Rancho Planner Case May Move Forward

State Creates Map of Government-Owned Surplus Properties and Housing Element Sites The Department of General Services in partnership with the Department of Housing and Community Development released an interactive public map of property identified by local governments to help developers find land for housing development. The Housing and Local Land Development Opportunity Map shows potential development sites identified in local housing elements (housing plans) adopted on or after January 1, 2021, and locally-owned surplus and excess sites identified in housing element Annual Progress Reports. This new map allows developers to view all sites identified by cities and counties for housing through their housing elements, as well as locally-owned surplus and excess land, which may be subject to affordable housing requirements when disposed of through the Surplus Land Act. Further the map allows these sites to be overlaid with key datasets, including the HCD/Tax Credit Allocation Committee Opportunity Maps, Cal EnviroScreen 4.0, and fire hazard data to assist them in applying for state affordable housing funding sources and accessing streamlining benefits. HCD is also hosting a webinar on February 24, 2023 to introduce this tool. Concord Naval Air Station Redevelopment Stalls Again Three years after rejecting mega-developer Lennar to lead redevelopment of the former Concord Naval Air Station, the Concord City Council sent the project back to the drawing board again. On a 3-2 vote last week, the council rejected a term sheet with Concord First Partners, effectively firing the group after two years of planning. Totaling 2,225 acres and set to include 15,000 housing units, the $6 billion project would be the single largest housing development in the Bay Area (if not the state). The Navy still owns the property, but the city governs its reuse. Guy Bjerke, Concord’s director of economic development and base reuse, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “we are evaluating options and will seek Council direction in the near future.” (See related CP&DR coverage .) Oakland Taps African-American Developer for Coliseum Site The City of Oakland entered into an exclusive development agreement with Oakland developer AASEG to redevelop the 200-acre Oakland Coliseum site into a $5 billion mixed-use community focused on equity, with generous amounts of affordable housing for low-income, and especially African-American, residents. AASEG is owned by African-American businessperson Ray Bobbitt, who grew up in Oakland. The redevelopment is predicated on the Oakland A's departure from the Coliseum, and it could include an arena to host a WNBA or other professional sports team. But the focus would be on housing; "We're talking about affordable housing, so that we can keep those who have lived here in Oakland for generations, so their families can continue to live here," said Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao told ABC News. Any redevelopment would require the assent of the A's asset, which owns about half of the site. The A's have not commented on the AASEG development agreement. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Analysis of RHNA Progress Awards C- to Cities Statewide According to a study by the Southern California News Group most counties and cities statewide are falling behind state mandated goals on affordable housing as of 2021. The average rating, under California’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment program, statewide was a C-. Low-income housing projects, as displayed by these study results, fell behind market-rate development statewide. According to the study, only 29 out of 538 state cities and counties were on track to provide housing for very low-, low-, moderate-, and above moderate-income residents according to their previously decided upon goals. Deputy Director for housing policy at California’s Housing and Community Development Department “complained that cities fail to take the initiative in promoting new housing. In some cases, she said, they obstruct development.” Cities in the state argue that they are at the whim of a difficult market. Others claim the state itself is not creating enough financial resources or incentive to local governments for the construction of low-income housing. One California city — Norwalk — met and exceeded the Southern California News Group's rating standards and received an A-plus in 2021. CP&DR Coverage: Fulton Considers CEQA Appeal Based on recent cases, Bill Fulton wonders whether California's appellate courts are getting tired of hearing cases about the California Environmental Quality Act. In the Bay Area, home to the First District Court of Appeal, where justices have recently lamented that “something is very wrong” with CEQA, insisted that environmental documents don’t have to be perfect, and even allowed a malicious prosecution case to move forward against a prominent CEQA plaintiffs’ lawyer. In the Sacramento-based Third District, however, things appear to be different, as evidenced by the outcome of the recent appellate court involving the proposed new annex to the State Capitol. In the Save Our Capitol! Case, the Third District first said that the Department of General Services