The final version of a "Good Neighbor Policy" adopted by Riverside County in November fell short of the original author's intentions.

Paloma Esquival reports on the effort to approve a "Good Neighbor Policy" that would have required a buffer between large warehouses and residences in Riverside County in Southern California's Inland Empire Region.
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors recently approved the "Good Neighbor Policy," but with such significant changes that the policy's original backer voted no on the final produce.
Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries pushed for a policy that would have required a 1,000-foot buffer between warehouses and residential neighborhoods in response to a wave of construction in the region. "In the last decade, more than 150 million square feet of industrial space, the vast majority of it warehouses, has been built in the Inland Empire, according to real estate services company CBRE," writes Esquival.
“We blew it,” [Jeffires] said. “The standards that were adopted are really no standards at all.”
Regulatory constraints on industrial development in Riverside County proved unpopular, as critics of the idea cited the protections of the California Environmental Quality Act and the need for jobs in a region struck particularly hard by the effects of the Great Recession.
Among the concessions granted in the final, approved version of the Good Neighbor Policy: 1) individual supervisors retain the "ability to opt out of the policy in their districts, and 2) "instead of the 1,000-foot buffer that Jeffries had proposed, they adopted a 300-foot buffer, measured from warehouse loading docks to property lines," reports Esquival.
FULL STORY: Efforts to rein in the Inland Empire’s warehouse industry fall flat

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing
The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant
A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing
Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions