Search Results

An otherwise unassuming apartment project that became a symbol of California’s housing crisis may finally move forward, nine years after its initial proposal. The Lafayette City Council has voted to approve the Terraces at Lafayette , an apartment complex planned for 22 acres in the upscale Bay Area suburb. The Terraces saga gained widespread attention early this year when it was recounted in Conor Dougherty’s book Golden Gates . Over the years, the project’s size has wavered between 44 units and 315 units. Some local residents at one point favored the diminutive version, while housing advocates insisted that the project accommodate as many residents as possible – and famously sued the city, unsuccessfully, to force the larger project. The City Council approval came at a late August meeting that was the last allocated to Lafayette City Council under the provisions of SB 330 , which amended the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) to allow local municipalities just five meetings to approve housing developments or otherwise give a reason to deny. Even so, the controversy is far from over. Opponents – led by the citizens’ group Save Lafayette filed a lawsuit suit against the project in late September – the second suit brought by the group under the California Environmental Quality Act. Richard Drury , the attorney representing Save Lafayette, claims the city must conduct a supplemental environmental impact report of the Terraces before the project can proceed. “The city is relying on an EIR prepared in 2011. It was for a similar project, but it was different in many respects,” Drury said. The EIR for the project was originally certified in 2013 – a few months before community comments prompted Lafayette to work with Terraces developer O’Brien Land Company on an alternative project, one “better suited” to the community’s “semi-rural character,” according to city documents. The city subsequently approved a new development to include 44 single-family homes, a community park, a sports complex, a dog park and a parking lot.

San Jose Adopts Commercial Linkage Fee for Affordable Housing After more than five years of stalled talks, the City of San Jose will begin charging commercial developers fees to fund affordable housing. Under the new plan, office developers with projects more than 100,000 square feet will pay between $12 and $15 per square foot unless they agree to build affordable housing. Projects below the 100,000 square foot threshold will be exempt. The fee amounts were higher than those proposed by city housing and economic development officials who recommended $10 per square foot for downtown office developments with 100,000 square feet or more and $5 per square foot for outside of downtown. Retail developers fees will be $0, regardless of their size, due to increased retail vacancies during the pandemic. The council will explore allowing incentives such as fee reductions for developers who choose to build affordable housing right away and will create an additional fee structure for projects above one million square feet in the future Councilmembers called for a future feasibility study in two years to monitor the impact of the fees in an economy recovering from COVID-19. ADU Permitting Increases Threefold Statewide Largely through recently adopted legislation, California has spurred accessory dwelling units (ADUs) construction, especially in urban areas, according to an analysis from UC Berkeley's Terner Center. Between 2018 and 2019, permits increased from almost 6,000 to almost 16,000. To build upon the early success of ADU legislation, the Terner Center’s study suggests more financial tools are needed to facilitate ADU development amongst homeowners who don't have access to cash or equity. Constructing an ADU in California remains prohibitively expensive for many. An analysis of ADU construction data found that the average ADU cost in California is $167,000. Many owners reported needing to use multiple sources of financing. Programs like the Backyard Homes Project in Los Angeles, a pilot program that provides loans for homeowners that rent ADUs to low-income residents. The authors recommend making these financing options widely available on both the federal and state level. SCAG Adopts Updated Sustainable Communities Strategy and Transportation Plan The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) regional council voted unanimously to approve Connect SoCal, which among other things will serve as the basis for the region's Regional Housing Needs Assessments through 2029. SCAG staff will now notify each of the region's six counties and 191 cities of its draft allocation of new homes based on population, household, and job forecasts contained in the report. Local governments that disagree with those allocations will be able to appeal those numbers starting Sept. 11. The state Department of Housing and Community Development determined that the region must provide