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Board Approves Peninsula High Speed Rail Alignment The High-Speed Rail Authority board unanimously approved the environmental analysis of a high-speed rail route from San Francisco to San Jose, green-lighting construction on about 49 miles of tracks. The plan is part of a larger $72.3 to $105.1 billion intention to connect the route to Los Angeles and Anaheim through the San Joaquin Valley; environmental analyses for just two more sections of the 500-mile system must be approved. The remaining stretches are from Palmdale to Burbank and downtown Los Angeles to Anaheim. Priorities for the mega route are to begin design work on extensions into Merced and Bakerfield, where trains are proposed to take off by 2030. OPR Updates Wildfire Planning Resources The Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has introduced multiple updates to wildfire planning resources, including the Fire Hazard Planning Technical Advisory (TA) and the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Planning Guide. The TA updates, prompted in 2019, are designed to propel strategies to minimize fire risk, from community outreach, risk assessments, more organized collaboration across agencies, and policy development. The WUI outlines the local policies that can reduce wildfire risk. The document highlights case study examples, including Carlsbad, Malibu, and San Bernardino, for climate mitigation and adaptation, increased green space implementation, wildfire protection, recovery plans, and more. The OPR is hosting a webinar on September 14 for more information on the state's plan to promote wildfire resilience. Analysis Warns of "Megaflood" Threatening State Due to the impact of global warming, the risk of a statewide catastrophic "megaflood" has doubled , according to a new report from UCLA researchers. The results would be devastating -- 10 million people displaced, crucial interstate freeways closed for months, and water submerging dense locales from Stockton to Los Angeles. While the risk rises from 1% to 2%, the results warn of the dangers of unchecked emissions and a warming planet that increases the likelihood of cycles of wildfires, megafloods, landslides, and droughts in just one state. The researchers are now collaborating with the Department of Water Resources to identify the most at-risk areas and propose preparedness measures. Report Analyzes Future Scenarios for Transportation, Land Use in California Researchers at UCLA's Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and Institute of Transportation Studies have imagined the potential for California's future transportation and housing, which namely includes a departure from car dependency and a rise in city centers with easy access to housing, jobs, and other necessities and amenities. While rural areas and suburbs may continue to see car usage, urban hubs would see an increase in high-density development, transit service, walking, and affordable housing. The report also considers California's past and present with respect to land use policy and proposes four different scenarios for the future of transit and housing, identifying a preference for each: a world where it's easy to move around without a car and housing is accessible to all. CP&DR Legal Coverage: Proposition 218, SB 330 A beach protection district created by the City of Malibu to restore Broad Beach cannot lay off all the costs of the project onto property owners. Rather, under Proposition 218 , the district is required to separate out special and general benefits, an appellate court has ruled. Separately, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that under Senate Bill 330 the general plan designation prevails – and single-family zoning means essentially nothing. If upheld on appeal, the ruling will mean that a landowner can replace a single-family home near Taft High School in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles with a 60-unit apartment building. But such an appellate ruling might also render zoning meaningless compared to the general plan designation. Quick Hits & Updates Santa Rosa became the most recent Bay Area city to put a cap on short-term rentals in an effort to prioritize housing and reduce noise and congestion issues brought by vacationers. Marin Bay, Lake Tahoe, and Sonoma County have taken similar measures. In an effort to protect endangered fish and their ecosystem along San Geronimo Creek, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to create a stream conservation area and restrict development within 35 feet of the creek. The decision faces support for its environmental importance and opposition from local homeowners. San Bernardino's Carousel Mall redevelopment continues to move forward after the city council welcomed a developer to the team and approved seeking bids for demolition. Officials intend to use the site's underutilization as an opportunity to reimagine the entire downtown across 43 acres. A Lake Tahoe ski village with hotels and condominiums proposed for Olympic Valley will not move forward after a judge rejected the potential vacation destination for violating CEQA. The judge's ruling aligns with the environmental and congestion concerns of the movement against the project. Redwood City, the first city in San Mateo County to submit its draft housing element to the Department of Housing and Community Development, must revise its plan after the HCD rejected its housing element over specificity concerns. Housing officials found that the city's plan was vague and likely to produce insufficient affordable housing. The developer of a proposed 681-unit residential tower near a public transit center may raise the building's height after committing to include 192 affordable units and a green space. The development is receiving praise for its number of affordable units, which totals more than any other downtown residence. Sacramento voters will decide the fate of a homelessness measure that outlines separate responsibilities for city and county officials on the November ballot. The measure ultimately features policies that would both remove and police homeless encampments and provide more shelter. The Los Angeles City Council voted to prohibit the city's unhoused residents from placing their tents within 500 feet of any private, public, or daycare school in an 11-3 vote. Demonstrators protested the restrictions throughout the meeting that ended in a decision which would increase the number of banned sites from 200 to 2,000.

