Northern News April 2019

NORTHERN NEWS American Planning Association

A Publication of the Northern Section of the California Chapter of APA

Making Great Communities Happen

APRIL 2019

From arterial roadway to greenway

Meet our local planners

Matt Taecker, AICP, Page 5

Maren Moegel, Page 12 John Schwarz, Page 13

How much house is too much?

Al Savay, AICP, Page 8

Princeton-by-the-Sea, at Half Moon Bay, California Can you see the plane?

Photo: Hugh Graham

WHAT’S INSIDE, full list, Page 2

NORTHERN NEWS American Planning Association

Making Great Communities Happen

A Publication of the Northern Section of the California Chapter of APA

APRIL 2019

California launches program to increase housing production Jennifer Gastelum and Charlie Knox, AICP In an effort to address the statewide housing shortfall, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has begun the process of making money available to every city and county in California to expedite housing construction.

Senate Bill 2, the “Building Homes and Jobs Act,” was signed into law by then-Governor Jerry Brown in September 2017. The law, which imposes a $75 fee on most real estate transactions in California, is expected to generate about $250 million annually to increase housing, and especially affordable housing, across the state.

According to HCD research, statewide housing production has averaged below 80,000 new homes per year since 2010, compared to an annual need of about 260,000 new homes. This disparity has led to increasingly high housing costs and has forced people to locate in communities without sufficient job opportunities, leading to unprecedentedly long commutes and associated negative environmental and quality of life impacts for millions of Californians. Additionally, the state is experiencing the lowest rate of home ownership in 70 years, and renters are often paying half or more of their income on rent.

While the housing shortfall affects all income levels, it disproportionally impacts low-income households, disadvantaged communities, and people with special needs. The cost of housing in California has contributed significantly to the state’s homeless population, which accounts for 22 percent of all homeless Americans, despite California having only 12 percent of the country’s population.

In order to implement SB 2, HCD has selected a team of consultants led by California-based PlaceWorks to help jurisdictions identify projects and tools that will help increase housing development, including for lower income households, families, and people with special needs.

The HCD/PlaceWorks team is currently in the process of developing a Geographic Information System database to compile data about each jurisdiction, including ideas for potential projects for the grant funding, and timing and requirements for grant submittals. Cities and counties with a State-certified Housing Element and a completed 2017 or

2018 Annual Progress Report are eligible to receive SB 2 funds for a range of projects, including: • Targeted General Plan Updates • Community Plans and Specific Plans • Zoning Updates and By-Right Zoning for Housing • Objective Design Standards • Accessory Dwelling Unit Regulations • Streamlined Environmental Analyses • Process Updates to Improve and Expedite Local Permitting During this first year of the “Senate Bill 2 Planning Technical Assistance Project,” approximately $125 million will be available for Cities and Counties to update their planning rules and processes to streamline housing production, in amounts based on a jurisdiction’s population: • Less than 60,000 residents – $160,000 • 60,000 to 200,000 residents – $310,000 • More than 200,000 residents – $625,000 The grant application form is currently being finalized and submittals will be accepted for the first round of funding through December 31, 2019. Interested city and county representatives should contact Jennifer Gastelum at JGastelum@PlaceWorks.com.

Jennifer Gastelum is an associate principal at the PlaceWorks Sacramento Region office in Folsom, California, where she heads up the company’s housing assistance practice.

S E E PA G E 2 F O R A L I S T O F W H AT ’ S I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

Charlie Knox, AICP, is a principal for comprehensive planning at the PlaceWorks Berkeley office. n

EDITORIAL INFORMATION

WHAT’S INSIDE California launches program to increase housing production. Jennifer Gastelum and Charlie Knox, AICP. California HCD has begun making money available to every city and county in California to expedite housing construction. Page 1 Director’s note. James Castañeda, AICP. Will this be your first National Planning Conference? • Come to SF Planning Camp • NPC19. Page 3 Marking history with the Ohlone-Portolá Heritage Trail project. Sam Herzberg, AICP. The trail route will tell the story of the indigenous Ohlone culture and the Portolá Expedition of 1769. Page 4 From arterial roadway to community greenway. Matt Taecker, AICP. A Vision Plan reimagines how an arterial’s wide rights-of-way through three East Bay cities can be repurposed to promote community livability and sustainability. Page 5 Taking the high road to fix California’s broken housing production system.

Alex Lantsberg, AICP, and Roxana Aslan. Beyond loosening restrictions on apartment construction, the state must integrate labor standards with housing policies if it expects to increase multi-family home construction. Page 6 A disruptive housing technology on Mare Island. Afshan Hamid, AICP. Factory OS, on the former naval base, is streamlining the process for modular units in order to build more and more affordable housing. Page 7 How much house is too much? Al Savay, AICP. One city’s assessment of what is fair and appropriate for single-family house size and scale. Page 8 Planning4Health co-sponsors healthy/resilient homes leadership program.

Beth Altshuler and Will Dominie. Building a cohort of leaders to support multidisciplinary teams working to improve housing quality, stability, and resilience. Page 9 Where in the world. Photo by Fay Darmawi, MCP. Page 10 In memoriam, Frank So, FAICP. From APA. He joined the staff of the American Society of Planning Officials in 1967 and served as executive director of APA and AICP from 1996 to 2001. Page 11 Ethics/Law session recap. Libby Tyler, FAICP. If you missed our Feb. 23 event, stay tuned for webinar versions coming later this spring. Page 11 Meet our local planners. Maren Moegel, urban and architectural designer and master planner with degrees from Karlsruhe and Berkeley. Page 12 John Schwarz, environmental planner for 22 years, has been president and principal of his own firm for three years. Page 13

The American Planning Association, California Chapter Northern, offers membership to city and regional planners and associated professionals primarily living or working in California, from Monterey County to Del Norte County, including the nine county San Francisco Bay Area and Lake and San Benito Counties. APA California Northern promotes planning-related continuing education and social functions in order to: • Provide an arena for communication and exchange of information about planning related activities; • Raise member awareness and involvement in APA affairs; • Increase public awareness of the importance of planning; • Encourage professionalism in the conduct of its members; and • Foster a sense of community among the members.

APA California Northern publishes Northern News 10 times each year for the exchange of planning ideas and information. Current and back issues are available for download at http://bit.ly/2S1dUli. Entirely the effort of volunteers, the News is written and produced by and for urban planners in Northern California. Circulation (downloads per issue) 4,000.

To update your email address or other information, go to https://planning.org/myapa/ and login.

Northern News welcomes comments. Letters to the editor require the author’s first and last name, home or work street address and phone number (neither of which will be published), and professional affiliation or title (which will be published only with the author’s permission). All letters are subject to editing. Letters over 250 words are not considered.

Deadlines for submitting materials for inclusion in Northern News range from the 8th to the 23rd of the month prior to publication.

You can download the latest publication schedule at http://bit.ly/2COctSg. Permission to reprint is granted. Please credit “Northern News, APA California – Northern.”

Who’s where. Michael Cass. Page 18 The Food Zone. John Livingstone, AICP. Why can’t cities require developers to plant something that provides food for residents of the development or city? Page 23 Planning news roundup. Gentrification is most concentrated in large cities • 27-yearold Bay Area mayor is about to double her city’s population • San Jose approves new building heights • Questions about Dumbarton rail project answered • Destruction from sea level rise could exceed state’s worst wildfires and earthquakes • Large apartment project approved near San Leandro BART station • CEQA Review not required for project subject only to Design Review • Too late for ousted residents, Palo Alto denies hotel application • Neighborhood-preference program for affordable housing proves effective • Housing Action Planning effective in Santa Rosa. Page 31 This is our final issue as a PDF. But Northern News will continue to publish 10 times each year. Learn more: Page 31

Board directory: Page 36

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April 2019

ADDRESS CHANGES Membership Department American Planning Association 205 North Michigan Ave, Suite 1200 Chicago, IL 60601 (312) 431-9100 www.planning.org Our mailing lists come from APA National, updated every two months. To update your email address or other information, go to www.planning.org/myapa/ and login.

Director’s note James A. Castañeda, AICP

I credit much of what has shaped my career to those two conferences. I also acknowledge that much of what has continued to inspire me over the years is the annual gathering of my fellow planners. I’m excited that, after 14 years, the National Planning Conference has returned to the Bay Area. In a way, I too have come full circle as a planner in our Northern Section.

Proof I attended the 2005 National

Will this be your first National Planning Conference?

I remember walking into Union Station in Washington, DC, in the spring of 2004 and marveling at the opening reception. As a student about to graduate with a city and regional planning degree, it was a thrill to be around people in a profession I would join in just a few months. With eagerness and curiosity, I took in everything — sessions on planning topics I had studied, meet-ups with other students, and the vast exhibitor’s hall. I bought a polo shirt to commemorate the trip and the event.

Planning Conference in San Francisco

Planning Camp Without fail, whenever I’m away from the grind for a few days, I return to the office full of ideas and eager to continue to be an agent of change and innovation. Like so many things in life, sometimes our best ideas just need a little space and the right environment to bloom into clarity.

That’s what I expect will happen to me after I spend four days around other planners at a National Planning Conference, or as I heard someone at NPC17 in New York call it, Planning Camp.

Planning Camp has always been a place for me to be inspired and to reinvigorate my passion for the profession.

It’s a place where our best ideas are nurtured, as most everyone comes with an open mind and ready to share their experiences and skills. That eagerness is what sparks insightful dialogues that trigger creativity. Everyone, from the inspirational keynote speakers sharing the big picture, to students anxiously ready to talk about their posters, contributes to what soon becomes an invaluable experience and validation of what it means to be a planner.

Me in DC in 2004

In many ways, my first National Planning Conference set the tone for what has been a rewarding career as a planner since my first job later in 2004. After that first conference, I was easily lured to San Francisco the following year for the 2005 National Planning Conference. It was there I really felt like I was something larger just by being in our profession, and that led me to practice planning in the Bay Area.

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Marking history with the Ohlone-Portolá Heritage Trail project Samuel Herzberg, AICP

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from which the city of Palo Alto takes its name. At the end of their route, the party followed their path back through San Mateo County and along the California coast, returning to Baja California and then to Spain to report on their findings.

HISTORIANS ESTIMATE that indigenous people have lived for approximately 10,000 years in what is today San Mateo County. Natives — the Ramaytush Ohlone, who shared a dialect — numbered more than 2,000 in the area in 1769. They were generally organized in territories bounded by watersheds, with small groups living in villages spaced three to five miles apart along the creeks and valley. The subsistence and material culture of the Ramaytush Ohlone did not differ from other neighboring Ohlone societies. (“Ohlone” encompasses 50 Bay Area tribes that had a common root language.)