sufficient zoning for more than 1.3 million new homes--more than triple what they were in the latest RHNA cycle. The appeals will be heard by SCAG's RHNA subcommittee in December and January, and final allocations will be adopted in February. RHNA subcommittee members have publicly stated they expect a considerable number of appeals. (Further CP&DR coverage forthcoming.) CP&DR Coverage: Duplexes on the Rise Bill Fulton attended two panels on land use and housing last week, where housing experts said the problem of restrictive zoning may be more complicated because even when housing is allowed, costs are so high. But the solution may come back to housing reform – and, in particular, allowing small-scale projects that would have been facilitated by the doomed SB 1120, a duplex bill that died on the last night of the legislative session. Quick Hits & Updates  Amid a push for policies that promote racial equity, San Diego city officials will consider paving 40 miles of dirt streets in low-income neighborhoods and take over long-term maintenance costs. In areas where roads were never paved, many residents have a lesser understanding of the political process, and can't afford to donate to political campaigns, activists say. Community leaders reasoned that dirt streets and alleys can leave visitors and developers with a negative image of the areas. A stretch of concrete and asphalt in Alameda that was once an aircraft taxiway will be removed so the site along San Francisco Bay can be converted to a wetlands park, according to a proposal being considered by the city. The $14 million project would potentially come from the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority through a grant under Measure AA, a 20-year parcel tax passed in 2016 to fund habitat restoration. Based on data provided to San Francisco's Chamber of Commerce by credit-card companies, San Francisco restaurant sales are down 84 percent year-over-year; restaurant sales have dropped by 91 percent since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic began. About 51.5 percent of the city's restaurants aren't currently ringing up any sales, suggesting that they've closed temporarily or for good. Los Angeles Metro CEO Phil Washington announced a new internal task force intended to plan and implement a fareless transit system pilot. The initiative is billed as "a moral obligation to explore how a fareless system can aid those that have been hit hardest by the pandemic" and "a mitigation for targeting BIPOC on the system." Washington stated the task force will deliver its recommendations in December for implementation starting early 2021. The Los Angeles Metro Board of Directors has awarded a $48.3-million contract to move forward on the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project, a public transit line between the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles. The contract will fund advanced conceptual engineering and environmental studies for current Metro concepts and recently submitted proposed, private-industry concepts. Metro's designs include an underground subway or a partially above-ground aerial train. The Sacramento City Council approved a controversial revitalization plan that leaves the door open to a large historic public housing complex to be demolished and rebuilt. The West Broadway Specific Plan creates a vision for the area for the next 20 years. While it does not require the demolition of more than 750 units for low-income families, the plan contains language that leaves demolition as an option. That has concerned residents, activists and preservationists, including a former mayor and former NFL player Malcom Floyd, who participated in demonstrations at the site. The Modesto City Council approved a downtown master plan that calls for dense housing, walkable streets, and connections to the Tuolomne River and other trail corridors. The plan notes that downtown already has strong office, restaurant and entertainment sectors, but only 1 percent of Modesto's housing. That could change significantly as the plan calls for building 1,550 new homes. With widespread support from residents and businesses, San Luis Obispo's City Council passed an initiative that aims to encourage no net new building emissions from onsite energy use by 2020, and a 50 percent reduction in existing onsite building emissions by 2030. To reach the city's goal of carbon neutrality by 2035, the climate action plan also calls for 40 percent use of electric vehicles by 2030 and 50 percent use of green transportation by 2030.

An environmental review challenge to the construction of self-storage facilities in the Placer County community of Granite Bay has been declared moot by the Third District Court of Appeal.

The recent debate over housing in California has focused on land-use regulations – specifically, the idea that the biggest impediment to more housing in California is local regulation that restricts construction and the solution.

