The City Councilmembers appointed themselves the final arbiter of whether a project met SB 35 requirements. Then they overruled their own staff. But in the end, it was really just about vagueness and inconsistency between the general plan and the zoning ordinance. >>read more

Having punched a big hole in CEQA to solve the Berkeley enrollment problem, will the Legislature be tempted to punch more holes in the future? >>read more

In response to the Berkeley enrollment case, the Legislature is likely to do something. Exempting student and faculty housing would weaken CEQA -- but Justice Goodwin Liu laid out another path that could truly reform it. >>read more

The University of California tried to finesse the fact that Berkeley had blown past its enrollment target without doing additional CEQA analysis. And maybe the judge didn't have to "go nuclear" on this case. But the question of whether population growth in and of itself demands lengthy environmental analysis holds major implications for general plans in cities and counties throughout California. >>read more

As a recent San Diego ruling reveals, cities have no choice but to defend their decisions to abide by statutes like the Density Bonus Law. At the same time, they are trying to "thread a needle" to challenge those laws in court. >>read more

The famously low-rise city had to approve a six-story apartment building to get out from under an unfavorable 20-year-old land lease. >>read more

New Census figures show a sharp increase in multifamily projects approved in 2021. Are SB 35 and other new state laws behind the jump? >>read more

The connection to UCSD is a great thing. But San Diego's geography -- and other factors -- may limit its ability to transform. >>read more

With dozens of other bills, the Legislature continued to put the squeeze on local governments in the housing arena in 2021. >>read more

It ends single-family zoning and clips the wings of local governments. But the bottom line is probably thousands of units, not hundreds of thousands of units. >>read more