Bay Area Land News - April 4, 2019
US / California / Bay Area News
Bill to ease zoning rules near transit and jobs throughout California advances
The Mercury News
A closely watched proposal that would allow apartment buildings to be built near public transportation hubs and job centers throughout California — regardless of local zoning rules — cleared its first hurdle late Tuesday afternoon.
California adopts new wetland protections as Trump administration eases them
San Francisco Chronicle
California water regulators adopted a far-reaching plan Tuesday to prevent more of the state’s creeks, ponds and wetlands from being plowed or paved over, a move that comes as the Trump administration scales back protections under the federal Clean Water Act.
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Proposed bill would allow homeless students to sleep in community college parking lots overnight
Mountain View Voice
Homeless community college students will be permitted to park and sleep in their cars overnight at any community college in California if Assembly Bill 302 passes.
Bay Area IPOs to add some fuel to hot housing market
The Mercury News
The stream of newly minted, IPO payouts from Lyft — and soon, other tech unicorns — may have Bay Area home sellers dreaming of bigger payouts and buyers wary of even heftier mortgages.
Real estate investors expected to unlock trillions as feds finalize Opportunity Zone rules. Here's where the money is likely to flow
Silicon Valley Business Journal
The recent shutdown of the federal government has delayed IRS efforts to issue final rules a new federal program aimed at driving investments in impoverished communities across the country.
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Short of workers, US builders, farmers crave more immigrants
San Francisco Chronicle
It takes Carlos Rojas two and a half to three hours to drive from his home in Stockton to a job spreading plaster on houses going up in Campbell. The trip is worth it, though. The 30-year-old immigrant from the Mexican state of Oaxaca says he makes roughly $25 an hour, depending on the job. That is more than twice as much as Stockton’s farmworkers typically make in the fields. And his boss pays for gas.
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US shopping centre vacancies rise to eight-year high
Silicon Valley Business Journal
The ecommerce revolution and recent collapse of debt-laden private equity-backed chains is rippling through the commercial property market.
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San Francisco News
SF takes its time OKing retail makeovers — look at all the empty storefronts
San Francisco Chronicle
One of the key reasons San Francisco is suffering from a glut of empty storefronts appears to be the city itself and a permitting process that can take an incoming business anywhere from six months to a year to complete, a new report by the city’s Budget and Legislative Analyst Office concludes.
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How does a retail space stay empty in San Francisco for 16 years?
San Francisco Chronicle
A prime location in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood that has stood vacant for 16 years is set to open as a skincare clinic this month.
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Editorial: Lawmakers need to stop stalling and forge deal on a needed homeless center
San Francisco Chronicle
A fight over placing a homeless shelter in an unwilling neighborhood is taking on superheated dimensions. There are rival online legal funds totaling $240,000 and counting. Marquee tech names are entering the fray to expand their civic roles. Reluctant elected officials are playing it carefully.
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Waterfront Navigation Center may shrink after neighborhood pushback
San Francisco Examiner
Mayor London Breed is considering scaling down a proposal for an up to 225-bed Navigation Center at San Francisco’s waterfront that has met with intense resistance from neighborhood residents.
Promised grocery store for Transbay area residents falls through
San Francisco Examiner
A developer of hundreds of housing units in the Transbay area has formally dropped plans to bring in a promised grocery store.
Breed, Yee call for planned affordable housing bond to grow to $500M
San Francisco Examiner
Mayor London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee on Monday jointly backed a proposal to increase a planned November affordable housing bond by $200 million to a total of $500 million.
Huge senior housing project in S.F. moving forward in place of condos
San Francisco Business Times
Previously stalled plans for a large development next to the new CPMC Medical Center along the Van Ness corridor are again moving forward.
Mission District project would transform parking lot into high-end condos, maker space
San Francisco Examiner
A project promising to transform a Mission District parking lot into rental housing and high-end light-industrial space is facing pushback from neighborhood advocates over affordability.
Fearing tobacco and vape bans will tank businesses, corner stores want to sell cannabis
San Francisco Examiner
Corner store owners are seeing their futures go up in smoke, as a recent tobacco ban and proposed new vape ban threaten their businesses. But if they can’t sell tobacco, one San Franciscan is asking, why can’t The City help corner stores turn into pot shops?
Should first Central SoMa developments be most ‘shovel-ready’ or most beneficial?
San Francisco Chronicle
City planners are headed for a clash with neighborhood advocates over the question of which Central South of Market development projects will win the first round of city approvals. It’s a dispute that could lead to years of delays for millions of square feet of office projects and 9,000 housing units.
