CP&DR

Housing Programs Get More Money; State Leaders Approve Spending But Leave Policy Alone

Nov 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 11 Nov 2000

With affordable housing ranking as a major issue in nearly all of California, the Davis administration and the Legislature responded this year with a gigantic increase in funding for housing programs. However, they did not adopt the significant policy changes supported by the building industry and some housing advocates, and the governor even vetoed one of the few important housing bills approved by lawmakers. Housing programs will receive about $570 million of this year's state budget — up from about...

Tax Increment Loan Brings Bloomingdale's to San Francisco

Nov 1, 2000

Economic Development, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 11 Nov 2000

The largest Bloomingdale's department store outside of New York City is coming to San Francisco thanks to a $27 million loan from the city to the developer. In approving the 1.6-million-square-foot redevelopment project, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors also backed an agreement that requires all retailers in the project except Bloomingdale's not to block labor union organizing. The five-story, 375,000-square-foot Bloomingdale's will anchor the retail, hotel and office project...

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...

Land-Use Initiatives Fill Ballots

Oct 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

The November 7 election is shaping up as a potential landmark in ballot-box planning in California. Voters are scheduled to decide an even 50 local ballot measures, the most since the November 1990 election. Although ballot measures are concentrated in the Bay Area and along the Southern California coast, the collection of cities and counties where land-use measures will appear is as diverse as California itself. Lassen County voters will consider a mountain resort and subdivision. Monterey County wil...

Santa Ana River Flood Project Advances; Species Concerns Remain

Oct 1, 2000

Paul Shigley, Public Development, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

The massive project to prevent the Santa Ana River from flooding heavily urbanized portions of San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties continues to move forward. Orange County is purchasing property in preparation for raising the existing Prado Dam near Chino. Meanwhile federal officials are wrestling with the environmental affects of an already completed dam farther upstream, a dam that environmentalists say will harm three endangered species. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Santa ...

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...

Ben Hulse

Sep 1, 2000

Paul Shigley, Q&A, Vol. 15 No. 09 Sep 2000

Ben Hulse is director of the San Joaquin County Community Development Department. Long a major agricultural center, San Joaquin County has seen subdivisions rapidly replace farms. The population has grown 63% in 20 years to about 583,000. Earlier this year, the county Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted all 13 of Hulse's recommendations regarding implementation of the eight-year-old general plan. Hulse recommended basing general plan implementation on four values: preserving farmland an...

Los Angeles Industrial Development Moves East

Sep 1, 2000

Economic Development, Los Angeles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 09 Sep 2000

Demand for industrial space in Los Angeles County remains high, but development is not keeping pace. Instead, large-scale industrial projects are going to the Inland Empire, where empty land is plentiful and most local governments have open arms. The trend is distressing to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation and some other business boosters, who note that Los Angeles County manufacturing employment has declined in recent years. The manufacturing segment now accounts for only about 13% of...

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 ...

Legislature Strengthens LAFCOs, But Fiscal Reform Remains Elusive

Sep 1, 2000

Featured Articles, Legislation, Paul Shigley, Vol. 15 No. 09 Sep 2000

The state Legislature completed its two-year session with a flourish during the last week of August but appeared to leave Sacramento without adopting major land-use policy changes. Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg's overhaul of the Cortese-Knox Local Government Reorganization Act was among the year's highlights, although he watered down the measure from early drafts. The broad-based Jobs-Center Housing Coalition, which has focused on the Bay Area housing crunch, saw three of its nine bills approved.