SB 375

A police sergeant displayed his mediation skills at a regional planning meeting by temporarily replacing the facilitator after 20 tea party activists disrupted the meeting.

A new study has created unexpected tensions between public health advocates and smart-growth-oriented urban planners.

Jerry Brown has proposed a huge governmental streamlining to make the state more efficient. But in the process he is proposing separating transportation and housing -- now housed in one agency -- and putting them in separate agencies.

Tea Party activists have spoken out at regional planning meetings in California to protest what some consider conspiratorial plans to crush civil liberties under the guise of smart growth.

Travertine City would house 35,000 residents on the shores of the Salton Sea, California's largest - and most unpleasant - body of water. Developers claim that it will be a model of sustainability. "

Public outreach on SB 375, California's climate change bill, began last month in the San Francisco Bay Area. But the East Bay Tea Party had other plans.

The California governor made an unscheduled appearance in front of the state's Strategic Growth Council -- unstaffed -- to find out what they're up to.

Once a bastion of sprawl, the San Diego region is now embracing one of the most significant regional planning efforts in the nation's history. It is the first region in California to draft a Sustainable Communities Strategy, as mandated by SB 375.

Two Bay Area planning agencies have jointly released what they call their "Initial Vision Scenario", a first step in implementing the Sustainable Community Strategy required by state law (SB 375, 2008) to reduce climate emissions from transportation.

Infill development has been championed largely by architects, planners, and activist groups like the Congress for New Urbanism. Now developers have finally banded together in the Infill Builders Assoc. to insist that infill can be good business.

NRDC land use expert Amanda Eaken blogs about the approval by the Air Resources Board of the regional targets required by SB 375 to reduce global warming caused by transportation. An overlooked result may be the new powers resting with MPOs.

The fruition of a lengthy state planning process required by SB 375 may come as early as Sept. 23 when the CA Air Resources Board may adopt targets for 18 metropolitan regions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing vehicle miles traveled.

A short documentary exploring the development challenges that the City of Ventura faces.

The Southern California Association of Governments rebuffed the CA Air Resources Board by deliberately setting lower targets for greenhouse gas emissions per SB 375, the 2008 law intended to reduce GHG emissions from transportation.

Columnist Dan Walters looks at issues coming before California voters this November that could revise the traditional "American Dream" within the state -- or undo efforts to change it.

A new report from the Urban Land Institute finds that California's VMT-focused Senate Bill 375 can potentially reverse the state's sprawl. Transit-oriented development is seen as a strong strategy.

A video created for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) presents a serious look at what infill development would look like in Ventura and Fullerton.

Here's one you don't find often - a neighborhood may sue the city of Sacramento for approving an infill project they categorize as 'too suburban and car-oriented', while the city council woman extolls the infill qualities, citing SB 375 and AB 32.

Regional planning in CA's sprawling Central Valley has turned to the huge challenge of increasing density. Fortunately, SB 375 will facilitate planners' efforts to double Fresno County density to 8 units per acre. Yet institutional obstacles remain.

Walkable, transit-accessible neighborhoods do more than just lower greenhouse gas emissions of their residents - they save them money too, states a new report, "Windfall for All", from the Bay Area's TransForm, a coalition of over 100 non-profits.