The next big chunk of state money -- $600 million in so-called REAP 2.0 funds – is ramping up and local planners are paying attention. For the past two decades or so, planning in California, by both regulation and common practice, has leaned toward principles of smart growth: infill development, density, multiple modes of mobility, and, not least, the provision of housing to ease the state’s supply and affordability crisis. Unfortunately for many localities, smart growth does not equal cheap growth. In the past, municipal planners may have received Regional Housing Needs Assessment goals from their respective metropolitan planning organizations and been expected to figure out on their own how to accommodate more housing and meet Senate Bill 375’s Sustainable Communities Strategies — and how to pay for those planning initiatives. Recently, though, some jurisdictions have had almost more planning monies than they know what to do with. Funded by the 2019 state budget, the Regional Early Action Planning Grants of 2019 supplied the state’s MPOs with massive injection of funding to plan for smart growth and implement related projects. With the original round of REAP grants (retroactively named REAP 1.0), the state’s 18 MPOs have been able to spend, disburse, and allocate a total of $125 million statewide for planning initiatives. Those grants gave MPOs and jurisdictions broad latitude to spend on planning. Many jurisdictions worked on housing element updates, with an eye toward conforming with their respective SCSs. The grant deadline closed in January 2021, and funds must be spent by the end of 2024. The next phase, REAP 2.0, increases that figure fourfold—to $600 million. In REAP 1.0, MPOs kept some funds for region-wide planning initiatives but were also permitted to disburse funds to component councils of governments and local jurisdictions for local planning initiatives. The REAP monies collectively have provided significant support for localities. “For 10 years we’ve been saying there’s no real implementation source for SB 375,” said Bill Higgins, executive director of the California Association of Councils of Governments. “This is one.” Part of last year’s “California Comeback Plan” (AB 140), REAP 2.0 will operate similarly, except funds will be dedicated to implementation—including support for infill housing development; “multimodal communities” — i.e. communities that accommodate transportation modes other than individual vehicles; reduction of vehicle miles traveled; and increasing transit ridership; and other projects. Guidelines for REAP 2.0 were released July 26; the initial application period goes through December 31. (REAP is the largest among several recent and active planning grant programs, including SB 2 Planning Grants. The program is separate from, but complementary to, Local Early Action Planning grants , which are given from the state directly to local jurisdictions.) In many ways, the grants have given MPOs a greater sense of purpose and, perhaps, made them seem less domineering to local agencies. Rather than impose mandates like SCSs and the Reg numbers, they get to proactively support cities through REAP. “REAP 2.0 talks a lot about SCS implementation, which we appreciate… we do these SCSs and (usually) have nothing to implement them with,” said Jenna Hornstock, deputy director of planning and land use at the Southern California Association of Governments. “It’s really monumental for the San Diego region to have an opportunity to have so much funds given to us at the regional scale in order to facilitate the production of housing,” said Tuere Fa’aola, sustainable communities manager at the San Diego Association of Governments, echoing sentiments of officials at other MPOs. “We focus on putting some of the money into the hands of jurisdictions themselves. They have many great ideas they want to implement but maybe haven’t had the financial resources to do it.” Another $30 million will be allocated to tribal and rural entities, with $30 million for statewide transportation projects.