Local Ohlone culture was cosmopolitan, much as the San Francisco Bay Area is today. The Ohlone harvested plant, fish, and animal resources from the environment and acquired additional resources through extensive trade networks, including some that extended across the San Francisco Bay to the north and east.

At the time of the Portolá Expedition, California had the densest population of indigenous people north of Mexico: More than 300,000 lived here — more than all the Indians of the Great Plains — with the largest concentrations in the Sacramento Delta, the Santa Barbara area, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

With Measure K funding — a countywide half-cent sales tax extension passed by county voters in November 2016 — the San Mateo County Parks Department prepared a feasibility study for a 90-mile interpretive, multi-use, recreational trail (and a future auto route) through the county to commemorate native and Portolá history and honor the region’s native culture. The trail will follow Native American villages, the adjacent Portola Expedition camps, and the trade routes connecting villages. It will be the first trail to connect the coast to the Bay. Utilizing existing regional alignments, the trail route is already half complete; it needs to be signed. Future sections will largely use public lands of San Mateo County Parks, Peninsula Open Space Trust, CalTrans, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, State Parks, San Francisco

WO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO, an expedition led by Gaspar de

Portolá travelled 1,200 miles up the Alta California coast to explore an overland route for establishing Spanish harbors at San Diego and Monterey Bay. Following well-established footpaths that marked trade routes between native villages, the expedition traveled farther north, and its members became the first Europeans to see the San Francisco Bay. Portolá himself, Father Juan Crespi, and Miguel Constansó — the party’s engineer — chronicled the expedition. According to surviving journals, the expedition did not recognize Monterey Bay from Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno’s 167-year-old description, and so continued north, in search of a suitable harbor. As the expedition entered what is now San Mateo County near Año Nuevo State Park, they were welcomed by the Quiroste people at one of the larger villages along the coast.

The Quiroste provided much-needed nourishment to Portolá’s men, reviving the scurvy-ridden soldiers, and told them of two harbors about three days’ walk north. Their guides led the Portolá party to neighboring villages at San Gregorio, Tunitas Creek, and Half Moon Bay. At Montara Mountain, Costansó recognized the farallones to the west, — a group of islands 20 miles outside the Golden Gate and a known landmark even in those times — and realized they had passed Monterey Bay. Atop the mountain, they met a group of about 25 Aramai, who may have been from the village of Pruristac in Pacifica where the Sanchez Adobe now stands.

As the party camped nearby in San Pedro Valley, a small group went up the hills to hunt deer. They came back after nightfall describing a giant estuary surrounded by smoke from the fires of native villages. These hunters became the first recorded Europeans to see what we now call San Francisco Bay, most likely from somewhere atop what is now known as Sweeney Ridge. November 4 will mark the 250th anniversary of this historic and unexpected experience.

The Expedition continued south through the Crystal Springs Watershed towards Woodside, and then east, ending at the north (Menlo Park) side of San Francisquito Creek.

The Menlo Park camp was adjacent to the El Palo Alto tree

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From arterial roadway to greenway New regional infrastructure across Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville Matt Taecker, AICP

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HIS IS A VISION PLAN that reimagines how the very wide rights-of-way existing along the ShattuckAdeline-Stanford corridor can be used to increase community livability and promote urban sustainability. These generous rights-of-way originally accommodated rail and were repurposed in the 20th century primarily for movement and parking of motor vehicles.

Rail legacy presents opportunity. Shattuck, Adeline, and Stanford are wide streets because they accommodated both electric streetcars and diesel passenger trains. Top photo: BAHA, http://bit.ly/2JuUPbo. Bottom photo: Brian Thompson in Key System Album, Interurbans Special 68 by Jim Walker (Interurban Press, Glendale CA, 1978, ISBN 0-916374-31-9)

In the 19th century, rights-of-way along this corridor were made much wider than other major streets to accommodate four pairs of tracks for both streetcars and heavy-rail trains. In the mid-20th century, the rails were removed and the wide rights-of-way were redesigned to move cars swiftly and to maximize parking in some areas. In the 21st century, the communities along this corridor can again repurpose the wide rights-of-way to reflect today’s values of livability, sustainability, resilience, and equity.

This Vision Plan lays a foundation for envisioning and realizing a new urban Greenway that can address multiple needs along its length. As envisioned, the Greenway would create an unimpeded pedestrian-bicycle route punctuated by neighborhood centers, recreation, and ecological features. (continues on page 14)

Greenway corridor and districts. The corridor connects numerous destinations, while passing through distinct districts that call for contextappropriate design solutions. Credit: Taecker Planning & Design

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Taking the high road to fix California’s broken housing production system Alex Lantsberg, AICP, and Roxana Aslan CALIFORNIA is caught in a pair of traps affecting what kind of housing is built and where, and how it is produced.

Together, they reinforce a dynamic of suppressed housing construction, unaffordability, and displacement. Policy makers are understandably focused on making it easier to issue permits for where the multifamily housing in California is needed. They must do more in that regard.

Those same lawmakers must also consider the construction labor bottleneck that limits how many units can be produced. By anchoring housing permitting and financing policies around labor standards for construction, the state can facilitate the increased multifamily infill development it so desperately needs.

Despite an acrimonious housing debate, the “what and where” trap is the easier of the two to fix. Consumer preferences have shifted toward denser urban lifestyles, pushed along by policies to help adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Yet large portions of California metros’ high-demand transit-proximate areas are off limits to apartments. Where they are allowed, existing incentives tend to produce large, amenity-rich complexes. With land prices escalating, this often means that only the deepest pocketed builders can compete to deliver a luxury product to grab high-end demand. The market, however, has been unable to build enough of the housing in greatest need.

The state legislature has streamlined permitting for deed-restricted affordable housing and has eliminated some of the barriers faced by accessory dwelling units.

These efforts, while laudable, are only down payments on the reforms needed to revitalize the housing construction market, and particularly to expand production of low and moderate income housing.

Loosening restrictions on apartment construction can help resolve this situation but will not address the “how” of production.

For that, the state must intervene to fix a broken system that cannot fix itself.

Demand for homes is robust, but there are neither the contractors nor the construction workers to build them. Homebuilders’ low wages and poor labor standards make it difficult to attract new workers. Low pay in most private residential construction

makes it a persistent challenge to keep skilled workers from leaving for better compensated commercial and public works construction. The resulting turnover makes it uneconomical for builders to invest in training to improve the productivity of the existing workforce. The most capable residential builders and workers gravitate to publicly subsidized projects with wage standards that largely avoid these dynamics. Neither does the coastal areas’ high cost of living make it economical for new firms, or workers from other regions, to move to California to fill the gaps.

Without intervention, the production system remains stuck in low gear.

Integrating labor standards with policies to increase multi-family home construction will allow California to improve housing affordability by rebuilding its housing production system. This “high road” approach is based on paying workers wages sufficient to allow a dignified work and post-work life, supporting workforce development through apprentice training, and improving productivity by upgrading safety and skills. It would recreate the labor relations system in place during the state’s housing construction heyday from the 1950s through the 1980s when California routinely produced between 200,000 and 300,000 units.

Labor needs Meeting Governor Newsom’s goal of 3.5 million new homes in California in the next 10 years will require a massive increase in the rate of housing production to an average of 350,000 units per year. Building permit data

Figure 1. Residential Construction Productivity

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A disruptive housing technology The story of Mare Island, a Base reuse, and Factory OS Afshan Hamid, AICP A housing and technology disruption is occurring on Mare Island in Vallejo, California. For 142 years, the island functioned as a naval shipyard for 40,000 workers and more than 500 ships, including cruisers and battleships that served in several wars, including two World Wars. The USS Saginaw, a four-gun, wooden-hulled, steam-driven, side-paddle-wheel gunboat was launched from Mare Island on March 3, 1859. The shipyard was home to many “firsts” in U.S. Navy and west coast history, including a permanently constructed dry dock. But the Navy closed the base in 1996, and the impacts on the city have been long and difficult, including the City of Vallejo’s bankruptcy.

Mare Island. Looking northwest along the Napa River (Mare Island straight), with Mare Island to the left (southwest), and downtown Vallejo to the right (northeast). Photo: James L.

With private firm Lennar Mare Island and the City of Vallejo investing in redeveloping the naval base, Mare Island found a new purpose. The 1999 Mare Island Specific Plan laid out a strategic vision for the Island’s renaissance: Reuse existing historic buildings, preserve the historic core, and develop new areas. The Specific Plan established land use designations to provide for parks and open space,

reuse areas, and residential, industrial, recreational, and educational uses.

The transfer of the base from the Navy to the City involved many years of coordinated community planning.

The guiding vision for the initial Reuse Plan and Specific Plan, and for all subsequent amendments, has held constant.

That vision is to create new, well-paying jobs and to restore (continues on page 24)

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How much house is too much?

Rethinking single family house size Al Savay, AICP

The single-family detached house is an icon — a symbol of the American Dream. Owning a singlefamily home is the culmination of hard work, financial planning, risk, strategic thinking, and sacrifice.

Demographic changes have revealed major shifts in how our country views home ownership. Even so, middle-class or millennial, many still plan their lives around owning a single-family home. If we are fortunate enough to make it into the ownership circle, we inevitably develop very strong feelings about what our neighborhood should look and feel like, and what’s appropriate in terms of house size and scale. We’re likely to decide that the neighborhood should stay the same as when we bought there, and that our neighbors should also resist change.

American cities have embraced the notion of the suburban neighborhood as an inviolable place Credit: City of San Carlos by adopting building and lot standards to ensure a distinct scale, proportion, and character. Thousands question from their clients was, “How much house can of public-sector planners started their careers at the I build?” Their needs and desires differ from those of longzoning counter, reviewing additions and “remodels” of time residents. In addition to a minimum of three bedrooms single-family homes against those standards. Any planner and two baths — or even more for multi-generational who has worked the zoning counter knows that getting in families — they want higher ceilings, mudrooms, open the way of owners who want to add to, or rebuild, their floor plans with combined kitchen and family rooms, media houses is a recipe for high blood pressure for both parties. rooms, and an office or two. All of this led to larger, taller This is the story of one city’s assessment of what is houses, many of them on the original, small, narrow lots fair and appropriate in terms of single-family house size next to smaller, one-story homes. and scale.

The planner’s task in leading a change in how much The setting house one can build is fraught with challenges. This is San Carlos is a city of 30,000 in southeastern San Mateo where zoning directly intersects with “home,” the most County, with 8,000 properties zoned for single-family fundamental and personal space in the American psyche. residences.