Anaheim, Angels Reach Deal for Stadium Redevelopment  The City of Anaheim and Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno have agreed on a cash and community benefits package of $150 million in cash, 466 affordable housing units, and a 7-acre park at a combined cost of $170 million for a 150-acre stadium property. The site was originally priced at $325 million, but the price and size of the parcel shrunk slightly by about $5 million and roughly 3 acres after the city decided to reserve land for city services. SRB Management, Moreno's business partnership, agreed to make 15 percent of housing units affordable at no extra cost to the city, adding 311 units, mostly for moderate-income families in an area expected to eventually be home to 30,000 residents. The plan also calls for 5,175 units of market-rate housing, 2.7 million square feet of office space, two hotels with 943 rooms combined, 1.1 million square feet of retail space, and parking structures. Los Altos Reluctantly Approves SB 35 Project After deciding not to appeal a judge's adverse ruling, the Los Altos City Council r eluctantly approved a five-story mixed-use project in its small-scale downtown last week. “If you’ve been to our downtown you know it just doesn’t fit there,” said Mayor Jan Pepper. “It’s unfortunate that SB 35 doesn’t allow cities to do the review of a project like this to make sure they conform with our requirements.” But a Superior Court judge had ruled the city's denial of the project was not based on any specific objective standard.  SGC Annual Report Highlights $1.6 Billion in Sustainability Grants  The 2020 Annual Report for the California Strategic Growth Council is now available. Highlights from 2019 and 2020 include the fifth and largest round of Affordable Housing and Sustainable communities (AHSC) projects, bringing the total invested through the program to over $1.6 billion. Three of SGC's Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) awardees secured federal grants to expand work in their TCC project areas. Two notable grants were the $35 million Choice Neighborhoods Initiative award in Watts and U.S. EPA Brownfields awards in Fresno and Sacramento. SGC established the Health and Equity program within the council, which builds on the public-private Health in All Policies partnership. The council began laying the groundwork for Regional Climate Collaboratives by building a community leadership development training program that will serve under-resources communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, SGC reports having adapted grant timelines and activities to applicants and grant recipients to adjust to uncertain conditions. SGC staff are also partnering with other state agencies to contribute to response and recovery activities. SANDAG Executive Director Under Fire in Disputed Report  The public version of a report accusing the San Diego Association of Governments' executive director of improper payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars was "incomplete and manipulated," according to the report's author. In an open letter to SANDAG, Mary Khoshmashrab railed against "redacted dollar amounts, position titles, dates and percentages that are not confidential in nature." Hasan Ikhrata, the SANDAG executive director, awarded bonuses, severance and other payments to current and former workers without alerting the full board of directors, according to the audit. SANDAG and Ikhrata have both pushed back on the audit's findings: Ikhrata produced a 38-page response disputing the report's claims and SANDAG released a lengthy memorandum from a hired law firm concluding that the severance payments were permitted. The report is the first out of the Office of Independent Performance Auditor, an agency created after SANDAG was found to have inflated the number of projects it could develop under a proposed tax measure. Quick Hits & Updates  Three possible routes will be considered  by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the Crenshaw Northern Extension Project, as well as a $50.3-million contract for environmental analysis and conceptual engineering of the project. Early ridership estimates for all the routes were promising, showing about 90,000 boardings being taken on the line on weekdays, says L.A. Metro. The Los Angeles City Planning Department released plans for an incentive-based zoning system for downtown projects to include more affordable housing. The new system would replace the existing program for the Transfer of Floor Area Rights (TFAR). Under the draft proposal, the new Downtown Community Plan update would rezone every parcel within its boundaries, more than doubling the land area currently eligible for housing. UC Merced's 2020 Project, which broke ground in 2016, is complete after a $1.3 billion investment over four years that doubled the size of the campus. California's youngest university added 13 structures with new classrooms, student wellness and counseling facilities, student housing, recreational areas, and more research space. The additional room will help the university get to its 2030 goal of 15,000 students, up from the 8,800 currently enrolled. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) In a surprise decision, the California Fish and Game Commission chose to delay an up-or-down vote that would have granted the western Joshua tree legal protection under the California Endangered Species Act. The tree will be up again for listing under the act in late September. Commission members indicated they believe the petition to protect Joshua Trees had already passed muster. A long-planned cleanup of a contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory  site is in jeopardy after the State Historical Resources Commission backed a NASA proposal to designate the entire site as a Native American cultural district. Cleanup activists note that an agreement to clean up up the site contains exemptions for land containing Native American artifacts, and fear those exemptions might be applied sitewide if the designation moves forward. The XpressWest high-speed rail line--expected to begin construction later this year--will connect Las Vegas with Southern California, but not before the project's backers and Los Angeles County officials grapple with how to connect the rail line with Metrolink and California's high-speed rail system. To date, Metro and others have committed $5 million to a development plan that will include an analysis of potential stations, ridership potential, and travel demand. Ventura County Planning Commission approved recommendations for the county's General Plan and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that will now to go the Board of Supervisors. Public comments have either called for strong climate action or a delay in the process to allow for a proper review of the economic impacts of proposed restrictions on oil and gas operations. The General Plan was originally slated to be the county's Climate Action Plan, but the EIR demonstrated that the proposed plans fail to meet emission reductions. A plan to build a light-rail line that would have connected downtown Sacramento with West Sacramento was rejected last-minute by a divided Sacramento Regional Transit Board. The board's refusal likely marks the end of a decade-long effort, despite backers having banked $50 million in federal funding for the project. City officials could not guarantee full funding to build the new project, nor funding to cover an estimated $1.5 million annual operating cost. Moreover, a feasibility study was never conducted. After decades of fierce opposition from resident groups, Lafayette City Council voted to approve a 315-unit apartment development on a 22-acre parcel. Under the Housing Accountability Act, the city had little choice but to allow the apartments: the project has set aside aside 20 percent of its units for affordable housing. The developer vowed to file a lawsuit if the city rejected the project, a fight the city was likely to lose. If that happened, Lafayette could have been on the hook for more than $15 million in fines and legal fees.

