By making efficient use of land, new development can unlock economic opportunities, support vibrant community life, and reduce development pressure on our natural lands, farms, and ranches. Projects should encourage compact development to create thriving neighborhoods with a rich array of amenities and services close at hand. Access to affordable, safe housing. The project must contribute to addressing affordable housing needs of moderate, low and/or very low income households, based on Area Median Income (AMI). Too many people in the Bay Area lack housing they can afford, straining the region’s economy and our quality of life. Describe what your project is doing to address this challenge and should provide homes for people across the socio-economic spectrum, especially those most in need.

New development in appropriate locations helps to protect and enhance the natural environment to preserve our limited natural resources and improve our quality of life. In addition to having a lower carbon footprint, green design can provide cost savings and a safer and healthier living environment. It can also turn natural features into celebrated focal points for the entire community, bringing life to a culverted creek or providing new shoreline access. Projects should enhance any natural elements on the site and use green building technology to reduce the project’s environmental impact.

Walkable communities provide many benefits, including increased local vitality, support for active and healthy lifestyles, and better environmental performance, such as lower greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle travel. Development projects should be designed to create lively, pedestrian-friendly streets with clear views of outside activity from new buildings to foster social interaction and increase safety. They should offer easy access to a diversity of uses and safe routes to multiple destinations. Projects should be located in areas with a variety of existing amenities—such as transit, housing, employment, and civic uses—to create complete neighborhoods and make better use of existing resources. All residents deserve a variety of options to reach their destination, and new developments should encourage physical activity, minimize impacts on local traffic, and support our public transportation systems. Land devoted to parking should be minimized to support other uses and the number of parking spaces should be determined based on proximity to transit, provision of transportation options on-site, and resident demographics.