Five GOP senators who are key to a budget deal with California Gov. Jerry Brown have presented a proposal to rework large sections of the state’s benchmark environmental law, called CEQA. The proposal would sharply limit California’s and the public’s ability to challenge a developer’s environmental impact report, would allow fast-tracking of environmental review...
Read more »
Tags: california, california environmental quality act, ceqa, development, environmental impact report, greenhouse gas emissions
Posted in Climate Change & Energy, Policy, The Daily Catch | No Comments »
CA has choice to make: cows or condos?
What’s the one issue that environmentalists, ranchers, and farmers all agree on? Preserving California’s program of steep property tax cuts in exchange for keeping land from the yoke of developers. Gov. Brown’s budget proposal to do away with the Williamson Act contracts has all of them up in arms. A sudden spike in taxes...
Read more »
Tags: california, development, land preservation, williamson act
Posted in Nature, Policy, The Daily Catch | Comments Off
Plans turn SF’s suburban oasis into high density
The San Francisco planning commission may approve a massive redevelopment project at Parkmerced, wiping away this suburban oasis in the city’s Southwest corner. Plans call for tripling the density with high rise apartments and clustered retail, just the kind of high density planning that city officials say SF needs.
Read more »
Tags: development, high density planning, parkmerced, San Francisco, san francisco planning department
Posted in Policy, The Daily Catch | Comments Off
WOW debates Treasure Island redevelopment on KQED Forum
Monday morning KQED, our local public radio station, hosted an hour-long show about the ecotopian redevelopment of Treasure Island. Schlesinger was part of the debate focused on the recently released draft environmental impact report (EIR) of the project that will be publicly discussed later this week. Listen to the show. Useful information A joint...
Read more »
Tags: development, eir, Lennar, san francisco planning department, Treasure Island
Posted in Field Notes | Comments Off
Bay Area development giant Lennar accused of fraud
The Sacramento Bee reports today that the Bay Area’s mammoth housing developer Lennar Corp. and its spinoff company LNR Property Corp. are being accused of defrauding the California Public Employee’s Retirement System and others in a new lawsuit. “The suit says Lennar and LNR Property used ‘grossly inflated’ land appraisals in securing the CalPERS...
Read more »
Tags: development, green buildings, Lennar, San Francisco, San Francisco Public Press, Treasure Island
Posted in Field Notes | Comments Off