The project included everything San Bruno and residents asked for, and it would have helped the city make significant progress in addressing its growing housing crisis. Still, it was voted down.
J.K. Dineen reports on a recent city council decision in San Bruno, California, that killed the proposal for Mills Park Plaza, a mixed-use project that would have included 425 housing units and a grocery store.
"The project’s rejection was held up by housing advocates as an example of a broken housing approval process in California. Even when cities say they want housing — and developers meet the community’s every demand and whim — decisions driven by fear of growth can kill projects after millions of dollars and years of energy have been sunk into them," writes Dineen.
He notes that San Bruno is far from reaching the state housing goal of 1,155 units by 2023, as the city has built only 119 units since 2016. Housing advocates argue that actions such as the one in San Bruno amount to housing obstruction at the local level and point to the need for planning oversight to occur at the state level.
Read the full story: San Bruno seeks housing, then rejects it: ‘I don’t know what you can get passed’
Pittsburgh Lawsuit Threatens Affordable Housing Requirement
A suit brought by a developers’ group calls the cost burden of the city’s inclusionary zoning law ‘unconstitutional.’
Louisville Launches ‘Anti-Displacement Tool’
After a years-long, tenant-led effort, Louisville will use a new tool to analyze whether a proposed housing development can meet a neighborhood’s housing needs and income levels. If it doesn’t, the city won’t subsidize it.
To Build More Housing, Cities Must Be Smarter in How They Use Land
How strategic land use policy decisions can alleviate the housing crisis and limit unsustainable sprawl.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
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.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
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
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority