Bay Area Land News - October 10, 2019
US / California / Bay Area News
Gov. Newsom signs ‘Housing Crisis Act of 2019’ aimed at speeding up homebuilding
The Mercury News
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Wednesday, Oct. 9 aimed at boosting homebuilding in California by capping fees, slashing the time to get new developments approved and banning local governments from imposing population and housing caps. “We are removing some key local barriers to housing production,” Newsom said in a statement referring to Senate Bill 330, dubbed the “Housing Crisis Act of 2019.”
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11th-hour deal paves way for bill to end rent gouging in state
San Francisco Chronicle
Californians would be protected against massive rent increases and unfair evictions under an agreement announced Friday evening by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Tenant advocates and landlords have been at odds all year over anti-rent-gouging legislation that supporters said was necessary to keep people in their homes as living costs soar across California and that groups representing apartment owners and developers argued would discourage new construction.
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Gov. Newsom signs state rent cap law while clamoring for more housing
San Francisco Business Journal
Gov. Gavin Newsom held a ceremonial bill signing Tuesday at a senior center in West Oakland for AB 1482, a bill that caps annual rent increases to 5 percent plus inflation. The new law comes a year after housing developers raised more than $70 million to help quash a ballot initiative that would have removed an existing state ban on new rent control ordinances. Developers displayed far less public opposition to the rent cap proposal as it wound its way through the state legislature.
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California gets its first statewide rent control, eviction protections
San Francisco Chronicle
As living costs soar across California amid a severe housing crunch, millions of residents will be protected for the first time from large rent increases and losing their homes if they have been reliable tenants. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB1482 on Tuesday at a West Oakland senior center, imposing the first-ever statewide cap on rent increases and requiring landlords to provide a “just cause” when evicting tenants.
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California housing: New laws aim to make it easier to build
San Francisco Chronicle
California will try to boost housing production by freezing local regulations and lowering the barriers to build backyard cottages and other secondary units on properties. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of legislation Wednesday that aims to jump-start construction rates and ease the state’s housing shortage.
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BART’s $3 parking comes under scrutiny. Should prices go up with demand?
San Francisco Chronicle
Three-dollar parking at BART, a perk that dates back to the days of carpeted trains and one-seat-per-passenger, may be on its way out. The transit agency’s board of directors will discuss several policy ideas Thursday to fix what some see as an archaic parking system with space so cheap that some lots routinely fill up before 8 a.m. BART rents most spaces by the day, setting aside a portion for carpools and permit-holders. A monthly permit is BART’s equivalent to a rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco: the coveted spaces rarely change hands.
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San Francisco News
SF Rent Board weighs proposal to force landlords seeking rent hikes to disclose their finances
San Francisco Examiner
The Rent Board Commission is debating proposed guidelines that would require landlords to disclose their profits to justify certain rent increases, but some property owners say the proposal would place “mom and pop” landlords at a disadvantage. The new “evidence of reasonable reliance” requirement would apply to landlords seeking so-called “Operations and Maintenance” rent increases, or permanent 7 percent rent hikes on top of the annual allowable 2.6 percent rent increase.
Supervisor seeks to curb mayor's appointment power in wake of DA dust-up
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Supervisor Gordon Mar is seeking a charter amendment to prohibit the mayor from appointing candidates to the office they’re seeking within 90 days of an upcoming election for the position. The move is in direct response to Mayor London Breed’s controversial decision Friday to appoint Suzy Loftus as the city’s interim district attorney.
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SFO plans to surround airport with 10-mile wall to protect against rising bay waters
The Mercury News
Concerned that rising waves will flood runways and buildings in the coming years, officials at San Francisco International Airport are moving ahead with a $587 million plan to build a major new sea wall around the entire airport. The plan, the latest example of the growing cost of climate change in California, involves driving steel pilings — sheets with interlocking edges — into the mud and also constructing concrete walls in some places around all of the airport’s 10-mile perimeter.
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Supes question $890K per unit cost for Sunnydale HOPE SF rebuild
San Francisco Examiner
Even in San Francisco, where building costs are sky high, a per unit cost of nearly $900,000 to rebuild public housing at Sunnydale is raising questions. The 167-unit Sunnydale HOPE SF Block 6 project is on the verge of breaking ground, but approval of a $18.6 million city-loan was postponed by the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee Wednesday to unearth more details about the high per unit costs.