After going to the appellate court for the second time in five years, the City of Brentwood has come up empty-handed in its attempt to use funds from its former redevelopment agency to pay for five public construction projects.

In December, the City of Minneapolis did the unthinkable: as part of its  Minneapolis 2040  Comprehensive Plan, it eliminated single-unit zoning throughout the entire city. Now, any lot that currently includes a single home can be redeveloped as a duplex or triplex. While Minneapolis's housing crisis -- like its population -- is diminutive compared to that of California, the housing pressures are real, and planners and advocates believe that limiting the dominance of single-unit lots is an important step toward affordability and equity. One of the leading advocacy groups supporting Minneapolis 2040, and especially its loosening of zoning restrictions, was Neighbors for More Neighbors. Somewhat, though not entirely, affiliated with the YIMBY movement that has arisen in many housing-constrained cities, Neighbors for More Neighbors is a grassroots housing advocacy group that takes Minnesota's famed neighborliness seriously and literally. As California struggles with its housing crisis -- and considers many local and statewide efforts to loosen zoning -- the California Chapter of the American Planning Association invited Anna Nelson , one of MN4N's volunteer leaders, to speak at its virtual  statewide conference , to be held Sept. 14-16 on the internet. She will participate in " Big Conversation #2 : Thinking Outside the Toolbox to House California" the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 15. CP&DR 's Josh Stephens spoke with Nelson about what the planners in California can learn from Minnesota. For access on other platforms, including Spotify and Google Podcasts, please click here .

Concerned about the possible loss of a $7 million bond the city must post, the Los Altos City Council has reversed its earlier decision to appeal an SB 35-related ruling to an appellate court. The council will likely issue the relevant permits for a five-story mixed-used project in the city’s small-scale downtown later this week.

Vast Majority of Cities Remain Subject to SB 35 Streamlining Provisions In the Department of Housing and Community Development's newly released SB 35 Statewide Determination Summary  reports that all but 29 jurisdictions fall under some provision of SB 35, designed to streamline permitting for cities that have failed to meet their affordable housing goals. As previous CP&DR  coverage reported , among the 29 places that have satisfied housing expectations are Atherton, Beverly Hills, Carpinteria, Menlo Park, Newport Beach, and Santa Monica. The majority of metros and counties--289 statewide--are subject to streamlining for proposed developments with at least ten percent affordable housing as a result of insufficient progress toward their Above Moderate income RHNA. 221 jurisdictions have made insufficient progress toward their Lower income RHNA, and are therefore subject to streamlining for proposed developments with at least 50 percent affordability. The latter category includes the state’s three largest cities: Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.  Southern California Driving Dropped 80 Percent Early in Pandemic The Southern California region, one of the nation's most congested metropolitan areas has experienced a significant decline in vehicle traffic, transit use and air travel since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the first comprehensive analysis of the coronavirus' impact on planes, trains, and automobiles in Southern California. The study, conducted by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), analyzed roadway, rail and air traffic in the six-county region during the early months of the pandemic. Among the key findings of this first snapshot: Vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) fell by nearly 80 percent in April from January 2020, then gradually increased beginning in mid-April as many businesses and public spaces started reopening. Total VMT is now nearing pre-pandemic levels. Transit ridership began dropping in March and fell sharply the following month--down 65 percent to 85 percent from the prior year. The impact on Metrolink ridership was the most dramatic--down 90 percent in April and May from the year before. Air travel suffered immediate and significant impacts--down 65 percent year-over-year in March and 95 percent in April. San Diego Expands Density Bonus Program  The San Diego City Council unanimously approved a