Los Gatos Group Pushes for Ballot Referendum to Rescind General Plan Update Despite a statewide housing crisis, a group of Los Gatos residents is launching a ballot-box challenge to the town's 2040 General Plan for planning for too many housing units. The Los Gatos Community Alliance filed a referendum against the plan that was -- by a small margin -- approved by the town council in June. The residents are also claiming that town officials should outline more incentives for constructing affordable housing and should draft a fiscal impact analysis. While Los Gatos town planners chose to concentrate new housing in high-density neighborhoods instead of bringing denser development to single-family communities, the alliance believes that more apartment complexes will negatively impact the "small town atmosphere" and aesthetics of Los Gatos. If the group gathers 2,200 signatures, the Town Council would be forced to either place the referendum on an upcoming ballot or rescind the General Plan of its own volition. State, Feds Agree to Halt Issuance of Fracking Permits California and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have reached a settlement that will temporarily block new fracking leases on federal land. If approved in court, the federal government will not be able to lease over 2,500 square miles of Central Valley land containing oil and gas drilling spots until it conducts an analysis of the environmental dangers of fracking. The settlement comes after environmental groups and California sued a Trump administration extension of an Obama-era plan to lease land for extraction. The move prompts widespread celebration for reducing water pollution, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, land extraction, and more, though closing extractive sources without implementing more renewable and efficient energy systems may induce worries about energy cost increases and job losses. Attorney General Weighs in on Livermore Housing Dispute Attorney General Rob Bonta is providing significant backup to Livermore, whose plan for a 130-unit affordable housing development in the city's downtown area is facing backlash from Save Livermore Downtown. Livermore is hoping to dismiss or expedite the residential group's appeal filed in attempt to stop construction on the complex, which Save Livermore Downtown claims will "degrade" the city center and increase congestion. Bonta filed a court brief in support of the city, stating that Save Livermore Downtown is unfairly relying on CEQA by doing so not out of concern for environmental burdens but in order to prevent a new development that would provide housing for over one hundred low-income families. Newsom Pushes Smaller Version of Sacramento Delta Water Tunnel Plan In response to California's severe drought, Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration has introduced a scaled-down version of Gov. Jerry Brown's Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Delta tunnel plan. Newsom's plan includes one 45-mile long, 39-foot high tunnel under wetlands and marshes set to break ground by 2029 instead of the previously-proposed two tunnel approach. State officials hope that their underground plan to pump water from the Sacramento River to the State Water Project will steer clear of pumping limits put in place to protect wildlife. The plan finds support from several significant water districts, including Santa Clara and Los Angeles, who are concerned about the potential impacts of an earthquake and climate change on water flow. Opponents, composed of environmental groups and Delta residents, do not want to see the state and big agriculture extract large sums of water from the Delta. CP&DR Coverage: San Francisco Housing Process Under Scrutiny The Newsom administration has taken unprecedented step of initiating a review of the City and County of San Francisco’s housing processes – the most aggressive move so far by a state government that is increasingly pressuring cities around the state to plan for approve more housing. HCD’s review will be undertaken in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Institute for Urban and Regional Development – part of Berkeley’s College of Environment Design, which also contains the Department of City and Regional Planning. HCD's move is likely to increase tensions between the state, which is promoting increasing both affordable and market-rate housing supply, and housing advocates in San Francisco, who believe that the private market cannot solve California’s housing affordability crisis and favor only new deed-restricted units. Quick Hits & Updates  Berkeley voters will make their voice heard on a $650 million bond measure that would pay for infrastructure and affordable housing initiatives on the November ballot. The measure would also place a tax on vacant houses and apartments. A Modesto developer's lawsuit against the city whose downtown reconstruction it helped build came with a $776,000 price tag for the city to settle. The developer, Civic Partners, claims that Modesto's Redevelopment Successor Agency overcharged for a lease payment. A new study evaluates the impacts of bus rapid transit systems on nationwide property values and suggests the positive potential of BRT ridership improvement. The results included a mix of appreciation, depreciation, and no change data, with multi-family properties seeing more appreciation and single-family properties seeing depreciation. The Downtown San Francisco Partnership's newly-released Public Realm Action Plan includes six defined initiatives to make the area that is currently auto-centric more pedestrian-friendly, vibrant, and green. The plan includes investments in public art, accessibility, and nature. Watsonville's November ballot will include two measures that will face off to determine the future of the city's housing, retail, and green spaces. With approaching expiration dates on agricultural land boundaries, Measure U could extend farmland protections until 2040, while the "counter measure" would grant officials the opportunity to decide which areas should be developed and how. Long Beach officials have released the findings of a new study that explains the city's extensive history of housing discrimination. The report also includes an explanation of the exclusionary policies that intentionally prompted segregation and disparate access to resources for white residents and residents of color. A recent PPIC survey investigates Californians' opinion of the environmental crisis and illuminates drought as the primary concern for most residents, with wildfires and climate change following. Many surveyed also voiced that climate change is not a distant worry but an existing harsh reality that severely impacts quality of life and the economy. Rising housing values statewide have created a new, very large group of California residents, up to 1.2 million, who have become millionaires due to the appreciation of their homes. These millionaires, according to data from the PPIC, are typically older, white or Asian, have paid off their mortgages, and are long-time homeowners. Increased access to electric bikes and ride sharing programs may soon come to Stockton after the city's Mobility Collective introduced its plan to improve transit options for low-income residents. The program is funded by a $7.4 million state grant from the Sustainable Transportation Equity Project. What used to be San Geronimo Golf Course is in the process of becoming a nature preserve intended to propel climate and environmental health and resilience. The Trust for Public Land purchased the Marin County space and intends to transform it into the San Geronimo Commons with uncovered creeks and habitats and new hiking and biking trails.

