Planners are not necessarily trained to address wildfires, and firefighters are not necessarily trained to understand urban planning. Yet, a new initiative bridges the gap. The program’s directors offer insight into its national importance, the organization’s future, and winning an APA award.

Newport Beach City Council votes to introduce a measure that would reduce allowable new housing below the target required by the city’s Housing Element, which will appear on the November 2026 ballot.

The 682-unit project was declared exempt from CEQA and apparently met the city’s objective design standards. The city council voted against it anyway.

Voters resoundingly favored new housing in Santa Cruz and Sausalito, two cities that have historically had strong anti-growth movements.

The Cities of Santa Cruz and Sausalito present voters with land-use ballot measures intended to promote affordable housing. However, the approach varies with measures in Santa Cruz revolving around increased taxes on property sales, while Sausalito focuses on localized zoning.

Local control advocates are pushing the Our Neighborhood Voices ballot measure again

In an odd turn of events, the City of Hollister rescinded its own general plan in advance of a referendum

Pressured to rebuild Pacific Palisades, the City of Los Angeles may adopt a rare policy to help developers and builders sidestep lengthy permitting processes that can delay production of new housing

USC demographer professor of planning Dowell Myers does not dispute these phenomena. But, according to a newly published study “Misalignment of Housing Growth and Population Trends: Cohort Size and Lagging Measurements Through Recession and Recovery,” they are actually tangential to deeper economic causes that have led to what he describes as not just a local housing crisis but, indeed, a national housing crisis

There are times when Mother Nature – especially when abetted by climate change and drought – will do as she pleases. In those cases, all cities and residents can do is try to minimize the damage

With the signing of Assembly Bill 98 last month, they may get it. But, it will potentially come at the cost of curtailing one of the state’s few post-pandemic economic development success stories. It may also give the state’s planners serious headaches.

Insurance in wildfire areas is becoming harder to get — which should be a good thing for the state’s growth management policies. But it’s getting in the way of meeting the state’s housing targets

The vast majority of bills related to housing, planning, and transportation improvements are charging ahead this session. May 24 was the last day for bills to pass out of their respective houses of origin.

Around 250,000 voters in Solano County will decide whether to welcome as many as 400,000 new neighbors. It is likely to be a serious test of “yes in my backyard” sentiment in California — or, in the case of Solano County — yes in my pasture, field, or rangeland.

Many cities have already upzoned. Now, they’re trying to speed up the development process.