Northern News April 2022

By Eliyahu Kamisher, The Mercury News, March 14, 2022. For now, BART ridership, for example, is still hovering around 30 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

By Maria Dinzeo, Courthouse News Service, March 14, 2022. The new amendment, signed by Gov. Newsom, now specifies that changes in student enrollment by itself will not trigger environmental review under CEQA.

By Jana Kadah, San Jose Spotlight, March 8, 2022. Recommendations addressed three key barriers: construction costs, delays in permitting, and development regulations.

By Kaela Shiigi, Perkins Coie LLP Land Use & Development Law Report, March 7, 2022. Court of Appeal found development project – consistent with a previously approved specific plan – did not need new EIR, as no changes significantly increased specific impacts.

By Curtis Driscoll, San Mateo Daily Journal, March 4, 2022. According to various board members, the contentious governance talks have impaired Caltrain’s ability to recruit staff and reduced staff time for other projects.

By Joseph Geha, East Bay Times, March 3, 2022. The developers are already prepared to propose a project that would meet the minimum affordable housing standards required by the Housing Accountability Act.

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN, March 3, 2022. If the nation’s second largest reservoir passes the emergency drought threshold, it would threaten water supplies and cut hydropower to several states.

By Benjamin Schneider, San Francisco Examiner, March 3, 2022. The study found that parking and roadways make up 20 percent of land in incorporated areas of the Bay Area.

By Romy Varghese, Bloomberg CityLab, March 3, 2022. San Francisco’s downtown recovery is among the slowest nationally, but the state’s property-tax system cushions the city’s finances.

Mercatus Center scholar Emily Hamilton argues SB9 will have far more impact if local leaders cooperate with the spirit of the law by relaxing some of the rules that make duplexes less attractive to build.

By Laura Kiesel, Salon, February 26, 2022. Parks and greenways, as well as other green features linked with density plans, may have unintended consequences.

By Jerusalem Demsas, Vox, February 24, 2022. At the heart of America is a packed bag. But what happens when leaving is no longer an option?

By Nami Sumida, San Francisco Chronicle, February 24, 2022. The city also found that each department used different boundaries when reporting neighborhood-level metrics, which made it impossible to combine data across departments.