should have included visual representations of the new annex in its environmental analysis. Recently, a tentative ruling from the First District in the People’s Park case seemed to indicate that noise from students and potential problems associated with homeless persons could be viewed as environmental impacts under CEQA. Fulton concludes that it's "a confusing time for CEQA, where many courts are really resisting expansion while others are facilitating it. If ever there was a time that called for comprehensive legislative reform, it’s now." Quick Hits & Updates Interstate 980 in Oakland has been listed as a “Freeway Without a Future” according to the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU). CNU argues that instead of investing in costly repair and expansion of the 980, money should be put toward city streets, housing, and green spaces.  Clovis City Council approved a new 1,000- acre development of single family homes just beyond the city limits. Development of the homes had been halted previously due to the presence of an endangered salamander. The site will not include any affordable housing, and the city still needs to study the fiscal impact of the development as it considers annexing it into Clovis city limits. Assemblymember Alex Lee introduced AB 309, which would promote mixed-income "social housing" statewide. Social housing is protected from being sold to a private for-profit entity for the duration of its life, and residents are granted the same protections (if not stronger) as tenants in private properties, and residents are able to participate in decision making. Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry and his wife Ayesha weighed in on the tense housing debates in the San Francisco Peninsula. The couple wrote a highly publicized letter to the Atherton City Council asking the council to oppose upzoning of properties adjacent to their home. Atherton is known for large properties exceeding one acre. A new Oceanside development along the Sprinter rail-line received approval Jan. 12 after a heated City Council meeting. An appeal by impassioned residents concerned about looming traffic issues was denied, enabling the development.  Cerritos Mayor pro tem Bruce Barrows filed a lawsuit that could delay construction of a light rail line extending from downtown Los Angeles through southeast Los Angeles County. The suit alleges that LA Metro violated the Public Records Act for failing to fully discuss its plans for a "cut-and-cover" segment in Cerritos. A new report from the Public Policy Institute finds that, due to the inevitability of water supply vulnerability, California must learn to "thrive with less." The report includes several strategies for adapting to these changing standards, including modernizing water storage, making the most of wet years, consolidating small water utilities in rural communities, and water-limited farming for agriculture use. Glendale planners are looking to improve the industrial neighborhood surrounding the city's Transportation Center. New design proposals include employment, housing, and retail opportunities as well as sidewalk repaving, new light fixtures, urban greenery, and curb extensions. A recent report from UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute expands on previous explorations of the impact of exclusionary zoning on racial and economic segregation, this time in the San Diego region. The report stresses that over three-quarters of residential land is zoned for single-family housing, which is consistent with previous reports on the San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento areas.Though fewer people left California between 2021 and 2022 than in the previous year, the statewide population is continuing to decline , according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In the past year, about 114,000 people left, resulting in a 0.3% population decrease, compared to the previous year's 0.9%. Los Angeles City Controller-elect Kenneth Mejia's leadership team includes former L.A. city deputy major Rick Cole as chief deputy controller. The entire team includes a mix of political veterans and those new to local government, all intending to promote accountability and transparency of the city budget. Los Angeles County Metro's assessment of the NextGen Bus Plan, a bus network intended to increase ridership by growing the number of bus lines, improving frequency, and create safer waiting stops. The assessment found that accessibility improved with the new network, especially for people in Equity Focused Communities. Burbank's Civic Center Redevelopment would bring over 5,600 new housing units to the city's downtown as well as a 65,000-square-foot library and 52,000 square feet of open space. Burbank officials may soon make a down payment on city-owned land. Sacramento city council members approved a policy that will increase the amount of protected bike lanes across Midtown and Downtown Sacramento. The lanes will be connected to currently-existing pathways. Pathways Climate Institute LLC and San Francisco Estuary Institute and the Aquatic Science Center studied and mapped Bay Area shallow groundwater response to sea level rise in an effort to understand the impacts, creating an interactive map of groundwater rise.

