News
Fresno lawmakers approve return to zoning rules for portion of southwest warehouse district – but a new fight looms
The San Joaquin Valley Sun – October 14
A thorny zoning issue surrounding some of Fresno’s largest industrial firms reached a partial, if incomplete, settlement at last Thursday’s Fresno City Council meeting. A large industrial area had its zoning switched from light industrial to neighborhood mixed-use when the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan was approved in 2017, with little notice to the property owners. Issues arose when property owners sought financing on their properties and began planning for tenant turnover. The City Council last week unanimously approved a proposal to change the zoning for a third of the 92-acre area back to light industrial. The vote came in spite of a last-ditch request from California Attorney General Rob Bonta to halt all plans to rezone.
Inside San Francisco’s plan to adapt to sea-level rise and reshape shoreline
San Francisco Chronicle – October 11
Even as it grapples with how to protect the Embarcadero from earthquakes and climate change, the Port of San Francisco and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are embarking on a more expensive, almost existential task: planning how to prepare the city’s bay shoreline for as much as seven feet of sea level rise. A tentative outline of any plan and its potential costs won’t emerge before next spring. But some ideas that are in the mix — including locks on Mission Creek, and letting industrial land near the southern waterfront revert to natural conditions — hint at how profoundly the city’s relationship to the bay could change in coming decades.
Marin weighs zoning changes over sea-level threat
Marin Independent Journal – October 13
Some property owners along the bay shoreline in unincorporated Marin County would face new regulations for building on their land under a proposal reviewed by county supervisors and planning commissioners. The officials held a discussion on October 11 about changing the standards for properties that lie within the county’s Bayfront Conservation Combining District zone. If adopted, the changes would mark the first time that sea-level rise adaptation measures have been incorporated into the county’s development code.
Menlo Park’s Measure V would put the future of rezoning in the public’s hands
The Almanac – October 14
This November, Menlo Park voters face a critical question on housing. If passed, Measure V, a citizen-sponsored ballot measure, would restrict the Menlo Park City Council’s ability to rezone single-family lots to higher density. Any changes to so-called “R1” lots would instead have to be voted on by the general public at a regularly scheduled election.
At the heart of the debate is the Ravenswood City School District's effort to build housing for school employees on a former school campus that is currently zoned for single-family uses. However, the passage of a new law, AB 2295, has changed the conversation surrounding Measure V. Under this new law, school districts can build 30 units per acre on their property for staff housing without the need for rezoning. AB 2295 was signed by Governor Newsom last month and goes into effect on January 1, 2024.
State orders Bay Area cities to build 441K new homes by 2031
The Real Deal – October 12
A state housing department has given failing grades to 14 of 15 Bay Area city housing plans, with final drafts to build 441,000 homes due early next year. The California Department of Housing and Community Development has rejected drafts from all but one of the Bay Area municipalities it has reviewed to date, with Alameda the lone success, The Mercury News reported. Under state law, cities and counties have until Jan. 31 to finalize their so-called housing elements – detailed plans on how to meet increased state-mandated housing goals.
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