Plan Bay Area: An Evaluation by the California Land Use Lawyers at Kassouni Law

Last Tuesday, the California land use lawyers at Kassouni Law filed their reply brief in The Post Sustainability Institute v. Association of Bay Area Governments in an effort to preserve Californian’s constitutionally protected property rights and overturn a plan incapable of achieving any results.

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) represents nine counties throughout the Bay Area collaborating in the task of regional planning. These counties include Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. In its authority, ABAG has developed “Plan Bay Area” which seeks to overhaul Bay Area planning through the year 2040.

Why Plan Bay Area? Why Now?

In 2008, the California legislature passed AB 375 which mandates a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Based on this legislation, the California Air Resources Board seeks a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 7% by 2020 and 15% by 2035.

What are the Goals of Plan Bay Area? And can those Goals be achieved?

One Bay Area is ABAG’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to comply with SB 375 via sweeping lifestyle changes for all individuals who reside in the Bay Area region. However, the California land use lawyers at Kassouni Law contend the plan will monumentally fail in achieving this main over-arching goal. Further, the plan’s website lists (13) goals & targets to scaffold its main goal as listed on the site as of February 24th, 2016. In subsequent articles, we will examine all thirteen; let’s look at the first three of the plan’s goals and targets.

Goal 1- Climate Protection: Reduce per-capita CO2 emissions from cars and light-duty trucks by 15%

The Plan relies on funding not yet actualized, nor will it likely ever actualize as massive political hurdles must be surmounted. A primary source of funding the plan relies on for implementation is the repealing of Proposition 13. Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, limits property tax increases and is only capable of repeal by a 2/3 super majority vote. If ABAG were successful in somehow getting Prop 13 repealed, it would allow new taxes to be pushed into law with greater ease. Further, a 2009 field poll noted Californians continue to support Proposition 13 by 2:1 margins.
Even if the lofty goal of repealing Prop 13, is accomplished, the plan will fail to meet CO2 emission target reductions as confirmed by ABAG’s own independently commissioned study.

Goal 2- Adequate Housing: House 100% of the region’s projected growth by income level without displacing current low-income residents and with no increase in in-commuters over the Plan baseline year*

To accomplish this, the plan proposes Priority Development Areas (PDAs). PDAs consist of densely congested multi-family high-rise-crammed parcels near mass transit. The plan seeks to limit if not extinguish suburban single-family homes altogether.

Goal 3- Healthy and Safe Communities: Reduce adverse health impacts associated with air quality, road safety, and physical inactivity by 10%

Given the plans projected failures in reaching its CO2 emission reduction targets, California land use lawyers at Kassouni Law find it hard to understand how unimproved air quality will improve health. When in fact, by failing to reach its targets, one can expect the adverse health impacts associated with air quality will continue to increase exponentially as true air quality improvement will not be seen with Plan Bay Area. Regarding reducing negative health impacts due to physical inactivity, we can look to MIT’s Center for Advanced Urbanism for input, “built environment research is inconclusive about causal relations between urban form and public health.”

For now, the California land use lawyers at Kassouni Law must conclude that moving large swaths of the Bay Area populous into densely-packed high-rise neighborhoods only to fail at adequately reducing CO2 emissions is a gross indictment of government ineptitude.

Author’s Bio: The author is an expert on legal matters. This article an evaluation of Plan Bay Area by the California Land Use Lawyers at Kassouni Law. For more information visit :- www.kassounilaw.com