Have appellate justices finally had it with the California Environmental Quality Act? The short answer appears to be yes – at least in the Bay Area, home to the First District Court of Appeal, where justices have recently lamented that “something is very wrong” with CEQA, insisted that environmental documents don’t have to be perfect, and even allowed a malicious prosecution case to move forward against a prominent CEQA plaintiffs’ lawyer. “In all these cases, you are starting to see a thread of frustration that has CEQA been hijacked by labor unions, by NIMBYs, by competitors,” veteran CEQA lawyer Tina Thomas , who often represents agency defendants, said at the recent UCLA Land Use and Planning Conference. “I don’t know how these cases are going to turn out, but there is this sort of thread of frustration.” Not everybody is frustrated, however. In the Sacramento-based Third District, however, things appear to be different, as evidenced by the outcome of the recent appellate court involving the proposed new annex to the State Capitol. In the Save Our Capitol! Case, the Third District first said that the Department of General Services should have included visual representations of the new annex in its environmental analysis. (The court softened its position slightly on this issue after a rehearing; CP&DR coverage can be found here .) And back in the Bay Area, Alameda County appears to be particularly fertile ground for CEQA expansion rather than frustration. The whole battle over the CEQA implications of UC Berkeley exceeding its enrollment projections began when Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman ruled, essentially, that increases in student enrollment could create an environmental impact. Both the First District and the California Supreme Court declined to resolve the CEQA battle over student enrollment at UC Berkeley, leading the Legislature to take the unusual step of amending CEQA to clarify the issue. (You can read CP& DR’s analysis of the case here .) More recently, a tentative ruling from the First District in the People’s Park case seemed to indicate that noise from students and potential problems associated with homeless persons could be viewed as environmental impacts under CEQA. (Read CP&DR coverage here .) CEQA plaintiffs’ lawyers are clearly getting more defensive about the law, though even they acknowledge that judges are beginning to lose patience. “You’re starting to see this frustration show up,” plaintiffs attorney Kevin Bundy said at the UCLA conference. But like his counterparts, he argues strongly that CEQA, at its best, will make development projects better. “We risk losing a lot of what is very important about CEQA,” he said at the UCLA event. “It makes sense to understand what the impacts of a project are before you approve it. It makes sense to see if there are feasible ways to reduce those impacts. We have to plan for wildfire and droughts. We have to plan for sea level rise.” What judges think about CEQA matters a lot. Over the past half-century, the Legislature has repeatedly declined to reform CEQA by statute, in large part because of changing cast of powerful characters – mostly recently labor unions – have found CEQA useful in gaining leverage over developers for their own purposes. That means Superior Court judges and appellate court justices have had to fend for themselves in interpreting CEQA – and although trends have ebbed and flowed over the years, in general judges have tended to expand CEQA through their rulings. Remember that the most important CEQA expansion dd the judgment that CEQA applied to permits for private development projects as well as government projects – came originally from the courts in the Friends of Mammoth in 1972 . Though most CEQA cases are not challenged in court, there’s always the threat of litigation, and judges have a long history of finding environmental analysis inadequate in some way. “There’s always another study that can be done under CEQA,” Thomas told the UCLA audience. Even CEQA practitioners have begun to be concerned about endless CEQA expansion. Take, for example, the issue of evacuation routes in wildfire risk areas – an issue that has emerged recently in several CEQA cases. (For one example, take a look at CP&DR’s coverage of what we called the Lake County “reverse-reverse-CEQA case.) At the CLE conference in San Francisco in December, Fehr & Peers’ Ron Milam – one of the leading transportation analysts in the state, said: “This is one of those ones that if you’re not careful will expand. We’re talking about wildfire evauation. What about other evacuations, urban fire, terrorism, whatever. Be prepared for some opponent to a project to translate that to all those other things you should have looked at. I’m hesitate to want to jump there because it just gives more opposition to projects.” Still, judicial frustration appears to be mounting. The Tiburon case involved a fight over building 43 units on a spectacular 110-acre property overlooking San Francisco Bay that has been going on for almost a half-century. The appellate court’s ruling was written by veteran Justice James Richman, who concluded his 110-page analysis of the California Environmental Quality Act