When a new shopping center at the edge of town might skim off customers from existing businesses, how far can a planning department go to protect against "urban decay"?
Winters – one of the most charming towns in the Central Valley – is considering whether to accept the town's first franchise fast-food outlet. I almost never take sides in these things, but I'm hoping the city's leaders say no to the proposed Burger King.
Jonathan London is the director of the Center for Regional Change and an assistant professor in the University of California, Davis, Department of Human and Community Development. The center's profile has risen substantially while it takes on a number of academic, public policy and civic-oriented projects in the Sacramento region and the San Joaquin Valley. He spoke with CP&DR Editor Paul Shigley about the work of the Center for Regional Change. >>read more
Despite high gasoline prices, concern over greenhouse gas emissions, a dismal housing market and a renowned "smart growth" regional planning blueprint, a whole new phase of exurbs is being planned north of Sacramento.
COURTLAND _ In a precedent-setting decision, a state panel has overturned Yolo County's decision to permit development of 162 housing units within the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and at the base of a levee of questionable integrity. The vote was closely watched as a measure of state and local commitment to the Delta and flood safety. >>read more
Finally heeding a message of alarm that experts have been sounding for a decade, California voters in November authorized an unprecedented investment in the fragile network of levees that protects homes, farms and critical infrastructure in the Central Valley from catastrophic flooding. Between Proposition 1E, which authorized $4.1 billion for levee improvement, and Proposition 84, a water bond that included $800 million for flood-control projects, the levee system stands to get a $5 billion upgrade. >>read more
