Read on Twitter
BIG General Plan action at Sacramento City Council tonight gives the go-ahead for allowing at least fourplexes everywhere, eliminating parking minimums, moving towards all electric blds, right-sizing streets for transit/bike/ped, and prioritizing equity in infrastructure (1/9)
To be clear, this action only allows staff to proceed with a series of key strategies and a draft land use/transportation map. The final votes on the whole General Plan Update will be later this year, but this was a big hurdle that will start the environmental review. (2/9)
The biggest (imo) strategy is to do away with density-based restrictions and regulate everything with floor area ratio (FAR). In so doing, they will allow for at least an FAR of 1.0 (think fourplex) everywhere in the city. This is an absolute gamechanger. (3/9)
This would be a potent combination with the ministerial approval process that the City already put in place last year. So all that missing middle would be by right with no CEQA if it is zoning compliant. https://twitter.com/DovKadin/status/1288275809535320064?s=20
Parking minimums, which drive up the cost of housing and prioritize homes for cars over homes for people, were already reduced a few years ago. Tonight the council acted to move forward with eliminating them altogether and pursuing parking MAXIMUMS in some areas. (4/9)
The City is also pursuing road diets across the city to prioritize transit/bike/ped over automobiles and support low carbon transportation options/safety. (5/9)
Another key recommendation was to "gradually transition existing buildings away from natural gas to electric." This was a key recommendation from the Mayor's Commission on Climate. The ordinance would apply to low rise by 2023. (6/9)
Big emphasis on equity, including pursuing an equity framework for future infrastructure decisions and a very honest discussion around how restrictive zoning in wealthy white neighborhoods has exacerbated residential segregation and racial inequality. (7/9)
These are just a few of the key strategies, but there are many more which you can read about in the staff report below. (8/9) https://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=612097
There was a lot of community support for this item (62% of ecomments, 83% of callers). It's far from a done deal, but this is a very promising start to what would be, for my money, a top 5 most progressive general plan in the nation. (9/9) https://twitter.com/DovKadin/status/1351701396022706178?s=20
