An Update on Another of the Lawsuits Filed Against Plan Bay Area
Readers will recall that Plan Bay Area, a 9-county regional plan that addresses how to provide housing and jobs for a projected increase in population of approximately 2 million more people was adopted last year. The Plan calls for local communities to designate Priority Development Areas (PDAs) that would be eligible for State funding to encourage housing and jobs in neighborhoods near transit lines. To date, around one-hundred seventy of these PDAs, 100 acres or larger, which have been nominated by local governments have been approved by the Association of Bay Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). The general goal of the Plan is to provide compact housing with amenities that would reduce vehicle use by encouraging walking, biking and public transit usage. Shortly after the approval of the Plan, a series of lawsuits were filed by very different groups, for very different reasons:
- those that thought that the Plan would force communities to allow high-density development (“stack and pack”) that would destroy their localities.
- those (pro-development) that felt the Plan was heavy-handed and didn’t go far enough.
- those that felt that too much emphasis had been placed on roads and not enough on public transit, that consequently this emphasis would increase greenhouse gas emissions and displace low-income neighborhoods.
The Plan also includes MTCs responsibility to provide updates every four years regarding the regional roads and transit framework. Earthjustice, representing environmental groups, argued that these updates favored highway expansion over new public transit and that the Plan consequently would not reduce greenhouse gases on its own. The regional agencies countered that the projected population growth made increases in greenhouse gas emissions virtually inevitable despite California’s standards for vehicle fuel efficiency and low-carbon fuels.
A settlement was reached between environmentalists and ABAG and MTC that requires the agencies to issue a more detailed analysis of the impact of their development and road-building plans on greenhouse gases when the Plan is updated in 2017. The agencies are also required to explain why PDA status was granted to areas like Treasure Island and the Alameda Naval Air Station that have little access to public transit. An additional provision requires more study be done of the projected increases in freight shipments by trucks and ships.
Look for a detailed list of Berkeley’s PDAs in a coming issue.