Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
CEQA
Neighborhood groups blocked the construction and completion of a Target-anchored retail complex and a 22-story residential high rise for years. Developers and the city have finally moved forward.
Urbanize.LA
AB 2923, which would allow the Bay Area Rapid Transit District to rezone their properties near stations for transit-oriented development, passed its first committee. The California chapter of APA objects to the preemption of local land use authority.
California Chapter of American Planning Association
According to a new study by UC Berkeley and Columbia University, local land use processes, specifically the approval process, rather than the California Environmental Quality Act, is the main impediment to housing production in California.
Los Angeles Times
One legislator believes CEQA "is a key barrier to California meeting its ambitious climate change goals.”
Los Angeles Times
The strange world projects exempted from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act got a little stranger this week.
Los Angeles Times
New housing development is off to a slow start in Los Angeles in 2017. Although the city defeated an anti-growth ballot measure, LA is still faced with a number of policy and legal challenges to building an adequate supply of affordable housing.
The Planning Report
The author of California’s successful accessory dwelling unit legislation last year discusses this session's efforts, as well as the role of the state in determining local housing supply.
The Planning Report
In Sacramento, a protracted fight involving the California Environmental Quality Act downsized a proposed development. It also added fuel to the pro-Trump, anti-development fire that swept the nation on November 8.
California Planning & Development Report
It may seem understandable for developers to resort to the ballot box after encountering difficulty with a planning commission or city council, but in California it makes sense even for cities like Moreno Valley that are friendly to new development.
The New York Times
Blog post
Reviewing Governor Jerry Brown's recent proposed legislation to permit projects that provide affordable housing to be approved as-of-right.
In a significant effort to shift from sprawl toward incentivizing low-carbon transportation options, California is revising the way it measures traffic impacts of development projects under its Environmental Quality Act.
The Planning Report
California Assembly Bill AB 57 has tied the hands of local governments in reviewing the location of new cell towers, bypassing normal environmental and public review procedures.
Medium
Sacramento Bee's political columnist, Dan Walters, writes that NIMBYs are among the main reasons for the state's chronic housing crisis, and one of their main tools is the California Environmental Quality Act, which must be reformed by politicians.
The Sacramento Bee
A study of CEQA litigation revealed widespread abuse that experts say undermines California's environmental sustainability goals.
The Planning Report
Housing often costs a literal fortune in California, and Governor Jerry Brown doesn't see an easy fix. Demand to live in the state is high, but there are local factors at work impeding housing construction.
San Francisco Business Times
The group, Fix The City, sued the city on September 9 on its visionary plan that emphasizes transit, biking, and walking, claiming the traffic lane reductions will create more air pollution, imperil public safety, and add to traffic congestion.
Los Angeles Times
They're hated by many, blamed for the city's gentrification, but are an integral part of regional transportation, enabling tech employees to work on the Peninsula and South Bay while living in the city. A city-approved pilot may become permanent.
San Francisco Examiner
With five days left in the legislative season, Gov. Jerry Brown halved the fuels tax increases proposed in the Democratic bill as a sweetener to tax-averse Republicans, though they haven't show any willingness to date to compromise.
San Jose Mercury News
Feature
An op-ed describing the public health benefits of CEQA reform and urging California's leaders to finalize the end of "Level of Service" as a measure of project impacts.
Blog post
The ambiguous definition of 'urban decay' dilutes the argument for requiring this less-well-known environmental study.
