Why Housing Policy Is Climate Policy

By Scott Wiener and Daniel Kammen
March 25, 2019
The New York Times

California has long been seen as a leader on climate change. The state’s history of aggressive action to reduce air pollution, accelerate the use of renewable energy and speed the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy has inspired governments around the world to set more ambitious climate goals.
But there is trouble on the horizon, and California’s climate leadership is at risk.
Across most of the state’s economy, greenhouse gas emissions have been trending steadily down. But ballooning car traffic on city streets and freeways is negating much of that progress. In California, about 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are from transportation, and they are increasing. In some California counties, two-thirds of emissions are from vehicles.
In November, the California Air Resources Board released an update on efforts to reduce pollution from transportation. The numbers were alarming. Despite headlines about California’s push for more electric vehicles, pollution from cars is still climbing. “With emissions from the transportation sector continuing to rise, California will not achieve the necessary greenhouse gas emissions reductions to meet mandates for 2030,” the board warned.
The solution? “Significant changes to how communities and transportation systems are planned, funded and built,” the board said.
Put more directly, in order to solve the climate crisis, we have to solve the housing crisis.

Wiener, Scott, and Daniel Kammen. “Why Housing Policy Is Climate Policy.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/opinion/california-home-prices-climate.html.

Click here to read the full article.

Urban living in a suburb? Developers say that’s the latest trend in Folsom and Davis

By Hudson Sangree

November 12, 2017

The Sacramento Bee

In place of big houses and sprawling lawns, some buyers in the Sacramento suburbs are opting for townhomes or densely packed houses on tiny lots.

Click here to read the full article.


ECOS would love to see developers in our region pursue denser housing and walkable communities as the new norm, especially in Folsom. Let our region lead in reducing vehicle dependence and greenhouse gas emissions!

Downtown Specific Plan NOP

The City of Sacramento, Community Development Department, as Lead Agency, has issued a Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an Environmental Impact Report for the Downtown Specific Plan.

The comment period is from February 15, 2017 to March 17, 2017.

The issuance of the NOP is to inform all responsible agencies of the decision to prepare an EIR. The purpose of the NOP is to provide information describing the project and its potential environmental effects and to seek input from responsible agencies as defined by CEQA (PRC Section 21069) and the public. Agencies should comment on such information as it relates to their statutory responsibilities in connection with the project. The full NOP is attached here and is available at the City’s Community Development Department webpage at:
http://portal.cityofsacramento.org/Community-Development/Planning/Environmental/Impact-Reports

A public scoping meeting will be held on Thursday, March 2 2017, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Sacramento City Hall, 915 I Street, Room 1119, Sacramento, California 95814. Responsible agencies and members of the public are invited to attend and provide input on the scope of the EIR. Written comments regarding relevant issues may be submitted at the meeting.

Comments and suggestions as to the appropriate scope of analysis are invited from all interested parties. Written comments or questions concerning the proposed project should be submitted to the following address no later than March 17, 2017 (Public counter hours are between 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.):
Tom Buford, Senior Planner
Community Development Department
300 Richards Boulevard, Third Floor
Sacramento, CA 95811
Email: tbuford[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org

More homes coming to Mill at Broadway development

By Ryan Lillis

December 21, 2016

The Sacramento Bee

The developers behind the growing Mill at Broadway neighborhood south of downtown Sacramento have sought the city’s approval to begin the next phase of the project.

Bardis Homes has applied to construct 55 condominiums on the site in northwest Land Park, just south of Broadway. Of the new homes, 39 will be single-family residences and the rest will be duplexes, according to the application filed Wednesday.

The Mill is among the most significant recent housing developments near Sacramento’s central city.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article122311714.html#storylink=cpy


Lillis, Ryan. “More homes coming to Mill at Broadway development.” Sacbee. Sacramento Bee, 21 Dec. 2016. Web. 04 Jan. 2017.

Sacramento’s New Downtown

November 5, 2016

Interview By Cosmo Garvin

The Sacramento City Council is likely to approve the downtown railyards development plan this Thursday, November 10. Most of the buzz about the project has been around the proposed stadium for the Sacramento Republic soccer team.

The media has paid less attention to the amount and type of housing that will (or won’t) be built there, even though this is probably the most important part of the whole enterprise.

In Cosmo Garvin’s latest podcast, he interviewed Earl Withycombe and Alexandra Reagan of the Environmental Council of Sacramento, who say that “the current plan for the Railyards doesn’t include enough affordable housing, or enough of any kind of housing. They say the project isn’t dense enough, isn’t ambitious enough, about building a transit friendly, environmentally sound, inclusive urban core.”