Siyamak sits down with Christine Epperly, a licensed civil engineer and building designer with over 30 years in business. She discovered a state-run plan called the “15 Minute city”, that is changing the landscape of California.
“What’s happening in California is we’re building these high-density communities in the middle of the towns and suburbs. I looked at them and they’re basically all the same. It’s brutalism.”
Much ink has been spilled in San Francisco about a proposed development at 2700 Sloat Blvd. that would create a 50-story condo in the Outer Sunset, a neighborhood with no buildings over six stories tall. The development likely received its death blow when the Board of Appeals voted down the appeal of the Planning Commission’s rejection of the project.
More than two years after a developer submitted a “fast track” application to build 40 units in the exclusive Marin community of Belvedere, the town has still not scheduled a public hearing to review the project, which has provoked the formation of a well-funded nonprofit dedicated to killing the rental housing.
By THOMAS ELIAS | Columnist
PUBLISHED: August 8, 2023
On the same July day that California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a stern warning to cities and counties around the state about alleged misuse of local “urgency” zoning rules the rebellion against those very laws formally began. This happened when Bonta’s own office received a new initiative designed to make local governments — not the state — supreme in setting housing policies and patterns.
Since the 1970s, apostles of growth have decried local control of land use as the evil that has to be stamped out if housing is ever to become abundant and broadly affordable.
Most importantly, as documented by a February report from Terner and the Urban Institute, that doctrine has been read into state land use law across the country, with California leading the way.
So are the new laws working?
Yes and No
Institutional investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes by 2030, according to MetLife Investment Management. And a group of Washington, D.C., lawmakers say Wall Street needs to back away from the market.
A weekly Zoom call to talk about housing policy, local control and the impact of state legislation on your neighborhood. Bring your questions and ideas.