London Breed shouted down at meeting over proposed Embarcadero Navigation Center
San Francisco Chronicle
An unexpected appearance from San Francisco Mayor London Breed incited an already tense crowd that packed a community meeting Wednesday night to hear city officials detail a plan to bring a 200-bed Navigation Center to the Embarcadero.
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SF: Developers can drop grocery store from Avery tower in Transbay
San Francisco Chronicle
Housing developer Related California won’t have to find a grocery tenant for the Avery, a high-rise residential tower in the Transbay district, after the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure voted 3-2 to lift the requirement Tuesday.
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South Bay News
Neighbors upset by app that lets commuters park in driveways
The Mercury News
Can’t find a place to park? Open ParkStash and rent a private driveway or garage — and in seconds you can get a spot.
‘No common ground’ between tenants and landlords in Milpitas
The Mercury News
More than a year after the City Council voted to create a Tenant Protection Task Force, the city appears no closer to any concrete policy to address challenges renters face in Milpitas.
Urban Catalyst set to buy its first Opportunity Zone site in downtown San Jose as it looks to drum up investor interest
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Opportunity Zone investor and developer Urban Catalyst submitted plans to city planners that show it aims to redevelop a key downtown San Jose site into a new mixed-use development with retail and office space.
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Peninsula News
Councilman who works for Facebook gets answers on political restrictions
The Almanac
Contrary to some earlier concerns raised during Menlo Park City Councilman Drew Combs' council election campaign, a letter from California's Fair Political Practices Commission indicates that Combs may not have to recuse himself from all potentially Facebook-related discussions.
Space for another generation: Homeowner weighs San Mateo’s ADU rules after yearslong planning process
The Daily Journal
When San Mateo resident Shawn Fahrenbruch purchased his family’s home on Parrott Drive in 2017, he saw an opportunity to create not only a home for his wife and two children near Aragon High School but also his mother, who was in her 70s at the time.
San Mateo working on rental rules
The Daily Journal
How to ensure rules aimed at protecting at-risk tenants who find themselves in unsafe housing are fair to landlords and help those who are permanently or temporarily displaced by substandard living conditions was a focus for San Mateo city officials Monday during a study session of possible tenant protections.
Burlingame City Council fends for local control
The Daily Journal
Sensing an encroachment on their authority, Burlingame councilmembers defended themselves against lawmakers proposing to fight the state’s housing crisis with streamlined development policies and tenant protections.
Palo Alto fixes zoning 'mistake,' invites legal challenge
Palo Alto Online
Seeking to correct what is believed to be a zoning error, the Palo Alto City Council adopted a law on Monday that gives owners of "grandfathered" downtown buildings greater flexibility to switch to other uses — provided this conversion doesn't result in the loss of housing units.
East Palo Alto's new city manager brings real estate, complex negotiation skills to job
Palo Alto Online
East Palo Alto has a new city manager who comes with experience in negotiating complex multimillion-dollar projects related to real estate and wastewater treatment; improving the financial ratings of cities where he has worked; and developing a cannabis industry in an agricultural community.
Palo Alto’s President Hotel developer gets opportunity to challenge city
East Bay Times
After nearly four decades, Dennis Backlund can no longer call Palo Alto’s President Hotel home. Backlund, 77, had lived in the historic building for nearly half of his life and was one of the last remaining tenants when the eviction deadline came crashing down Sunday.
Mountain View approves razing rent-controlled units for homes worth $1.5 million
The Mercury News
Despite months of protests and push back from community members, dozens of rent-controlled apartments in Mountain View will soon be razed and replaced with townhouses, each with an estimated price tag of $1.5 million.
Passage project heads to environmental review
The Daily Journal
How a plan to build a 961-unit, mixed-use development at the 14.5-acre Concar Shopping Center will affect local traffic congestion, use of public transportation, parking and infrastructure near the juncture of State Route 92 and Highway 101 were among the project’s environmental effects residents and officials pegged for further study at a San Mateo Planning Commission meeting last week.
Snowflake leases big San Mateo office complex, will shift HQ to new site
The Mercury News
Snowflake Inc., an up and coming tech company, has leased a big office complex in San Mateo, saying it plans to use the new location as its future corporate headquarters.
Palo Alto approves nearly $1 million contract for more downtown valets
Palo Alto Online
With plans for a new downtown garage now in limbo, Palo Alto officials are looking to boost capacity at existing parking structures by hiring valets to park people's cars during busy lunchtime hours.
To ward off commuters, Old Palo Alto seeks parking limits
Palo Alto Online
Fed up with Caltrain commuters and California Avenue employees who use their streets for free, all-day parking, residents in a section of Old Palo Alto have launched an effort to establish a Residential Preferential Parking program in their neighborhood.