by saying, “Something is very wrong with this picture.” (See CP&DR coverage here .) In the Save Livermore Downtown case, which was just published in late January, the plaintiffs argued that the project’s specifics violated the city’s general plan and downtown specific plan in various ways. But, the appellate court ruled, “A given project need not be in perfect conformity with each and every general plan policy.” Last year, in Southwest Regional Carpenters Council v. City of Los Angeles , the First District Court of Appeal let an environmental impact analysis go forward even though the final project did not emerge until the final EIR and therefore the public didn’t have a chance to comment on it. “ Although we believe decision-makers and the public would be better served if the public had an opportunity to comment on the actual project before approval, we decline to engraft that requirement into CEQA,” the court wrote. (This was more or less the opposite of the conclusion in the Save Our Capitol! Case.) Perhaps most surprisingly was the decision of the First District to permit a malicious prosecution case go forward against prominent CEQA plaintiffs’ lawyer Susan Brandt-Hawley for supposedly misrepresenting the facts in a challenge to a single-family home in San Anselmo. Brandt-Hawley tried to invoke the anti-SLAPP law but failed. So what does all this add up to? A confusing time for CEQA, where many courts are really resisting expansion while others are facilitating it. If ever there was a time that called for comprehensive legislative reform, it’s now. But as the Berkeley enrollment situation proved, it’s unlikely that the legislators will do anything but create more CEQA Swiss-cheese when their backs are to the wall: We may see a little more tinkering around the edges, especially on UC enrollment. But comprehensive reform seems to be as far away as ever.

The Second District Court of Appeal has published a recent ruling concluding that a developer in Ventura required to excavate an unexpected amount of fill did not pursue all administrative remedies before suing.

An appellate ruling rejecting a community group’s challenge to an affordable housing project in Downtown Livermore has been published by the First District Court of Appeal, meaning the case can be cited in other court cases as a precedent.

Caltrain Extension to Salesforce to cost $6.7 Billion The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) released a new estimate that puts the cost of extending Caltrain 1.3 miles to the Salesforce Tower in downtown San Francisco at $6.7 billion. In spite of the 34% increase in estimated cost from 2015, transit planners have set a completion date for “The Portal” at 2032. It would be one of the costliest rail projects, on a per-mile basis, in the world. The project costs come largely from building the new underground station and tunnel. In an effort to reduce budget Caltrain has already decided to shrink proposed tunnel size and eliminate an underground passage from Salesforce Tower, which was constructed with space for an underground rail station, to the Embarcadero BART station. TJPA is hoping to secure at least 50% of their proposed budget from the Biden administration, which may be difficult given that Caltrain ridership three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is still down 60%. Caltrain is already projecting operating on a deficit, which could affect its proposed 2024 rollout of electrified trains. Los Angeles Further Extends, Enhances Tenant Protections  11 days before COVID-19 anti-eviction protections were set to expire, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to expand tenant protections . Small landlords made their voices heard during public comment on the policy, with many claiming they were already severely burdened under the existing COVID-19 protections. The new tenant protections will stop landlords from evicting tenants unless there were documented lease violations, unpaid rent, and or owner move-ins. This will expand just-cause evictions protections, like those already given to tenants in rent-stabilized units, to an additional 400,000 units in the city. Evictions for tenants with unauthorized pets and with added residents not listed on leases are also paused until 2024. The council also voted to extend the timeline for tenants to pay back-rent, and directed city departments to propose new relief programs for smaller landlords within 30 days. Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuit over Bay Area Toll Hikes; Capital Improvements to Proceed The California Supreme Court dismissed a 2018 lawsuit intended to challenge toll hikes at seven Bay Area Bridges through Regional Measure 3 . While Measure 3 passed in 2018 with 55% of the vote, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association argued that since the funds generated by the toll hikes would benefit the general public — not just bridge users — it should have been on the ballot as a local tax, which would have required two thirds of the vote. The toll hikes still went into effect in 2019, but the hundreds of millions already generated by the measure are sitting in an escrow account. Now, with the lawsuit dismissed, BART, MUNI, and other Bay Area Transit agencies will have access to funds that could alleviate their existing financial burdens. Money from Measure M will go towards projects like BART’s expansion into downtown San Jose, the ongoing replacement of old BART cars, the San Francisco Bay Ferry’s expansion into Mission Bay, and Caltrain’s extension into the Salesforce Transit Center. Major Sonoma County Redevelopment Faces Lawsuit  A bid to redevelop a former state-run Sonoma Developmental Center in Glen Ellen is facing a lawsuit from citizen groups. The plaintiffs, Sonoma County Tomorrow and Sonoma Community Advocates for a Livable Environment have filed suit to contest the county’s environmental impact report for the site, raising concerns about wildfire evacuation risks, danger to wildlife corridors, and preservation of historic buildings. The county’s land use and development agency, Permit Sonoma, has responded to the lawsuit insisting that they take their responsibility to uphold their obligations under the California Environmental Quality Act seriously. The county has a sizable need for additional housing, and the closed developmental center’s 945 acre plot posed a rare opportunity to combat the housing shortage. The county has already scaled down the proposed number of units from 1,000 to 700. (See related CP&DR coverage .) CP&DR Coverage: Does Los Angeles's New Mayor Understand Development?  Newly elected and installed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass comes into office with an unenviable task: solving the country's worst homelessness crisis and providing affordable housing for potentially hundreds of thousands of residents who are rent-burdened or otherwise housing insecure. She has pledged to develop affordable housing. Unfortunately, she has also expressed her antagonism toward "luxury housing," which, in Los Angeles, means pretty much anything with a door and four walls. CP&DR 's Josh Stephens explain how Bass is given into tired NIMBY tropes and why antagonism toward any housing type is not what the city needs right now.  Quick Hits & Updates An attempt by the city of Lakeport to annex 137 acres south of Main Street and East of Highway 29 was halted by the Lake Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCo). The area in question contains a lucrative commercial corridor which is at the heart of the city’s desire for annexation.  A study commissioned by the Housing Inclusionary Program in San Francisco casts doub t on the city’s ability to meet a state mandate of building 82,000 units by 2031. In the current market, many proposed projects are not financially viable for developers, and with mandated affordability requirements they become even less so.  The Los Angeles County city of El Segundo is revamping its Downtown Specific Plan, with the city hoping to adopt an updated version by summer 2023. The new update could accommodate up to 300 new residential units, 130,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space, 200,000 square feet of new office space, and 24,000 square feet of medical offices.  A Palo Alto environmental group bought an 839 acre propert y adjacent to Mount Madonna for $10.6 million. The property had been in the Estrada family since 1848, and sold it to Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) with the agreement that the property will be managed by the Estrada’s to ensure its preservation. POST, founded in 1977, has preserved 82,000 acres between Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara county.  A deal to sell the 387-acre Banning Ranch for public use as a natural open space has closed escrow. Environmental activists are celebrating the $100 million sale, a process which took over 30 years and will prevent future development on the land. A campaign titled Stop the Energy Shutdown is gathering signatures to place a referendum on the 2024 California ballot that would overturn the recently-passed SB 1137, which outlaws new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of schools, homes, and hospitals. San Diego developer 1HWY1 will seek $550 million in public funding to help finance site infrastructure and amenities as part of its downtown seaport redevelopment. The $3.5 billion proposal includes hotels, an urban beach, and new marinas. The Menlo Park City Council approved Meta's (formerly Facebook) plan for a mixed-use urban village with housing, office, and retail space in Willow Village. Despite unanimous approval, some council members remain concerned that the project, in its effort to avoid neighborhood opposition, is too distant from transit centers. Santa Monica developer WS Communities (WSC) has filed its first Builder's Remedy project application for a 10-story, 75-unit apartment building with 15 affordable units. WSC has proposed most of the Builder's Remedy projects expected to come to Santa Monica. (See related CP&DR coverage .)

CP&DR Vol. 38 No. 4 April 2023

CP&DR Vol. 38 No. 1 January 2023

In a new ruling issued after a rehearing, an appellate court has stood its ground in concluding that the California Environmental Quality Act required that the state provide visual representations of the new State Capitol Annex in the environmental impact report on the project.