There can be no straightforward answers or recommendaAs the fortunes of Silicon Valley led to high-paying tions from city officials, no matter how well thought out. jobs, stock options, and bonuses, our community became No matter how empathetic, the proposals are sure to meet a very desirable place because of its central Bay Area locawith criticism and scorn. tion, sense of community, and top-performing schools. An In 2016, the San Carlos City Council held study influx of young, two-income households have come to raise sessions in response to community concerns about the their families in San Carlos. Much of the single-family size of new homes and additions. Community members housing stock had not been touched since the 1950s. complained about a proliferation of “monster homes” and These new buyers began hiring local architects, design“McMansions” that compromised their light, solar access, ers, and contractors who relayed to city staff that the first air and privacy, particularly on blocks where most homes (continues on page 25)

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Planners4Health Co-sponsors Healthy/Resilient Homes Leadership Program Beth Altshuler and Will Dominie

APA California Northern Section is thrilled to co-sponsor a “Health and Resilient Homes Leadership Program” with the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and the Great Communities Collaborative. This program’s goals are to:

access to nutritious foods. The first two years were called “Plan4Health,” and the third year was called “Planners4Health,” http://bit.ly/2g6yTFg. During the third year, in 2017, California APA was awarded a Planners4Health grant (http://bit.ly/2JCjLho) to build the capacity of planners to incorporate a public health lens into their work. An outcome of this initiative was to create Planners4Health coordinator positions at each local section who would be responsible for organizing professional development activities to strengthen our ability as planners to address public health issues in our communities.

• Build a cohort of leaders on healthy, resilient, stable housing across Bay Area Health Departments.

Increase the knowledge, skills and relationships needed to implement health equity solutions.

• Foster connections between health departments and sister agencies working on housing quality, stability, and resilience.

Overview of Healthy and Resilient Homes Leadership Program. Over the course of 2019, BARHII’s Built Environment Committee will train and support a cohort of localpublic health department staff and Bay Area plannersto implement their jurisdiction’s priority solutions toimprove housing quality, stability, and resilience.

BARHII will conduct trainings with local health department staff to bring them up to speed on all the new housing legislation and planning and funding opportunities. The first of these trainings occurred on March 15, 2019, with representatives from all the local health departments.

This program will also invite staff from county and city housing authorities and planning departments to trainings on health equity; health, housing, and resilience; and public health solutions to these issues. Planners and public health staff will attend implementation trainings to advance solutions.

BARHII will work to pair up planners with their health department staff so they can collaborate on an actual housing and health equity project

• Support multidisciplinary teams to implement departmental priority solutions to improve housing quality, stability and resilience.

• Draw down new revenue sources for healthy resilient housing.

BARHII is the coalition of the 11 Bay Area public health

departments founded to address the preventable decadeslong differences in life expectancy that exist by race, income, and neighborhood. BARHII convenes public health staff across the region to identify emerging public health trends and to advance best practices for health equity. BARHII staff and members have been involved with MTC’s CASA process. (They do amazing work and have great resources on their website, http://barhii.org/) This partnership is partly an outgrowth of national and state APA initiatives. In 2015, with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), national APA teamed up with the American Public Health Association (APHA) to implement a three-year, $9 million program to help communities combat determinants of chronic disease — lack of physical activity and lack of

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Where in the world

Photo by Fay Darmawi. (Answer on page 15) Northern News

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In memoriam

Frank So, FAICP, 81; helped create Planning magazine From APA and Legacy.com APA has informed us of the death of its retired APA Executive Director Frank S. So on February 22, 2019.

So graduated from Youngstown University and earned his master’s degree in city and regional planning Credit: APA from Ohio State University. He joined the staff of the American Society of Planning Officials in 1967, and spent more than 30 years with the association that eventually became APA. He worked in the growing research program, where he helped create Planning magazine and started the Planners Press

book publishing program. So served as executive director of APA and AICP from 1996 to 2001.

So is remembered for his work overseeing the publication of more than 60 books on planning, and for editing four planning textbooks, including the Practice of Local Government Planning. This ICMA “Green Book” text has since been used as an introduction to the field for several generations of planning students.

So lived in Flossmoor, a suburb 45 minutes south by commuter rail from the ASPO offices on the University of Chicago campus. He also served for 16 years as a consulting advisor to the Village of Flossmoor: village manager, planning director, board of trustees, planning commission, appearance commission, and the zoning board of appeals. He was an adjunct professor at Governors State University and a volunteer planning career advisor to the Peace Corps. n

Ethics/Law “two-fer” program recap The Northern Section held its annual winter ethics/law training event on February 23, 2019, at the fabulous Wendel Rosen conference facilities overlooking the heart of downtown Oakland. More than 40 Section members participated in the event. In the law session, Wendel Rosen attorney Robert Selna discussed the legalization of cannabis in California and how it is implemented through local land use permits, and attorney Amara Morrison spoke about the implications of SB 35, the new fast-track housing development legislation.

The law session was followed by a panel of local certified planners who discussed APA’s current Ethics Cases of the Year along with lively audience participation. Panelists included Libby Tyler, FAICP, introduces a scenario in the AICP Ethics Code. Photo: Tom Holub Elizabeth “Libby” Tyler, FAICP, the section’s Ethics Review Director; Shannon Hake, AICP, Distance If you missed this event, stay tuned; we plan to produce Education Coordinator; Afshan Hamid, AICP, Professional Webinar versions later this spring.

Development Director; and Rob Olshansky, FAICP, We welcome your ideas and suggestions for future Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois. sessions! Contact Libby Tyler at ethics@norcalapa.org.

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April 2019

Meet our local planners — Maren Moegel and John Schwarz

By Catarina Kidd, AICP Maren Moegel, an urban and architectural designer and master planner with broad international experience, is Studio Director at Studio T-SQ in Oakland, California. She is working on urban mixed-use projects throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

My background is in architecture — university in Karlsruhe, Germany — with studies abroad in Sweden and Norway. My architecture thesis focused on development around the Oslo train station and waterfront area, and I was always interested in the larger scale of urban planning. After graduation, I started working in Oslo, Norway, for an architectural firm, where I could pursue my interest in both architecture and master planning.

I was in my twenties then, adventurous, and eager to explore the world beyond Europe. I was accepted to UC Berkeley’s Master of Urban Design program — a great introduction to California culture and how design and planning are approached here.

What is your education background?

I have lived in Berkeley and the East Bay since acquiring my master’s degree in urban design at UC Berkeley in 2000. I also earned an earlier master’s degree in architecture at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

What advice would you give to new graduates?

Pursue your interests, try out a few things, acquire a solid set of skills, persevere, and follow your path to completion. Also realize that the relationships you are forming now are important and can last a lifetime, and via social media you can stay connected even across continents.

Build a reputation for competence and integrity.

What do you do?

I am currently the Urban Design Director at Studio T-SQ in Oakland. My work emphasizes urban redevelopment, creating mixed-use transit-oriented neighborhoods in the Bay Area. I am passionate about cities and urbanism.

I believe providing dense urban districts and multifamily housing next to transit stations plays a major role in ensuring sustainable lifestyles. I work at all scales, from urban plazas or city blocks to neighborhoods and entire districts. While architects focus on designing buildings, as urban designer I focus on arranging land use and buildings so that they frame great public open spaces. I approach each design challenge with people and community in mind, and create places where people can walk, bike, or relax and interact. I’m also honored to work with SPUR’s regional strategy workshop.

How did you get to your chosen specialty in urban design?

Having grown up in Europe, I have always enjoyed cities, plazas, and exploring parks, watching people, being able to walk everywhere — and feeling safe in public spaces — the elements that make great urban neighborhoods.

Mixed-use residential community at Lawrence Caltrain Station in Sunnyvale, CA, existing and proposed plan. Credit: Studio T-SQ. (See page 29.)

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Meet our local planners — Maren Moegel and John Schwarz

By Catarina Kidd, AICP John Schwarz, an environmental planner for 22 years, is president and principal of JHS Consulting, specializing in environmental planning. He holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a B.A. in environmental studies from UC Santa Barbara.

ongoing challenge. I’m spending a lot of time figuring out whether to make the business bigger or stay solo and nimble.

How do clients differ?

Applicants always want to get through the process quickly and minimize cost, but the public sector focus is to be accurate and defendable. And schedule is always a priority for both public and private clients. Despite different goals and the contentiousness of the process, I find that everyone wants the job done quickly and well.

Which projects stand out to you?

From 2004 to 2005, the Hitachi/IBM campus in San Jose: It was a coming-of-age project for me. It was big and ambitious, with lots of stakeholders. The applicant team had high expectations, and we had lots of technical issues to iron out. There were moments of having to deliver bad news in the middle of a strong push to the finish line.

It was a landmark project in my career.

What brought you to environmental planning?

As a student at UC Santa Barbara, I was interested in environmental studies and started taking courses because I loved the variety of topics and their relevance. My approach was about liking the subject rather than trying to figure out the career. After graduating, I landed an entrylevel position at David J. Powers and Associates.

I then went into the tech world, but missed urban planning and went back to DJP&A. Tell us about your environmental planning experience.

I was at DJP&A for a total of 19 years, working on public and private development, residential, office, and mixed use.

I also did a lot of infrastructure work, including water, sewer, and transportation projects. It was a good mix of projects to round out my knowledge and exposure to different practice areas. I worked my way up to vice president and principal, and was later involved in running the firm, which was terrific experience.

What inspired you to start your own firm?

I wanted to learn the entitlement side and was ready to try something different, and a couple of clients helped me launch the business. I’m working on entitlements and project management for private applicants and contract environmental planning for public agencies — sometimes as an extension of city staff.

One of three vertical shafts being excavated for the project. The tunnelboring machine will be lowered into the first shaft and will begin excavating the tunnel horizontally. Photo: Silicon Valley Clean Water.

Your observations on being a business owner versus employee?

As an employee on the management team at DJP&A, I was stressed about running the business. Now the stress is greater, as it all comes down to just me. It’s fun to be on your own, but not having internal support to get things done can be tough. That’s not a surprise, but it is an

I’m also passionate about Silicon Valley Clean Water’s Conveyance System going into construction at Redwood Shores (http://bit.ly/2F00G2P). The challenges were aging sewer infrastructure and having to go through residential areas and habitat. From the outset, the alternatives were unpopular with the public and the regulatory agencies.

The technical team evaluated a host of other options and (continues on page 30)

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From arterial roadway to greenway (continued from page 5) for Alameda County funding; Oakland has added the greenway alignment to its draft Bicycle Master Plan; and Emeryville is working to strengthen pedestrian and bicycle connections to the Bay Trail.

Significant repurposing of corridor rights-of-way is possible If the narrowest acceptable traffic lanes and lane widths are used, and if on-street parking is arranged more efficiently, some 60 or more feet of the corridor width can be put to new purposes, all the while reducing traffic speeds and improving safety. With advanced transportation technologies and practices, no loss in vehicle travel times should be experienced.

