Sep 19, 2023 | Housing, Legislation
BY BEN CHRISTOPHER
SEPTEMBER 19, 2023
A patchwork of bills are giving housing developers and local governments more options to reduce red tape for housing projects.
You may not have seen the headlines (there weren’t any). You may have missed the raucous debate (there wasn’t much of one). But with the end of the legislative session last week, California is now on the verge of laying down a welcome mat for most major affordable housing projects across the state.
Sep 15, 2023 | Housing, Legislation
Christine Epperley
September 13, 2023
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.”
Sep 5, 2023 | Legislation, Litigation
Mike Griffiths
California Cities for Local Control
Today (Tues 9/5) was a big day! Today was the first hearing of the lawsuit filed on behalf of Charter Cities to overturn SB9 due to conflicts with the way the bill tries to exempt the legislation from the State Constitution’s protections for Charter Cities’ ability to manage their own land use and zoning.
Aug 8, 2023 | Housing, Legislation, Opinion
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.
Aug 1, 2023 | Housing, Legislation, Opinion
By Zelda Bronstein
48 Hills
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
Jun 10, 2023 | Legislation, Opinion
By DICK SPOTSWOOD
Marin has been blessed with multiple candidates with diverse talents for local offices. Some win and others lose. It’s good practice to reflect on some first-class ideas that some losing candidates offered.
In the recent Novato City Council election one first-time candidate who failed to prevail, Jim Petray, offered a set of suggestions aimed at remedying the city’s long-term financial difficulties.