Several oil companies have filed suit against the City of Los Angeles, claiming the city’s recent ban on oil and gas drilling violates the California Environmental Quality Act.

Study: Downtown San Francisco Languishes; Central Valley Downtowns Boom Downtown San Francisco has the slowest COVID-19 recovery of 61 cities in North America studied by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities think tank, reporting that activity levels are at only 31% compared to fall 2019. Using cell phone data as a measurement of activity in the area, a recent study determined Downtown San Francisco to be relatively empty. One of the causes of such a shift is believed to be the housing market pushing residents out of the Bay Area, those seeking cheaper housing. Another is the downtown area’s prevalence of jobs that are now worked remotely, composing 31% of the workforce in the area. Much of the area’s office buildings (65%) lie vacant. Officials are seeking to remedy the issue by proposing alternative land use and diversifying the area, but the city is facing economic barriers to changing the downtown office spaces to better suit the current in-person workforce — or even into new housing. In contrast, inland cities with relatively affordable housing like Bakersfield and Fresno, where activity has reached 125% and 121% of 2019 levels, respectively. They ranked second and third in the study, behind only Salt Lake City. Environmental Group Seeks to Replenish Mono Lake  The environmental nonprofit Mono Lake Committee has filed a request to the State Water Resources Control Board to suspend diversions of water from Mono Lake to Los Angeles. At the center of the group’s request is concern that the diversions of water, in addition to ongoing drought conditions, is causing the lake bottom to be exposed, making California gulls vulnerable to coyotes which can cross the dry beds. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has said that cutting this supply, which serves about 54,000 ratepayers, would cause higher water bills and force the city to buy water sources elsewhere, shifting the impact to other communities in drought. The State Board is reviewing the request with consideration of water supply needs, wildlife protections, air quality, and the interests of the Kutzadika’a Tribe and is set to respond in the upcoming weeks. Las Vegas High-Speed Rail Releases EIR Brightline West is making progress on its plan to connect Victorville to Las Vegas, releasing environmental documents for the $8 billion high-speed rail project and its 49-mile extension between Hesperia and Rancho Cucamonga. Brightline has also approved the purchase of land in Rancho Cucamonga, which will serve as the final California station and already connects to downtown Los Angeles' Union Station. Once the documents are approved, construction could start as soon as 2026, with service beginning in 2030. Experts suggest travelers could reach Las Vegas from Los Angeles in three and a half hours. Though Brightline plans to fund the project using federal and private money, the developer has not yet accounted for full funding. Home Prices Change Buying Patterns in California Expensive home prices and extreme mortgage rates are pushing many buyers to move to more affordable cities, including Sacramento and San Diego, according to recent data from Redfin. Researchers found that about one-quarter of homebuyers explored housing options in new metro areas, especially as one-third of those with jobs could work from home. Data also shows that many people are continuing to leave coastal job centers; San Francisco experienced the largest net outflow, shortly followed by Los Angeles. Sacramento reached the top of the list for net inflow of residents, with most homebuyers relocating from San Francisco. San Diego made fourth on the list, receiving many residents from Los Angeles. Despite these mass migrations, experts suggest that relocations may relax alongside the economy. CP&DR Coverage: Study of Jobs-Housing Balance Wins National Award The 2022 award for “Best Article” in the Journal of the American Planning Association went to “Jobs–Housing Balance Re-Re-Visited,” co-authored by two California-based researchers: Evelyn Blumenberg, professor of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Hannah King, a doctoral student at the Luskin School. Blumenberg and King analyze the relationship between cities’ housing affordability and “self-containment,” meaning the degree to which people both live and work within a given city. Troublingly for California, they found that, on average, higher housing prices correlate with less self-containment. CP&DR spoke with Blumenberg about the award-winning article and its implications for California housing policy. Quick Hits & Updates A Superior Court judge has cleared a deed-restriction on San Diego’s former Central Library, paving the way for the long-vacant building to be used as a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Short-term plans include the provision of 26 beds in a shelter for the winter season, and long-term plans for permanent use of the site as a shelter with additional beds are still being considered. The San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report with suggestions for incentivizing the conversion of offices to housing. Suggestions included exempting conversions from environmental hearings, offering subsidies, and reducing affordability