Northern News June 2022

Northern News

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

Making great communities happen

Planning news roundup

Assembled by Richard Davis, AICP Candidate, associate editor.
We excerpted 16 articles in this roundup. Some of the original articles are behind paywalls. “Where in the world” photos follow this roundup.

How important was the single-family zoning ban in Minneapolis?

By Jake Blumgart, Governing, May 26, 2022. The effort caught national attention, but the real story is the rest of the package of land use reforms that the city council passed to open up the housing market — especially parking reform.

San Francisco lost a greater percentage of residents than any other large U.S. city

By Anna Tong, San Francisco Standard, May 26, 2022. Other Bay Area cities also saw big population declines, while many inland cities, such as Sacramento and Fresno, saw growth.

California is about to begin the nation’s largest ever dam removal project along the Klamath River

By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle, May 21, 2022. The new terrain that will come with dam removal is expected to boost fish numbers and restore plant and animal biodiversity.

New study: Sonoma, Napa, and Marin counties facing heightened wildfire risk

From Staff and Wire Reports, Marin Independent Journal, May 17, 2022. In the Bay Area, many communities were listed as low risk, although the hills in the East Bay were considered high risk.

San Quentin site could go from gun range to teacher housing, with state support

By J. K. Dineen, San Francisco Chronicle, May 15, 2022. The project, which developers hope to open by 2025, would be Marin County’s largest affordable housing development in half a century.

Atherton sees SB 9 applications trickling in, while neighboring towns have not

By Angela Swartz, The Almanac, May 9, 2022. According to staff estimates, SB 9 could result in about five new housing units per year in the town.

VTA approves San Jose BART extension contract despite controversial design

By Eliyahu Kamisher and Maggie Angst, Mercury News, May 6, 2022. Critics of the design say it will lead to ballooning costs while supporters say it would minimize surface-level disruptions.

Here’s how to fix the broken public hearing process for new housing

By Anika Singh Lemar, Brookings, May 4, 2022. So many decisions are made during development approvals, there is little incentive to participate in the planning process. Those who do are undermined by later participants in development approvals.

CalEPA updates Disadvantaged Communities designation

From CalEPA, May 3, 2022. The designation takes into account the latest and best available data and considers factors related to data unavailability.

Applications for new housing in San Francisco hit new low

By J.K. Dineen, San Francisco Chronicle, May 2, 2022. If the number of new applications coming in doesn’t jump in the coming months, San Francisco could feel the slowdown in 2025 and 2026.

Inside the DIY effort to deliver tiny homes to homeless people

By Lauren Hepler, San Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2022. Without asking permission from cities, relatively inexpensive micro homes on wheels are built by volunteers and delivered to the homeless.

California approves bullet train link from Central Valley to Bay Area

By Lauren Hernández, Ricardo Cano, Dustin Gardiner, San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2022. The extension could help California balance the jobs-housing ratios between the two regions.

Rohnert Park purchases 30-acre property it plans to redevelop into future downtown

By Bay City News Foundation, Local News Matters, April 29, 2022. The decision was years in the making. Area plans and infrastructure are ready.

Here’s the U.S. state each Northern Section county is most like

By Nami Sumada, The Chronicle, April 26, 2022. The Chronicle identified the state (other than California) that best matches each California county based on residents’ demographics and voting behavior.

Why Americans are leaving downtowns in droves

By Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, April 25, 2022. The rise of remote work has snipped the tether between home and office, allowing many white-collar workers to move out of high-cost cities.

Bay Area hopes for more than 100 new park projects by 2030

By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2022. A coalition of 67 Bay Area nonprofits and public agencies rolled out a $700 million plan for efforts to preserve biodiversity.

Where in the world?

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