Sustainable Development Focus
NEW YORK TIMES - Dec 14 California last Friday became the first state to mandate a full shift to electric buses on public transit routes, flexing its muscle as the nation’s leading environmental regulator and bringing battery-powered, heavy-duty vehicles a step closer to the mainstream. Starting in 2029, mass transit agencies in California will only be allowed to buy buses that are fully electric under a rule adopted by the state’s powerful clean air agency. The California Air Resources Board said it expected that municipal bus fleets would be fully electric by 2040. It estimated that the rule would cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases by 19 million metric tons from 2020 to 2050, the equivalent of taking four million cars off the road.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Dec 13 A panel of mayors, developers, and transit officials has an aggressive plan to stanch the Bay Area’s housing crisis by combining a regional rent cap, new property taxes, laws against arbitrary evictions, and loose zoning near transit centers. The group, the Committee to House the Bay Area, also recommends creating a new agency with taxing authority to implement region-wide housing solutions. The recommendations in the compact are not enforceable laws. But they will likely serve as guidelines for state lawmakers, city councilors, and incoming Governor Gavin Newsom. The compact might also become political ammunition for such bills as SB50 from state Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, which proposes to increase the construction of housing near transit.
STREETSBLOG - Dec 13 The Sacramento City Council last week unanimously passed an ordinance that would reduce parking requirements and restrict some car-oriented uses near the city’s light rail stations. The purpose of the ordinance, according to city staff, is to limit low-density auto-oriented uses near transit stations and protect transit investments against incompatible uses. The city will ultimately seek to encourage the development of high-density housing and jobs near transit stations, which would encourage use of the light rail system, help make station areas more walkable and bike-friendly, and help reduce emissions by cutting down on car use in the region.
KPBS - Dec 13 The San Diego Planning Commission last Thursday voted unanimously to recommend approval of a redevelopment plan for land near a future trolley station at Balboa Avenue between Clairemont and Pacific Beach. The Balboa Avenue Station Area Specific Plan would rezone a portion of the land near the station to permit up to 3,500 new apartments and condos beyond what current zoning allows. Planning commissioners were skeptical that number could ever be reached, however, because all the upzoned land would be subject to San Diego's 30-foot coastal height limit. The Balboa Avenue plan is tied to the roughly $2 billion Mid-Coast Trolley project to extend the Blue Line from Old Town to University City.
SOLAR POWER WORLD - Dec 13 Commercial solar financing provider SDC Energy has launched its Powering Title 24 Program with partners Baja Construction and Grid Technologies. With California being the first state in the country to require solar energy on all new residential properties under three stories by 2020, the Powering Title 24 program combines solar carports, virtual net-metering software, and tax-enabled financing to help apartment builders and owners convert Title 24 mandates into long-term benefits.