When is a policy change substantial enough that it requires a whole new environmental impact report? Apparently when the city council abandons one policy, even if the rest of the policy regime remains in place. At least that’s the implication from a new Superior Court ruling from Tulare County. The dispute revolves around what type of environmental review was required after the Visalia City Council adopted – and then abandoned – an agricultural mitigation program as part of its general plan. When the ag mitigation program was abandoned, the city circulated an addendum to the general plan environmental impact report, arguing that neither the land uses nor the significant impacts were changed as a result. Local community activists and environmentalists sued, saying the city should have undertaken a subsequent or supplemental EIR instead. Superior Court Judge David Mathias agreed, saying that even though other agricultural mitigation measures were retained, the environmental review should have examined the impact that the elimination of the ag mitigation program would have on “changed mitigation outcomes.” “The fact that other mitigation measures would remain, and that farmland loss would remain significant, does not establish whether the loss of the AMP (ag mitigation program) requirement mitigation measure would, itself, have a significant impact on farmland loss.” Visalia adopted its 2030 general plan in 2014 . The plan called for a tiered system of growth, permitting development of land further from the center of the city only when certain triggers had been met.

The Department of Housing and Community Development is planning to focus on its review of San Francisco’s housing approval processes for now and isn’t currently planning to do similar reviews of other jurisdictions – at least not in the near future. “We’re not ruling out the possibility of doing this kind of review elsewhere,” David Zisser , head of HCD’s Housing Accountability Unit, said in an exclusive interview with CP &DR. “ But right now we’re not planning to do that, in part because it’s prudent to see how this goes. It is a first of its kind, and it will take some real resources on our end, we want to give it the time it needs.” San Francisco has come under fire for supposedly missing deadlines under the Permit Streamlining Act, and Zisser said the department has more open complaints about San Francisco than about any other city in the state. Zisser also said he expects the San Francisco review to focus only on policy issues but the department will work with the attorney general’s office if it also finds violations of state rlaw. “It is important to think the review as largely a policy audit, at the end of the analysis we will have hopefully a really good set of recommendations that are policy-oriented for the most part,” Zisser said. “That said, as we dig in we may find things that lead us to see a potential violation of state law. And where that happens, we will be consulting with the AG’s office as needed.” On August 9, HCD initiated an unprecedented review of the City and County of San Francisco’s housing processes – the most aggressive move so far by a state government that is increasingly pressuring cities around the state to plan for approve more housing. In a statement , HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez said: “We are deeply concerned about processes and political decision-making in San Francisco that delay and impede the creation of housing and want to understand why this is the case. We will be working with the city to identify and clear roadblocks to construction of all types of housing, and when we find policies and practices that violate or evade state housing law, we will pursue those violations together with the Attorney General’s Office. We expect the cooperation of San Francisco in this effort.” The legal basis for HCD's move is Government Code Section 11180  et seq.,  which specifically gives state department heads the authority to "make investigations and prosecute actions concerning ... all matters related to the business activities and subjects under the jurisdiction of the department." Zisser said the review was expected to take about nine months, once HCD puts a researcher under contract. HCD's press release said the review would be undertaken with UC Berkeley’s Institute for Urban and Regional Development – part of Berkeley’s College of Environment Design, which also contains the Department of City and Regional Planning, but Zisser did not say for sure that IURD would be the contractor.

