will be presented to the state this month. A study found that both San Francisco and Oakland homeowners pay almost half of their income on mortgage, almost double the percentage recommended by major banks. The study also found that homeownership in Oakland and SF continues to be stratified by race, with rates of Black homeownership falling in the last two years. On the heels of an executive order, the city of San Diego created the Affordable Housing Permit Now program, expediting the construction of projects for 100% affordable housing or emergency housing shelters. The program also dictates the projects must be completed within 30 days of approval. A group of tech-related families in San Francisco are forming a new political group with the intention to spend millions per year on ballot measures and candidates aligned with their views on transportation, education, housing, and the use of public places. The group, Abundant SF, will operate like a nonprofit with a potential political action committee. The Santa Monica City Council voted to approve zoning changes in the city to implement their housing element to meet state requirements of 8,895 new builds, including approximately 6,200 affordable housing units. The changes encourage development in mixed-use and non-residential zones. The new zoning changes include measures to preserve the city's neighborhood commercial districts. (See related CP&DR coverage .)

Between state-imposed housing production goals, Department scrutiny of housing elements by the Department of Housing and Community Development, builder’s remedy threats, lawsuits by the state, and—in at least one case—lawsuits against the state, California cities have had their hands full complying with new state housing laws and their respective obligations.

The City of Huntington Beach – long a target of the Newsom Administration on housing – has filed a wide-ranging lawsuit in federal court seeking to strike down the Regional Housing Needs Assessment process and the way that process has been implemented by the state Department of Housing and Community Development and the Southern California Association of Governments.

After a major court victory last week, the City of Oakland and the Oakland A’s are one step closer to building a new stadium near the Port of Oakland. But big challenges remain, including not only litigation but figuring out how to pay for almost $200 in new infrastructure required for the stadium.

