Category Archives: CEQA

CA, CEQA, deregulated housing bills, Planning, Politics

As new North Bay neighborhood nears approval, environmental concerns weigh heavily

Leave a comment
By Keith Mizuguchi : kqed – excerpt

For the past 11 months, Jennifer Sullivan has been anxiously trying to sound an alarm. The Esmeralda Land Company has proposed building a resort hotel, hundreds of homes, an event center, a preschool and a public park on a 266-acre property that once housed a wood treatment plant.

Tucked in the Sonoma County town of Cloverdale, the 8-acre plant was known to use harmful chemicals and discharged them into the soil and groundwater, she said. Sullivan worries that disturbing the site with new development could resurface those chemicals and expose current residents to new harms. “This is the community that I live in,” Sullivan said. “The decision to approve this development is serious — it’s got serious consequences for our water, for public health.”

On Wednesday, the Cloverdale City Council will consider whether to approve the project — one of the largest developments in the city’s recent history — along with its extensive community benefits package and already-completed environmental reviews, essentially clearing the path for its eventual construction. As it does, however, council members are weighing the homes, jobs and tax revenue such a project might generate against a new wave of concerns from residents over environmental harms.

Esmeralda CEO Devon Zuegel said she generally understands those concerns but argues the project has already undergone extensive environmental reviews. “This site has been studied for over two decades continuously,” Zuegel said. “And if 20 years is not a long enough review, I just don’t understand, is 100 years enough — 25 years? What is the point where it becomes enough?”

Still, Sullivan isn’t satisfied. And she’s preparing to take the fight to voters. If the city council approves the Esmeralda development as is, Sullivan wants a referendum and said she’ll start collecting signatures to place such a measure on a ballot… (more)

Anybody see a reason to vote NO on Prop 45 to make these projects more transparent? And a reason why half the cities in California are ready to fight the Wiener bills that overplayed the state’s hand by removing local control?
Efforts by Our Neighborhood Voices to reverse the trend are paying off. 

CEQA, Energy, Planning, Politics, water

AI Data Centers Have a Heat Problem

Leave a comment

 

US data centers convert vast amounts of electricity into waste heat, which can raise temperatures in nearby neighborhoods. Researchers in Phoenix found temperatures increasing downwind of one data center there.

As the artificial intelligence boom drives greater power use and the expansion of data-center clusters near urban areas, cooling alternatives and heat-reuse systems offer potential solutions. But cost, infrastructure and limited incentives have slowed their adoption.

AI Data Centers Release Heat, Posing New Problem for Cities: https://bloom.bg/4jk7YmS

As facilities to power artificial intelligence grow larger and are built in clusters, they are sending hot air into surrounding neighborhoods.

CEQA, deregulated housing bills, Housing, Politics

There may be a buyer for the site of the proposed 39-story skyscraper

Leave a comment

By Norah Sheppards-Hutchins : padailypost – excerpt

There may be a potential buyer of the 80 Willow Road property in Men1o Park where a Russian billionaire wants to build a 39-story skyscraper, Councilman Drew Combs said Wednesday.

Over the last several weeks, Combs and Mayor Betsy Nash have been involved in discussions with the potential buyer, Combs said in an interview with the Post.

“They have presented themselves in their interactions with the city that it’s not an effort that looks to redevelop the property in the near term,” Combs said…

“They have indicated that their intended use of the campus could be accommodated with only minimal interior modifications,” Combs said… (more)

CEQA, deregulated housing bills, Politics

Silicon Valley congressman alleges major project is tied to Russian oligarch

Leave a comment

By Anabel Sosa : sfgate – excerpt

U.S. Rep Sam Liccardo, a Democrat whose district covers the city, asserted in a letter Wednesday to Department of the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the development’s land is owned by Vitaly Yusufov, a Russian whom Liccardo says has been sanctioned by Ukraine and has acted on behalf of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. He said the project’s location near tech companies raises national security concerns…(more)

CEQA, deregulated housing bills, Housing, Planning, Politics

Has Wiener’s avalanche of housing bills actually led to more homes? Here’s what we know

Leave a comment

By Hannah Wiley, JD Morris : sfchronicle – excerpt

Marina Safeway Towers are only supported by Scott Wiener. Both Lurie and Supervisor Sherrill claim to oppose it. Neighbors hate it. Wiener has to bear the full responsibility for this project on his own along with the SF planning Department that hides behind him.

When one of state Sen. Scott Wiener’s first major housing bills died in its first committee hearing in 2018, the logical option would have been for the lawmaker to retreat after such a resounding loss. ..

