Focus

Santa Monica passes $800M plan to go carbon neutral by 2050

Smart Cities Dive – May 29

The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved an estimated $800 million climate action plan late Tuesday night, setting a goal to make the city carbon neutral by 2050. The Climate Action & Adaptation Plan sets eight objectives for the city to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. These goals include converting 50 percent of vehicles to electric or zero emission cars and converting 50 percent of local mobility to trips taken on foot, bike, scooter, or skateboard. The plan also calls on the city to achieve 100 percent renewable grid electricity, install 100 megawatts of local solar energy, and reduce fossil fuel use in existing buildings by 20 percent, all in an effort to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

News

A little-noticed zoning twist is set to spark a home-building boom in L.A.

Los Angeles Times – May 26

Across Los Angeles, developers are taking advantage of a new city program that allows for larger residential projects near transit if developers keep some units affordable for low-income residents. Under the Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) program, developers are allowed to build with fewer parking spots and can increase housing units by 35 percent to 80 percent, depending on how close a project is to a major transit stop. Since the program launched in September 2017, developers have proposed more than 12,000 units, including at least 2,300 homes kept affordable for lower-income households, according to city data through the end of 2018. The number of new units pales in comparison with the 500,000 additional below-market homes Los Angeles County needs, according to the California Housing Partnership.

Bay Area might get its first-ever regional body for affordable housing

The Mercury News - May 24

Legislation seeking to create a Bay Area regional housing authority, Assembly Bill 1487 authored by San Francisco Democrat David Chiu, passed out of the California Assembly last Friday. The Housing Alliance for the Bay Area was a key component of the CASA Compact, a regional initiative that yielded an array of proposed solutions to the region’s housing woes. The proposed body would have the power to put parcel taxes, housing bonds, business taxes, and other revenue-generating measures before voters across the nine-county region — possibly raising as much as $1.5 billion annually. It would not have the authority to change or enforce local land-use decisions. The bill will now move through the state Senate.

Federal bill would expand protected land in Riverside County

Press-Enterprise - May 28

Enacted in 2004, the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan seeks to preserve half a million acres for 146 species of plants and animals while providing a roadmap for future development and infrastructure. At the time of its passage, 347,000 acres already were set aside, and the plan was to use state and federal money to help acquire the remaining 153,000. But the rate of land acquisition slowed in recent years and, to date, only 61,000 of the 153,000-acre goal has been preserved. Now, a new bill in the House of Representatives seeks to pick up the pace. The proposal, HR 2956, would create the Western Riverside County Wildlife Refuge by opening up another federal funding source to buy land for conservation.

Park district, railway company square off over plan to remove tracks from Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline

East Bay Times – May 26

The East Bay Regional Park District board approved a plan in March to remove abandoned railroad tracks at the Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline to fill a gap in the Bay Trail — a planned 500-mile walking and cycling path around San Francisco Bay — and improve public access between the park and bay. BNSF Railway last month filed a petition in Contra Costa Superior Court claiming the park district would violate state law by removing the tracks. The company says that although it has not operated trains on those tracks for some time, it plans to do so again upon expanding operations at its Richmond terminal. East Bay Regional Park District acquired the land from BNSF’s predecessor, Atchison Topeka Santa Fe Railroad, in 1972. Although it later set up an easement to allow the company to use the tracks, the park district contends that easement is no longer valid.

How high-end housing developments use sustainability as a selling point

Curbed Los Angeles – May 23

A report last year from the Rocky Mountain Institute found that net-zero housing costs between 6.7 and 8.1 percent more than standard construction, but as costs for this upgraded technology decreases, net-zero homes are close to making more financial sense over the lifetime of the home in many parts of the country. In April, Meritage Homes opened a new green luxury housing development in Irvine, offering all-electric solar-powered net-zero energy contemporary townhomes. According to data from Southern California Edison, the local utility that partnered with Meritage to help design new electrical systems for the development, these energy-efficient units can save homeowners between $63,000 and $67,000 over the lifetime of their mortgage.