Builder's Remedy Comes to Palo Alto A new SB 330 pre-application project in Palo Alto would include nine units of affordable housing out of a proposed 45-unit building, with plans to invoke the “builder's remedy.” A SB (Senate Bill) 330 project can submit a pre-application to collect zoning, design, subdivision, and fee requirements that would then be applied to the entire project's construction process. After the pre-application process, the project cannot be impacted by a city's new ordinances, policies or fees. The applicant must then submit a formal application within 180 days of the pre-application. The applicant's plan to apply as a “builder's remedy” project would then prohibit the city from denying the housing project regardless of non-compliance with zoning or city plan as the project has a number of affordable housing units. The project is still required to comply with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the city's review process. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Yet Another Developer Sought for Concord Naval Weapons Station The Concord City Council is once again looking for a new developer for the third time in three years for the Naval Weapons Station. The massive project, first proposed over 20 years ago, is projected to take four decades to complete. The Concord City Council scrapped a contract with the project's most recent developer over internal legal battles within the developer's organization and questions over trustworthiness. The 5,200-acre parcel of land was abandoned by the U.S. Navy in the 1990s, and the city's new plan includes thousands of homes, millions of square feet of commercial space, parks, and new schools. The City Council is expected to approve a new list of potential developers by late next month. The list of developers would then each submit a proposal to the city for a vote. Concord City Council is now requiring all potential developers to disclose any litigation against them, as well as agreements to negotiate with local labor unions. Multiple developers have already reached out to the city expressing interest in the project, despite another long setback for plans of a mini-city. San Bernardino Carousel Mall Redevelopment Imperiled by Violations San Bernardino city officials violated four state laws in the planning behind the long-awaited redevelopment of the Carousel Mall, the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) wrote in a letter. City officials now have a two-month timeframe to resolve the wrongdoing before incurring penalties of 30% of the sale price for the first violation, and 50% for each of the three other violations. The first of the violations occurred in August 2021 when the city claimed they received no qualifications of interest in the property, when in fact two different affordable housing developers reached out. Secondly, before declaring surplus land, the city negotiated contracts with at least one developer, violating surplus land law. Then, the city failed to negotiate at all with both of the affordable housing developers. Finally, the city is facing penalties for not providing accurate documentation for the property. HCD stressed the need for future compliance, and the city has until May 15 to resolve the offenses. City officials state the individuals involved in the 2021 dealings are “no longer with the city.” San Francisco Considers Menu of Housing Streamlining Reforms San Francisco officials are advancing legislation to streamline office-to-housing redevelopment projects, subsequently easing guidelines in the Union Square area to help the area move away from their reliance on corporate retail stores. Mayor London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin hope this will revitalize the downtown area, jumpstarting local business and housing after the pandemic dramatically impacted the area's economy. They are also starting to understand the permanence of the impact of the pandemic on the downtown area, hoping to change the area away from just office and retail spaces. San Francisco's current office vacancy rate is at 29.4%, an increase from the last quarter. The legislative changes could speed up redevelopment by as much as 18 months. The legislation will also diversify how the spaces are used, loosening retail and office space requirements of buildings. CP&DR Coverage: Cities Fight Back Against Builder's Remedy The Town of Los Altos Hills and the City of Sonoma are relying on technicalities to assert that their housing elements are valid and the builder's remedy is moot. Both jurisdictions are part of the Association of Bay Area Governments region, whose deadline for certification and adoption of housing elements was January 31. Sonoma has thus far blocked the builder's remedy application for The Montaldo, a multifamily development slated for a two-acre site that currently contains only a single-family house. The Montaldo was previously proposed for 55 units. The builder's remedy version calls for 64 units, all of which would be designated for middle-income residents. Los Altos Hills faced builder's remedy applications for three relatively small projects (including one project with two variants) and determined that all four applications were "incomplete." Quick Hits & Updates Governor Newsom announced Los Angeles as the newest prohousing city in the state. Newsom praised the city and Mayor Karen Bass's action to build new housing in the city, working to address the housing crisis in the area. Los Angeles joins 10 other cities across the state in the designation. (See related CP&DR coverage .) The California Transportation Agency released their first ever document detailing why certain state projects did not receive funding, including two large LA Metro rail projects. The document based decisions on a ratings sheet, ultimately concluding they wanted to geographically space out projects that received funding. According to new data , San Francisco's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing has hundreds of millions of funding to address their homelessness issue, but are slow to spend over the last several years due to internal understaffing, bureaucratic procedures on how money is spent and pandemic-related housing issues. National City is taking new steps to address nonconforming, vacant buildings by issuing permits to building owners for temporary use of the property for reasons other than the original zoning requirements, like coworking spaces, retail, health centers or pop-ups. A new report by the Apartment List found Los Angeles ranks 39th of the country's 50 largest cities in residential permitting, only permitting 2.5 new units for every 1,000 residents in 2022. That rate is gradually increasing from previous years, with 2.4 new units per 1,000 residents permitted in 2021 and 2 new units per 1,000 residents in 2020. The Inglewood Center - home to 21 businesses - is facing demolition to make way for the $1.6 billion transit system connecting the Metro K Line to SoFi Stadium and other events arenas in the area. The Inglewood Center houses multiple small businesses facing higher rent in the area, despite the city's offer of reimbursement. In a comparison by the National Transit Database, ridership on Los Angeles' transit system did not drop to the rates of the Bay Area transit system ridership lows during the Pandemic, and LA Metro and buses in Los Angeles are seeing a higher increase in ridership post-pandemic. Sacramento city officials are looking into a vacancy tax on empty lots, stores, and potentially homes. The City Council is in the early stages of drafting a tax ordinance, which would appear on ballots for voters to ultimately decide. Two environmental groups filed suit against the city of Desert Hot Springs, claiming a recently -approved large multi-use development plan violates CEQA by excluding an environmental impact report. Pasadena City Council voted to phase out its planned development zoning designation, ridding the city of a method of accelerating large project approvals, citing concerns of ungovernable projects. In a new federal budget proposal, the Biden Administration announced a $500 million funding uplift for a Bay Area BART line through San Jose. The Bay Area transit system was previously facing a large funding drop-off as pandemic-era federal funding came to a halt.

CP&DR Vol. 38 No. 3 March 2023

In 2013, the developer of a mixed-use project in downtown Palo Alto paid almost a million dollars in in-lieu parking fees – supposedly to help pay for construction of a new city parking garage downtown. A decade later, the mixed-use building has been built, the parking garage has not – and now the developer is going to get his million dollars back.

