Our Priorities

Build Support for SB 375 in Key Regions

The passage of California’s SB 375 creates an exciting venue for the ClimatePlan network to achieve our vision.  But SB 375 won't achieve its full potential without effective advocacy and leadership in each of California's major regions, and in the local governments that compose those regions.

In the next two years, ClimatePlan will bring together community voices to lay the policy groundwork for successful adoption and implementation of Sustainable Communities Strategies. Just as importantly, ClimatePlan will help communities and regional leaders understand the tremendous opportunity that SB 375  provides.  We will focus these efforts in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. 

Recent News

Transit-oriented report creates a vision for 250-acre site in Ontario
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin – January 19, 2010
By Liset Marquez
A report released by the Urban Land Institute on Tuesday affirmed the city's vision for the 250-acre site known as the Meredith property. The city has long envisioned creating a core development centered on a transit plaza on the vacant land just north of the 10 Freeway and east of Vineyard Avenue. It is one of the few remaining large undeveloped sites in the city.
Link to article

Santa Ana Changing Laws to Allow Density
Orange County Register – January 11, 2010
By Doug Irving
City officials are working on a sweeping rewrite of the development rules for Santa Ana's downtown core that would clear the way for high-rise towers and hundreds of new homes. The city has not yet released a public draft of the proposal, which would represent an entirely new zoning code that tells developers what they can build, and where. But the city's director of redevelopment, Cynthia Nelson, said it comes directly from an earlier effort to refashion Santa Ana's downtown into a more-urban place. 
Link to article

Effort to limit Valley sprawl hits crucial stage
Fresno Bee – January 4, 2010
By Russell Clemings
San Joaquin Valley leaders spent three years hammering out a plan to control urban sprawl. That was the easy part.  Now, as the Valley Blueprint Planning Process enters its fourth year, regional planners are shifting their focus to a thornier issue: How to change decades-old development patterns and put more people on less land.
Link to article

SCAG Unveils Conceptual Land Use Scenario (posted May 11, 2009)
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is quickly moving forward with planning for SB 375 implementation.  At its Regional Council Meeting on May 7-8, the agency unveiled its SB 375 Conceptual Land Use Scenario. 
Link to more info

Relevant Resources

Achieving Sustainability in California's Central Valley. (July 2009) This report assesses the capacity of the Central Valley’s cities to manage the economic, social, and environmental problems associated with expected rapid population growth.
By UC Davis Sustainable Transportation Center
Download the report (4.42 MB pdf)

ClimatePlan's Southern California Sustainable Communities Campaign brochure (July 2009)
Download brochure (pdf, 458 KB)

Communities Tackle Global Warming: A Guide to California’s SB 375 (July 2009) By NRDC and CLCV
Download the guide (pdf, 893 KB)

Realizing the Potential of SB 375: An Index of ClimatePlan Partners and Their Work (Appendix to ClimatePlan's 2009-2011 Strategic Plan)
Download Appendix (pdf, 115 KB)

CARB “Toolkit” for Local Governments
The California Air Resources Board has released a toolkit intended to to help local governments reduce costs and aid in meeting the state's ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Link to toolkit

Southern California Association of Governments' (SCAG's)
SB 375 Conceptual Land Use Scenario
SCAG's Conceptual Land Use Scenario takes into account projected growth throughout the region and identifies areas of opportunity for compact, transit-oriented development near job centers and transit.
Download a presentation of the scenario (5.76 MB pdf)

SB 375 Is Now Law -- But What Will It Do?
By Bill Fulton, California Planning and Development Report, October 2008.
Link to article

DRAFT Policies for the Bay Area’s Implementation of Senate Bill 375, Joint Policy Committee, January 2009.
The Bay Area's Joint Policy Committee has released a draft document outlining a set of policies for the implementation of SB 375 in the Bay Area. 
Download Draft Policy Statement (pdf, 80KB)

SB 375 Bill Text (Steinberg, 2008)
Download bill text (pdf, 225KB)