From gray to green. Autonomous vehicle technology will allow narrow traffic lanes while reducing congestion. Consequently, road rights-of-way may be repurposed for pedestrian and bicycle paths, additional landscaping, and community open space. Credit: Tom Sohrweide, SEH, http://bit.ly/2JqMs0z

The Greenway Vision also considers how it can affect surrounding land use. Its design can complement existing land uses and, at the same time, promote new street-oriented and pedestrian-friendly development, including housing that can help alleviate California’s housing crisis.

Shattuck Avenue promenade. Shattuck’s wide right-of-way can be reconfigured to yield a 60-foot linear park that includes a continuous bicycle-pedestrian trail and placemaking features to strengthen downtown Berkeley.

This Vision Plan is an advocacy report

This greenway planning has, to date, been a grassroots effort in close consultation with community stakeholders and city officials. A linear greenway on Shattuck was adopted in concept in Berkeley’s 2012 Downtown Street & Open Space Improvement Plan, but the idea of extending a greenway south to the Bay Trail emerged later. In 2017, Bike East Bay and Taecker Planning & Design applied for

The Greenway Vision Plan has not been officially adopted as a “plan” per se. It lays a foundation for finding funds for further planning in and by the cities it connects: Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville. In this respect, the Vision Plan is already succeeding. Berkeley made greenway planning a priority for Metropolitan Transportation Commission and

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The display of calling cards from firms offering professional services appears in every issue of Northern News. Fees paid by the firms for this service help defray the costs of this newsletter.

From arterial roadway to greenway (continued from previous page) and received seed money for planning from the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund at UC Berkeley. After receiving the grant, the Downtown Berkeley Association and City of Berkeley Council members contributed discretionary funds. Small grants were also received from Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development, LMC Multifamily (a Lennar Company), and the Austin Group.

Planning began with extensive outreach to interested committees and commissions in the three cities and with neighborhood and business associations along the corridor. The work plan originally included community workshops and other forms of engagement, but contributions were only sufficient to cover the staff costs of Matt Taecker, AICP, the Greenway consultant, who envisioned the project with Dave Campbell, advocacy director for Bike East Bay, and John Caner, CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association.

The Vision Plan includes extensive planning analysis, examples of built precedents, schematic design options, policy recommendations for addressing gentrification resulting from improvements, and a strategy for implementation.

With the Vision Plan now completed, grants and other funds can be gathered to prepare one or more City-sponsored plans, to thoroughly engage community members, and to address technical issues. The 80-page Vision Plan can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/2TWsjDG. Matt Taecker, AICP, holds an MCP and an M.Arch from UC Berkeley and a B.A. from The University of Chicago. He has been a leader in transit-oriented development for 35 years, focusing especially on downtowns and urban revitalization. His firm, Taecker Planning and Design, is located in Berkeley. You can reach him at matt@taeckerplanning.com n

Answer to Where in the world (Page 10) Manhattan, looking north from the West Village to Hudson Yards.

The tallest building on the skyline at 1,296 feet is No. 30 Hudson Yards.

You can make out the triangular observation deck, 1,100 feet above street level, cantilevered near the top. Jane Street runs east-west along the bottom of the photo, and 8th Avenue heads off at an angle to the right. Photo: Fay Darmawi.

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Director’s note (continued from page 3) NPC19 It’s a great honor that, on behalf of the Northern Section, I get to welcome planners from across the country to the Bay Area for NPC19.

For those like me who experienced the 2005 National Planning Conference, it’s exciting to take stock of where we were 14 years ago and focus on how we have evolved since then within our profession.

We can do that internally, or in the NPC sessions, or on any of the 60 mobile workshops we have on the NPC program.

NPC19 would not be possible without the coordination and help of those who volunteered to serve on the Local Host Committee. We owe much to Hing Wong,AICP, the Local Host Chair; Sharon Grewal, AICP, the Activities Coordinator; Jonathan Schuppert, AICP, our Mobile Workshops Coordinator; Bob Zimmerer, AICP, Orientation Tours Coordinator; and Alessandra Lundin, Raimi + Associates, Community Planning Workshop Coordinator. It was my pleasure to contribute to coordinating the creation and curation of the City Guide that is featured in the NPC19 mobile app. After countless volunteer hours from those on the Local Host Committee, I’m confident this will be another successful National Planning Conference, of which all in our Northern Section can be proud.

I hope I will get to see many of you there. Join me in letting this year’s Planning Camp strengthen your passion for learning. Be sure to stop by our Northern Section welcome table in the main lobby to say hello. You may see me and other familiar faces. I might not be wearing my 2004 APA conference polo or sporting the frosted tips hairstyle from college days, but I’ll be at SF Planning Camp with all of the same eagerness and curiosity! n

“The How did our Bay Area cities and places get their names? “William Ralston named Burlingame in 1868 after his friend, Anson Burlingame, a lawyer and politician who had been President Abraham Lincoln’s U.S. minister to the Qing Empire in China. Daly City was named after John Daly, who arrived in California in the 1850s when he was 13. He found work on a dairy farm, and by 1868 owned 250 acres. After the 1906 earthquake, many San Franciscans took refuge on Daly’s farm. When the land was incorporated in 1911, the town was named in Daly’s honor. Petaluma: In Coast Miwok, péta lúuma means ‘hillside back’ or ‘hillside ridge.’ In 1936, Treasure Island got its name because it ‘perfectly expressed a glamorous, beautiful, almost fabulous island that would present the treasures of the world during the 1939 World’s Fair.’ ” You can learn more about Bay Area place names from KQED, where we got these tidbits: http://bit.ly/2JBA7H0

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It’s CPF Scholarship season The California Planning Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2019–2020 CPF scholarships. More than $60,000 in scholarships is available to students attending eligible planning programs in California.

April 30, 2019, is the deadline to apply, so get your application in now. For details visit the CPF website at http://bit.ly/2FocmQe

“The relationship between building height and density is often misunderstood. The large majority of our land is usually reserved for low-density housing. We have a policy context that only allows intensification in select places, and that can create pressures to build up. It’s a bit like squeezing a closed tube of toothpaste.” —Brandon Donnelly, http://bit.ly/2TF5gxC, is an architect-trained real estate developer in Toronto.

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Planners will want to sit on this state jury APA California is looking for enthusiastic individuals willing to dedicate time to our profession by serving on the 2019 APA California Chapter Awards Jury. Jurors will review and evaluate some of the finest planning work in California and will then confer with the jury to determine the winners. A mandatory jury deliberation day is scheduled for Saturday, June 15, 2019. The location of the Jury Day is still to be determined and may require travel. Travel expenses will be reimbursed.

If you wish to be considered for this jury, please email your name, contact information, and a short résumé or bio no later than April 15, 2019, to Chris Pahule, Awards Co-Coordinator (North), pahulec@saccounty.net

Who’s where The Northern Section Board has appointed Michael Cass its Treasurer. He fills the position left vacant by Jonathan Schuppert, AICP, who is now the Section Director-elect. Cass, who has been a public sector planner for 14 years, had been one of Northern Section’s two East Bay Regional Activity Co-coordinators (RACs). He is principal planner in charge of long-range and sustainability policy for the City of Concord. Separately, he serves as Co-chair of Sustainable Lafayette’s Open Space Project and is a Sustainable Contra Costa board member and secretary.

Cass holds a B.A. in communication from St. Mary’s College of California, Moraga.

Calling card advertisements support the Northern News. For more information on placing a calling card announcement and to receive format specifications, contact: advertising@norcalapa.org

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Marking history with the Ohlone-Portolá Heritage Trail project (continued from page 4) Public Utilities Commission, and the Golden Gate Recreation Area. Interpretive signage will tell the story of the indigenous Ohlone culture, the Portolá Expedition’s 27 days in San Mateo County in 1769, and U.S. West Coast history.

All of the Portolá Expedition camps are already designated State Historic Landmarks.

The Ohlone-Portolá Heritage Trail connects them. The San Mateo County Historical Association is nominating the trail to the State Office of Historic Preservation as a State Historic Trail. The County has funded a documentary film that will screen at a new Interpretive Center at the Sanchez Adobe.

Both open in Pacifica October 26, 2019.

Seven years after the Portolá Expedition, the Juan Bautista De Anza Expedition led to the missions being developed in California.

The Juan Bautista De Anza Trail is a designated National Historic Trail.

You can see the Ohlone-Portolá Trail Feasibility Study on the San Mateo County Parks Department web page at http://bit.ly/2TXgZHi. Samuel (Sam) Herzberg, AICP, holds a master in urban planning from San Jose State University and a B.A. in geography from San Francisco State University.

For 20 years, he has been a member of APA and an employee of the San Mateo County Parks Department, where he is a senior planner.

Herzberg is a member of the Indicators Committee of Sustainable San Mateo County, where he helps oversee and manage quarterly updates of indicators. n

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Taking the high road to fix California’s broken housing production system (continued from page 6) show only 102,350 housing units authorized for 2016 and 114,780 for 2017.

The number of units produced per worker, which was above 1.2 between 1990 and 2006, has not exceeded one unit per worker since then.

The labor required to meet the goal of 350,000 units is unlikely to be met whether productivity remains at its current levels or regains pre-recession levels. At its current production of roughly one housing unit per worker, California would need approximately 350,000 residential building construction workers per year — a workforce three times its current size and more than double its pre-recession peak. If productivity rebounds to pre-recession levels, nearly 140,000 more workers (approximately 257,000 total) will be needed.

The residential construction industry has seen even greater declines. Current employment at multifamily residential general contractors is less than 80 percent of what it was a decade earlier, and the number of firms is down by more than a quarter.

The decline in housing construction employment in the state, while varying substantially by region, is linked to an even steeper decline in the number of multifamily general contractors; only the Bay Area reaches its 2006 level.

Figure 4. Multifamily General Contractors (NAICS 236116) in California, 2006 vs. 2016

Figure 2. Estimated Regional Workforce Requirements for 350,000 homes per year

Contractor shortage Discussion about the causes of the housing shortage has revolved around regulatory barriers to new multifamily supply, but few have focused on the construction industry’s capacity for housing production. After the Great Recession, the construction industry underwent significant changes that still constrain capacity.

Many builders went bankrupt or reallocated their workers and resources. These contractors have yet to regain their previous form.

General contractors in the state have become smaller, and with fewer firms employing fewer people, construction capacity remains below its 2006 peak.