Huntington Beach Fails to Adopt Housing Element Huntington Beach continues to push back against state housing mandates by blocking the approval of a large-scale housing plan, and a federal judge denied the city's requested injunction against the mandates. In a tied vote, the Huntington Beach city council again deadlocked and failed to adopt its Sixth Cycle housing element, pushing the vote again until their next city council meeting. State housing law provides that a city may incur monthly fines up to $600,000. Huntington Beach recently brought the state to federal court over the monthly fines, arguing the city needed a restraining order to prevent the state from enforcing the fines until the issue was settled in court. The U.S. District Judge rejected the requested injunction "given that there is insufficient evidence in the record of any imminent fines, penalties or other punitive measures against the city." State Attorney General Rob Bonta applauded the decision, stressing city's must cooperate with state efforts to increase housing and address the housing crisis. Huntington City Council will meet again April 4 to raise the housing element vote once again. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Bonta Puts Elk Grove on Notice over Denial of Supportive Housing Project Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a letter to the mayor of Elk Grove putting the city on notice that its denial of a proposed supportive housing project violates state laws including Senate Bill 35, the Housing Accountability Act, and fair housing laws intended to prohibit discriminatory land use practices. The proposed project, known as the Oak Rose Apartments, would have added 66 units of supportive housing for lower-income households at risk of homelessness, in a jurisdiction in dire need of low-income housing opportunities. The Elk Grove City Council improperly denied the project, claiming that it did not meet the City's zoning standards and was therefore ineligible for SB 35 ministerial review. Attorney General Bonta urged Elk Grove to take prompt corrective action to realign with state law, threatening legal consequence. Initially after the city's denial of the Elk Grove project, the state Department of Housing and Community Development issued a notice that the denial violated state housing laws. The city responded that the project violated city zoning laws; Bonta, in turn, claimed that the restriction itself was not a strong enough basis to deny the project. Legal Options Run Out for Opponents of Infamous Lafayette Development Following a 12-year political and legal struggle, a 315-unit housing project in Lafayette is moving forward after the California Supreme Court declined to hear the case against the project. The court also refused to depublish a Court of Appeal ruling in favor of the project. The declines, which implicitly affirm that the project complies with the Housing Accountability Act and CEQA, mark the end of Save Lafayette's campaign to stop development of Terraces of Lafayette, which turned into one of the most high-profile symbols of the Bay Area's housing shortage and the lengths to which project opponents will go to impede a project. The city's approval of the project came in 2020 after 120 public meetings; Save Lafayette then sued, setting in motion the legal actions that culminated in this month's Supreme Court action. Pro-housing organizations see this as a large win for housing in the wealthy Bay Area suburb, reinforcing the Housing Accountability Act. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Tracking Land-Use Fallout of Silicon Valley Bank Collapse A new map tracks the 11 affordable housing projects across the Bay Area with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) loans or equity impacted by the bank's failure. The projects now face a period of scrambling for funding nearly 1,000 units of affordable housing. SVB loaned or invested almost $2 billion in affordable housing projects across the Bay Area before federal officials seized $209 billion of assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation assured project developers lines of credits established by SVB will continue for projects already under construction, leaving unanswered questions about loans SVB agreed to for new projects not yet under construction. At least six projects comprising over 600 units in San Francisco were primarily funded by loans from SVB, and San Francisco officials now say they will seek alternative funding and loan options for the projects all at various stages of development. The interruption and delays in construction poses a time risk to these projects, concerning officials and project developers. One developer with impacted housing projects across the Bay Area remains optimistic other banks will step in as funders. Does SF Charter Grant Power Of Discretionary Review Or Not? UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf has published a brief paper challenging the idea that the San Francisco city charter gives the city expansive discretionary power over development projects. “The drafters of the charter did not choose it, and the voters who adopted the charter did not ratify it,” Elmendorf wrote. “Rather, it was invented by the city's lawyers decades later—during the heyday of antigrowth activism in the late 1970s—and then “ratified” by a careless and unnecessary passage in a Court of Appeal opinion .” Discretionary review, of course, opens the door to the California Environmental Quality Act. Elmendorf's argument would make many San Francisco development projects subject to ministerial review only. Study Tracks