Following a heated legal battle over new student housing in Berkeley, Governor Newsom signed a new law removing ‘social noise’ as an environmental impact.
A California state bill signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, Assembly Bill 1307, removes noise impact as a factor in environmental reviews for new student housing projects, prompted by the state’s housing crisis and the battle over proposed new housing in People’s Park between the University of California, Berkeley and local activists.
As Noah Goldberg explains in the Los Angeles Times, “The passage of the bill means that the noise generated by project occupants will not be considered a significant effect on the environment.” The law, which goes into effect immediately, “reestablishes over 50 years of CEQA precedent, and reaffirms that people are not pollution,” said the bill’s author, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, and comes at a time when over 400,000 students in the state’s university systems lack stable housing.
Nicole Gordon, a lawyer for UC, said letting the noise ruling stand “would make CEQA a dangerous and powerful tool for any neighbor that does not like the social habits and customs of potential new residents” and could be “applied to perpetuate prejudice and stereotypes.” The ruling was already referenced in a Los Angeles case earlier this year.
Opponents of the projects Make UC a Good Neighbor say they support new student housing, just not in People’s Park, which they call “a historic and much-needed open space.”
FULL STORY: Newsom signs bill to pave way for university housing. Critics say Berkeley’s People’s Park will be destroyed
Berkeley Noise Pollution Precedent Blocks Los Angeles Housing
Opponents to a new university housing project cited a recent Berkeley case in which noise pollution was successfully used to deny an exemption from environmental review.
Opinion: How California’s Environmental Law Empowers NIMBYs
Critics of a new provision calling “social noise” an environmental impact say the law can too easily be co-opted by anti-housing groups to block new development.
U.C. Berkeley To Reduce Enrollment by Thousands, Court Decides
The California Supreme Court ruled against the university in a battle over a proposed enrollment cap, forcing the school to reject thousands of potential new students.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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.
5 New England states march closer to 800 megawatt wind energy project
Securing federal approval for the project may be complicated under the Trump administration, which has historically been hostile towards domestic wind power.
Baltimore to break ground on $50 million Transit Priority Project
The project will bring faster bus trips, safer streets and better bike connections to Baltimore.
Airbnb launches $250 million 'last-dollar financing' housing accelerator, makes first investment in Austin
The company will put $6.4 million towards affordable housing development in Texas’ capital.
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