A beach protection district created by the City of Malibu to restore Broad Beach cannot lay off all the costs of the project onto property owners. Rather, under Proposition 218, the district is required to separate out special and general benefits, an appellate court has ruled. Broad Beach is a one-mile long beach near Trancas Canyon facing the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, which includes 121 private homes and two county parks. But it is no longer broad. The shoreline has retreated 65 feet since 1974 and now consists of a narrow strip and almost no sand beach at high tide. Local property owners created a revetment to protect their houses, apparently without any governmental permits. Subsequently, they asked the City of Malibu to create a special district for beach protection – which the city did. The district divided property owners into three zones, depending on the amount of benefit received from the improvements. Vacant parcels received a discounted assessment and county parks parcels were not assessed any amount. In the process of legalizing the revetment and making other improvements, however, the district had to bear additional costs imposed by the Coastal Commission and other government agencies.

For decades, it’s been an article of faith that you can create an expansive general plan designation and then box individual zoning with more specific zoning designations – often, a zoning designation that allows a lower density than the general plan would permit. But now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that under SB 330 the general plan designation prevails – and single-family zoning means essentially nothing.

San Bernardino County Developer Leads Secession Drive Following a suggestion from a San Bernardino developer that the county should secede from California due an unfair allocation of resources and mandates, local voters will voice their opinion on the matter. The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an initiative that places the option to request that officials study funding and the potential of secession on the ballot. While more vocal advocates of secession have floated around "Empire" as the name for the new state, some board members have clarified that they do not support secession but want to understand whether or not San Bernardino receives a fair amount of funding considering a portion of inland residents believe that coastal cities collect more than their fair share. Proposed Whole Foods Faces Lawsuit from Neighbors in San Jose A proposal to bring a new Whole Foods market to San Jose in its El Paseo de Saratoga retail center redevelopment is facing legal trouble on environmental grounds. Citizens for Inclusive Development is arguing that the city's failure to include plans for the 40,000 square-foot market in its environmental impact report misled the public by failing to consider pollution and traffic dangers. The group wrote that the city's rushed actions are not only a violation of CEQA and the State Planning and Zoning law but of local residents' need for safe, affordable housing. The new development is intended to include 165,949 square-feet of commercial space, with buildings reaching 132 feet. California Metros Among Nation's Most Unaffordable The rental and ownership housing crisis has reached the entire country, with a nationwide shortage or underproduction of 3.8 million homes and prices increasing over 30% during the past few years. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura has taken first place for the metro area with largest increase in housing shortage (-11%) over the past decade, according to nonprofit research group Up for Growth, which has identified the severity of housing shortages throughout the United States. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario took fourth place, lacking 9% -- over 138,000 units. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim came in sixth, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara took tenth, and several other California metro areas filled spots in the top 20. The largest issue, according to CEO of Up for Growth Mike Kingsella, is outdated zoning restrictions. Up fro Growth's analysis suggests that the housing shortage is extending beyond coastal cities to inland communities, pointing to extreme shortages and, accordingly, high demand, in areas such as Merced, Stockton, Vallejo, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Yuba City. In 2012, Merced had a +1.9% surplus of housing units, but in 2019, its shortage reached as low as -8.7%. Meanwhile, coastal cities, especially those in Northern California, are seeing demand cool remarkably fast, with many potential buyers priced out of their housing options. RAND Estimates Potential for Commercial-to-Residential Conversions Transforming underused commercial buildings into housing could add about 100,000 residential units to Los Angeles County's housing stock, according to a new report from RAND Corporation. Researchers found that redeveloping vacant hotels, motels, retail centers, and office buildings could account for 9% to 14% of the housing that the county must provide by 2030, as required by the RHNA. About 2,300 underused complexes are available for adaptive reuse, though the hotel layout would be most translatable to more easily complete a new housing development. Due to existing infrastructure, the process of adaptive reuse is expected to be financially feasible, depending on real estate prices and the scope of the project. (See related CP&DR coverage.) Quick Hits & Updates San Rafael approved an ordinance that will set in-compliance height, design, and parking restrictions on SB 9 projects. While the city originally planned to allow for eight residences on split lots, community input regarding traffic and density has