San Diego Housing Element Zones for 174,000 New Units
One of the first cities to update its a housing element under the new RHNA cycle--and its significantly increased housing targets--the City of San Diego recently adopted a housing element of 174,678 units, which is more than the city's RHNA requires. San Diego will slightly adjust its housing policy to construct adequate units and align with state-mandated housing requirements. On June 8, the city council approved the planning department’s modifications to the city’s eight-year housing proposal. The amendments are small tweaks designed to ensure the completion of the 108,036 homes in San Diego required by the state by 2029. Though housing advocates have voiced concerns that city’s plan includes unsuitable development sites, the city maintains that it has allocated more than enough space to meet its quota.

Housing Construction Grows, but Not Keeping Pace with Prices
While private builders are turning out housing at the highest level in 13 years, the growing supply remains inadequate for the state’s housing crisis, and it isn’t bringing down costs according to an analysis by the Sacramento Bee. California added 103,000 units to its housing market in the past year, with slightly more single-family homes than apartments. Los Angeles built almost 17% of all new housing, while the Central Valley and foothills, particularly San Benito, Yuba, and Placer, saw the most housing per capita. This data evidences the trend of residents’ moving to less dense, cheaper locations, including those in the Sacramento region, which built 16,427 new units in 2019 and 2020. Despite extensive statewide housing growth, multiple years of insufficient construction leaves California in its housing crisis, which will continue to be informed by the high cost of construction and a decreasing population.

Sacramento Considers Regionwide Bike Network
The Sacramento Area Council of Governments is starting public outreach to determine bike travel interests in an online survey that will serve as a bike and walk signpost for planning of a unified bike trail network. The region already has a disconnected patchwork of off-street biking corridors that will serve as a starting point. It includes the 32-mile American River Bike Trail. Additional bike projects are in the works in Sacramento, Citrus Heights, and Orangevale. One ambitious plan in the works is a path between Yuba City and Marysville that would take advantage of an unused Union Pacific rail line. One key goal is to link under-resourced and lower-income neighborhoods to jobs, shopping, and recreation.

Study Indicates Market-Rate Development May Lower Nearby Rents
A meta-study of neighborhood-level impacts of market-rate housing by the UCLA Lewis Center found that the supply effects of market-rate housing are relatively small. The studies collectively indicate that market-rate development causes rents in nearby buildings to fall rather than rise. The findings, the authors note, do not imply that market-rate development should be permitted irrespective of local impacts, which vary. Local, project-specific impacts are impossible to predict but do support the argument that market-rate housing should be assumed to complement rather than undermine other affordability and economic empowerment strategies. If market-rate housing lowers nearby rents, it can help stabilize property values so that affordable housing construction and acquisition is less costly.

CP&DR Coverage: Fulton on Google Urbanism in San Jose
There is no bigger real estate development deal in California right now that the Google deal for a second, urban campus in downtown San Jose – 15 miles to the east of its headquarters in Mountain View. Last month, in a meeting that lasted almost seven hours, the San Jose City Council approved both the 720-age Google development agreement and a revision of the Diridon Area Station Plan to reflect Google’s plans. There’s no question that, with the approval, San Jose has made a major commitment to Google. The development agreement essentially guaranteed Google’s ability to build its 80-acre project – under California law, a development agreement establishes a vested right to build – and is also providing Google some critical parcels of land. But Google, it would seem, is giving up more.

Quick Hits & Updates 

While Caltrain’s electrification process promises to speed up trips across California, insufficient funding, inaccessible materials and train cars, and unexpected underground utilities are preventing the electric trains from running any time soon. Delays in the $2.3 billion project, which are now commonplace for Bay Area transportation proposals, mean that we won’t see Caltrain’s electric transportation on the road until late 2024.

July 1, 2020 population estimates from the US Census Bureau indicate the pandemic trend of residents’ moving away from California’s biggest cities; throughout the year, Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Francisco all experienced population decreases, while San Diego’s population grew at a mere 0.2% in the past year, down considerably from its 9% growth during the decade. San Francisco, San Jose, and Long Beach were all members of the “largest one-year percentage losses.” 