minimums and certain fees. Policymakers have demonstrated openness to the conversation but remain uncertain about the future of the office market. A contract for the consulting firm London Moeder Advisors to consider the highest and best use of 324 acres of land at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego County is under consideration . The consultants plan to study the prospect of residential, retail, office, and mixed-use spaces across the three sites managed by the 22nd District Agricultural Association on behalf of the State of California. The sale of 2,000-acres of Escondido hills officially goes to neighboring company Golden Door Spa, promising to protect the property and use it sustainably. The land was narrowly purchased after Newland Communities tried for nearly a decade to build a large housing development on the land, prompting concern from multiple environmental groups. Negotiations are in progress in Chula Vista between the city, Bayview and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System for a new development . MountainWest Real Estate has plans to build a $900 million skyline, mixed-use development with a medical center, trolley line, affordable and luxury housing, and restaurants. MTS hopes for increased ridership once the project is completed, and keep ridership up while the development is under construction. San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston accused Mayor London Breed of intentionally undermining efforts to transform an abandoned lot in the city into low-income housing by refusing to follow up on an agreement to buy the land. A spokesperson for the mayor responded by saying the process is competitive, and not as simple as Preston assumes. After receiving petitions from three nonprofit organizations, the Biden administration announced on Jan. 10 that it is considering the Chinook salmon — native to California and Oregon — for a protected status as either endangered or threatened. Next steps include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s review of the information. The expected conclusion is due in August of this year.

Legislative Analyst Skeptical of Greenhouse Gas Scoping Plan The Legislative Analyst’s Office has reviewed the California Air Resources Board’s updated Scoping Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The review states that despite updating both the statutory and Scoping Plan reduction goals for 2030 to 40 percent and 48 percent of the 1990 levels, respectively, the plan does not provide enough specific policies or guidelines for successful implementation. The review found that the plan primarily relies on assumptions, such as a percent reduction in per capita vehicle miles traveled, to drive emission reductions instead of specific, actionable policies. Due to the lack of actionable items, there is risk of not meeting the goals, of increasing costs, and of limiting both the global impact of California’s leadership in climate change policy and its ability to effectively make policy and budget choices, the review states. The review also evaluated the Cap-and-Trade program’s contributions to meeting the 2030 goals and found that it is not positioned to make up for the shortfall of other emissions reductions programs because it is not stringent enough. Recommendations for improving the plan include the Legislature requiring a report by the California Air Resources Board with additional details about the policies and cost-effectiveness and updating the Cap-and-Trade program to be more stringent under an extended timeline. (See related CP&DR coverage .) Los Angeles, Los Beach Accelerate Efforts to Develop Affordable Housing Newly-elected Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is instructing city departments to accelerate their processing of affordable housing and shelter applications, requiring completion within 60 days. Further, Bass has ordered departments to waive discretionary reviews for projects that do not necessitate zoning changes. As a result, city officials expect that processes for 31 projects currently under review will be streamlined for approval. The move follows Bass' declaration of a state of emergency on homelessness, an initiative echoed by Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, who has requested that city officials draft a similar emergency declaration. Richardson's priorities in addressing the crisis include increasing shelter capacity, improving homelessness outreach teams, and making use of the city's Alternate Crisis Response Program, intended to enhance mental health and medical resources. Sunnyvale to Lift Prohibition on Residential Development in Moffett Park To meet the state's 12,000-home RHNA requirement, Sunnyvale plans to bring new housing to Moffett Park, where residential development is currently prohibited. In its Moffett Park Specific Plan draft, officials are planning to add 16,000 to 20,000 new homes by 2040, with 15 percent being affordable, to an area which holds public office and research hub facilities. Planners expect that much of the housing would be developed alongside office and research campuses owned by large tech companies, which have already inhabited the area. Officials also released a draft environmental impact report which outlines that the city would increase development by about 10 million square feet, 3.4 million of which have already been approved, in addition to the new