Northern News September/October 2022

Northern News

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

Making great communities happen

Northern Section news and announcements

Planning news roundup

Assembled by Richard Davis, AICP Candidate, associate editor. Note: Some articles to which we link may be behind paywalls.

Bay Area churches face barriers to building affordable housing on their land

By Adhiti Bandlamundi, KQED, August 18 2022. Oakland’s Kingdom Builders Project and nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation are working with some East Bay churches to help them begin their development journeys.

Potential California megaflood: What the Bay Area is doing to prepare

By Marianne Favro, NBC Bay Area, August 15, 2022. Flooding on a scale unseen for over a century would severely harm underserved communities and devastate critical infrastructure.

‘California burning’: How Napa Valley contends with wildfire season

By Dave Lee, Financial Times, August 9, 2022. Local wineries are turning to private firefighters and nonprofit organizations like Napa Firewise need to fill gaps left by an overwhelmed Cal Fire.

California’s far northern cliffs are eroding faster than elsewhere in the state

By Tara Duggan, San Francisco Chronicle, August 9, 2022. In the Bay Area, some of the highest rates of clifftop erosion are found in Daly City, Pacifica, and Bodega Bay.

Gov. Newsom launches unprecedented review of San Francisco housing approval process

By J.K Dineen, San Francisco Chronicle, August 9, 2022. The review will assess why the city has the state’s longest timeline for advancing housing projects and why it is the subject of the most complaints from the state’s Housing Accountability Unit.

Los Gatos residents attempt repeal of 2040 General Plan

By Hannah Kanif, Mercury News, August 9, 2022. A community group is collecting signatures for a referendum calling for reducing planned growth closer to their RHNA.

AB 2244 slashes parking requirements for all religious properties building affordable housing

By Elizabeth Hull and Michael Ervin, Best Best & Krieger LLP, August 6, 2022. Many local governments interpreted prior law on religious institutions’ parking-to-housing conversions as applying only to existing structures. This bill is a response.

UC Berkeley construction at People’s Park started, stopped

By Supriya Yelimeli, Berkeleyside, August 5, 2022. The joint student-supportive housing plan was hailed as a model for California’s housing crisis, and clearing of the park had begun. But a state appellate court halted the process.

Salinas looks to the future after Amazon walks away on 36-acre parcel

By Sara Rubin, Monterey County Now, August 4, 2022. The city is well positioned to remain a vital part of California’s agricultural economy, but it needs infrastructure upgrades.

New five-year blueprint maps future for SF Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

From MTC-ABAG, August 2, 2022. The report offers recommendations for climate adaptation in each San Francisco Bay region while underscoring the need for equity in work on the Estuary.

San Jose pours millions from federal relief into housing and wifi

By Loan-Anh Pham, San Jose Spotlight, August 2, 2022. The City’s data-driven research helped determine funding for housing, employment, and health care needs.

Brain Drain: SF sees reversal of riches as tech workers flee

By Jeff Elder, The Examiner, July 18, 2022. We complained about the entitled, clueless, disrespectful, and plentiful techies who flocked to the Bay Area from 2011-2015. Now, tech layoffs are mounting, workers are leaving SoMa, and mid-Market’s revitalization is iffy.

2020 census reveals how Berkeley was remade over the past decade

By Ally Markovich, Berkeleyside, July 17, 2022. Berkeley’s population increased and became more racially diverse overall, but the number of Black residents continues to decline.

Big cities saw historic population losses while suburban growth declined during the pandemic

By William H. Frey, Brookings, July 11, 2022. The patterns of telecommuting that have begun to take hold may make a ‘return to the city’ less inevitable than it would otherwise be.

Plan approved to convert a Daly City mall into new housing

By J.K Dineen, San Francisco Chronicle, July 7, 2022. Bay Area cities are increasingly targeting sprawling shopping centers to help meet ambitious state-mandated housing goals.

New study: Bay Area hazardous sites at risk from rising seas

By Ezra David Romero, Teodros Hailye, KQED, July 5, 2022. The research highlights Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and a cluster of other hazardous sites in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood.

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