Author: Bob Staedler (Bob Staedler)

Staedler: Architects sponsor state bill that hide plans from public view

California enacted SB 1214 into law on Jan. 1, 2023. It uses copyright law to allow city planning departments to avoid sharing development plans with the public and news agencies. It was previously the practice of planning departments to post development plans online and send images to media outlets, who could then write stories about...

Staedler: Where is the city’s state-required housing plan?

San Jose has missed the state’s Jan. 31 deadline for an approved 2023-2031 Housing Element. The Housing Element is a plan to map out future housing in San Jose and help the city meet its goal of planning for 62,200 homes by 2031. According to the city, the Housing element addresses a range of housing...

Staedler: San Jose has a homeless housing marketing problem

During the Nov. 29 San Jose City Council meeting, outgoing Mayor Sam Liccardo said the city has a homeless housing marketing problem. He’s right on the money: San Jose residents want homeless housing, just not near their homes. There is clearly a lack of trust and confidence by many neighborhoods that homeless housing solutions and...

Staedler: San Jose’s development policy is redlining 2.0

San Jose like other parts of the country is dealing with the harsh realities of past racial injustice. This has sparked “equity lens” and fairness conversations in the city’s budgeting of vital services. One of the undeniable wrongs that can’t be ignored is redlining. Redlining was a practice of creating racially segregated neighborhoods in every...

Staedler: A San Jose housing study session to nowhere

San Jose held a study session on Nov. 1 during the regularly scheduled city council meeting. It was the fourth they’ve held over the last several years. The city hired Century Urban LLC to perform a conceptual feasibility analysis and then brought several Urban Land Institute members to give their perspective on the difficulty of building...

Staedler: San Jose trails California in parking standards

Parking requirements have been reduced in some new housing developments with the advent of AB 2097. San Jose has been touted as leading this and the state following course. That is clearly not the case. San Jose officials voted in June to “craft a policy to eliminate parking minimums.” They should not be given credit...

Staedler: AB 2011 opens up commercial corridors to housing development

California passed several housing bills before the end of the current legislative session. Assembly Bill 2011 enacts a streamlined ministerial approval by cities comparable to Senate Bill 35, for multi-family projects on commercial zoned land that meet certain provisions. Those include prevailing wages and affordable housing requirements. The bill would allow housing projects to be...

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