It took Wiener seven years to finally pass legislation that cleared the way for more housing near transit hubs. Senate Bill 79, which went into effect in July, requires cities in a handful of counties, including San Francisco, to allow larger apartment buildings near train stations, ferry terminals and bus stops…

But it’s also true some of Wiener’s bills that once inspired major fights in the state Capitol have since created little to no housing. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s notorious housing crunch is getting worse — a point Wiener’s critics have seized on in his bid this year to represent the city in Congress. 

“If he’s such a champion of housing, why are we here?” Wiener’s opponent in the race, Supervisor Connie Chan, said in a recent interview with the Chronicle. She and Wiener have routinely been on opposing sides of San Francisco’s housing policy debates, and she has led some local efforts to resist state legislation he passed….

In the 15 years since Wiener first started working on housing policy, stretching back to his time on the Board of Supervisors, home prices have only skyrocketed across the state. The trend is even more pronounced in San Francisco, where an AI boom has attracted a new wave of wealthy tech workers. Rents and evictions are way up, heightening concerns that the expensive city is becoming unaffordable to all but the uber wealthy…

But Wiener’s approach has lost him some friends along the way, chief among them various unions that represent construction workers…

Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, which endorsed Chan, said she voted for at least one of Wiener’s housing bills when she served in the Assembly. At the time, Gonzalez said she exchanged her vote for a guarantee on certain labor terms.

“And then he just kept coming back and taking away more from organized labor,” Gonzalez said. “With every bill, everything got worse.” …

Wiener’s approach has similarly rankled environmentalists, tenants’ rights activists and neighborhood preservationists who feel he often disregards their concerns with climate harms or gentrification.

Shanti Singh, legislative and communications director for Tenants Together, said her organization has in the past had issues with Wiener’s rezoning bills. Singh said it often felt like Wiener and his YIMBY allies failed to consider how massive development might create a domino effect of displacement for low-income renters. …

Wiener promised to take his same boundary-pushing approach on housing to Congress, where he said he would push a plan to build 8 million homes in the next decade. Among his proposals: paying cities $10,000 for every home they build, standing up more mixed-income social housing programs and stabilizing the construction workforce so it isn’t as disrupted by the boom-and-bust housing cycles...(more)

A lot of people are going to vote him out and then demand their representatives ignore his future bills that are going no where…

CA, CEQA, deregulated housing bills, Economy, Housing, Politics, Transportation

The Fay: When Housing Policy Meets the Real World

via email from wakeup

The Fay, 10 E Reed St, San Jose. Drone photo: Scott Keller, via C2K Architecture.

San Jose wanted to revitalize its downtown with more housing, and in 2022 the city waived nearly $9.9 million in taxes and fees for a fully market-rate development, The Fay. The concessions eliminated an $8.844 million affordable-housing obligation. The result was 336 market-rate apartments and no contribution of affordable units. The building opened to fanfare, but quickly proved a disappointment. Its studios leased out quickly, but the one- and two-bedroom units barely filled, leaving the building roughly 60% vacant.

With just 104 parking spaces for 336 apartments, city officials and renters both identified limited parking as a major factor that affected lease-up. The nearest garage was seven blocks away, and the only option was being continually ticketed for on-street parking. California housing laws have removed on-site parking requirements, both to reduce development costs and to encourage reliance on public transit. The Fay put that assumption to a real-world test. The policy removed the parking requirement. It did not remove the demand for parking, and transit did not make up the difference.

By January 2026, The Fay had gone through foreclosure and was valued at just $110 million. With 197 vacant units, the project was destabilized. San Jose stepped in to save it, committing $11.2 million from Measure E funds to master lease the 197 vacant units….

The city subsidized the 150 one-bedroom and 47 two-bedroom apartments, precisely the units that had failed to attract enough renters. The program serves middle-income tenants at 80% to 110% of Area Median Income — roughly $111,000 to $150,000 in annual earnings — with city workers bumped to the front of the applicant pool. It creates no low- or very-low-income units, and no permanently affordable units…

HOW THE CITY JUSTIFIES THE LIVE PROGRAM ON THEIR SITE

Continue reading The Fay: When Housing Policy Meets the Real World →

CA, CEQA, deregulated housing bills, Politics, Transportation

Calif. officials’ proposal sparks outrage over drive-on beach in Humboldt County

By Olivia Harden : sfgate – excerpt

Residents of a small coastal town in Humboldt County are protesting plans that a state conservation agency says are necessary to save a piece of the North Coast.

On Wednesday, the California Coastal Commission unanimously approved a coastal development permit for Humboldt County to repair Centerville Road outside of Ferndale. The road, which sits next to Centerville Beach, is being eroded by the ocean, and the county plans to reconstruct a 900-foot segment of the road by raising and building a new parking lot.

But the decision came with a condition: The commission would issue the permit only if vehicle access to the beach is discontinued. That requirement has rankled local residents and government officials, including Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Iver Skavdal, who represents District 1, where the beach is located. Skavdal came to the meeting to express his frustration during public comment.