Inequitable Impacts of Pollution in Los Angeles A study by USC's Sol Price School of Public Policy found that Los Angeles residents who primarily drive are less likely to be exposed to the same degree of air pollution as residents taking public transit. The study tracked the driving habits of white commuters through non-white communities in the city due to years of racist city planning decisions putting non-white residents in direct contact with the impacts of citywide commuting. Predominantly non-white communities razed in the 20th century to build freeways now face disproportionate rates of air pollution, regardless of the socio-economic makeup of the non-white communities. The study proposed a number of public policy decisions to amend the discrepancy, including raising fuel efficiency standards for cars and encouraging electric car usage, creating tolls or pollution taxes, incentivizing work from home, and zoning for more residential units in job-rich communities. Quick Hits & Updates A lawsuit originally filed by the city of Santa Ana has been dismissed after ultimately compelling a developer to finish a previously-delayed homeless shelter project. The city filed a federal lawsuit after the developer paused or slowed construction on a 200-bed shelter, violating their lease agreement. The project finished during the lawsuit, after mounting pressures in court after multiple hearings. The federal judge then dropped the case, citing that neither party formally won as the objective of the litigation is complete. A team of scientists, using both satellite and ground instruments, mapped nitrogen dioxide in the state, down to a neighborhood level. They found high levels of nitrogen dioxide particularly near high-rise apartments and food processing infrastructure in Los Angeles. A group of investors and business owners are pushing a large-scale transformation of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, including a food hall, interactive museum, short-term apartment rentals, and public space centering on and around Pier 45. The Long Beach City Council is once again considering a plan to replace a Terminal Island freeway with a large park space to work as a green buffer between the Port of Long Beach and the western part of the city impacted by traffic congestion and air pollution. Governor Newsom asked the federal government to permit Medicaid funds to apply to up to six months of rent or temporary housing funds for enrollees on the brink of or struggling with homelessness. Experts expect a scrutinized response from the Biden Administration at the effectiveness of the plan. During his most recent announcement as part of his State of the State tour, Governor Newsom reported a new plan for wide-scale mental-health based housing and treatment facilities in the state, using at least $3 billion in bond measures. Newsom plans to annually use another $1 billion from the already-implemented income tax of top earners to upkeep the housing and treatment facilities. Activists in La Jolla are making a renewed push to establish the community as a city separate from San Diego. The Association for the City of La Jolla is presently seeking funding for a financial analysis of the move, saying that it would financially benefit both La Jolla but San Diego. A team of scientists, using both satellite and ground instruments, mapped nitrogen dioxide in the state, down to a neighborhood level. They found high levels of nitrogen dioxide particularly near high-rise apartments and food processing infrastructure in Los Angeles. National nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners and the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority released a report and database on the Bay Area's expected affordable housing, tracking 395 affordable housing projects in multiple stages of development. They anticipate, with the completion of all of these projects, the region will see over 33,000 affordable homes. A development company paid $559 million to acquire NASCAR's San Bernardino Auto Club Speedway racetrack in Fontana. The racetrack will be replaced by a planned 6.6 million square foot logistics space, returning the speedway to its pre-NASCAR industrial past. The San Francisco Chronicle released an interactive map of the nine Bay Area counties according to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) walkability index . The map indicates that neighborhoods like San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland are considered more walkable, whereas suburbs in the North and East Bay are found to be less walkable according to the index.

A basement don’t seem very removable – though it could be movable if it’s situated close to an unstable coastal bluff. And the basement is at the bottom, one might say, of a lengthy dispute between a homeowner in the Leucadia section of Encinitas and the Coastal Commission. In an unpublished decision, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the Coastal Commission, which overruled the City of Encinitas’s decision to approve the construction of a much larger home, including a basement that would have to be removed in the event of significant bluff erosion. Andre and Jennifer Hurst bought a 1,300-square-foot blufftop home in Leucadia that was secured by two coastal protection systems – a seawall below and a subterranean cassion and beam protection systems, both of which were installed after the property experienced a major landslide in 1996. The Hursts proposed demolishing the old home and building a new 2,800-square-foot home with a 1,200-square-foot basement, located 40 feet inland from the bluff.