Please join us on Wednesday evening, September 28th at 5:45pm at the AIA Central Valley Chapter office for this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (4WDD). Encouraging community design excellence through the recognition of projects that exhibit Smart Growth principles in planning design and development actions. The Smart Growth Leadership Recognition Program seeks to encourage and promote those projects. How can this program be a benefit to your community and city? Find out at this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue presented by Bruce Monighan, AIA. For more information on the Smart Growth Leadership Program follow the link below. http://www.aiacv.org/resources/smart-growth/ Click he

Please join us on Wednesday evening, August 24th beginning at 5:45pm for this month’s 4th Wednesday Design Dialogue (4WDD). “Complete Streets” is the inspiring story of the planning, re-design and transfiguration of West Sacramento’s main street area: West Capitol Avenue. The project completely transformed a portion of old highway US 40 with a wide variety of improvements including new, widened sidewalks, re-structured roads, contiguous bicycle lanes, pocket plazas, landscape plantings and iconic bus shelters which celebrate the City’s unique identity. The re-development of this area has served to foster community spirit by addressing the needs of West Sacramento’s residents and employee

There's a lot more green on a tree than just its leaves! At this month's 4WDD ISA-Certified Arborist Scott Gregory will talk about assessing the economic and environmental benefits of the urban forest. In April, Scott successfully defended his master's thesis, "Quantifying Street Tree Function and Distribution: Analysis of Environmental Services, Population Characteristics, and Sidewalk Uplift in the City of Chico, California". His thesis entailed inventory of 34,950 street trees, stumps, and available planting sites within the City of Chico and subsequent data analysis to quantify environmental services provided by the City's street trees. By identifying public and private trees in adva

The city of Sacramento is looking for a few good designers, urban planners, architects and artists to submit their ideas to revamp Capitol Mall, between Tower Bridge and Ninth Street. The juried competition is expected to draw international attention. “Since the state turned Capitol Mall over to the city five years ago, there’s a growing impetus to do something with that space and get it activated,” said Chris Barkley of the American Institute of Architects Central Valley Chapter, the competition adviser to the city. Stakeholders in the area have been meeting over the past five years and decided to put out a call for ideas to make Capitol Mall the significant street it once was, accordin

How can we design ‘greener’ landscapes in Sacramento?  With the growing focus on water conservation, responsible use of resources, and the impacts of the built environment on human health and well-being, the conversation about what makes a site design ‘green’ is being elevated to a higher level. From pre-design and planning through construction and operations, a new rating system, dubbed ‘SITES’, has been developed which sets the bar for what we can do to design more sustainable places.  Developed to be incorporated into future versions of the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, SITES is currently in its pilot project phase.  Please join us on Wed

What do farms in our region have to do with the quality of life in your community? Where we build homes and which roads we invest in affect urban and rural communities equally. The Rural-Urban Connections Strategy is the next step in implementing the Blueprint, the region's vision for growth promoting housing and transportation choices, use of existing assets, and natural resources conservation. On December 10, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments is holding a regional forum on the Rural-Urban Connections Strategy, a project looking at how to keep rural communities rural, farmers farming, and protect our natural resources. It's also looking at how to increase access to local food. 

The Sacramento region is home to over 2 million people, but did you know that farms in our area contribute over $2 billion to our economy? And of all that food, only about 2% is consumed locally? On December 10, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments is holding a regional forum on the Rural-Urban Connections Strategy, a project looking at how to keep rural communities rural, farmers farming, and protect our natural resources. The event will take place at the Sacramento Convention Center from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and it's free. A locally focused breakfast will be served as well. SACOG is best known for the Blueprint, a bold vision for growth that promotes compact, mixed-use develo

Where should we spend money on transportation as our region continues to grow? The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) is hosting workshops throughout October to gather input from residents on transportation and land use planning in the Sacramento region. SACOG is a regional planning agency for Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties. As part of the transportation planning process, SACOG updates the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) every four years. The MTP includes investments in transit, freeways, roadways, and bike and pedestrian improvements. In an effort to plan thoughtfully for all regional travel needs, SACOG will host nine public workshops

The Sacramento Press has made a 2,529-page document on issues at the city’s Community Development Department available to the public. Members of the public can download the entire document here. City officials released the document on a compact disc March 25. Issues addressed in the document include the noncollection, waiver, underassessment and deferral of developer fees. Other issues mentioned in the document relate to the department’s culture, a possible violation of the California Environmental Quality Act, claims that development projects began before city procedures were completed and possible violations of planning rules. The document includes information about the following deve

The new City of Sacramento General Plan includes additional Sacramento River crossings without specifying the location or number of crossings or the transportation modes served by new crossings. The cost of the study will be $260,000 with both The City of Sacramento and the City of West Sacramento sharing the costs for the planning study with West Sacramento contributing $60,000 to that total. The study is expected to be completed in one year, starting in January and ending in December 2010. The study will include: • A transparent and proactive public outreach process; • A purpose and need statement which is grounded in the community values stated in the two cities' General Plan policies

The City of Sacramento Department of Neighborhood Services announces: You or someone you know may be interested in this new program the City is offering. Please keep in mind that this program may not be available in certain areas of the city, such as historic districts or design review areas. The City of Sacramento has recently launched its revamped Infill House Plan Program aimed to promote quality residential development on vacant lots within the City. The new and improved program - which provides pre-approved construction drawings at a reduced price, streamlined application process and reduced fees - includes recent updates to the house drawings to reduce construction costs and achiev

Sacramento's Development Oversight Commission is proceeding with its plan to merge the Planning Commission and Design Commission into a single body. Despite the overwhelmingly negative response from the current Planning and Design Commission members and the general public, the latest version of the DOC's proposal includes even less citizen input: instead of a seven-member board with two developer representatives and five members of the general public, the new proposal recommends five developer representatives and two members of the general public, in addition to the greatly reduced number of public meetings. From a historian's perspective, the consolidation of these bodies into a single,

The Spring Sacramento Preservation Roundtable will be held this Saturday, March 14, 9:00 AM Held at The Shady Lady Saloon - 1409 R Street A tour of the building following. Discussion on "Minimum Maintenance of Historic Properties" & Neighborhood involvement. Presentation by the Development Oversight Commission about the DOC's deregulation proposal and the elimination of the Design Review Commission CADA (Capitol Area Development Authority) will present the latest projects & plans for the 18th & N / O Street Area Juice, rolls, coffee, $5 Donation, students w/valid ID attend free Sponsored by CADA, D&S Development &SOCA http://www.sacoldcity.org Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009 Time: 9:

At the Planning Commission meeting on February 12, members of the Development Oversight Commission presented their proposal to eliminate the city of Sacramento's Design Commission by integrating it into the Planning Commission. This action would take most planning decisions out of the Commission's hands, assigning them to city staff, with fewer public hearings. This effort was met by surprise and disapproval by the Planning Commission, and also by the 20 or so members of the public who spoke against the effort at the meeting. Development Oversight Commission member Brian Holloway assured people that this was only the beginning of a large-scale outreach program, that they had not yet formu

This article was forwarded to me by Panama Bartholomy, a neighborhood activist. If you have a chance, come to City Hall tonight (915 I Street, New City Hall council chambers, 5:30 PM) and tell the Planning Commission that you don't want the city to shut its citizens out of the planning and design process. ----- On Thursday the Sacramento Planning Commission will have a public hearing on a proposal (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF) by the Development Oversight Commission (DOC), a City-appointed group comprised almost entirely of real estate developers, architects, and business consultants, to eliminate the City's Design Revie