James Brasuell

The U.S. tower on the Gordie Howe International Bridge in Detroit now reaches its full height over the Detroit River, topping out at 722 feet, just a few feet shorter than the Renaissance Center. Robin Runyan provides an update on construction progress on the new bridge border crossing for an article for Urbanize Detroit, reporting also that some of the bridge deck has been installed. As for what to expect, “In addition to three lanes each way for vehicular traffic, the Gordie Howe International…

California’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program will make a major infusion of capital into 16, jobs-rich communities around the state, with $757 million in funding announced on August 30. “Governor Gavin Newsom, along with the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC), today announced $757 million in funding to advance the building of affordable housing in jobs-rich, walkable neighborhoods,” according to a press release published on the Department of Housing and Community Dev…

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is prioritizing an overhaul of the city’s site review process, after receiving scathing reviews from a recent analysis by the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. After surveying customers completing the site review process, as well as 150 city employees working in the 11 departments involved in the site review process, “found only 1% of respondents were satisfied with the process,” according to a paywalled article by Mike Christen for the Austin Business Jou…

The landmark Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, famous for eliminating single-family zoning citywide, is no longer the plan of record in Minneapolis, reports Susan Du for the Star Tribune. The city now has 60 days to revert back to its 2030 Plan, according to a recent court ruling. The same environmental organizations that have been opposing the plan since 2018 have managed to invalidate the landmark plan. Hennepin County District Judge Joseph R. Klein made the most recent ruling—the most rece…

The long process of planning and designing a new future for the Silver Lake Reservoir in Los Angeles, a political drama a decade-and-half in the making, has reached a major culmination. “The Los Angeles City Council has voted to adopt the findings of a final environmental impact report for the Silver Lake Reservoir master plan, which would convert roughly 116 acres of the 127-acre Silver Lake and Ivanhoe reservoir complex into park space,” reports Steven Sharp for Urbanize Los Angeles. A 2.5-m…

Planners in Deschutes County, Oregon have released a draft comprehensive plan for the county that includes the cities of Bend and Redmond. The draft Deschutes County 2040 Comprehensive Plan is available for public review, according to an article published by KTVZ and a county press release. The draft plan culminates 16 months of planning work, including meetings with the public and technical experts. Because of Oregon’s unique approach to land use, the plan will apply to the portions of the coun…

Oklahoma City planners are seeking input from the public on an update for the BikeWalkOKC plan. This current phase of planning work continues the work begun in 2018 with the adoption of the plan, according to an article by Brett Fieldcamp for Oklahoma City Free Press. “Since the plan’s approval and launch in 2018, BikeWalkOKC’s first phase has been implemented throughout the city more quickly than anticipated, leading to a new, 137-page update for the plan’s second phase and a period of open pub…

California legislators approved a bill, AB 1572 (Friedman), to ban the use of drinking water for ornamental grass—also known non-functional turf—grass never used for walking or recreation. Ian James breaks the news of the approved legislation in. paywalled article for the Los Angeles Times, putting the scale of ornamental grass in perspective for Southern California readers: Grass covers an estimated 218,000 acres in the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s six-county area. Nearl…

[Updated: 9/14/20233] The city of Boston will update its zoning code for the first time since 1964, in a historic city that overwhelmingly tends to plan and approve development with the use of variances, rather than with by-right development. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced the project earlier this week, according to a paywalled article by Catherine Carlock for the Boston Globe. The city’s zoning code currently totals 4,000 pages. “The overhaul will start with restructuring the Boston Plannin…

California Forever isn’t the only tech-investor-driven mega-project to make news in recent weeks. Blockchains Inc had designs on remaking a massive swath of land near Reno until water got in the way.