Sustainable Development Focus
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE - Aug 18 San Diego officials say they plan to follow the lead of other California cities and begin requiring developers of new apartment complexes to either include units reserved for low-income residents or pay hefty fees. Supporters say the “inclusionary housing” legislation could play a key role in solving the city’s housing crisis, while also making many neighborhoods more diverse racially and economically. Critics warn that the proposed legislation, which is expected to be unveiled this fall, could backfire and choke off housing construction at a crucial time by slashing the profit margins of developers. San Diego officials were prompted to pursue new legislation by a California law enacted in January that gives cities and counties more latitude on inclusionary housing ordinances, which had previously been declared invalid by state appellate courts.
THE MERCURY NEWS - Aug 23 A state bill to replace surface parking lots with housing at East Bay and San Francisco BART stations passed the California Senate last Thursday. Assembly Bill 2923 would force cities and counties to zone BART property in accordance with an ambitious policy the transit agency adopted in 2016. That policy calls for 20,000 new apartments and town homes — 35 percent of them to be rented at below market rate, system-wide — by 2040. The bill would also fast-track the approvals of such developments, a process that has been known to take decades. The amended bill next goes back to the Assembly — which passed an earlier version — for final approval. It would then would go to Governor Jerry Brown, who has until September 30 to sign or veto bills.
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS - Aug 24 When Los Angeles city leaders agreed to build a densely occupied urban district in Woodland Hills, they adopted a specific plan that envisioned a $270 million fund that would help reduce the environmental impacts of future development projects. Under the plan, developers were required to pay a one-time mobility fee designed to offset the costs of potential traffic impact along with construction of new sidewalks, parkways, and roadways, amounting to about $155 million. Five years later, city officials are seeking to amend portions of the specific plan and change the way the fees are calculated. If the plan is approved, developers will be expected to pay from $1.53 per square foot to $15.87 per square foot, depending on the land use type. In the next few months, the city planners will ask the Planning Commission to amend the Warner Center 2035 Specific Plan and adopt the changes proposed by the ordinance.
UTILITY DIVE - Aug 23 A coalition of 35 California mayors submitted comments last week to the California Air Resources Board in support of accelerating the transition to 100 percent zero-emission buses, which the proposed Innovative Clean Transit measure aims to do by 2040. The mayors represent nearly 25 percent of the state's population, and several of the transit agencies serving them have already signed on to their own 100 percent electric bus fleet goals. However, a state-wide measure would help transition California's entire fleet of transit buses, Jimmy O'Dea, senior vehicles analyst at Union of Concerned Scientists, told Utility Dive.
URBAN LAND - Aug 20 New Energy Star building performance metrics applied on August 27 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could lower the score of almost every building participating in the program, which encompasses over half of commercial real estate building floor space in the United States. This will cause some to fall below the 75-point level needed to achieve certification through the program. The update is in response to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, conducted approximately every five years, which is used as the benchmark for buildings in the Energy Star program.
NATIONAL REAL ESTATE INVESTOR - Aug 22 Chicago is the greenest U.S. city to work in for the second year running, with about 70 percent of its office space now certified for environmental efficiency, placing it ahead of San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, according to an annual ranking by CBRE Group Inc. and Maastricht University. The study tracks buildings in 30 of the biggest U.S. real estate markets that are LEED or Energy Star certified. The recently opened Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, the tallest office skyscraper west of the Mississippi River, at 1,070 feet, could put the California city back on top next year. San Francisco’s percentage of green-certified square footage rose to almost 64 percent in the new ranking, up from 62 percent last year.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY EXECUTIVE - Aug 21 Home2 Suites by Hilton has unveiled plans to open its first modular construction hotel in San Francisco: Home2 Suites by Hilton San Francisco Airport North. The finished product is scheduled to debut in early 2019. The property will incorporate sustainable features including solar panels that will produce close to 50 percent of the hotel’s energy, as well as a bio-retention pond that will filter water run-off. By using the modular process, construction time for the Home2 Suites by Hilton San Francisco Airport North property is cut nearly in half and will be shorter than the average for the Bay Area market.