Figure 3. General Contractors (NAICS 236) in California, 2006 vs. 2016 Northern News

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The decline in construction firm capacity correlates with the decline in housing production and indicates a serious capacity issue. Even in highdemand coastal areas, the building industry is not large enough to ramp up production and provide the state with the new housing it requires. This has given builders immense pricing power that is contributing to unsustainable price increases.

Labor shortage The tightening and consolidation of California’s contracting capacity is linked to the severe shortage of residential construction labor. Construction employment nationwide remains below prerecession peaks — despite an improved economy and boost in construction — (continues on next page)

Taking the high road to fix California’s broken housing production system (continued from previous page) because the housing bust and subsequent recession displaced large numbers of construction workers, a majority of whom moved to other industries or left the formal labor market.

California’s construction labor market has generally followed national trends. Employment in nonresidential building construction returned to pre-recession levels by 2016, but employment in residential building construction remained about 37,000 workers short of its prerecession peak.

The residential construction worker shortage is contemporaneous with the shortage of housing production across California. Housing production and residential construction employment both began to plateau around 2013.

Figure 6. Change in Composition of Workforce Age in California Construction vs. All Industries

Historically, construction wages were comparable to those in manufacturing, while higher than many service sector jobs and the average private sector job. Today, US construction workers make less than they did 40 years ago. Examining annual pay for different construction sub-sectors since 1992, it is clear that residential building construction workers are generally paid less than similarly skilled workers in nonresidential and civil engineering construction. The lower wages appear to factor into the sluggish rate of housing production since the Great Recession.

Figure 5. Housing Production, Contracting Capacity, and Construction Employment

This shortfall is undermining growth in the housing stock at a time when it needs to grow quickly to meet demand, particularly for thousands of families displaced by catastrophic wildfires in 2017 and 2018.

One factor is a decline in younger people in residential construction. The participation of workers under 25 has declined by nearly 40 percent since 1992, dropping from 13.4 percent of the workforce to 8.2 percent. The percent of hires in the 19–24 age group has declined from over 8.3 percent in 2005 to less than 7 percent by 2017, a drop of more than 16 percent. The graying of the construction workforce has exceeded the aging in the rest of California’s economy.

Figure 7. Construction Sub-sector wages

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(continues on next page)

Taking the high road to fix California’s broken housing production system (continued from previous page) Looking at the pay differential in percentage terms makes its relationship with housing production clearer. Decreases in the gap between nonresidential and residential construction are associated with an increase in housing production.

Figure 8. Housing Production and Residential Wage Gap

Workers moving into construction generally received at least a 20 percent wage premium from their prior jobs. (Scott Littlehale, Jan. 2019, http://bit.ly/2U4Kd70) The residential sector fails to deliver such a premium.

Where to go from here California can only solve its housing crisis by producing substantially more units in the right places, something that will require more workers and higher workforce productivity. But at current productivity levels, California’s residential construction workforce would need to triple to meet state housing goals.

Alex Lantsberg, AICP, is the San Francisco Electrical Construction Industry’s research and advocacy director. As a planner, researcher, and advocate, Lantsberg has worked on housing, labor, infrastructure, and sustainability issues in northern California for the past 16 years. He served on the APA California – Northern Section board as co-chair of the sustainability committee, 2015–2017.

You can reach him at lantsberg@gmail.com

Northern News

Workers today have little incentive to join or stay in residential construction. Wages are stagnant – and benefit participation is declining – while opportunities are expanding in higher paying construction sub-sectors like public infrastructure.

At the same time, residential builders are relying on an undertrained and underpaid workforce rather than on highly trained workers as they once did.

Irrespective of land use regulations, these developers will be slow to build housing without a readily available pool of healthy, skilled, and dedicated construction workers.

As California proceeds to streamline the development process and incentivize residential density, it must also consider the workers — those who build the dwellings — by attaching prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements to procedural reforms. Because blue-collar wages and benefits comprise only about 15 percent of the total costs of a residential project, the impact on project costs is minimal and outweighed by the benefits of procedural streamlining and reduced parking requirements. Since prevailing wage regulations preclude contractors from cutting wages to win bids, they enable at least some construction workers to live in the homes and communities where they build.

Apprenticeships will help attract people to the residential construction workforce by making residential construction a viable and sustainable career path. If the state, through its policies, can help rebuild its housing production system, California’s housing crisis may soon end.

Roxana Aslan is a Research Analyst with UNITE-HERE Local 11, which represents 30,000 workers in hotels, restaurants, airports, sports arenas, and convention centers in Southern California and Arizona. Her master’s degree from UCLA is in city/urban, community, and regional planning, with a specialization in community economic development and housing; and she holds a B.S. in environmental sciences and health from the University of Southern California. n

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The Food Zone John F. Livingstone, AICP What if cities required new developments and major additions to plant something that provides food? That food could be used by the residents or occupants of the subdivision or development, or if surplus, donated to local schools, homeless shelters, and food banks.

It’s a simple idea. Most cities require landscaping, and many require the planting of specific street trees. A City Food Plan could identify where certain plants and trees would grow best. Property owners could be encouraged or required to plant a fruit tree of their choice from a list provided by the city. Small lots could have a planter box for growing seasonal vegetables, not unlike the urban victory gardens of WWII, or dwarf trees.

If you have ever had your own apple, orange, or persimmon tree, you know that one tree can provide enough fruit for several households. A small planter box can grow more tomatoes and zucchini than one family could possibly eat.

Think about how nice it would be for a tired student to be able to grab an orange or a handful of cherries between classes for free, instead of a packaged processed food.

I know of food banks that will strip your tree of fruit in return for keeping some or all of it. Or just as you put

your recycling bins at the curb, you could put out your city- or nonprofit-provided food bin for pickup by the local food bank.

In the South Bay, for example, once one of the largest fruit production regions in the world and known as the Valley of the Heart’s Delight, there is no reason that fresh food should not be readily available and affordable to many, if not all.

John Livingstone in his kitchen, about to eat a sandwich with a huge slice of homegrown beefsteak tomato. n

“Labels matter, even in times of emergency. Calling the Midwestern flood carnage a natural disaster absolves us of responsibility and casts us as hapless victims of an unpredictable nature. Craig Fugate, a former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in 1986, “Floods and hurricanes happen. The hazard itself is not the disaster — it’s our habits, our building codes. It’s how we build and live in those areas that’s the disaster.” Flood-insurance rates are beginning to reflect the true cost of insuring flood-prone properties. [According to Bloomberg, https://bloom.bg/2U9CrJ4, “Starting in October 2020, the National Flood Insurance Program will tie premiums to the actual flood risk facing individual homes nationwide. The current system sets prices based largely on whether a home is inside or outside the 100-year flood plain.”] As Fugate argued, ‘As long as we price risk too cheaply, there’s no incentive to change behavior. Disasters will get bigger.’ In the flooded regions, it is inspiring to watch Midwesterners help one another rebuild. But the key is to rebuild without repeating past mistakes.” —Christine A. Klein, Prof. of Law, Univ. of Florida, in The Atlantic, http://bit.ly/2JBIe6i

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A disruptive housing technology (continued from page 7) to Mare Island the vitality that the base brought to Vallejo throughout its recognized long period of significance.

A part of that vision is a growing recognition that Mare Island’s historic character adds incalculably to the level of economic development opportunities and types of jobs that can be created in the city and the region. The scale and scope of the buildings has attracted the film industry, world class Touro University, and Factory OS, which builds individual segments of modular homes.

Factory OS (OS stands for Operating System) is addressing the exponentially higher cost of housing with streamlined fabrication processes, greener and more efficient material use, design and code changes, employee training, and coordinated on-site construction, all with the goal of building more and more affordable housing.

Since his January 2019 inauguration, Governor Gavin Newsom has moved swiftly to address the state’s housing crisis, championing initiatives with the potential to transform the face of urban California. He has proposed spending $1.75 billion to incentivize housing production, raising housing targets for local jurisdictions, and aggressively enforcing those targets.

Factory OS plays a significant part in addressing the challenges faced by the housing industry. The firm is pairing with UC Berkeley on significant research breakthroughs through the launch of an independent Innovation Lab within UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

At Factory OS. Inside a finished living and kitchen space of a modular unit.

The City of Vallejo has teamed up with the City of Emeryville to demonstrate the factory-to-built-environment product. On April 14, the team will accompany attendees at the American Planning Association’s national conference on an afternoon mobile workshop to discuss affordable housing, technological innovation, and base reuse. The workshop includes a tour of the Factory OS site on Mare Island in Vallejo, led by Vallejo’s Afshan Hamid, and Rick Holliday with Factory OS; the Lennar Mare Island base reuse project, led by Lennar’s Tom Sheaff; and a stop in Emeryville for a construction demonstration where a modular apartment is being assembled, led by Charles Bryant, AICP, Director of Planning and Building, City of Emeryville.

Afshan Hamid, AICP, is the planning manager of the City of Vallejo. She also is Northern Section’s Professional Development Coordinator, with responsibility for the Section’s professional development program for the continuing education of practicing planners. Hamid holds an M.Arch in architecture and urban planning from MIT and a B.A. in fine arts and industrial design from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

At Factory OS. A modular unit in its exterior frame and ready to be shipped.

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How much house is too much? (continued from page 8) were single-story. To some, these larger homes were unnecessary. Hadn’t they successfully raised their families in much smaller houses? Others complained their privacy was being eliminated by the second stories that loomed over their backyards.

The city council directed its planners to study these complaints and recommend changes to single-family house-size standards. A Community Coalition formed around the issue and began presenting ideas on how to solve the problem, positing Floor Area Ratio and Daylight Plane as solutions.

To democratize the process, the planners recommended that the council appoint a citizens advisory committee of local stakeholders to work collaboratively with city staff and an urban design consultant. A seven member Citizens Advisory Committee — four single-family property owners, a local builder/developer, a local architect, and local residential realtor — were appointed to evaluate, guide, and recommend new standards.

• Our front and rear setbacks resulted in very long houses.

• Two-car garages dominated about 65 percent of the house front, accentuating the bulky appearance from the street and making living areas and entries secondary.

• The majority of the single-family lots in San Carlos were relatively narrower and smaller than in neighboring cities.

A Form Based approach We found no single solution to address house size and bulk.

Floor Area Ratio seemed like a logical limiting factor, a “no brainer.” FAR reduces overall square footage, but it does not address either the overall physical form of a house or how it looks in the context of other homes on a given block. And FAR appears not to reduce the apparent size of a home where it counts — along the street frontage, or at the rear as seen from a neighbor’s backyard.

Many communities have crafted regulations that fit with the character of their neighborhoods. Very few Bay Area cities apply a Form Based approach to single-family homes. Those that do are satisfied with the results.

In 2017, the Citizens Advisory Committee held six public meetings with city staff and the consultant. The committee focused on which features of a home’s design make them look large or out of scale, and which features seem to work.

