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Dyett & Bhatia wins California APA Awards of Excellence for Comprehensive Planning for both Small and Large Jurisdictions!
July 2024
Dyett & Bhatia projects won the 2024 American Planning Association California Chapter Awards of Excellence for Comprehensive Planning for both Small and Large Jurisdictions -- Napa General Plan (small) and Sacramento General Plan (large).
These are built-from-the-ground up, once-in-a generation plans for two of California's most distinctive communities. California APA awards only one Award of Excellence in each category, and Dyett & Bhatia is honored to have won both Comprehensive Planning awards. The awards will be presented at the State APA conference in Riverside in September.
APA Section Awards
April 2024
Dyett & Bhatia projects receive four awards at the American Planning Association (APA) California section levels! APA Northern California Section – Napa General Plan and Sonoma Developmental Center Specific Plan, both merit, and Oakland General Plan Phase 1 (which includes Environmental Justice, Safety and Housing elements) excellence award, and APA Sacramento Valley Section – City of Sacramento General Plan, merit award
City of Sacramento General Plan Adopted
February 2024
Dyett & Bhatia is pleased to have served as the lead consultant for the ground-breaking City of Sacramento General Plan—as well as the companion Climate Action and Adaptation Plan—adopted by the City Council. The plans can be accessed at the City’s website here.
From the Sacramento Bee:
"The Sacramento City Council has voted to approve a sweeping framework to build housing near transit and decrease the city’s dependence on cars over the next two decades, all while slashing carbon emissions in response to climate change… It also ends parking mandates for new development and … with this plan, approved Tuesday night, Sacramento became the first jurisdiction in the nation to allow the construction of an unlimited number of housing units in a single family neighborhood as long as they meet height and other restrictions."
“This is a historic document,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg of the general plan he said will make Sacramento a more walkable, bikeable and affordable city. “This represents the true progressive values of this community — housing for everyone.”
September 2023
On September 26, 2023, the Oakland City Council
unanimously adopted the city’s first Environmental Justice (EJ)
Element. Oakland is one of the most diverse large cities in the
U.S., with longstanding environmental injustices, and a history
of governmental and industrial practices that have led to
racially-inequitable outcomes. The Oakland EJ Element is one
of the most in-depth EJ elements prepared for any city, and is
based on extensive technical analysis and grassroots
community input facilitated by community based organizations.
The EJ Element will serve as the foundation for achieving
equity and environmental justice in the community, and
includes goals, policies, and objectives addressing pollution exposure and air quality; safe, healthy, and
affordable homes; healthy food access; equitable public
facilities; public health and physical activity; and community access and engagement.
See the adopted EJ Element here.
May 2023
The General Plan outlines a new path for California’s fastest growing big city – one that is sustainable, equitable, and just. The plan accommodates 70,000 new homes and 80,000 new jobs, all in infill settings, with growth linked to transit and to promote complete neighborhoods. As part of the General Plan effort, Sacramento became the first major California city to commit to eliminating single-family zoning. The General Plan eliminates maximum residential density, and replaces this with minimum density and maximum floor area ratio without any density limits to foster a greater variety of housing in all neighborhoods. The plan also includes a new Environmental Justice Element that incorporates creative strategies to build resilience to urban heat and climate change, address air pollution in disadvantaged communities, and promote wider access to healthy food. A Climate Action and Adaptation Plan that sets the City on a path for carbon neutrality by 2045 was also prepared.
See the full plan here.
Read article in the Business Journal.
April 2023
The new Carson General Plan sets a path toward a more sustainable future that balances the City’s strong industrial sector with community-oriented development. Environmental justice and public health is a central priority in this vision. Nearly all census tracts in the city are designated as disadvantaged communities by the State, and the city is part of an AB-617 community, recognized as one of the most impacted and socioeconomically vulnerable communities in the state from an air pollution perspective.
See the new plan at https://www.carson2040.com
Carson’s Community Health and Environmental Justice Element recognizes these broader issues and identifies additional local priorities, such as lack of access to healthy food and affordable housing options in higher income/higher resource areas, to address existing disparities. D&B conducted thorough GIS analysis to map each of these issues and craft locally specific policies, informed by stakeholder and community feedback. As a result, the Community Health and Environmental Justice Element includes a set of policies that complement other elements of the General Plan.
December 2022
In what the press described as “… one of the most ambitious and large-scale redevelopments in Sonoma County history”, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors in a marathon nine-hour meeting, adopted a Specific Plan for the shuttered 150-building, 900-acre site – California’s first campus for the developmentally disabled, and until recently Sonoma Valley’s largest employer. The plan will help transform the site, located in one of the most picturesque settings in the Bay Area, into a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use community of several thousand residents, jumpstart economic rejuvenation with nearly 1,000 jobs, and serve as a model of sustainable development. The State of California for the first-time ever partnered with a local community to drive the vision of a State-owned property, through a special legislation passed by the State. Dyett & Bhatia led the Plan and the EIR in an engaging process that routinely saw meeting attendance in the hundreds.
Learn more about the plan here https://www.sdcspecificplan.com
October 2022
We made it through 4.5 years of pandemic, wildfires, and other challenges with a glorious, community-driven General Plan for this iconic Bay Area community -- the first comprehensive plan update in almost 25 years. All growth for the next 20 years will be contained within the current Rural Urban Limit, with revitalized corridors, strengthened downtown, Napa River open space enhancements, and a focus on sustainability!
See the full plan at https://napa2040.com
A new benchmark for environmental justice and equity analysis for long-range planning! As part of the City of Oakland's comprehensive 2045 General Plan update, D&B has prepared an Environmental Justice and Racial Equity Baseline report that identifies and delineates disparities by race and by geography which may be present in the social, economic, and environmental factors that can be influenced directly or indirectly by the General Plan. The findings of this document will serve as the baseline for the Environmental Justice Element of the General Plan, and will enable the City to coordinate interdepartmental efforts to effectively address environmental justice and racial equity.
A new resource created for the city’s General Plan process is a treasure trove of information on Oakland’s neighborhoods and resources. – The Oaklandside
Centered along the San Diego River, Mission Valley is the city’s retail destination, and home to a large number of hotels and offices, as well as residential uses. Development is highly auto-centric and disconnected from the trolley system that extends along the valley. Dyett & Bhatia led the consulting team that prepared an updated Community Plan that was adopted by the City Council in September 2019. D&B also led EIR preparation.
