UC Davis Moves Ahead with Major Medical Complex in Sacramento 
The University of California Board of Regents voted to move forward with a $1.1 billion addition to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The first phase of the "Aggie Square" project includes four new buildings--three for lab, classroom and research space and one for retail and student housing. According to a report released in July, the university plans to build 285 units of student housing, which will rent for $1,900 a month per unit. The board approved an amendment to ensure at least 200 beds of affordable housing for students be included in the development. The Sacramento City Council plans to approve a $30 million tax break to fill a funding gap for the project, along with an additional $37 million intended to spark new affordable housing in the area. Under the mechanism, called an Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District, a portion of the new property tax revenue that would normally go to the city's general funds will instead be routed to the developer for necessary infrastructure build-out. The project will also include a community benefits agreement, and a $37 million tax break will go toward efforts to spur new affordable housing in the area and cash to keep renters from being displaced. Nonetheless, critics say will fuel gentrification.

OPR Releases Advisory Document to Help Cities Defend Against Wildfires 
As California grapples with the most extensive wildfires in the state's history, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has released the draft updated Fire Hazard Planning Technical Advisory (Fire Hazard Planning TA), which includes specific land use strategies to reduce fire risk to buildings, infrastructure, and communities. The updated TA is a tool for local planners and stakeholders updating general plans as they balance new construction with the associated dangers of extending neighborhoods into fire-prone areas. Among the recommendations are a plan for community outreach, particularly with vulnerable and disadvantaged communities; incorporating avoidance and risk minimization policies and development review procedures in the land use element for high-risk areas; integrating land use and risk avoidance measures with conservation and open space element policies; and identifying the homes, businesses, and community assets at highest risk and instituting policies to "harden" homes or infrastructure. The document also features sample policies and programs, case studies, and potential funding sources. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

Over 13,000 San Diego Affordable Housing Units in Peril
A study that shows San Diego will likely lose more than half of the city's affordable housing stock unless city officials take action has spurred an aggressive new plan to spend at least $6 million annually on preservation incentives. The City Council unanimously approved a seven-part action plan that creates a regional "preservation collaborative" to tackle projects. The goal is to save the 13,450 affordable units that would be easiest to preserve--4,200 deed-restricted units and 9,250 units of "naturally occurring" affordable housing. The at-risk units would typically be sold to a private developer, which decreases the likelihood of deed restrictions getting extended. The law requires owners to alert city officials and nonprofit affordable housing developers before putting the property up for sale, and would require the owners of deed-restricted rental properties to provide both a "right of first offer" and "a right of first refusal" to qualified nonprofit developers of subsidized housing.

CP&DR Legal Coverage: Fresno County Must Throw Out Friant Ranch Approvals
After almost 10 years of litigation, an appellate court has ordered Fresno County to set aside its approvals of the 942-acre Friant Ranch project and prepare a revised environmental impact report providing more detail about the potential air quality impacts of the project. The Fifth District Court of Appeal’s ruling is a followup to the California Supreme Court’s ruling in the same case in 2018. In that ruling, the Supreme Court said the EIR in the Friant Ranch case didn’t tightly link the project’s air quality effects to actual human health consequences.

Quick Hits & Updates
Santa Clara County, which is home to a disproportionate number of California's 400,000 to 800,000 migrant farmworkers, will relax zoning laws and streamline the permitting progress for homes intended for agricultural workers. The county will reduce costs from $14,000 to a special permit costing between $500 and $6,000, depending on whether the project is for short-term of long-term housing.

Fortress Investment Group is postponing plans for Desert Xpress, its high speed rail project that would connect Las Vegas and Southern California. Investors failed to sell $2.4 billion in debt that was to be financed through agencies in California and Nevada, postponed until market liquidity improves. California has given Fortress until Dec. 1 to sell the bonds.

San Diego voters approved Measure E, a proposition that allows taller buildings in the Midway District by striking the area from the city's coastal zone, but the victory introduces the possibility of a legal battle that could invalidate the measure altogether. Nonprofit group Save Our Access filed a California Environmental Quality Act challenge before Measure A passed; a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the Midway District for the foreseeable future.

As stores struggle, Palo Alto prepares to let offices fill retail spaces--but city council is split over whether proposed zone changes would help or hurt retailers amid the pandemic. The proposal would modify the city's definitions of "retail" uses to encompass medical offices, educational uses, banks, law firms, accounting firms and real estate agents, among other types of offices. It also calls for imposing size limitations to make sure offices don't occupy too much space in commercial corridors.

The Trump administration announced it is removing gray wolves from U.S. Endangered Species Act protections--leaving California with reduced ability to track the species as its population grows, and prevents the state from criminally charging people who kill wolves. Since wolves returned to California, there have been at least 20 confirmed or probable cases of wolves attacking livestock.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's office launched a $100,000 design challenge that invites architects to submit design models for appealing low-rise, multi-family housing in Los Angeles. The challenge is supported by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the James Irvine Foundation, and Citi, and calls for a focus on sustainability and confronting racial injustice. The competition is informed by a research project that solicits community feedback that will then be used by entrants to shape their designs.

The BART Board of Directors selected a development team to build a long-awaited housing project that will add 780 units of housing to land adjacent to the El Cerrito BART Station. The project would be about 49 percent below market rate, with 37 percent of the units affordable to families of four making less than $104,000 a year. The plan will have to deal with the realities of commuter parking, which will inevitably decrease, but board members have expressed optimism for public support due to nearby street parking and an existing alternative parking lot.