persuaded officials to only allow for four residences. Los Angeles' largely unused General Hospital Building will be transformed into an affordable housing site after Los Angeles County Supervisors approved a plan to move forward with construction and financial brainstorming. Supervisors have given planning officials four months and $194.7 million to produce 184 market-rate and 371 affordable units. Instead of allowing voters decide, Laguna Beach officials will move forward with plans to place restrictions on new projects to prevent overdevelopment. New design guidelines would include height, mass, and bulk restrictions to preserve the city's small-town character. A lengthy environmental report on a proposed South County mine near Gilroy details the damage that would be caused to Indigenous people, air quality, and wildlife habitats if developed. The report also states that producing sand and gravel locally could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, stressing the debate over the project whose fate will soon be decided by the city council. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has requested that the federal government include the site of Exide Technologies, notoriously polluted with lead, arsenic, and cadmium and abandoned, on the National Priorities list. If added, the site would be eligible for clean-up funding, though the battery recycler already released severe contamination to many surrounding working-class Latino neighborhoods during its operation. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will not have to draft an environmental review before making decisions about water deliveries to city-owned pastureland east of Yosemite. The agency is celebrating the state appellate court decision, citing the difficulty of delivering water and meeting environmental requirements during a severe drought. Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved funding to relocate train tracks operating along a stretch of eroding San Diego seaside cliffs as part of the state budget. Previously, local governments had been paying to build structures that support the deteriorating sections of the bluffs. Though many members remain in support of rent control, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors chose to table a charter amendment that would have rent-controlled new housing due to concerns that opponents of the measure could have been successful at preventing it from passing on the November ballot. In support of the potential of ADU's, new research from UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation details the various financing options for building ADUs and proposes recommendations for facilitating construction, including considering ADU rental income in underwriting, improving ADU appraisal, and updating loan eligibility requirements. California's forests are suffering from the climate crisis, with 1,763 square miles (6.7 percent) of tree coverage destroyed since 1985, mostly due to wildfires. While northern California shows more resiliency, the damage to carbon dioxide absorbance and clean air remains an extreme threat to residents local and widespread.

"Coals to Newcastle" isn't exactly the right metaphor, but it's close. The delivery in question is not a boatload of anthracite but rather its opposite: a recent $ 1.1 billion donation from John Doerr, a partner at the vaunted Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, and his wife Ann, to Stanford University for the establishment of the Doerr School of Sustainability. It is envisioned as an interdisciplinary educational and research institution dedicated to fighting climate change.  The school will cover disciplines including energy, climate science, and sustainable development and environmental justice, and it will house up to 150 faculty members. I don’t doubt that an institution like Stanford will produce important work with those funds. And yet, the idea of fighting climate change by cloistering it in an ultra-exclusive institution, in a region that is already well versed in the ravages of climate chance, seems to miss the mark. To be sure, undoing, mitigating, or at least adapting to the effects of climate change requires study. But academic research takes time. And the climate effort needs many things that already exist, or, at least, that are coming into existence—especially in California. Dating back to the days of “An Inconvenient Truth,” the state adopted a raft of laws and regulations designed to promote dense development. They include AB 32 (greenhouse gas reduction), SB 375 , (dense development and coordination between land use and transportation), SB 743 (reducing vehicle miles traveled), and others—all of which take aim, in some way or another—at the carbon-intensive landscape that California built in the 20 th century and on the types of fuels we use. For planners, the most important elements of these laws are those that promote dense urban development that enables people to get around without individual cars and that align development with public transit and active transportation. In many cases, these regulations are designed to enable the California Environmental Quality Act—one of the country’s original pro-environment laws--to actually do what it's supposed to do. These policies are complicated insofar as they are bureaucratic. And they are controversial insofar as many Californians cling to the status quo, especially if it involves a single-unit home. But they are based on pretty simple principles. Regardless of what new model of electric Hummer comes along or how much your wifi-enabled thermostat knows about your bodily habits, the "technologies" and "policies" surrounding dense, car-phobic development are literally millennia old. In some cases, mitigating climate change doesn't require anything new -- it just requires less obstruction. Look at, for instance, CEQA's antagonism toward infill development or the affordable housing industry's disingenuous affection for parking minimums (which they like only because they allegedly make density bonuses relatively more attractive). Every planner knows about them, whether they went to Stanford or have just looked out the window.  