Northern News

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A publication of the American Planning Association, California Chapter, Northern Section

Making great communities happen

Northern Section news, views, and announcements

Planning news roundup

Assembled by Richard Davis, AICP Candidate, associate editor

Note: We round up articles of interest that our readers may have missed. Some articles to which we link may be behind paywalls. If you find yourself blocked, add outline.com/ to the front of the link (before the https), and you may be able to read the article without being asked to subscribe.

SB35 could advance stalled Sebastopol affordable housing

By Nashelly Chavez, The Press Democrat, April 13, 2022. A plan to build 84 units of affordable housing (half for agricultural workers and their families) has been resubmitted in Sebastopol.

State rejects Point Reyes water contamination, climate plan

By Will Houston, Marin Independent Journal, April 9, 2022. Park staff now plan to work with Coastal Commission staff and state water quality regulators to better address environmental impacts from cattle ranching.

Litter-strewn Bay Bridge entrance will soon transform into an urban forest

By Jessica Wolfrom, San Francisco Examiner, April 6, 2022. Nearly 1,000 young trees are expected for the nursery, which will be replanted in neighborhoods with low tree cover as they mature.

$1.5 million granted for Mountain View phase of Baylands restoration project

By Sue Dremann, Palo Alto Weekly, April 1, 2022. The funding supports a feasibility study for a later phase within the broader, more than a half-billion-dollar South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project.

New financing district will propel development in Humboldt County’s Samoa peninsula

By Sonia Waraich, Eureka Times-Standard, April 1, 2022. Funds will be disbursed through a grant program with a public process for reviewing requests, and aren’t reserved exclusively for traditional infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

Van Ness dedicated busway opens after six year construction

By Eleni Balakrishnan, Mission Local, April 1, 2022. Improvements to Van Ness Avenue have been in the works since a 1989 sales tax expenditure plan to improve mass transit.

How will San Francisco’s western skyline change to add 80,000 homes?

By Benjamin Schneider, San Francisco Examiner, March 29, 2022. San Francisco has produced the third draft of its Housing Element, but there’s no guarantee that the Department of Housing and Community Development will approve it.

The federal infrastructure law’s untapped potential for promoting community safety

By Sam Washington, Hanna Love, and Thea Sebastian, Brookings, March 29, 2022. A wealth of empirical evidence demonstrates that the built environment has a significant impact on the prevalence of violence in communities. Our excerpt includes links to resources to leverage the funds.

Richmond city council sinks a controversial development in Point Molate

By Katie Lauer, East Bay Times, March 26, 2022. The city council voted against creating the facilities district required to sell the land under the terms of a 2011 legal settlement.

New study: data shows new housing and tenant protections are still not enough

By Karen Chapple and Jackelyn Hwang, San Francisco Chronicle, March 25, 2022. Joint UC Berkeley-Stanford research suggests more aggressive housing affordability strategies would bolster new market-rate supply and tenant protections.

More than 116,000 SF residents moved away during pandemic’s first year

By Mike Schneider, Associated Press, March 24, 2022. The San Jose metropolitan area also lost tens of thousands of residents, primarily from people moving away.

Audit: California overlooked potential affordable housing sites

By Nicholas Iovino, Courthouse News Service, March 22, 2022. The audit recommends passing a state law that would mandate periodic assessments of underutilized state-owned properties for affordable housing.

Santa Clara County buys land for more affordable housing

By Eli Wolfe, San Jose Spotlight, March 22, 2022. The projects represent an ongoing campaign to build up the region’s housing stock for veterans, agricultural workers, seniors, and people with developmental disabilities.

VTA bets big on housing in Santa Clara County

By Eli Wolfe, San Jose Spotlight, March 19, 2022. VTA hopes to collect steady revenue from land leases and new riders living near transit.

How the Bay Area’s 25 largest cities rank on ‘quality of life’ metrics

By Amy Coval, San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 2022. The Chronicle’s 11 measures are based on widely available data, but don’t take affordability into account.

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