The committee reviewed various approaches, including FAR, to reduce house bulk and mass, and discussed how to manage house size and scale in the context of surrounding homes. It became clear that a set of coordinated design solutions would be needed to effectively address the physical form of the house and reduce its apparent bulk and mass.

Discovery and idea phase We started the process with ideas for successful outcomes: • How can zoning standards and design address negative impacts from “inappropriate” house size?

• What are some directions and options for better massing?

• Is it possible to develop a more consistent overall design, look, and feel?

• Can a context-sensitive approach to the site and its surrounding homes be considered?

• How can misunderstandings between neighbors about house size be addressed?

We reviewed the existing code, evaluated building forms, geography and topography, permit data, and peer city standards. These issues emerged:

Key ideas To address the issues identified by the community, while not unfairly penalizing those who want to add floor area, the Citizens Advisory Committee recommended a Form Based approach with no FAR limit. For controlling bulk and mass and respecting neighborhood context, FAR was seen as an arbitrary standard and less effective than the Form Based concept. In general, building appearance, scale, and massing could be mitigated more successfully by controlling the structure’s width and depth. This would

• The city did not have a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) — the ratio of the total floor area of a building to its lot area. Most peer cities used FAR as the primary limiting factor for house size.

• Our existing standards allowed too much bulk at the front and sides of the house.

• Upper floor setbacks were somewhat ineffective in reducing upper floor mass.

(continues on next page)

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How much house is too much? (continued from previous page)

Massing under existing zoning

Massing under Form Based approach Form Based concept, main body and wing design. 3D-printed models helped tell the story of how Form Based design standards work. Here house bulk and mass under existing zoning (gray) are compared to a Form Based approach (orange).

produce a house form that more closely mirrors existing houses, especially with respect to scale and backyard privacy.

And it would reduce overall floor area by 30 percent compared to our existing standards.

• Local architects believe the recommendations won’t reduce house size • Use FAR limits in line with what peer cities use • Establish a 50 percent lot coverage and require a solar study

The recommended Form Based standards included: • New controls over main building size and bulk

Sometimes you need to pivot

• Allowing wings to be added to the main body to gain square footage

At about the same time the public meetings were taking place, a number of other significant issues arose: Three of five planning commissioners termed out, and three of five city councilmembers would change seats in a few months’ time. The sitting city council had been extensively engaged in the process and had a strong grasp of the issues and the recommended solutions. Getting a newly elected city council up to speed on the complexities of the code changes was not ideal. The process had already taken 18 months, and pressure was building to wrap it up.

Planning staff went to work educating new commissioners about Citizens Advisory Committee recommendations and options and community concerns. Over the course of several planning commission hearings, the merit of the Form Based ideas was acknowledged. But there was very little community support and the Community Coalition demanded a deeper reduction in square footage than the 30 percent the Form Based approach would achieve. As the time for city council turnover approached, the commission was at an impasse and asked for other solutions including FAR based standards.

• Incentives for garages placed in the middle and rear of the lot • Greater rear-yard and upper-floor setbacks • A sliding scale for lot coverage based on lot width • One covered parking space and one uncovered space in driveways, on lots less than 60 feet wide • Improved procedures, definitions, and design review criteria The ideas were then presented to the community, local architects, and designers, and at several Planning Commission study sessions.

Here is a summary of what we heard back: • The proposed standards don’t go far enough • The process is moving too quickly/too slowly • New standards should match those of other cities; these ideas do not limit square footage as much as some other cities do • The ideas don’t protect a neighbor’s light, views, and privacy Northern News

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How much house is too much? (continued from previous page) Planning staff delivered several FAR options with a mix of some Form Based components that seemed to have planning commission support. Following a late night hearing, one commissioner approached me and said, “Just when I think we’ve hit a wall, you always seem to find us a way out.”

The planning commission recommended a robust set of code changes a month or two before the new city council was seated. In November 2018, the Council refined the Commission’s recommendations and adopted a new set of rules combining a sliding scale maximum FAR with some of the Form Based ideas.

More recently, the Community Coalition asked the new city council to revisit the recently adopted standards.

In their view, the new standards do not go far enough.

Where we ended up After our in-depth consideration of the Form Based approach, it was clear to us, the city planners, that it was a superior solution that addressed community issues by reducing the size, massing, and appearance of new homes and additions. That said, we are not the decision makers, and our duty as facilitators takes precedence. That led to what we believe will be an effective solution to the house-size issue in our community.

Albert Savay, AICP, is the Community & Economic Development Director of the City of San Carlos. He is Chair of the Bay Area Planning Directors Association (BAPDA) and sits on the ABAG Regional Planning Committee.

You can reach him at

asavay@cityofsancarlos.org n

California needs 1.4 million more affordable housing units according to a new report, http://bit.ly/2JyrIEa. The California Housing Partnership, a nonprofit funded by charitable organizations including the Wells Fargo Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, looked specifically at low-income families to determine how many were spending a high share of their income on rent. The report calculated that the state spends nearly $14 on homeowners in the form of real property and mortgage interest tax deductions for every $1 it spends on renters. It calls for the state to give $1 billion annually to cities and counties to fund more housing, and calls for more tax breaks to help low-income families.”

—Sophia Bollag, The Sacramento Bee, http://bit.ly/2JyofoW

CASA is “a cure-all for housing, but cities hate it. Any true solution to the housing crisis means some of California’s vaunted ideals of local autonomy may need to be sacrificed, said Amie Fishman, executive director of the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California. ‘This impacts our children, our education system, our economy, even the climate. Every single aspect of our lives is affected by this housing crisis,’ she said. ‘It’s been really easy to say no, and that’s why we’re in such a crisis today.’ In some ways, this battle has been slowly building for years. At least 30 years ago, experts were warning that a main culprit behind the state’s imbalanced housing market was ‘local control’ (Baer, W.C., http://bit.ly/2JxLSOA).

Housing advocates say this resistance is not surprising, given that certain cities have been among the most flagrant bad actors behind the imbalanced housing market.” —Mark Noack, Mountain View Voice, http://bit.ly/2JBCUQm

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April 2019

Planners4Health Co-sponsor Healthy/Resilient Homes Leadership Program (continued from page 9) (see sidebar for some of the implementation topics). BARHII staff and co-sponsors will provide technical assistance and support a “community of practice” to share lessons across counties. BARHII and project sponsors will also host at least one session exploring and developing solutions to common challenges that emerge from inter-departmental projects.

If you are interested in learning more about this initiative, please fill out the SurveyMonkey form at http://bit.ly/2U18k6L. If you have ideas or requests for other Planners4Health programs, please email Beth Altshuler.

2019 Implementation Workshops and Projects • Housing for a Healthy California and No Place Like Home Grants: Resources aligned with Whole Person Care/Healthy Homes to build supportive housing.

• SB 2 Planning Grants: Funding for each jurisdiction to plan for housing growth.

• Partnership for the Bay’s Future Challenge: Grants, funded fellows, and support for housing preservation and protection.

Beth Altshuler, MCP, MPH, is senior associate at Raimi + Associates and is Northern Section’s Planners4Health Coordinator.

You can reach her at beth@raimiassociates.com

• SB 1000: Starting this year, jurisdictions will need to conduct environmental justice/health analysis in general plan updates.

• Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Resources: Maximize available funding, and align with asthma, in-home nursing, and other health programs.

Will Dominie, MURP, is policy manager of Housing and Equitable Development at Bay Area Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII).

You can reach him at WDominie@barhii.org

• Proactive Code Enforcement/Accessory Dwelling Units: Support jurisdictions in ensuring housing quality without displacing residents.

n

Honor CA HSR commitments. “California’s senators and 15 members of the California congressional delegation called on Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to maintain funding for the state’s high-speed rail project. ‘Cancelling the department’s commitment to fulfill its outstanding legal obligations and attempting to claw back funding already lawfully spent would be unjustified and harmful,’ the Democratic members wrote in a March 20 letter. ‘This unprecedented action would invite years of litigation and cause the federal government to be rightly viewed as an unreliable and politically motivated partner on all future infrastructure investments throughout the country.’ ” [The letter also stated, “The High Speed Rail project is well underway on its first segment through the Central Valley. More than 2,600 workers and 488 small businesses are hard at work at 20 construction sites. The federal government has only funded $2.5 of the $6 billion spent to date, and has only committed to provide another $929 million after the state spends $X billion more of its own resources.”]

—Sierra Sun Times, http://bit.ly/2JyLorz

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April 2019

Meet our local planners — Maren Moegel (continued from page 12) What draws you to their work?

I believe that good design can improve people’s lives.

In architecture, I value designs for simplicity, clean lines, functionality, focus on light and comfort, and connection with nature where feasible. In urban design, I admire projects that are truly about people, not centered on cars or prioritizing short-term profit making, but sincerely designing what humans need.

What project are you working on now that particularly excites you?

I am working on master planning and architectural design for a 16-acre residential community with generous public open space next to Caltrain’s Lawrence Station in Sunnyvale, CA. This is the second high-density urban mixed-use project in this station district that I am managing through to entitlement approval. I like working with the ambitious planning staff. It is exciting to see Silicon Valley becoming more urban and transit-oriented, and that I am contributing to that effort.

How do you balance honoring client direction and giving sound professional and ethical advice?

I don’t see this as a conflict, but as a good challenge.

Most of my clients are developers, and they are essential partners or collaborators to implement projects. It is very rewarding to see my designs not just on paper but built.

Many for-profit clients hold on to property for a lifetime and are interested in creating long-lasting attractive places with tangible human qualities. Of course, there are compromises to make, but overall, I love the challenge of envisioning great places and then seeing them implemented successfully.

Tell us about a favorite past project.

The MacArthur BART Master Plan. About 12 years ago, we had proposed a high-rise tower along with five-story housing and a great urban plaza. Back then, the economy did not support a tower, but now a decade later, everyone’s ready for one. A great urban neighborhood is emerging with pedestrian-friendly streets, subterranean parking, and lots of market-rate and affordable housing.

What do you consider to be a great urban space in the Bay Area?

I love the Uptown district in Oakland with its authenticity and diversity, artists, eateries, and nightlife.

What was the best advice you’ve received and from whom?

This advice came from professors and supervisors I worked with over the years: Be authentic and true to yourself. It is generally appreciated when you show your passion, believe in your work, and clearly give your best.

Who are your design heroes, living or dead?

