EPA Makes Development of Redwood City Salt Flats Less Likely
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently abandoned its appeal of a federal judge's ruling last year holding that a sprawling collection of Redwood City salt ponds is protected from development under provisions of the Clean Water Act. The move, which was encouraged by a letter from nearly 60 Bay Area organizations nad individuals to the Biden administration, is a reversal from an initiative under the Trump Administration to make the area open for potential development. Cargill, a privately held company, evaporates water on the 1,365-acre property in "crystallizer beds" for industrial uses. The company has been considering development since 2009. Several conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA in an effort to protect the site from development. Cargill says it plans to move forward with an appeal in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. (See prior CP&DR coverage.)

California Exodus Exaggerated, But Bay Area Loses Residents
New analyses from the U.S. Postal Service and nonpartisan California Policy Lab say reports of mass exodus from California, with perhaps the exception of San Francisco, are overhyped at best. For California as a whole, the share of residents leaving the state has grown since 2015 by two percentage points, though fewer than usual residents have moved into California to replace those leaving. Even in the Bay Area, which is an outlier in terms of address changes, 72 percent of address changes resulted in moves to other Bay counties, and about a fifth of the 115,243 address changes went elsewhere in California. The most popular out-of-state destination was Washington state, followed by Texas, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, and New York. “While a mass exodus from California clearly didn’t happen in 2020, the pandemic did change some historical patterns. For example, fewer people moved into the state to replace those who left,” Natalie Holmes, research fellow at the California Policy Lab, said in a statement as reported in the Los Angeles Times. “At the county level, however, San Francisco is experiencing a unique and dramatic exodus, which is causing 50% or 100% increases in Bay Area in-migration for some counties in the Sierras.” (See related CP&DR coverage.)

Bakersfield Makes Breakthrough on Homelessness
Bakersfield, in partnership with Kern County, has become the fifth community to be certified for reaching "functional zero" for chronic homelessness, a standard achieved when a community can keep the number of homeless at or below three individuals. The national recognition comes from Built for Zero, an initiative of more than 80 cities and counties working to end homelessness. The number of people experiencing chronic homelessness has been reduced from 62 in January of 2019 to just two people today. The community has maintained an average of four people experiencing chronic homelessness throughout the entirety of 2020. At the beginning of the initiative, Bakersfield built a regional team, or a "command center" around a goal of getting to functional zero. They created a by-name list of real-time data to know every person experiencing chronic homelessness by name, and used that data to direct resources.

CP&DR Podcast: L.A. Planner-Turned-Councilmember Nithya Raman
Elected to the Los Angeles City Council in November, Nithya Raman ran on an explicitly urbanist platform. Her slogan: "Nithya for the city." Raman arrived at public service via urban planning. She earned her master's in urban planning from MIT and spend several years working her in native India, advocating for impoverished populations in Delhi and Chennai.Raman is the second urban planner to serve on the Los Angeles City Council and the first to serve since Ed Reyes was termed out in 2013. Josh Stephens spoke with Raman on for the CP&DR podcast.

Quick Hits & Updates 

Attorneys for Treasure Island residents has filed a motion to drop Treasure Island developers Lennar Corp. and Five Points Holding LLC from a lawsuit alleging that developers and regulators falsely assured residents of the property's safety. Attorneys for the defendants have been unable to find evidence against the developers. Instead, the lawsuit will focus on city and state regulators.

Petulama is garnering national media attention after prohibiting the construction of any new gas stations. The ban has been in the works since 2019 and is meant to encourage a switch to electric and hydrogen charging stations. The city has set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030; a recent analysis shows 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Sonoma County originate in the transportation sector. The city currently has 16 gas stations for 60,000 residents and an area of 14 square miles. 

The San Jose City County City Council voted to rezone a school district parcel from "quasi-public-land"--currently a grass field--to a residential site, paving the way for 35 new housing units and a means by which the district can begin to make up for an estimated $1.7 million shortfall in the coming years. The two council votes against sided with housing advocates who argued the site could accommodate many more affordable homes. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

An advocacy group is suing the Coastal Commission, arguing in a lawsuit that the commission should not have granted a permit to Southern California Edison to take down building and infrastructure at the now-defunct San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The case, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, is expected to go trial in late June. The Coastal Commission is slated to file an opposition brief in May.

Oakland released its draft environmental impact report for the A's proposed baseball stadium at Howard Terminal. The release marks a big step in the effort to build a 35,000-seat waterfront ballpark complex with housing, offices, and retail space. The document said the development would worsen traffic congestion and violate the city's noise ordinance; construction could emit pollutants that pose health risks in West Oakland.

The California Strategic Growth Council has released a draft of grant guidelines and applications for for the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program, which is a component of the Strategic Growth Council's Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program.

A new study that looked at the effects of an "Urban Village" planning strategy implemented in San Jose, California, found that the initiative's effects were limited. The policy, intended to promote higher density and mixed use development, had almost zero effect on parcel land use, treatment period, and identification strategies. The study's authors say zoning changes never materialized.

A white paper from the UCLA Lewis Center explores how California's Housing Element Law could be the answer to removing local barriers and addressing neighborhood-level opposition to change. Chief among the author's recommendations is a fee deferral program that would allow developers to pay when the city actually needs the money, not early on in the process when costs are most prohibitive.

The California Department of Housing and Community Development approved a $500,000 grant for Lancaster under the Local Early Action Planning, or LEAP, grants program. Lancaster plans to use the funds toward the Parkway Village Specific Plan, a proposed development that would allow for both single-family and multi-family development.

A new report from Sustainability Sonoma, an organization that spent two years collaborating with businesses, government agencies and other stakeholders, explores the strategies necessary to address the Valley's inequalities.

A new report says the San Jose metro area is the nation's top market for the future development of office space and is also seen as a hot market for retail and apartment development. The commercial real estate firm that issued the report also ranked highly the East Bay and the San Francisco-San Mateo metro regions.

A group disputing the legality of Measure P, Fresno's parks tax ballot initiative, will appeal after a circuit court ruled that the measure only needed a simple majority to pass. Measure P on the November 2018 ballot proposed a 3/8-cent sales tax that would've generated $37.5 million annually for 30 years for Fresno parks and cultural arts.

San Diego County may purchase 98 acres of scenic land in El Monte Valley for $3 million. The land is a popular destination for hikers, and is home to bats, owls, kestrels, roadrunners, eagles, mountain lions, and much more. If the county passes on the deal, the land can then be offered to conservation groups, after which it would be available for purchase by private groups.

A light rail transit project in the San Fernando Valley is likely to proceed after a decision by the Federal Transit Authority opened the door to federal funding. The FTA's action allows LA County Metro to seek federal dollars for the final design and construction of the 9.2-mile project, which is planned to connect the Van Nuys Station with the San Fernando Metrolink Station.