That's one reason why, as delighted as I am for a proud California institution to get a windfall, the approach and the geography of this gift perplex me. Granted, Stanford is a global institution, and the school will have global impacts. But location still matters. California is already a leader on the climate front, in terms of policy, public sentiment, and technology. For all of California’s faults, obliviousness to climate change is not one of them. The hearts and minds that need changing are elsewhere. There's Texas, for instance – where the Doerrs went to college. Rather than plunk $1 billion down just a few miles Tesla’s main factory, why not do it in Houston – the home of ExxonMobil? Or maybe in Iowa, where ethanol corn still gets more respect than windmills. Or Florida, which promises to sink into the Atlantic any day now. Those would have been difficult choices (because, in part, many scholars and students might be uncomfortable living in some of those political climates). But they would have sent a far stronger message. Instead, the Doerrs chose to keep their money in their own backyard, comfortably within view of their fellow tech billionaires. And what backyards they are! Say what you will about New York billionaires, they live more sustainability than Woodside billionaires do. I don’t like to make ad hominem arguments. But, it’s possible that the Doerrs are focusing on academic and technological solutions to climate change because they—and so many others in Silicon Valley—are unschooled in the urbanist solutions. Despite having a darn good model of dense urbanism at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, the cities of the South Bay exemplify what not to do. They rely on freeways and wide boulevards. They celebrate single-family homes and denigrate density. They price out almost all workers below executive level, forcing them to drive in or take infamous “Google Buses” and the like. For people who deal in futuristic nano-scale technology, the carbon footprint of the typical Silicon Valleyite is more like that of a brontosaurus. The advances that have come out of Silicon Valley in the past three decades eclipse anything in the previous history of human civilization. Unfortunately, many of them have arisen in the service of wealth creation rather than in the preservation of the human race, civil society, and the biosphere. Oh well. The Doerrs’ donation feels more like penance than a sincere attempt to marshal the financial and intellectual forces of his industry. $1 billion is a pittance for Silicon Valley. $1 billion is a tiny fraction of the funding that Kleiner Perkins has awarded and a rounding error compared to the value of the companies in which it has invested. Heck, it's only 10% of the Doerrs’ personal net worth. But, $1 billion is better than nothing, I suppose. I sincerely hope the Doerrs’ donation does some good. (In particular, I hope the institute brings on some psychologists to figure out how to talk sense into climate deniers.) John Doerr has been an effective angel investor in the world’s sexiest industry. In this instance, though, he and many other smart, wealthy, powerful people are going to have to figure out more humble ways to move heaven and earth. Until then, I guess we'll have to keep the coal shipments coming. Image courtesy of Ari He, via Flickr .

In the latest skirmish between the UC Berkeley and resident groups in the city, an Alameda County judge ruled that the university can move forward with a student housing project in People’s Park , the site of an infamous confrontation between student protesters and police in 1969. But two days later a state appellate court stayed the judge’s ruling until at least October. After Judge Frank Loesch made issued his written ruling August 2, UC officials immediately began clearing People’s Park, leading to a series of protests. But on August 4, Justice Teri Jackson of the First District Court of Appeal, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, issued a stay blocking “all construction and further demolition, tree-cutting, and landscape alteration activities” unless health and safety issues are involved and also denied UC permission to build a security fence. The case involves many of the same players as the recent Berkeley enrollment case – including the same plaintiffs’ lawyer, Thomas N. Lippe – and made many similar arguments, arguing that UC’s environmental documents do not consider capping or reducing enrollment as an alternative and that the university should have considered alternative sites. People’s Park is a 2.8-acre off Telegraph Avenue along Dwight Way that UC originally purchased via eminent domain in 1967. The site was originally slated for student housing and other purposes, including a sports field, but in 1969 local residents essentially appropriated the site as a park. In May 1969, a protest on campus moved to the park and protesters argued vocally to keep the park from further development. Law enforcement officials responded by seeking to disperse the crowd but at least one person was killed in the melee. Recently, People’s Park has been occupied by a large number of homeless people living there. UC’s plan for the park calls for 1,100 student housing units, more than 100 supportive living units, and the retention of 1.7 acres of the site’s 2.8 acres as a park. Earlier this year, UC officials began relocating homeless residents to nearby apartments and clearing the site.