Moderate-Income Housing Density Bonus that will complement the Affordable Housing Density Bonus program, which the council approved in 2016. As the law stood, projects could earn an affordable housing density bonus of 50 percent. The new rule goes further, allowing projects to use the moderate-income program to obtain an additional 25 percent density bonus as long as 10 percent of pre-density units are deed-restricted at 120 percent AMI or lower. While the city has had success in driving new affordable housing construction, that hasn't translated to middle-income units. The 2010 to 2020 Regional Housing Needs Assessment called for 15,462 middle-income units to be built over the ten year period, but only 34 had been constructed through 2019. Quick Hits & Updates  The governor appointed  former Santa Ana City Councilmember Michele Martinez to the California Transportation Commission, and the commissioners elected Hilary Norton as chair. Both have strong support from active transportation and environmental advocates throughout the state. The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) announced the completion and opening of the Downtown San Francisco Ferry Terminal Expansion Project. The $98 million expansion triples WETA's San Francisco Bay Ferry capacity in the city core, creates infrastructure for emergency response activities, and opens up new public space on the San Francisco Waterfront. Metro Planning and Programming Committee board members will consider reallocating funds from the now-defunct High Desert Corridor freeway to a high-speed rail. The 63-mile High Desert Corridor freeway was planned to connect Palmdale in north L.A. County to Victorville in San Bernadino County. Metro's Measure M revenues, which total $170 million for property acquisition, plus $1.8 billion for construction, could now shift from freeway to high-speed rail. An ongoing battle to keep a Costco Warehouse from relocating in Redding seemed to have culminated after an attempt to overturn the project's approval with a ballot measure failed. The project may yet be subject to a CEQA lawsuit, according to a Redding City Attorney. The Redding City Council unanimously approved the project in May. Cypress is on track to be the first city in Orange County to resolve its "successor agency," which took the place of local redevelopment agencies in 2012. The decade long effort in Cypress will go to the county oversight board for official consideration. To dissolve, the law requires any successor agency to have all of their obligations paid in full, all litigation resoled and get the oversight board of approval. Santa Ana , which has for years exceeded state-set affordable housing goals, is now set to relax standards to allow developers to built market-rate apartments in the city, while lowering affordable housing requirements. The local law, known as the Housing Opportunity Ordinance (HOO), by reducing the number of affordable housing units required in future projects, and lower the in lieu fee. Most Californians support  policies to address climate change, according to a new statewide survey from the Public Policy Institute of California, including laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Two-thirds say air pollution is a serious threat, with Latinos and African Americans most likely to say it is a health concern. The survey also found that majorities oppose offshore drilling and favor protecting marine sanctuaries. Tenant activists in Santa Ana have failed to collect enough signatures to place a rent control measure before voters. A signature gathering drive for a local rent control initiative in 2018 also failed to get enough signatures, and Santa Ana voters rejected statewide ballot measure Prop. 10, which 54 percent of Santa Ana voters rejected. Proposition 21 , a rent control measure on November's statewide ballot, contains "false and misleading statements," according to a lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court. At issue is a claim to "protect single family home owners" from new rent caps, and that Proposition 21 "encourages the construction of new homes."

The last major piece of the Senate’s housing production package failed to make it to the governor’s desk last night when SB 1120 , the duplex bill, passed the Assembly by three votes – but ran out of time before it could be sent back to the Senate for concurrence. Some said the bill would have passed the Senate easily but that Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon held up the re-referral. (The best source is the Twitter feed of Matt Levin , housing reporter for CalMatters.)

