The staff recommended upzoning half the the city, excluding the fire-prone Berkeley Hills. But the planning commission has recommended rezoning all of Berkeley including the hills.
New legislation would try to give both cities and developers something they want, while putting guardrails on builder's remedy projects. Meanwhile, HCD revoked Portola Valley's housing element approval.
Grant program would focus on commercial-to-residential conversions, community land trusts social housing, and more. Whether the idea will get through Congress is another story -- but it's part of a big Biden effort on housing supply and affordability.
But in a mixed bag of ballot measures on the March ballot, Santa Cruz shot down a slow-growth policy in the downtown, while Chico defeated two ballot measures that would have permitted a new development, and Mountain House voters OK'd cityhood.
Brightline West, the high speed rail line from the Inland Empire to Las Vegas, may be operational by 2027 -- long before the state high speed rail system. Cities along the line are eager to capitalize on this potential transportation revolution.
California has always had a lot of planners. But now cities and other agencies are having trouble filling positions for an increasingly stressful and busy job. It's partly because of housing prices -- but there are other reasons too.
Our review of CP&DR's most-read stories show that housing again dominated the news -- including builder's remedy, new legislation, and L.A.'s Measure ULA.