The (Nearly) Glacial Timescale of Planning

Planners are used to taking a few years to develop plans, and maybe a few more for development to take hold. For some of California's biggest projects, it's more about decades than years.

1 minute read

July 20, 2021, 12:00 PM PDT

By Josh Stephens @jrstephens310


Tongass National Forest

BJ Ray / Shutterstock

"We at CP&DR are used to these long timeframes. Sometimes our biggest editorial challenge is choosing whether to cover a project next month, a year from now, or three years from some. Sometimes, it literally makes no difference, since a story today would end up being the same as a story a year from now. And yet, there are projects that, no matter how important strain even our patience and that illustrate just how creaky California planning can be sometimes. In some cases, we have written about them, written about them again, and then pretty much written them off. In others, we’ve been gratified to see improvements and even completions while also marveling at how many more grey hairs we’ve gained in the interim." 

Featuring the Hollywood Community Plan, Hunters Point Shipyard, Concord Naval Weapons Station, California High Speed Rail, and many more! 

Tuesday, July 13, 2021 in California Planning & Development Report

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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