Articles

Long criticized as a regulatory laggard, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District appears to be only one year away from becoming the first air district in the state to levy air quality impact fees on all new developments. The proposed fee would be based on the size and type of project, and development proponents whose projects meet certain criteria could minimize or avoid the fee all together.

Riverside's University Village - where city officials permitted a 25% reduction of required parking spaces - is evidence that when merchants, developers and a municipality are willing to flex, new retail development can thrive in existing urban areas.

The booklet titled "Accessory Dwelling Unit Manual" may not hit The New York Times bestseller list any time soon. But this unprepossessing little booklet is dynamite because it promotes the least popular type of housing in California.

The Davis administration has come and gone with little to show in the way of changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, a document that carries the force of law and dictates how public agencies are supposed to implement CEQA. About 30 minor guideline changes were issued in September, but those changes could be put on hold or cancelled by the new Schwarzenegger administration.

A new attempt to build another airport to serve San Diego is underway, with proponents working toward an airport siting measure for the 2006 ballot.

Rivermark has been praised as a progressive project for providing some New Urbanist-inspired architecture, affordable housing and open space. However, Rivermark is an uneasy amalgam of urban and suburban.

Voters in two Solano County cities on the edge of the Bay Area approved urban growth boundaries during the November election, providing two major victories for slow-growth advocates. Overall, however, local land use balloting in November demonstrated neither a slow-growth nor a pro-growth bent among voters.

The administration of new Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger started coming together in November, but Schwarzenegger's appointments were as difficult to peg as the new governor himself. Schwarzenegger has sprinkled his administration with moderates and Democrats, and he counterbalanced those appointments with business-oriented veterans of the Wilson administration.

The largest development project along the newly extended 210 freeway at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains is finally proceeding after years of planning and financial difficulty. However, all is not smooth sailing for the Colonies Crossroads project, as a November appellate court order halted grading on a portion of the site because of a fight over flood control facilities.

Developers are building residences in California at the fastest pace in years. From recent economic reports suggesting a slowing economy, the construction might appear to be risky. But builders are banking on two irrefutable facts: There is no end in sight to the state's population growth, and all of those people need a place to live.