The project included everything San Bruno and residents asked for, and it would have helped the city make significant progress in addressing its growing housing crisis. Still, it was voted down.
J.K. Dineen reports on a recent city council decision in San Bruno, California, that killed the proposal for Mills Park Plaza, a mixed-use project that would have included 425 housing units and a grocery store.
"The project’s rejection was held up by housing advocates as an example of a broken housing approval process in California. Even when cities say they want housing — and developers meet the community’s every demand and whim — decisions driven by fear of growth can kill projects after millions of dollars and years of energy have been sunk into them," writes Dineen.
He notes that San Bruno is far from reaching the state housing goal of 1,155 units by 2023, as the city has built only 119 units since 2016. Housing advocates argue that actions such as the one in San Bruno amount to housing obstruction at the local level and point to the need for planning oversight to occur at the state level.
FULL STORY: San Bruno seeks housing, then rejects it: ‘I don’t know what you can get passed’
To Build More Housing, Cities Must Be Smarter in How They Use Land
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California Law Ends Road Widening Mandates
Housing developers will no longer be required to dedicate land to roadway widening, which could significantly reduce the cost of construction and support more housing units.
New Zealand Zoning Reform Targets Housing Production
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‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
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Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
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San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research