San Francisco Upzoning Ordinance Faces Veto by Mayor Breed A controversial proposed ordinance that would do away with single-family zoning throughout San Francisco -- but impose what critics describe as onerous burdens on land owners who want to develop small mulit-unit buildings -- is effectively dead. Mayor London Breed wrote a letter to the Board of Supervisors promising that she would veto the ordinance if it passed. Breed suggested that the ordinance's approach to development of fourplexes in residential neighborhoods and six-unit homes on corner lots would undermine SB 9 by increasing restrictions that make it harder to build housing. As only six board members supported the measure, the board cannot override the veto. However, supervisors continue to disagree with the mayor's decision, urging that they worked diligently to ensure the law would encourage both density and local land use decision making. The Department of Housing and Community Development, meanwhile, voiced its support for the mayor's veto, stressing that the proposed law would have severely undermined SB 9. San Jose, Santa Clara Reach Settlement in Long-Running Feud In a settlement agreement with Santa Clara, San Jose is drafting a plan to invest $38.5 million in transit infrastructure aimed at minimizing congestion in the northern part of the city. The plan would open up opportunities to build more affordable housing near key transit areas that does not, as previously required, have to pair with commercial space. In return, Santa Clara will not sue San Jose over the construction process. San Jose has committed to ensuring that 20% of total new housing is affordable, though the first 8,000 built would be market-rate. The agreement follows two decades of legal turmoil between the cities, though Santa Clara County has not yet approved the agreement due to the unfinished construction of several San Jose projects. HCD Releases Online Tool to Promote Fair Housing The Department of Housing and Community Development released a new feature of its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Data Viewer that will more comprehensively identify the impacts of segregation. The Racially Concentrated Areas of Affluence (RCAAs) map layer builds upon a metric established by researchers at the University of Minnesota to consider racism and segregation specific to California's geography. In an effort to confront policy that has systemically driven racially concentrated areas of poverty and affluence, the AFFH and RCAA will remain accessible to the public, including researchers, nonprofits, and elected officials, who would be able to reference data as support for affecting change. SANDAG Advances New Housing Agency A new regional affordable housing agency may come to fulfillment after the San Diego Association of Governments' board of directors voted in favor of amendments to SB 1105. The new program, titled the Regional Equitable and Environmentally Friendly Affordable Housing Agency, would center housing accessibility for residents making 120% or less of the area median income. It would raise finances through taxes and applying for state and federal funding, though that opportunity would not come until the 2024 general election. Its tax and governance structure and proposed effectiveness is facing pushback from nonprofits such as the San Diego Housing Federation and other elected officials, implying many debates to come before the program can be established. Quick Hits & Updates  The Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Operations Committee and Applied Wayfinding Inc. have agreed to a $6 million contract to establish a mapping and wayfinding system for Bay Area transit agencies across the region. Information would include information on pedestrian access to bus stop, shuttle, and major transit hub locations. Despite vociferous criticism from equitable housing activists, St. Francis Wood has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, which will severely restrict the construction of new housing in the neighborhood. Though the St. Francis Homes Association claims the area will be inclusive, the decision continues to face criticism for preserving racial and economic segregation. Rising housing values statewide have created a new, very large (1.2 million) group of residents who have become millionaires due to the appreciation of their homes. These millionaires, according to data from the PPIC, are typically older, white or Asian, have paid off their mortgages, and are long-time homeowners. The Costa Mesa City Council is considering a ballot measure that would slightly minimize the impact of Measure Y, which allows voters to decide the fate of large-scale development projects. Due to the minimal approval of such projects, officials are proposing a new measure to go in front of voters that would exempt proposals to meet state housing goals from voter approval. The potential for housing exemptions in commercial and industrial neighborhoods under  Measure Y, though, is not yet set in stone and may in fact be relaxed, as city officials will continue to update the ballot measure before handing its fate off to voters in November. Palmdale will join an updated Joint Powers Agency intended to facilitate the construction of a high-speed rail system between Antelope and Victor valleys that connects to Las Vegas. The city will work with Los Angeles County, Lancaster, Adelanto, and Victorville, with LA Metro potentially joining as well. Though Elon Musk ditched his plan to build an underground tunnel for high-speed transit between the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink station and Ontario International Airport, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority intends to move forward with an updated $492 million two-tunnel plan for simultaneous travel in both directions in less than 10 minutes. Colton Joint Unified School District officials have entered a deal with an Orange County warehouse developer to swap the land that holds Zimmerman Elementary to avoid a plan that would surround the school with 2.7 million square feet of warehouses. The developer will spend $45 million to construct a new school, though community members remain concerned by the extreme level of warehouse pollution throughout Bloomington. The Glendale City Council is reviewing two plans for a streetcar line that would connect downtown Glendale to other regional services, spanning a 2.6 square-mile area. Transit officials intend for the system to eventually lead into Burbank. The Port of Long Beach's Board of Harbor Commissioners is reviewing the cost of restoring the Queen Mary after the ship's prior operator filed for bankruptcy. As the city attempts to transfer the ship to the port, officials estimate that an assessment of the Queen Mary will cost $3 million and that restoration and upgrades will total hundreds of millions.

CP&DR Vol. 37 No. 7 July 2022