CP&DR

Stars Wars Meets Historic Preservation in S.F. Presidio

Mar 1, 2001

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 16 No. 03 Mar 2001

George Lucas' movie production company and the Presidio Trust are close to signing a lease that will allow Lucas to construct a large office complex inside the national park in San Francisco. Finalization of the lease this spring would be a major advancement in a process that has involved a great deal of planning, political maneuvering and bickering over protection of historical resources at one of San Francisco's most treasured sites.

Slow-Growth Politics Gain in Fast-Growing Temecula

by Paul Shigley on Feb 1, 2001

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

Two years ago, heavy equipment churned up dust and closed lanes on nearly every major street in Temecula. The city was in the midst of a $60 million road improvement project undertaken to help catch up with rapid growth that has characterized the southwestern Riverside County community for years. In retrospect, the massive road project could not have come at a better time for slow-growth advocates, who in November 1999 elected two of their own to the City Council. The council now has a 3-2 pro-growth ...

City, County Continue Battle For Control Of Santa Clarita Valley

Jan 1, 2001

Local Watch, Los Angeles County, New cities, Paul Shigley, Vol. 16 No. 01 Jan 2001

It's not every day that a city places a full-page newspaper advertisement demanding a larger sphere of influence. Yet that is just what the City of Santa Clarita did last fall — on the same day it placed another full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times complaining about a gravel quarry proposed outside the city limits. The splashy advertisements are just one part of the latest round in the City of Santa Clarita's long fight with Los Angeles County over control of one of the state's fastest growing areas.

Threat of New Initiative Arises in SD Conflict

Dec 1, 2000

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 12 Dec 2000

Planning for a long stretch of rural lands on the fringe of suburban San Diego County continues to be a roiling controversy played out in the courts, the election booth and the Board of Supervisors chambers. The county lost the latest round in the courtroom recently when Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell ruled that the environmental impact report for the general plan amendment covering 191,000 acres was inadequate. The ruling pleased environmentalists and the state Attorney General's office, but the...

Oceanside Tries to Shake Its Bad Reputation

Nov 1, 2000

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 11 Nov 2000

Ever since Camp Pendleton opened on its northern border during World War II, Oceanside has been known as a military town. Over the years, nude dance clubs, rough bars, tattoo parlors and hourly motels flourished in the beachfront downtown, giving Oceanside a reputation as a tough town with a high crime rate. But city officials, civic leaders and merchants in this northern San Diego County town of 160,000 people have worked hard to make those days history. Now, downtown is on a comeback, aide...

Giant SoCal Landowner Has Development Plans Brewing

Oct 1, 2000

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

Tejon Ranch Company has received approval from the Kern County Board of Supervisors for the Tejon Industrial Complex, a 320-acre business park along I-5 at the northern base of the Grapevine. Although it is a 45-mile drive from the outskirts of Los Angeles, the project appears to tie Kern County closer to metropolitan Southern California, a concept that Tejon Ranch encourages. Tejon Ranch owns 270,000 contiguous acres (422 square miles) in southern Kern and northern Los Angeles counties, ma...

New Urbanism Comes To Fresno, But Regional Issues Remain

Sep 1, 2000

Fresno County, General plans, Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 09 Sep 2000

The City of Fresno is close to adopting a general plan that would allow the city's population to increase by two-thirds within the existing sphere of influence. The proposed general plan, which contains many New Urbanist concepts, presents a marked departure from past Fresno planning practices that encouraged low-density development on the fringes. "For the first time, we're not proposing to extend our sphere of influence line outward," Fresno Development Department Director Nick Yovino said. "For ...

Mammoth Lakes: Resort Town Prepares for the Big Time

Aug 1, 2000

Local Watch, Mammoth, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

Long seen as something of a second-tier resort area, Mammoth Mountain appears headed for the big time. Intrawest, a Canadian company with extensive resort development and operation experience, intends to build 2,300, mostly upper-end housing units and create a new town center in the City of Mammoth Lakes. The idea is to make Mammoth Lakes and the nearby Mammoth Mountain Ski Area competitive with premier all-season resorts such as those in Vail and Aspen, Colorado, Park City, Utah, and Whist...

Sacramento County Attempts to hold the Line on Urban Growth

Jul 1, 2000

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 07 Jul 2000

A recently adopted specific plan for nearly four square miles in southern Sacramento County represents the first time county officials have instituted a major farmland mitigation program. The East Franklin Specific Plan calls for developers of 2,475 acres to contribute $950 per acre to an account that will purchase agricultural easements or property in a nearby farming area. Whether farm owners will cooperate, however, is uncertain. The mitigation fee is intended to protect about 26,000 acres ...

County Finds ‘Smart Growth' Isn't Easy

Jul 1, 2000

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 07 Jul 2000

When they adopted a new general plan in 1993, Sacramento County supervisors approved what would now be called "smart growth" policies. The general plan established an urban growth boundary (called an urban services boundary), encouraged dense residential development, and designated a number of areas for transit-oriented development. Thus far, the county has blocked development outside the urban services boundary, despite attempts by developers to bust the boundary. But implementing higher densi...

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