Focus
San Diego approves new housing blueprint that calls for tripling yearly construction through 2029
The San Diego Union-Tribune – June 17
The San Diego City Council last week unanimously approved a comprehensive new plan to boost local housing production by tripling the number of units built each year. The plan aims to help San Diego meet a state-mandated goal of 108,000 new housing units by 2029, which would require the annual number of units built to rise from 4,100 currently to 13,500. City officials said such an increase would be ambitious even in a strong economy, so the recession sparked by the pandemic will make the goals of the new plan especially hard to achieve. The plan evaluates existing housing, proposes policies to increase production, and seeks to reduce fees and other constraints.
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News
San Mateo City Council places alternative height plan measure on ballot
San Mateo Daily Journal – June 20
The San Mateo City Council this week unanimously agreed to place on the November ballot a measure allowing for taller and denser buildings around train stations. A local community group has already gathered more than the requisite number of signatures to place on the ballot a 10-year extension of Measure P, which caps building height at 55 feet and density at 50 units per acre in most areas of the city while also requiring that at least 10 percent of new units be at affordable rates. Originally passed in 1991 as Measure H and renewed in 2004, Measure P will expire at the end of this year. The extension of Measure P was officially approved by the council for placement on the November ballot last month. An alternative measure — the one approved by the council Monday for inclusion in the November ballot — also seeks to extend Measure P for 10 years, but exempt the areas around the city’s three Caltrain stations from its restrictions.
Bay Area cities must build nearly 450K homes, according to new RHNA
San Jose Spotlight – June 19
The Bay Area’s new state-mandated housing development goals have arrived, and the numbers are bigger than ever before. Bay Area municipalities are expected to be responsible for planning, zoning, and approving a combined 441,176 new homes between 2023 and 2030, according to the state’s most recent Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). The new figure is an increase from the 187,990 homes that Bay Area cities were tasked with generating between 2015 and 2023, more than doubling the goals in the coming decade.
Judge approves housing for 7,000 Los Angeles homeless people living near freeways
PBS - June 18
A federal judge has approved an agreement in which the city and county of Los Angeles will provide housing for almost 7,000 homeless people who live near freeways and those over 65 or vulnerable to COVID-19, officials said Thursday. The city will provide 6,000 new beds within 10 months and another 700 beds over 18 months while the county spends $300 million over five years to fund services for the individuals, according to a joint statement from the offices of county Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and City Council President Nury Martinez. As a result of the agreement, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter dropped a preliminary injunction that required the relocation of homeless people living within 500 feet of freeways by Sept. 1 on grounds they faced a health risk emergency.
San Diego County climate plan rejected, again
KPBS – June 15
San Diego County officials have lost another round in their battle to establish a climate action plan that manages growth and greenhouse gas emissions. A state appeals court last Monday upheld a lower court ruling rejecting the climate plan, finding that it is not consistent with the county general plan. The general plan is the document that guides development in local unincorporated areas. It is the third county action plan to be rejected in the courts.
Utilities propose West Coast charging stations for electric trucks
Utility Dive – June 22
Nine West Coast utilities and two agencies representing 24 municipal utilities have proposed electric-charging stations for trucks every 50 miles along Interstate 5 and connecting highways, according to their report issued through the West Coast Clean Transit Corridor Initiative. The first phase would build 27 sites along I-5 for medium-duty electric vehicles by 2025, according to the report. By 2030, “14 of the 27 charging sites would be expanded to also accommodate charging for electric big rigs by 2030, when it is estimated that 8 percent of all trucks on the road in California could be electric,” the report says. Sixteen sites will be in California, five in Oregon, and six in Washington. The plan could take years, as rural areas do not have the power-generating capacity for charging medium-duty trucks, the report found.
Uber pushes into on-demand public transit with its first SaaS partnership
TechCrunch – June 17
Uber will manage an on-demand service for Marin County with a Software as a Service (SaaS) product as part of the ride-hailing company’s broader strategy to push into public transit. Transportation Authority of Marin will pay Uber a subscription fee to use its management software to facilitate requesting, matching, and tracking of its high-occupancy vehicle fleet, starting with a service that operates along the Highway 101 corridor. Marin Transit trips will show up in the Uber app and let users book and even share rides.
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