San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Dianne Jacob has asked the state Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its approval of the Sunrise Powerlink transmission corridor because of its potential to make the unincorporated community of Alpine into "a ghost town" due to years of construction.
San Diego Gas & Electric's 120-mile Sunrise Powerlink corridor would provide connections to new solar, biofuel and other power plants in the Imperial County desert. Environmentalists have fought the project because of its impact to fragile open spaces. But in Alpine, a small town along Interstate 8, the power lines would be placed underground along Alpine Boulevard for 6 miles. Construction for the lines could have the town's main thoroughfare torn up for at least two years.
Jacob and Alpine residents protest that they did not learn about this potential alignment until very late in the process, when SDG&E abandoned its preferred route through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The utility company maintains the route was thoroughly publicized and analyzed, and it has urged the PUC not to reconsider its December 2008 approval of the project. Litigation over Sunrise Powerlink continues.
Meanwhile, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution restating its support for the Sunrise Powerlink project. With the highest unemployment rate in the country, Imperial County is hopeful for jobs from construction and operation of new power plants.
Characterized as "the last piece in the puzzle" for Chula Vista bayfront redevelopment, a land swap between the San Diego Unified Port District and developer Pacifica Holdings has been approved by the district and the City of Chula Vista.
A $400 million economic stimulus grant from the federal government for the proposed Transbay Terminal in San Francisco will provide the final piece of financing for construction of the first, $1.2 billion phase of the terminal project. However, federal transportation officials appear to have stepped into the middle of a dispute between local officials and the California High Speed Rail Authority over the precise terminus for high-speed rail in San Francisco by siding with the locals. In addition, one rail authority board member, former judge and state Sen.
Local road and street maintenance needs an additional $71 billion investment over the next 10 years, according to a study prepared by the California State Association of Counties and the League of California Cities. The study identified $99.7 billion worth of maintenance needed to roads, streets and their essential components, such as storm drains, sidewalks and signals. However, only $28.3 billion is expected to be available.
It's official: 2009 was the slowest year for new housing construction since the 1940s. Builders pulled permits for only 36,209 housing units in 2009, according to the Construction Industry Research Board. That was a little more than half of the 64,962 housing starts in 2008, which had been the record post-war low.
Opponents and supporters of a proposed luxury resort and housing development in the City of Healdsburg have signed an agreement outlining what a new environmental impact report should address.
The Merriam Mountains housing project in North San Diego County lives – at least until the Board of Supervisors has another chance to consider the proposed development.
The proposed Merriam Mountains housing development in North San Diego County suffered a setback in December when the Board of Supervisors split 2-2 on the project. The tie vote equates to rejection of the project; however, supervisors within 30 days may call for a new hearing, and reconsideration appears likely.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a district court ruling that strikes down San Diego County's ordinance regulating the location and appearance of cell phone antennas and other wireless facilities.
Relations between the City of Alameda and developer SunCal appear to have soured in the wake of voters' overwhelming defeat of SunCal's plan to redevelop Alameda Naval Air Station. Three days after 85% of voters rejected SunCal's plan during a February 2 special election, city officials sent SunCal a notice of default, the first step in ending SunCal's exclusive negotiating agreement to redevelop the base.
The nonprofit organization GreenInfo Network has released a newly revised database that attempts to identify every publicly protected parcel of open land in California, ranging from national forest to urban pocket park. The database inventories 49 million acres of protected land composed of 51,500 separate holdings owned by 860 governmental agencies or nonprofit organizations. Downloadable for free, the information should be of use to planners, academics, government agencies, nonprofit organization, businesses and others, said Larry Orman, GreenInfo Network executive director.
Opponents of the Gold Rush Ranch 1,600-unit housing development and golf resort in Sutter Creek submitted referendum petitions with 468 signatures in early February (see CP&DR Local Watch, January 15, 2010). If as few as one-third of those signatures is valid, the referendum of the Gold Rush Ranch specific plan and general plan amendment would qualify for the ballot, possibly as soon as June.
Transportation costs associated with a community are a good predictor of housing foreclosure rates, according to a new study commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The peer-reviewed statistical analysis found that, after accounting for variable factors, foreclosure rates in automobile-dependent fringe neighborhoods are higher than in "location efficient" neighborhoods in which residents spend less of their income on transportation, according to the NRDC.