“The Coastal Commission has attached a totally unrelated condition shutting down beach vehicular access to the project,” Skavdal said at the meeting. “There has been no community discussion as to why this is necessary …

This just appears to be a backroom deal stuck into the project, holding the project, the residents and the county hostage simply because you can.”… (more)

Please be aware of the state-wide problems people are facing thanks to Scott Wiener and Gavin Newsom’s power grabs in Sacramento that are being are used to control local governments everywhere. This is one of many examples of problem that Humbolt County residents are dealing with.

CEQA, Politics

Congressman Mullin introduces bill to combat closure of National Archives Community access to historical immigration and other records at stake

UPDATE ON MULLIN BILL

By John Trasviña Via email –  (audio from thevoiceofsanfrancisco)

State Congressman Mullin at a press conference outside the National Archives at San Francisco (located in San Bruno) on Aug. 24.

Vowing to “use any lever at our disposal to keep the National Archives here,” South San Francisco Congressman Kevin Mullin announced legislation Monday to combat Trump administration plans to shut down the local federal archives facility in San Bruno.  

Mullin’s bill, H.R. 10131, comes in response to advocacy by historians and Asian American immigrant and civil rights advocates who have collected almost 14,000 signatures in just the past month on petitions to keep the federal records centers here and in Chicago open. A similar federal records center in Seattle may also be at risk. The Mullin bill would bar the archivist from closing records centers or moving the records themselves for more than six months if facilities are restructured or repaired. Five House Democrats have now cosponsored the Mullin bill while 36 House members and senators have joined his Letter of Congressional inquiry to the archivist… (more)

Bridget slides from Wakup:   Explain how the protections are supposed to work but are being overwritten by Scott Wiener and YIMBY to remove protections. They are playing into he administration’s goal of erasing history.
CEQA, Housing, Planning, water

‘We cannot magic up more water’: the supply problems putting housing targets in England at risk

By Sandra Leville : theguardian – excerpt

WATER IN ENGLAND:  Council leaders say crumbling infrastructure and lack of water are jeopardising government’s plans for new homes

The government’s housebuilding agenda is hitting the stark reality of a lack of water and crumbling infrastructure across the east and south-east of England.

Half the country was declared to be in serious drought this week, for the second consecutive year, with the Environment Agency warning of dire consequences for the economy, environment and wildlife.

The parts of England in extreme water stress with residents under hosepipe bans are also where the government’s “build, baby, build” agenda is being targeted. Labour has promised to build 1.5m homes by the end of this parliament – a strategy retained by Andy Burnham…

Harvey said: “The Labour government’s unrealistic imposed housing targets don’t take account of the fact that the Environment Agency, Natural England and the water companies are all waving red flags about whether the water exists to supply them.”… (more)

From Gray Brechin, “

WATER IN AMERICA:  As you will see from the Guardian article below, Scott Wiener, the developers, and the YIMBYs who have gotten the California legislature to override local zoning controls and environmental constraints have their counterparts in the UK where massive new developments are projected for known floodplains and sensitive environmental sites. But now those counterparts are running headlong into the accelerating impacts of climate breakdown which is inescapable here where the heat is rising the rain has stopped, the hills and fields have bleached, the rivers, reservoirs, and aquifers are falling and the crops are failing. Although it’s still not as bad as France and Spain, wildfires have broken out in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. And El Niño hasn’t kicked in yet. But there are still people here as there are there who insist that if you build it, water (and energy) will magically be found. But what if it isn’t?

 

CA, CEQA, deregulated housing bills, Housing, Planning, Politics

One of Marin’s biggest new housing projects could get derailed by a lawsuit

By Julie Johnson : sfchronicle – excerpt
The Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary campus in Strawberry is set to be converted into housing. A new legal challenge could derail it.
 

A group of neighbors is challenging Marin County’s approval of a major housing development project on the Tiburon Peninsula, arguing in a lawsuit filed this month that the county was wrong to allow plans to build residences on the slopes of a ridgetop.

The new buildings would be part of a large overhaul of the former Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary campus, a 127-acre site with academic buildings and residences in the unincorporated community of Strawberry covering prime hillsides overlooking the bay.

On June 9, the county approved developer North Coast Land Holdings’ plans to build 337 residential units that would include 70 low-income sites plus a 150-unit residential care facility, a daycare, fitness center and 944 parking spaces. The plans call for demolishing all but 13 existing residences and to preserve open spaces on the property.

But 40 of those market-rate units in 25 buildings are too close to the ridgeline known as Chapel Hill, “effectively blocking views of the Bay from many vantage points,” according to the lawsuit, filed July 6 in Marin County Superior Court by the Strawberry Residents for Sensible Development. The plaintiffs, who are also suing North Coast, argue the county’s decision violated both environmental laws and local plans governing future development… (more)