SB 375 Likely to Affect Neighborhood Growth Battles

"Will a new state law strip the last vestiges of local control over the 'smart growth' projects that have triggered countless development battles in (Bay Area cities) in recent years?

While early opinions are mixed, there's little doubt that the laws created to battle globe-warming greenhouse gases (GHGs) could reshape the face of California cities in the decades ahead."

"'Ultimately, no one knows exactly what SB 375 will do, other than create a series of planning milestones that must be met between now and 2010, and then into the future,' declared three attorneys for one of the state’s leading land use litigation firms three weeks after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the law."

"Two results could be 'significant density incentives' and streamlining of the environmental review process 'for certain transit-oriented projects' that will surely upset neighborhood activists who use the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to oppose new housing."