If given final approval, the plan would increase the allowable floor area ratio to permit denser housing development in single-family neighborhoods and near transit.
The Sacramento City Council approved a set of changes to the city’s general plan that make it easier to build multifamily housing in single-family neighborhoods as a way to ease the local housing crisis, with a final vote coming early next year.
As Emily Hamann explains in the Sacramento Business Journal, the new rules are designed to increase density and create more housing while maintaining the neighborhood scale. “The changes will get rid of zoning designations that restrict the number of residential units that can be built on a lot, and instead base restrictions on the overall size of the building.” Under the new rules, a project with more units would be allowed more floor area ratio (FAR). “However, the city’s existing other restrictions, like maximum building height and lot coverage, mandatory setbacks and open space requirements still apply.”
The council supported a similar change to a higher allowable FAR for buildings near transit.
FULL STORY: Sacramento City Council approves plan that would add density to single-family neighborhoods
Reno Revisits Zoning Reform
After roundly rejecting a proposal to legalize granny flats in 2018, the city council is revising it and other zoning reform proposals that could increase the city’s affordable housing supply.
How Cities Are Resisting State Efforts To Increase Density
Cities are attempting to wrest back local control over land use and zoning via some ingenious—and sometimes disingenuous—strategies.
LA delays state housing mandate with 'low-rise ordinance'
The new ordinance allows the city to delay implementing SB 79, a state law requiring more density near transit.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association