homes. Report Assesses Slow Uptake of SB 9 Housing Units A new brief authored by researchers and analysts at UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation considers the barriers to providing missing middle housing, which encompasses housing developments that range in size from accessory dwelling units to small-scale apartment complexes. Though state officials have approved SB 9 and various zoning reforms, regulatory, financing, and construction hurdles make missing middle housing construction too rare to make an impact. The authors recommend that policies surpass zoning reforms to include statewide design standards, reduced costs and requirements, and streamlined processes which make it easier to construct units that help alleviate the housing crisis. CP&DR Legal Coverage: Housing Accountability Act Supports Livermore Housing Project A challenge to a major downtown Livermore affordable housing project has failed in large part due to the Housing Accountability Act, especially the objective standards provisions. And the fact that the project was in a specific plan area helped bulletproof it against legal challenge under the California Environmental Quality Act. On the downtown project, the First District Court of Appeal ruled in an unpublished opinion that Save Livermore Downtown’s litany of claims was meritless. The city found that the project conformed with the city’s general plan and the downtown specific plan and concluded that because of the specific plan conformity the project was exempt from CEQA. Save Livermore Downtown challenged both the conformity and the CEQA exemption. In the local media, Save Livermore Downtown immediately promised to ask for a rehearing. Quick Hits & Updates A tentative court ruling has halted plans for the University of California’s plans for redevelopment of People’s Park in Berkeley to accommodate housing for students and people experiencing homelessness. The ruling stated that the university failed to conduct an environmental impact review of alternative sites and that it did not consider impacts such as noise and displacement of existing residents in the area surrounding the site. (See related CP&DR coverage .) The City of Los Angeles is facing multiple lawsuits which seek to prevent last month’s city council decision to ban all new oil and gas production and phase out all existing production over the next 20 years from taking effect. The lawsuits argue that the city did not conduct an environmental study of the change in compliance with state and local requirements, while activist community groups arguing in favor of the ban are citing health problems linked to living near oil wells. A draft of the North Paramount Gateway Specific Plan in the Los Angeles County city of Paramount includes 5,000 new residential units, 31,000 square feet of commercial space, and public improvements such as bike lanes and wider sidewalks. The Specific Plan covers 279 acres between the two planned stations of the West Santa Ana Branch light rail line within Paramount, and the city is seeking to rezone the land to accommodate the new, denser developments outlined in the plan. Guidelines for implementation of AB 2097 have been circulated by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. AB 2097 prohibits public agencies from imposing minimum parking requirements on most types of development within one-half mile of a major transit stop. The guidelines indicate a new data collection process for the city to better understand the impact of the law on housing development and a process for submitting evidence in favor of parking requirements from interested parties. The Los Angeles Planning Commission approved a pilot plan to implement rules for homeowners developing new structures in the hills between Griffin Park and the 405 freeway to prevent further harm to wildlife. The ordinance will head to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee before reaching the city council. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) is pleased to announce the availability of the Housing Element  Annual Progress Report (APR) form ,  instructions , and FAQs . The form is for jurisdictions to report housing activity during the 2022 calendar year. Local governments are required to submit 2022 APRs to HCD and Office of Planning and Research (OPR) by April 1, 2023. The Del Mar City Council sent a letter to Senator Toni Atkins to protest the implementation of Senate Bill 9, the 2021 law that permits the development of multiple units on lots currently zoned for single-unit homes. The letter claims, “the State mandates raise concerns about loss of local control, unnecessary impacts to community character, and impacts to the general fund." The letter raises specific concerns about implementing SB 9 in the Coastal Zone. Though California is home to 11 of the top 20 most expensive regions in the United States, the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area is the most expensive, according to recent federal data. Analysts found that severe housing and utilities costs were 19.8% higher than the national average. San Francisco housing developers typically wait 627 days before receiving a full building permit for multifamily projects and 861 days for single family developments, according to recent data from the city's Department of Building Inspection. The delays point to role of bureaucratic processes in worsening the housing crisis.