When a new shopping center may leave existing retail areas short of business, a California court has ruled that mitigations of "urban decay" must be spelled out up front.
If an edge-of-town shopping center will cause "urban decay" in the form of lost downtown business, the EIR needs to spell out enforceable mitigation measures up front. That's one of several holdings in California Clean Energy Committee v. City of Woodland, a painstaking, meaty opinion by California's Third District Court of Appeal. The opinion was first issued in February with "unpublished" status. Some very smart lawyers who represent community groups recently persuaded the court to give the weight of precedent to the decision's core holdings.
Read the full story: EIR overturned for slim 'urban decay' mitigation
Tollways for Sacramento?
Road pricing terminology can be confusing, particularly since Californians see so little of it. For example, a Sacramento TV station calls proposed express lanes on Interstate 80 from Solano County to Sacramento a ‘tollway.’
California Impact Fees Reach Supreme Court
An upcoming ruling could have a major impact on building and development in California and around the country.
Opinion: How California’s Environmental Law Empowers NIMBYs
Critics of a new provision calling “social noise” an environmental impact say the law can too easily be co-opted by anti-housing groups to block new development.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Move over, LA: St. Louis gears up for Olympics, invests millions in downtown redevelopment
The Missouri city will host the 2028 Olympic soccer group stage and knockout matches.
Mass. votes against statewide minimum lot size for single-family homes
Over 2 million residents voted on Question 7; it was decided by just over 30,000 votes.
Maryland’s $15 billion bridge project gains key approval
The Maryland Transit Authority said the project will create over 60,000 jobs and add $23 billion to the local economy.
‘No clear next steps’ for Chicago's permanent festival grounds
Eleventh Ward Ald. Nicole Lee has suggested Soldier Field as a possible location for the permanent event space.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority