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.

Cities Close Door--After Dot-Com Revolution

Mar 1, 2001

Economic Development, Paul Shigley, Vol. 16 No. 03 Mar 2001

Cities on the Bay Area's Peninsula are moving ahead with restrictions on office development even though the market that spurred the enormous demand for offices appears to have turned.

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 ...

SACG, HCD Fight Over Housing Target: Inland Empire Complains of Becoming region's Outlet for Affordable Unitd

Feb 1, 2001

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

The first update of housing elements in a decade has resulted in something of a standoff between the Southern California Association of Governments and the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Stuck in the middle are Riverside and San Bernardino counties and several inland cities that do not know how many housing units to plan for. After negotiations with SCAG representatives throughout 1999, state officials ordered the regional agency to plan for 504,000 housing units during the 1998...

PG&E Asset Sale Spurs Growth Issues: Auction of Hydroelectric System Might Bring Development to Remote Areas

Jan 1, 2001

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 16 No. 01 Jan 2001

A Pacific Gas and Electric proposal to auction its hydroelectric assets could bring about a new land rush in the Sierra Nevada, the southern Cascades and the coastal mountain ranges. If the sale goes forward as proposed, as many as 20 different owners could assume control of PG&E's 99 reservoirs, 174 dams, 110 electricity generating units — and 140,000 acres of land, much of which is pristine. State and federal land managers, advocacy groups and a draft environmental impact report make clear that the ...

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.

Steve Nissen

Jan 1, 2001

Paul Shigley, Q&A, Vol. 16 No. 01 Jan 2001

Steven Nissen became acting director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Research in April 2000 and the appointment has since become permanent. Besides advising the governor and carrying out his interests, OPR provides assistance to local government on land use planning issues. The office is responsible for preparing CEQA Guidelines and General Plan Guidelines, and it operates the state clearinghouse for environmental impact reports. Besides his role at OPR, Nissen serves as a governor's s...

Infrastructure Concerns Generate Reports and Studies Aplenty

Jan 1, 2001

Paul Shigley, Public Development, Vol. 16 No. 01 Jan 2001

California's system for generating and distributing electricity — which has attracted little attention from the public and most policymakers in the past — became topic number one in December and January when extraordinary efforts by the state and federal governments were needed to keep the lights on. But the electricity concerns is only the latest in a series of recent efforts that focus on the state's infrastructure Transportation planners are wrestling with daunting growth projections for Southern C...

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...

Giant Office Projects Sprout in Downtown Sacramento

Dec 1, 2000

Paul Shigley, Public Development, Vol. 15 No. 12 Dec 2000

With tens of thousands of public employees migrating to its downtown every weekday, Sacramento is very much a company town. So it is no surprise that a gigantic new building — by far the largest in the Central Valley — at 10th and I streets provides offices for state workers. Nearly 3,100 employees of the six agencies and the administrative office that comprise the California Environmental Protection Agency are scheduled to finish moving into the new CalEPA building by the middle of this mon...