In recent land use news:

  • Sacramento Bee political columnist Dan Walters is predicting fresh attempts in the new legislative session to limit no-fault evictions under the Ellis Act.
  • Streetsblog LA reported the Metro Board of Directors instructed its CEO to report on transit-oriented development efforts that can prepare Los Angeles County to be a grantee under the new Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities cap-and-trade program.
  • Following CalEPA's announcement of its "disadvantaged community" designations for cap-and-trade grantmaking (see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3616), hopeful news articles appeared in the Fresno Bee and the Stockton Record about funding possibilities for Central Valley regions where bad air quality and agricultural poverty combine to meet definitions of disadvantage under the CalEnviroScreen 2.0 standard. Meanwhile, however, the California Coalition for Rural Housing submitted a comment on the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program suggesting the program was all but exclusively oriented toward transit-oriented development at major transit hubs, and was "designed to fail" in smaller communities and places poorly served by transit. Video from the AHSC program's last main public workshop on October 28 is available now at http://sgc.ca.gov/. New guidance documents issued based on the CalEPA decision include this Air Resources Board redraft on benefits to disadvantaged communities.
  • The Silicon Valley Business Journal reported the Crossing/900 project on Middlefield Road in downtown Redwood City signed a major deal to provide a headquarters for the Box, Inc. company, purveyor of secure cloud storage services.
  • The SF Chron reports that housing giant Lennar and another developer, Macerich, have contracted to build a shopping center on the site of the former Candlestick Park stadium, to form the center of a new dense development projected to include 6,000 housing units.
  • News reports came through on a slew of Bay Area specific and general plan revisions: 
    • Menlo Park voted a week before the election to limit medical office space under its downtown and El Camino Real specific plan. An office space limitation measure on the ballot, Measure M, lost by 61.6% to 38.4%.
    • The city of Novato set a public hearing for Nov. 18 on revisions to its housing element. The housing element update page is at http://www.ci.novato.ca.us/Index.aspx?page=1410.
    • Solano County's Housing Element update was posted for comment in October. Proposed revisions include a new disability accommodation request process.
    • Half Moon Bay has begun public meetings on a General Plan revision that will be the first since 1993; the Half Moon Bay Review reports the last revision attempt, in 2004, broke down in acrimony. The paper meanwhile reports a recent traffic study found high congestion levels on roads in the Coastside area of San Mateo County. The study is part of the Connect the Coastside transportation management plan process, focused on Highways 1 and 92, which intersect in Half Moon Bay.
    • Cupertino's General Plan went to a hearing November 10 with emphasis on its housing element, which was released for comment in October. The Silicon Valley Business Journal's Nate Donato Weinstein livetweeted the meeting, noting  62 people submitted cards for public comment and many speakers opposed the draft, especially the proposed allocations of residential and office construction. The City Council next takes up the matter December 2.
    • Palo Alto's revision to its Comprehensive Plan (local equivalent to General Plan) is focusing on "retail preservation" amid some disagreement on what that exactly means.
    • Martinez is discussing amendments to the General Plan and the Hidden Lakes Specific Area Plan.
    • The Calaveras Enterprise is still nagging the Board of Supervisors to move along with revising its General Plan, which is currently projected to reach approval stage around April of 2016.
  • San Diego began this week to install about 200 "smart" parking meters that accept credit cards and track space usage. The first such meters will be in the tourist-oriented Gaslamp Quarter.
  • Fresno homeless-rights activist Mike Rhodes reported on Indybay that settlements have been reached between the City of Fresno and 36 homeless campers. The campers alleged they lost property in a city "cleanup" sweep, using bulldozers, that removed a large encampment of hand-built shelters. Counsel representing the campers included Central California Legal Services and Arnold & Porter. (Item via League of California Cities.)
  • The Press Democrat reported Mendocino College rescinded an agreement to sell a 15-acre blufftop research station property to the Bureau of Land Management. Instead, it announced plans to sell only a conservation easement. The college cited plans to continue using buildings there for research while also preserving the property against development. BLM would have added it to the California Coastal National Monument.
  • A couple of commentaries have appeared from law firms playing up the usefulness of SB 628 Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts. They're posted by Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard and by Holland & Knight. For CP&DR's own early profile of the bill � including reasons it may not work well for housing or in dense neighborhoods � see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3563.
  • The LA Times reported that, in a move one neighbor called "the road to development," The Los Angeles City Council voted to allow paving on Bulwer Road in Laurel Canyon. The stated purpose of paving the dirt road was to help a developer sell two houses that were completed five years ago after sitting unfinished for years before that. But it was disputed whether further construction might follow 
  • California Lawyer's November issue has reports on two land use matters: the future of California groundwater and AirBnB.
  • If you missed the National Association of City Transportation Officials meeting in San Francisco, some of the presentations are available via links from the daily schedule.
  • Sunnyvale neighbors have appealed a court ruling that disappointed their campaign to recover public access to a public building that the city sold, the Raynor Activity Center. The suit is brought partly uner CEQA, partly under the Public Park Preservation Act. The neighbors' most recent update describes the ruling. The appellate case is Save Sunnyvale Parks and Schools, Inc. v. City of Sunnyvale.
  • Inyo County approved the Munro Valley Solar project in Olancha, despite objections to its visual impact and to effects on tribal cultural resources. 
  • Grist magazine posted a colorful linkfest on extreme responses to the California water shortage, including a National Journal news feature on water theft.
  • The LA Times reported, a tad optimistically, that a new dust mitigation approach "ends L.A.'s longtime feud with Owens Valley."