Due to extreme drought conditions, the Marin Municipal Water District is considering banning water hookups for new developments with some exceptions. If implemented, the ban could threaten and complicate increased housing production required by the state, including the 15,000 units proposed by the Association of Bay Area Governments for completion in Marin County between 2023-2031.

Dominion over the Queen Mary has returned to Long Beach to better maintain the decaying, 87-year-old ship and floating hotel, which, without quick restoration, is at risk of capsizing. Not only does the Queen Mary require $23 million for immediate repairs, but a 2017 study suggests that essential flood-prevention upgrades come with a $289 million price tag.

The Samuel Lawrence Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Coastal Commission, which approved demolition at the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS), over concerns about the environmental impact of radioactive waste disposal. While the Coastal Commission believes that Southern California Edison, SONGS’ majority owner, will properly manage the dismantling over the next eight years, the advocacy group believes that the owner is mishandling the 3.55 million pounds of waste at the site that is located next to the ocean. 

San Francisco is the next city likely to make outdoor parklets – crucial pandemic infrastructure – a permanent option for outdoor dining. Though contention over amendments adopted by city supervisors is complicating approval, most officials hope to move forward with the program because of its value in pandemic recovery. A public hearing will be held on June 18 to discuss the adopted amendments, and the Board of Supervisors will vote on June 22.

The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach released budgets with significant expenditures on development and infrastructure upgrades. The Port of Los Angeles will spend a significant portion of its $1.7 billion budget on encouraging visitor attraction to Wilmington and San Pedro waterfront projects, while over half of the Port of Long Beach’s $622.4 million budget will be dedicated toward improving terminals and roads. Vandenberg Air Force Base, near Lompoc, was recently renamed in order to bolster the federal Defense Department’s establishment of the US Space Force. The base's economic impact on the surrounding Lompoc area could exceed$6 billion in the next decade, according to a new study by REACH. This economic reinforcement would result from the base’s employment and capital investment, long-term residency for Vandenberg employees, increasing regional job development, and rocket launch tourism.

Hundreds of mid-city residents in San Diego are petitioning against the city’s new ADU policy, which officials hope will help with the housing crisis. The residents, who compose the group Neighbors for a Better San Diego, argue that allowing property owners to add bonus units to single-family properties will change neighborhood character, lead to inadequate parking, and increase traffic on routes to freeways.

Researchers at the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge developed a tool for determining which of California’s neighborhoods experience heightened homeowner vulnerability. The goal of the Owner Vulnerability Index is to help policymakers center the most at-risk homeowners in their pandemic protection policies.

The Milken Institute’s Center for Regional Economics released “Recalibrating Workforce Development Across California,” a report that recommends how to improve workforce stability and resilience after the pandemic underscored widespread employment vulnerability, particularly for marginalized communities. The report endorses policies that increase access to education and employment and reinforce public-private partnerships.

The Dixon City Council voted to approve the General Plan 2040, whose strategies for future development include strengthening the downtown’s importance to the community, protecting natural resources and minimizing environmental concerns, and prioritizing economic development for local businesses.

Los Angeles Metro will use Colorado Boulevard for Eagle Rock’s portion of the proposed Bus Rapid Transit line from North Hollywood to Pasadena. The committee will decide which lane configuration plan to move forward with in its Beautiful Boulevard plan and must approve the Final Environmental Impact Report.

San Diego County will introduce a new office that centers environmental and climate justice to prioritize the health and safety of residents who have been systemically marginalized. The department will combat existing threats of pollution and toxic waste as well as ensure that future climate policy does not further harm low-income communities and communities of color.

The City of Long Beach will allow sidewalk parklets popularized during the pandemic to remain throughout the summer and, for some businesses, exist permanently, after the City Council voted on May 18th to extend its Open Streets program.

While multiple cities have now enforced sober living rules, the Department of Housing and Community Development is pushing back against some regulations, citing that their approach is discriminatory against disabled people, which, according to the state, includes recovering drug users and alcoholics. The state took its first step to resist local authorities with a “Notice of Violation” sent to the city of Encinitas and could proceed with more significant action in other cities, including the revocation of millions in housing funds and legal disputes. (See related CP&DR coverage.)