City parks piggyback on infrastructure
San Francisco Business Journal
Salesforce Park is a lush landscape that stretches four city blocks atop a transit center in San Francisco. With lawns, hillocks, lavender beds, leafy trees and a walking path, it gives commuters a relaxing place to wait for their bus and attracts people who live and work nearby looking for respite in the middle of a busy city. Despite its presence as a calming oasis, Salesforce Park faced stressful startup challenges. Building a park 70 feet in the air atop a transit center showed how complex it can be to piggyback green space on active infrastructure.
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Check out the Outer Sunset’s first major condo development in years
San Francisco Curbed
Although nearly 10 percent of San Francisco lives in the Outer Sunset, the area lays claim to low-rise zoning and one of the largest portions of single-family homes in the city. That, according to housing activists, should change. The Westerly, a block-long condo complex that opened in July, could lead the charge for a taller and denser Sunset. Roughly 200 steps from the front door to Ocean Beach, the Westerly, a five-story mid-rise at Sloat and 46th Avenue, features 56 homes ranging from one bedroom units (starting in the mid $800,000) to two-bedroom units (starting in the high $900,000).
South Bay News
Big office tower poised to be a new gateway to San Jose
East Bay Times
A big office tower featuring an urban plaza, a rooftop terrace, and a sky port for air taxis is being proposed as a gateway to downtown San Jose, to be built on a property owned by a legendary Silicon Valley developer. Davidson Plaza Tower, a 14-story high rise, would be built near the corner of West Julian Street and Terraine Street in downtown San Jose.
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Hotel is being pitched near downtown San Jose’s Google village
The Mercury News
A new hotel is being eyed in downtown San Jose next to a big transit village that Google is planning near the Diridon train station. The proposed hotel would sprout at 491 W. San Carlos St., which is near the corner of Josefa Street and very close to the footprint of a mixed-use transit-oriented community that Google has begun to fashion in downtown San Jose. The 170-room hotel is being developed by Urban Catalyst, a real estate firm that was formed to capitalize on the tax advantages possible in opportunity zones such as the ones located in downtown San Jose.
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Peninsula News
San Mateo General Plan update advances
The Daily Journal
San Mateo officials moved ahead with a proposal to establish study areas defining where new, dense housing could be constructed as part of the city’s General Plan update, despite reservations raised by some residents. The San Mateo City Council blessed a plan to remove one- and two-family residential properties from areas identified for further examination, according to video of the meeting Monday, Oct. 7.
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Track work options narrow for San Mateo
The Daily Journal
Caltrain has come up with a new location for a controversial “parking track” in San Mateo that seemingly would affect fewer homes than a different location proposed in June, but neighbors are still not satisfied. A parking or set-out track is a roughly 1,000-foot stretch of track adjacent to the main tracks that is used to store maintenance equipment and sometimes locomotives in emergency situations.
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Menlo Park officials nudge Facebook to prioritize housing over office at massive Willow Village project
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Menlo Park city officials are pushing Facebook Inc. to prioritize housing over office space at its planned Willow Village campus, the largest development application in city history, the Mercury News reports. Facebook submitted its plans for the massive mixed-use campus in mid-2017. The Willow Village master plan calls for about 1,500 permanent housing units, 15 percent of which would be affordable, and 1.75 million square feet of office space to accommodate about Facebook 9,500 employees.
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Supervisors decline to restart negotiations with Stanford on campus expansion
Palo Alto Online
Frustrated by its inability to negotiate a deal with Santa Clara County for a significant campus expansion, Stanford University requested Tuesday that the county pause its review of the growth plan and return to the negotiating table. The request failed, however, to sway the Board of Supervisors, with most members agreeing with staff that the best path forward is to follow the county's regular rules for approving major developments.
Burlingame officials favor regional housing strategy
The Daily Journal
As local cities shape unique policies in anticipation of the forthcoming state housing construction mandate, Burlingame officials favored partnering with neighbors to meet the community’s production goals. The Burlingame City Council showed Monday, Oct. 7, a willingness to work alongside nearby cities in the effort to meet the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, the state’s administrative arm assuring communities adhere to housing law.
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East Bay News
From pavement to nature: Waterfront park proposed in East Bay
East Bay Times
A stretch of pavement with panoramic views of the San Francisco skyline might be returned to nature and become a place of wetlands, walking paths and even campsites. The idea of creating “De-Pave” Park along the western edge of what’s known as the Seaplane Lagoon at the former Alameda Naval Air Station emerged at least six years ago. But the snail’s pace of redeveloping the former Navy base, which closed in April 1997 and is now known as Alameda Point, has meant almost no action has been taken on creating the waterfront park.
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