There are so many, but I admire a lot of Scandinavian architects, past and current, like Alvar Aalto (Finland, 1898–1976), Snøhetta (Oslo), and Henning Larsen (Copenhagen). In urban design, Jan Gehl’s office in Copenhagen has set a great trend with their peoplecentric approach. Mies van de Rohe (1886–1969) and his colleagues from the Bauhaus school in Germany had strong influence on modern cities, which carries on today. I love Chicago’s Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects. In art and design, I like Ray and Charles Eames (1907–1978), and sculptor Alexander Calder (1898–1976).

Interviewer Catarina Kidd, AICP, is Northern News’ associate editor.

All interviews are edited. n

“Owning a car will soon be as quaint as owning a horse. The shift away from private vehicles will happen faster than we think. I will die before I buy another car. I will drive in cars until I die. But the concept of actually purchasing, maintaining, insuring, and garaging an automobile in the next few decades? Finished. Car-sharing continues to increase. Consider how swiftly people moved from physical maps to map apps, from snail mail to email, from prime time TV to watching on demand.

Simply put, everything that can be digitized will be. It is not hard to see the steps. You start using car-sharing services, you don’t use your car as often, you realize as these services proliferate that you actually don’t need to own a car at all. Obviously, the biggest change will be the advent of truly autonomous vehicles, which are still years or even decades in the future. But in the meantime, I am going to lean into this future all I can.” —Kara Swisher, The New York Times, https://nyti.ms/2JMwgaf

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April 2019

Meet our local planners — John Schwarz (continued from page 13) came up with tunneling as a feasible solution. After much consideration, SVCW proposed a deep tunnel bore for one of the main project components. That eliminated many of the environmental impacts, and the opposition vanished. It was easier to run the environmental analysis because we had so much project detail and data. This essential project is now under construction: work has begun to build the shafts for tunneling.

questions come up. Agencies need to build contingencies into the contract and budget, and authorize and allocate changes separately and only when necessary. Consultants and their clients need to acknowledge and document which things have been done and remain open and flexible to reduce the element of surprise.

Any advice for new planners?

Find something that really interests you and think about how you can make a career out of it.

How have you handled client demands at odds with best practices and professional ethics?

I never had a supervisor who cut corners or asked me to do something unethical. If you want to be in this for the long term, you have to be honest. We all get pressured and want to give people an answer they like. I try to understand my clients and what is driving their project.

Pressure to do something unsound usually comes from an aggressive schedule. Once bloodied, you realize the bad news won’t go away. Deliver it early and honestly, and present solutions and trade-offs — then the bad news usually is better received. Once you realize that no client is worth ruining your reputation, the difficult conversations become easier.

• Learn what you can about the field, then try it out.

• Get an internship if possible, or request an informational interview to get a flavor for the career.

• Talk to folks in that field — just pick up the phone and call.

This can be intimidating when you’re starting out, but even though we are all busy, most of us enjoy those conversations and are happy to help. I was always impressed when someone did that. I may not be hiring, but I probably know someone who is.

Any advice for mid-career planners?

We all struggle with staying inspired. Sometimes the work is a tough grind. Work on something different, with new people, and a new team. Go to industry events, conferences, and lectures to build relationships. I find those to be inspiring: It’s energizing to see a room full of people working on and struggling with the same issues, and it helps you remember you are part of a professional community.

What are your thoughts on choosing the right consultant?

Sometimes you know only in hindsight that they weren’t a fit for you or the job. Sometimes the lesson is “don’t use them again.” The companies and organizations that often hire the same consultants, do so because they know what they can expect. Predictability is important.

What can cities do to prevent scope changes and the ensuing budget challenges?

One approach is to ask the consultants to show their staffing capacity for the project and to highlight potential budget issues. The interviews should try to determine how flexible the consultants might be. The environmental review process is messy: things change, unforeseen

Interviewer Catarina Kidd, AICP, is Northern News’ associate editor.

All interviews are edited. n

“Barcelona fines landlords for long-vacant buildings. For some years now, Barcelona has been making a threat to landlords: If you don’t find tenants for your empty buildings, we will fine you. The tone emerged as the city’s affordable housing crisis deepened, exacerbated in part by the fact that some buildings lie vacant even as housing has become scarcer. In March, in a systematic attempt to ensure that its housing market and its neighborhoods work better, the city levied fines of $3.17 million against two investment funds that each own an unoccupied building in Barcelona’s center. The latest fines — so much higher than anything previously demanded — suggest an impatience by the city with un-cooperative landlords [and] to force the investment funds that own them into action.” —Feargus O’Sullivan, CityLab, http://bit.ly/2U5Pewm

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Planning news roundup Excerpts linked to the original articles Gentrification is most concentrated in large cities Route Fifty, March 21, 2019 Kate Elizabeth Queram, http://bit.ly/2U2jU1s • “Seven cities [including Los Angeles and San Diego] account for almost half the gentrification in America, according to a study released March 19 by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, http://bit.ly/2U2TZ9J. “The study defines gentrification as occurring when ‘an influx of investment and changes to the built environment leads to rising home values, family incomes, and educational levels of residents.’ That often leads to minorities being pushed out of their long-time neighborhoods, which the study defines as cultural displacement [as] white gentrifiers replace the incumbent residents.’

“That displacement disproportionately affected black and Hispanic residents, the report says. Thirteen percent of the black community in Portland, Oregon, was displaced in 10 years.

“Both gentrification and displacement are relatively rare nationally. Across the country, 24 percent of urban areas saw at least one tract gentrify from 2000 to 2013, according to the data.

But ‘most low- to moderate-income neighborhoods did not gentrify or revitalize during the period of our study,’ researchers wrote. ‘They remained impoverished, untouched by investments and building booms that occurred in major cities, and vulnerable to future gentrification and displacement.’

“Local officials and advocates can combat gentrification by pursuing ‘policies that encourage investment while promoting the ability of existing residents to stay and benefit from revitalization,’ the report concludes.

Strategies include developing partnerships between banks and community-based organizations to encourage equitable development, passing inclusionary zoning regulations, and tapping into federal programs that can identify neighborhoods at risk of gentrification.”

(The news roundup continues on next page)

F This is the final issue of Northern News as a PDF E

Northern News will continue to publish 10 times a year, with all of our current features except the magazine cover. And we will continue our monthly email, with a list of contents and links, to let you know that the latest Northern News is live.

Beginning with our May 2019 issue, Northern News will only be available on norcalapa.org as a mobile-responsive all-digital magazine.

You will still be able to find past issues up to and through February 2019 as PDFs in our archive at https://norcalapa.org/northern-news/ and as virtual magazines up to and through April 2019 at https://issuu.com/naphtaliknox/docs/.

A PDF of the March 2019 issue is available at http://bit.ly/2SWJKUG. See you next month!

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Planning news roundup

(continued from previous page)

San Jose approves new building heights

27-year-old Bay Area mayor is about to double her city’s population

The Mercury News, March 13, 2019 Emily Deruy, https://bayareane.ws/2TBKDmd • “San Jose’s squat skyline is set to rise in coming years.

The ability to build upward will allow companies access to real estate in the sky that was previously off limits.

“The City Council voted unanimously to allow higher buildings downtown and near Diridon Station despite opposition from members of the airport commission and critics who worry the city is kowtowing to Google. ‘I think that history is going to show that this was a very devastating move for our airport,’ said Dan Connolly, chair of the airport commission.

“Under the new height limits, buildings downtown could rise between 5 and 35 feet. But near the SAP Center (110 feet), heights could more than double to 70–150 feet.

That could add about 9.5 million square feet of development.

It will be years before residents see taller structures, but the vote signals a major change in the density of the city’s core.

“Scott Knies, head of the San Jose Downtown Association, said the council has fixed stifling policy. Downtown, where construction costs and the price of land are sky high, Knies continued, a couple of stories could mean the difference between a developer deciding to move forward with a project and calling it off. And allowing Google and other developers to put office space and housing in the air clears the way for parks and public art [pedestrians] can enjoy.”

The Mercury News, March 20, 2019 Marisa Kendall, https://bayareane.ws/2Jvvpu4 • “Brisbane Mayor Madison Davis is 27 and lives at home with her parents because she can’t afford a place of her own.

“While she’s by no means a typical mayor, she is a typical victim of the Bay Area’s affordable housing shortage. And in that sense, she’s the ideal person to lead her tiny city as it sets out to do something it has resisted for years — build a ton more housing.

“Q. Does Brisbane have an obligation to help fix those Bay Area housing problems?

“A. I think everyone, every city, has a role in providing more housing. But there is something to be said for local control. There is a balance we can strike, with cities taking the initiative to provide local housing and doing it on their terms.

“And the cities that do take the initiative and provide housing should be commended for the work they’re doing.

For the size of our town, 1,800 to 2,200 [new] units is a huge number. And I’m still not hearing, ‘you did a good job.’

“The vote for Measure JJ boiled down to local control.

Brisbane mobilized and said we do realize there is a housing crisis, we have a vast amount of land, and we can contribute to easing the situation as best as we can, but we want those decisions to be on our terms.”

Questions about Dumbarton rail project answered The Almanac, March 14, 2019 Kate Bradshaw, http://bit.ly/2F1qpbq • “SamTrans has entered into an exclusive 18-month partnership with Cross Bay Transit Partners — a partnership formed between Facebook and the infrastructure investment company Plenary Group — to explore the feasibility of reinstating passenger rail transit along the Dumbarton corridor.

“The exclusive negotiation agreement with Cross Bay Transit Partners [begins] an analysis to determine if it’s feasible to build and operate the project [and to] seek environmental clearances for it. Other firms, chosen through competitive bidding, would do the engineering work and construction. “ ‘That’s all we have — an exclusive right to take a look,’ said Plenary Group Executive Chairman Dale Bonner. Cross Bay Transit Partners may decide the project is not feasible, or the public may come out in force to say it’s not appropriate, he added.

Northern News

“The project would have to win approval from a wide array of agencies. It must comply with CEQA and the National Environmental Protection Act, and gain support by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Altamont Corridor Express rail system, and others.

“If all goes according to an ambitious timeline, the feasibility analysis and environmental certification could be completed by the first quarter of 2021. If SamTrans approves the EIR around that time, then finalizing a longer-term contract between Cross Bay Transit Partners and SamTrans — and agreements to design, build, operate, and maintain the project — might allow construction to start in 2022.”

(The news roundup continues on next page)

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Planning news roundup Destruction from sea level rise could exceed state’s worst wildfires and earthquakes Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2019 Rosanna Xia, https://lat.ms/2O1joeF • “In the most extensive study to date on sea level rise in California, researchers say damage by century’s end could be far more devastating than the worst earthquakes and wildfires in state history.

“A team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists concluded that even a modest sea level rise could overwhelm communities when a storm hits at the same time.

