AgdaPkt 2005-04-25 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

7f{-.s- PROGRESS REPORTED BY LEAGUE HOUSING/GENERAL PLAN TASK FORCE HCD ALSO CONSIDERS HOUSING PROPOSALS The League's Housing/General Plan Task Force met April 1 in San Diego to review the progress of a task force technical working group. The technical working group held three full day meetings during February and March to refine the details of concepts that had been agreed to in principle by the full task force at its meeting in Janu- ary. These include: Improving the local planning process for housing to provide greater certainty over where housing can be built. Improving the long-term planning for housing. Promoting infill development, and preserving and enhancing local land use authority and community input. Providing sufficient funds for local planning. Identifying funding sources to pay for public services and infrastructure. Some progress has been made on outlining improvements in the planning process that will provide greater certainty about where housing can be built. Specific changes involve more "up front" planning and environmental reviews, providing greater assurance that homebuilders who meet the density, development standards and other criteria established by the community will be able to construct their housing projects. The task force agreed, however, that more work is needed to identify where and how funding can be provided to help local governments meet increasing demands for local services and infrastructure im- provements. The technical working group will meet several more times over the next 2-3 months to hammer out details addressing these concerns. SB 968 (Torlakson) - currently a spot bill - is intended to serve as the legislative vehicle to carry final changes hammered out by the task force. Schwarzenegger Administration Also Work- ing on Housing Ideas The League and other local government organi- zations were also given the opportunity recently to comment on some draft housing legislation ideas developed by the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The legislation is . . intended to address some of the same issues regard- ing certainty for builders and funding assurances for local government that are under consideration by the League's Housing/General Plan Task Force. The local government response to HCD empha- sized the need to avoid state-level "top down" solu- tions that could undermine the decision making authority and land use control of local agencies. TAKE THE "CALIFORNIA BUDGET CHALLENGE" Citizen understanding of the tough policy choices facing California and their consequences is an impor- tant factor in the future of this state. Discussions among government leaders often focus on how to increase awareness and involvement so that citizens become informed. For this reason, the League is encouraging inter- ested city officials to take the "California Budget Chal- lenge," presented by Next Ten. This independent, nonpartisan organization seeks to engage and educate Californians so that they can work together to improve the state's future economy and quality of life. You may also want to encourage citizens in your city to step up to the challenge. The California Budget Challenge can be found on Next Ten's Web site: www.next-ten.org. The California Budget Challenge lets individuals create their own state budget for the next 10 years. Participants can make decisi.ons on how much to give to schools, health care, prisons and other areas. They can also decide how to pay for these programs. Next Ten created the California Budget Challenge as a public service to engage more Californians in the budget process and to create better civic understand- ing. Visit the league's Official Web Siteuwww.cacities.org PRIORITY FOCUS/PAGE 5 ... """"Oo ..,..,... "'OoOo'_"'" .,...----. "--'T-""" "Oo