In 2002, civic leaders in the San Fernando Valley famously sought to secede, via ballot measure, from the City of Los Angeles. Had they succeeded, they would have created one of the top-ten most populous cities in the United States—and the only one without a downtown. That effort has long since been shelved, but a contender for the Valley’s downtown has slowly emerged in the form of Warner Center, a 1.5-square-mile edge city in the west Valley, about 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Warner Center has long been a dense – for the Valley, at least – center of office and retail development. But the adoption of a specific plan, called Warner Center 2035, in 2013 set Warner Center on a course for additional growth. The overall plan permits up to 19,000 residential units spread over eight sub-districts, six of which allow for unlimited building heights. It did so in part by lifting development restrictions that prevail elsewhere in the city. “If you want to come build in Warner Center... you don't have to deal with many of the building requirements that you do in other parts of the city,” said Jake Flynn, spokesperson for City Council Member Bob Blumenfeld, who represents the west Valley. “That’s a big selling point.” The recent approval of a sub-plan called Promenade 2035 and the impending approval of a sports arena—the first such civic institution of its kind in the Valley—signal that the region’s downtown dreams may yet come to fruition. French developer Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, known for its extensive portfolio of retail and office units, convention centers, and airports in North America and Europe, is now at the helm of the Promenade 2035 project, which would redevelop the Westfield Promenade shopping site at Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Oxnard Street. The global developer has since taken on the burden of bringing the anticipated center to completion, despite a global pandemic creating new challenges for stadiums and entertainment venues, striving to create a sports and entertainment arena. The Los Angeles City Planning Commission unanimously recommended the Promenade 2035 project on May 28. The plan offers flexibility for its centerpiece: either a 7,500-seat sports and entertainment arena with a partial roof or a fully enclosed 10,000-seat venue. City planners adjusted the original proposal calling for a 15,000-seat stadium. The previous proposal resulted in several appeals, citing lack of affordable housing, a large stadium size, and compromised air quality as major issues. The project, expected to cost upwards of $1 billion, will span a 34-acre site. Promenade 2035 calls for the construction of a mixed-use destination, including 280,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 731,500 square feet of office space and 572 hotel rooms, and an urban sector with approximately 1,400 residential units.

Hollister Runs Afoul of State Housing Regulations The city of Hollister is in hot water with the California Department of Housing and Development (HCD), which denied the city's attempt to sidestep its order to "void or suspend its growth management program (GMP) immediately," because development plans, per SB 330, "cannot reduce intensity, impose moratoriums, enforce subjective design standards or implement any provision that limits approvals or caps." Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez has insisted that the law should not apply to the city because the county is exempt. While the county is indeed exempt, cities within exempt counties can be on a list of "affected cities" prohibited from taking actions like downzoning, imposing development moratoriums, and imposing subjective design review standards. Hollister is on the "affected cities" list. . San Diego Considers Proposals for Sports Arena Site A development team consisting of Brookfield Properties and ASM Global has been chosen to redevelop the site of the San Diego Sports Arena. Following a call for development proposals, San Diego narrowed the list of contenders to two competing visions for the future of the 48-acre San Diego Sports Arena property. The Toll Brothers, one of the largest developers of luxury homes in the nation, have submitted a proposal that is focused more on outdoor recreation and includes a long list of public amenities, including a 12-acre public park, a 12,000-seat modular soccer stadium, a 3,500-seat music venue, and renovation of the 54-year-old sports arena. It would also includes 1,400 housing units, 185,000 square feet of office buildings and 106,000 square feet of retail space. The winning proposal from Brookfield and ASM includes 5 acres of public parks, 2,100 housing units and 590,000 square feet of retail space. It is expected to cost $1 billion. The plan does not include a significant renovation of the arena but includes the possibility of a major renovation or replacement. Passage of Measure D, on the November ballot, will be necessary for for the proposal to move forward. It would lift the city's coastal 30-foot height limit for the sports arena site and 850 adjacent acres. . State Planning Council Commits to Furthering Equity Spurred by national protests against police brutality and racism inequity, California's Strategic Growth Council (SGC)  adopted a "Racial Equity Resolution" that commits the Council and each member agency "to identifying and implementing concrete and measurable actions to achieve racial equity." SGC, which comprises six secretaries representing transportation, health, agriculture, housing, natural resources, and environment, became the first cabinet-level body in the nation to adopt a racial equity plan. Goals within the Racial Equity Plan include identifying budgets for racial bias training, instituting a "blind" application process that excludes personally