The California Coastal Commission unanimously voted last Thursday to issue $4.7 million in fines to the Rio Del Mar Beach Island Homeowners Association. The violations, accruing since 1982, have to do with blocked beach access and the management of the revetment, which impacted habitat, views, and other coastal resources. This was the harshest penalty ever handed down by the commission in Santa Cruz County.
La Cañada Flintridge's denial of a mixed-use residential and retail complex has sparked a lawsuit from the state of California, which is accusing the city of breaking laws designed to provide more affordable housing. The California Department of Housing and Community Development, Governor Gavin Newsom, and State Attorney General Rob Bonta have filed a legal request for the courts to force La Cañada Flintridge to allow the project to be built. The case centers around the city's lack of a state compliant "housing element," which is essentially a municipality's plan spelling out where it expects to provide new housing at various income levels.
The California Coastal Commission certified the long-awaited community growth blueprint for Barrio Logan last Thursday, allowing it officially to take effect after nearly two years in limbo. The plan update, which the City Council approved last month, aims to improve public health in the pollution-weary neighborhood just south of downtown on the San Diego Bay by separating residents from the neighboring shipping industry and ensuring no new industrial facilities are permitted there. It is the first update to the community’s growth plan since 1978 — and one the neighborhood has repeatedly said is much needed to stop industrial businesses from growing their footholds.
A group of homeless veterans who suffer from mental or physical disabilities can proceed with their lawsuit to force the federal government to provide them with supportive housing on the 388-acre, flagship Veteran Affairs campus in West Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge David Carter last Thursday denied motions to dismiss the lawsuit, which was brought by the VA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. The walled complex near the wealthy Brentwood neighborhood takes up 388 acres of land donated to the VA in 1887 to be a "soldier's home," a place for wounded veterans to live. But the lush, sprawling campus, which includes a large hospital for veterans, offers little in the way of permanent housing structures for veterans in need.
Tenant advocates are pushing to put rent control measures on the ballot in at least four Bay Area cities this November, the latest effort to expand such protections across the region as tens of thousands continue struggling with sky-high housing costs. Advocacy groups this month plan to file proposed rent control ordinances with Redwood City, San Pablo, Pittsburg, and Larkspur, the first step toward gathering the thousands of signatures needed to bring the measures before voters.
Poised to enter a flashpoint of public debate, Mountain View is taking steps to update its Historic Preservation Ordinance and list of historically significant buildings. It also is considering the possibility of creating a downtown preservation district that could potentially set standards, as well as offer incentives, for maintaining or modifying properties. Council members supported updating the historic ordinance, in part to clarify and protect the city’s historic resources as well as to streamline building review processes.
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