Focus

SCOTUS rules that landowners have clear path to federal court for a taking of real property interests

Allen Matkins – June 25

In a dramatic repudiation of 34 years of established precedent and a clear victory for private property owners, the United States Supreme Court has held in Knick v. Township of Scott that a claim for a regulatory taking of private property pursuant to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution may be filed directly in federal court without first exhausting state court remedies. In its decision issued on June 21, 2019, the Court explicitly overruled its prior decision in Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, in which the Court had ruled that a property owner could not bring a takings claim in federal court until a state court had first denied the property owner's claim for just compensation under state law.

News

Trump wants to cut regulations that block new housing

The New York Times – June 26

President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday creating a new White House council, led by Ben Carson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, which will study local, state, and federal rules that drive up the cost of housing, delay its construction, or block it entirely. The potential list: restrictive zoning and rent control; parking requirements and energy efficiency mandates; density limits and environmental rules; lengthy permitting procedures; and labor laws. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reacted by warning that a council focused on barriers to affordable housing could provide pretext to weaken regulations that protect minimum wages, fair housing, and the environment. The council will include representatives from the labor and energy departments and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

New California rent control initiative allows homeowner exemptions, affects fewer units

Sacramento Bee - June 25

Rent control could be back on the ballot again come November 2020. The “Rental Affordability Act” was cleared on Tuesday by the California Department of Justice and the Secretary of State’s Office to start collecting signatures, the necessary step to qualify a proposal for a vote. The effort is a revived rent control initiative sponsored by Michael Weinstein, the president and CEO of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who poured more than $20 million into a campaign to pass Proposition 10, which voters rejected in 2018. The updated initiative would chip away at the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act by allowing local governments to impose rent control on properties older than 15 years. Current law restricts cities from imposing increased caps on units built after February 1995. The initiative would also exempt Californians who own up to two homes.

San Francisco mayor looks to bolster affordable housing plan by showing how delays boost costs

San Francisco Chronicle - June 26

San Francisco Mayor London Breed released new data Wednesday to underscore how long, complex approvals drive up housing costs and reduce the number of affordable homes the city can build. The data — compiled by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development — also serve as additional ammunition as Breed continues to make her case for her proposed City Charter amendment to accelerate the review of affordable housing to the Board of Supervisors. Affordable housing takes five years to build — from inception to leasing. That includes the one to two years that developers wait to get permits, according to the mayor’s housing office. Breed’s measure would take the one to two years down to about six months on average, she said. Those delays in the planning process translate into more expensive projects, with construction costs generally rising between 6 percent and 8 percent each year, according to the mayor’s housing office.

Manufacturing cement is responsible for 7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions

Bloomberg – June 22

While architects and developers concentrate on the energy used by their buildings, it’s actually the materials supporting the structure that embody the biggest share of its lifetime carbon footprint. Manufacturing cement is responsible for 7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, more than what comes from all the trucks in the world. A ton of cement yields at least half a ton of carbon dioxide, according to the European Cement Association. Hundreds or even thousands of tons go into ordinary office buildings. The scale of the problem has drawn the attention of research groups like the IEA and Chatham House along with policymakers from the C40, which represents the world’s largest cities, all looking for levers to prompt change. Cost is one possible obstacle as greener forms of cement can be up to three times as expensive as the traditional mix. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte found that a yard of geopolymer cement may reach $161, while the most commonly used Portland variety is $51.

San Diego airport set for solar-plus-storage system

PV-Tech – June 26

San Diego International Airport will be home to a 2-MW/4-MWh battery energy storage system to help reduce electricity costs and on-site carbon emissions, paired with airport's existing 5.5 MW of solar PV arrays. Analysts report that full-scale electric aviation is still a relatively distant reality; although reports from this week’s Paris Aviation Show had some carriers and technology providers claiming there could be all-electric planes carrying passengers on short-haul flights by 2027. In the meantime, various airports and aviation authorities have installed solar generation at hubs to at least minimize the environmental impacts of operations on the ground. San Diego International achieved LEED certification in 2013 for its West terminal buildings.