identifying information, outreach to people of color owned media outlets, diversified hiring panels, and new strategies for meaningful community outreach and engagement. The resolution's vision statement reads: "all people in California live in healthy, thriving, and resilient communities regardless of race.” Action items recommended in a staff report include: "integrating racial equity into Council leadership, operations, programs, policies, and practices;" "identifying and implementing concrete and measurable actions to achieve racial equity;" working with State Boards, Departments, and Offices to align and advance the Council’s commitment to racial equity;" and "using public Council meetings as a forum to share racial equity actions, milestones, and best practices, and to actively engage communities and stakeholders." . CP&DR Coverage: Environmental Justice Long-awaited guidelines for Senate Bill 1000, requiring jurisdictions to account for equity in their general plans, have been released by the Office of Planning & Research. Initially, cities will have to assess whether the EJ element applies to them at all, depending on whether they identify disadvantaged populations within their respective jurisdictions. The guidelines recommend several methods, starting with a review of environmental hazards via the state’s CalEnviroScreen database. One recommended threshold is to include communities that score in the lowest 25 percent on the aggregate of CalEnviroScreen’s 20 criteria—communities defined as disadvantaged under 2018’s SB 535.  Quick Hits & Updates  In San Ramon , the city Planning Commission approved a plan known as the CityWalk master plan that will guide development for the next 25 to 27 years on 130-acres of Bishop Ranch properties. The plan includes 4,500 housing units, including about 675 affordable units, a 169-room hotel, 166,000 square feet of commercial space, three parking structures, a park, and public spaces. Gov. Gavin Newsom reappointed Tia Boatman Patterson executive director of the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), a role she has served in since 2014. During her six-year tenure at CalHFA, the agency has assisted nearly 60,000 renters and homebuyers move into new homes. Homekey , a $100 million program that converts Bay Area hotels and motels into permanent homeless housing, is expected to attract plenty of applicants as COVID-19 closures stretch on and owners become more open to the idea of selling rather than hanging on to see how long they can survive plummeting tourism. San Francisco policy leaders have said they are hoping to buy two or more hotels for conversion, and 20 have already applied in the program's first three weeks. New data shows how and where California renters are likely to be hit hardest since Congress allowed key CARES Act provisions like expanded unemployment insurance and a limited eviction moratorium to expire. The Terner Center's analysis found that nearly three-quarters of renter households estimated to have experienced a COVID-related job loss include at least one person of color; the same proportion of vulnerable renter households live in just 10 California counties. By far the largest number live in Los Angeles County. City permits and approvals awarded during former Los Angeles Councilman Jose Huizar's tenure may be nullified under an ordinance proposed by City Atty. Mike Feuer. In a letter to council members, Feuer said the city needs an effective tool to address development decisions "tainted by corruption and fraud" and to help restore public faith in City Hall. Huizar has been accused by federal prosecutors of accepting bribes from developers, among other charges. The Esselen tribe is getting nearly two square miles of its ancestral lands in the heart of Big Sur back with the closing of a complicated real estate deal that has been in the works for more than a year. Ownership of a 1,199-acre undeveloped private property long known as the Adler Ranch will be transferred to the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. A new study on expanding passenger train lines into the east San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire says the two services will have a synergistic effect, bumping up daily ridership on both the Metro L Line (formerly known as the Gold Line) and the pricier Metrolink. The task force found the Metrolink service would go from about 400 boardings to more than 1,200 boardings in 2028 with the addition of the L Line at the Montclair TransCenter. A major revamp of downtown Sunnyvale is pushing forward with final city approval of the last pieces of the CityLine development. The project has already yielded nearly 200 apartment units and a large retail component. The next phase of the project will redevelop four sites as new homes, ground-floor retail, and offices. The anchors of the retail project, Whole Foods and AMC Theaters, are slated to open by late 2020. Santa Monica's bikeshare program, Breeze, will shut down later this year. Ridership, and the corresponding revenue, began to decline with the growth of scooter rentals from Bird, Lime, Lyft and Jump. The aging bike fleet would have required additional grants (the initial investment was $2 million), but in the current economy, grants are drying up--especially because state state resources will not prioritize services that can be provided by the private sector. While the majority of Californians agree that environmental hazards--from air pollution to climate change-- are serious threats, a new poll from the Public Policy Inst. of California shows people of color are more likely than whites to be concerned about environmental threats. Communities of color more often face environmental hazards such as water and air pollution, storms, and heatwaves, an imbalance now amplified by the pandemic.