“In the USGS study, published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports (https://go.nature.com/2F12GYQ), researchers [combined] models that examined wave action, tides, coastal erosion, and flooding in California under sea level rise scenarios ranging from 0 to 6.6 feet, then added four different storm scenarios: average daily conditions, typical annual storm, 20-year storm, and 100-year storm.

“They then overlaid the dynamic model with population data, property assessments, and data from various state

agencies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense.

“Translating sea level rise into economic risk and property loss advances a tricky issue that many communities have been reluctant to confront. A blockbuster study last year (http://bit.ly/2TC50j6) by the Union of Concerned Scientists analyzed Zillow data and found that hundreds of thousands of homes across the nation are at risk of chronic flooding in the coming decades. A Stanford study (https://stanford.io/2Tz80gc) found that downtown Annapolis, Maryland, lost 3,000 visits in 2017 due to hightide ‘sunny-day’ flooding — as much as $172,000 in revenue for local businesses.”

Large apartment project approved near San Leandro BART station East Bay Times, March 13, 2019 Peter Hegarty, https://bayareane.ws/2F6xEic • “A 5.73-acre site 1,000 feet from the San Leandro BART station will be transformed into a 687-unit apartment complex — one of the city’s largest. The site was once used by Caterpillar to store construction equipment.

“The plan calls for tearing down the Filarmonica Artista Amadora de San Leandro Music Conservatory at 857 Alvarado St. and replacing it with a 4,326-square-foot conservatory across the street.

“The Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments unanimously approved the project.

“Existing buildings will be demolished to construct the 931,989-square-foot development consisting of a six-story building, one of five stories, and a shared underground garage with 892 parking spaces. “ ‘It’s taking land that has been vacant since the 1980s and making it into what will be the densest

housing development in San Leandro history,’ said former Mayor Stephen Cassidy.”

Hannah Norman writes in the San Francisco Business Times (http://bit.ly/2F97z1U) that “Many developers have recently turned to San Leandro for new projects because of its pro-business attitude and wealth of vacant or underused sites. ‘It’s one of the few communities that still has capacity with vacant properties and properties that need renewal,’ David Irmer, president of Sausalitobased Innisfree Co., told the Business Times last year.

Innisfree’s 235,000-square-foot office park, completed in 2010, sits across the street from 899 Alvarado.

“Andrew Mogensen, AICP, San Leandro’s planning manager, recently told the Business Times, ‘It’s an ideal site for transit-oriented development.’ ” (The news roundup continues on next page)

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April 2019

Planning news roundup CEQA Review not required for project subject only to Design Review California Land Use and Development Report, March 12, 2019 Michele Chan, http://bit.ly/2EZSEXM • “The court of appeal held that the City of St. Helena did not violate CEQA by approving a demolition permit and design review for a multi-family residential project without preparing an environmental impact report. McCorkle Eastside Neighborhood Group v. City of St. Helena (2018) 31 Cal.App.5th 80. The court held that because the city’s discretion under its local design review ordinance did not extend to addressing the project’s environmental effects, CEQA review was unnecessary.

“In 2016, the city amended its zoning ordinance to eliminate the conditional use permit (CUP) requirement for multi-family dwellings within the High Density Residential

(HR) districts. By eliminating the CUP requirement, multi-family dwelling units are permitted uses by right under the HR district, subject to design review.

“The court concluded that the Class 32 exemption was unnecessary and upheld the city’s actions, holding that the city properly found that its discretion was limited to design review, given that no use permit was required for multi-family housing in HR districts.

“The court summarily rejected the petitioner’s argument that because the city had discretion to conduct design review, the entire project was discretionary and subject to CEQA.”

Too late for ousted residents, Palo Alto denies hotel application Palo Alto Weekly, March 11, 2019 Gennady Sheyner, http://bit.ly/2ERRfCL • “A proposal to convert the President Hotel Apartments to a luxury hotel hit a roadblock when Palo Alto’s Planning Director Jonathan Lait concluded that the project described in the development application would violate numerous zoning laws.

“The controversial project, which prompted the eviction of about 100 residents from the historic building at 488 University Avenue, does not comply with the city’s parking laws and its retail-preservation requirements, Lait stated in a rejection letter issued to the project developer.

The project also violates a recently revised law that bans the conversion of downtown’s ‘grandfathered’ buildings from residential to non-residential use. ‘It appears other items will conflict with the zoning code absent project modifications,’ he wrote. These include regulations relating to retail, off-street parking requirements, and the ‘building envelope.’ ‘Furthermore, there are no provisions for a commercial parking reduction available to this property,’ Lait wrote.

“[The developer] had proposed converting 75 apartments into 100 guest rooms and seismically retrofitting the historic building.”

The President Hotel, first occupied in 1929, remains one of the taller buildings along Palo Alto’s University Avenue.

(The news roundup continues on next page)

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April 2019

Planning news roundup Neighborhood-preference program for affordable housing proves effective San Francisco Chronicle, March 7, 2019 Dominic Fracassa, http://bit.ly/2Tr8wfT • “A San Francisco program to protect people in close-knit neighborhoods from being uprooted by gentrification and soaring housing costs appears to be working.

“The Neighborhood Resident Housing Preference plan requires 40 percent of units in new affordable housing developments funded by the city and private sources to be reserved for people living in the same supervisorial district or within a half-mile of them.

“The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development’s progress report on the program shows it is within one percent of its target.

“The program ‘not only acknowledges that displacement happens, it acknowledges San Francisco’s diverse and unique neighborhoods,’ said Kate Hartley, director of the mayor’s housing office.

“Federal and state housing officials have long looked down on neighborhood preference legislation, viewing it as a vestige of racist housing policies, so the city was never able to use federal or state money for affordable projects that included neighborhood preference provisions.

“But this year, the state Department of Housing and Community Development shifted its policy. Now, San Francisco officials can use state funding on projects that reserve units for nearby residents — but only 25 percent of the units can be set aside.

“Karoleen Feng of the Mission Economic Development Agency said, ‘This is one of those programs everybody likes.

It is a great anti-displacement tool: in addition to building the housing, it’s creating ways for people to come back’ to the neighborhood.”

Housing Action Planning effective in Santa Rosa Planning magazine, March 2019 Kristen Pope, http://bit.ly/2TyzsdK • “Long before Santa Rosa, California, lost 3,000 housing units — five percent of its housing — the city spent a year developing a comprehensive Housing Action Plan (HAP).

“The Plan, officially released [in October 2016], endeavors to build 5,000 units by 2023, half at market rate and half in the affordable to lower or moderate range. Additionally, the city seeks to preserve 4,000 affordable units.

“The city was moving forward with implementation [when] the Tubbs wildfire roared through, destroying 3,000 housing units. ‘Our Housing Action Plan has had to evolve,’ said Clare Hartman, AICP, deputy director for planning in Santa Rosa’s Planning & Economic Development Department.

“An urgency ordinance helped streamline the permitting process. The city is also encouraging the development

Northern News

of accessory dwelling units and downtown residential units.

“ADUs are a key part of Santa Rosa’s housing strategy because they meet a HAP goal (‘affordable by design’) and also fulfill the city’s requirements to provide moderate income units under the city’s state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation.

“A key step? Removing regulatory obstacles to ADUs, including one of the largest: fees.

“Prior to 2018, impact fees for a 750-square-foot ADU topped out at $22,000. Today, fees total just $4,000. The city also reduced setback and parking requirements. The results: [From] an average of six ADU permits issued per year, owners last year applied to add 118 small living spaces adjacent to traditional single-family residences.”

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April 2019

BOARD MEMBER DIRECTORY Director James CastaĂąeda, AICP

director@norcalapa.org

Director Elect Jonathan Schuppert, AICP

directorelect@norcalapa.org

Immediate Past Director Sharon Grewal, AICP

pastdirector@norcalapa.org

Administrative Director Sophie McGuinness Treasurer Michael Cass

admin@norcalapa.org treasurer@norcalapa.org

Advertising Director Destiny Preston

advertising@norcalapa.org

AICP Director Don Bradley, AICP

aicp@norcalapa.org

Awards Program Directors Florentina Craciun, AICP Carmela Campbell, AICP

awards@norcalapa.org awards@norcalapa.org

Communications Director Greg Holisko, AICP

communications@norcalapa.org

CPF Liaison Terry Blount, AICP

cpfliaison@norcalapa.org

Ethics Review Director Libby Tyler, FAICP

ethics@norcalapa.org

International Directors Hing Wong, AICP Alex Hinds

Section Historian Juan Borrelli, AICP

historian@norcalapa.org

Student Representatives Marta Polovin Evan Kenward

berkeleyrep@norcalapa.org sanjoserep@norcalapa.org

Sustainability Director Vacant

sustainability@norcalapa.org

University Liaison Della Acosta

universityliaison@norcalapa.org

Webmaster Tom Holub

webmaster@norcalapa.org

Young Planners Group Directors Veronica Flores ypg@norcalapa.org Danae Hall ypg@norcalapa.org

Regional Activity Coordinators (RACs) East Bay Michael Cass Sarah Allen, AICP

eastbayrac@norcalapa.org eastbayrac@norcalapa.org

Monterey Bay Justin Meek, AICP John T. Doughty, AICP

montereybayrac@norcalapa.org montereybayrac@norcalapa.org

North Bay Kristine Gaspar

northbayrac@norcalapa.org

international@norcalapa.org international@norcalapa.org

Legislative Director Stephen E. Velyvis

Peninsula Lindy Chan Laura C. Russell, AICP

peninsularac@norcalapa.org peninsularac@norcalapa.org

legislative@norcalapa.org

Membership Director Sandra Hamlat

Redwood Coast Stephen Avis, AICP

redwoodcoastrac@norcalapa.org

membership@norcalapa.org

San Francisco Yosef Yip Vacant

sfrac@norcalapa.org sfrac@norcalapa.org

Mid-Career Planning Group Director Miroo Desai, AICP mcpgdirector@norcalapa.org

South Bay Mark Young

southbayrac@norcalapa.org

Northern News Editors Naphtali H. Knox, FAICP Catarina Kidd, AICP

knoxnaph@gmail.com news@norcalapa.or

Committee Chairs/Coordinators

Planning Commissioner Don Bradley, AICP

commissioner@norcalapa.org

Planning Diversity Directors Cherise Orange Cindy Ma, AICP

diversity@norcalapa.org diversity@norcalapa.org

Mentorship Director Ellen Yau

mentorship@norcalapa.org

Committee on Planners4Health Beth Altshuler, Chair planners4health@norcalapa.org Distance Education Coordinator Shannon Hake, AICP distanceeducation@norcalapa.org Social Media Coordinator Matt Kawashima

Professional Development Director Afshan Hamid, AICP professionaldevelopment@norcalapa.org

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April 2019

social@norcalapa.org n