Butsko Utility Design

Spring Newsletter

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:01:44 +0000

We are shaping up for summer! We have put away the loafers and donned the running shoes to keep pace with a much better marketplace so far in 2012. Our offices are seeing diverse project activity creating some energy and excitement in our company.

In San Diego, some notable Public Works and Transportation planning and design projects have taken hold, such as the Mid-Coast Light Rail project and Mira Mesa Boulevard BRT expansion project with SANDAG, Prospect Avenue street widening and undergrounding project with the City of Santee, the Discovery Creek improvement project with the City of San Marcos, and the 8^th street and Plaza Boulevard street improvement and undergrounding projects with the City of National City.

In the Orange County/LA office, Master Planned Communities continue as our most significant project activity, with very visable and popular communities such as the 1200 unit Rancho Mission Viejo project, and Irvine Planning Area 8 with Irvine Community Development Company which consists of nearly 800 units.

Our Inland Empire office continues with a vast and diverse client base such as developers and homebuilders such as KB Home, Lennar, LNR Partners, BRE Properties, Shapel Industry, and Public Works and Utility Company projects with the City ofIndustry, City ofRancho Cucamonga, City ofVictorville, and theCountyofRiverside.

We are also excited about some pending new contract electric system planning and design work in the Northwest with Seattle City Light.

All of us at Butsko are looking forward to continued marketplace growth and are very appreciative of all of our clients and associates for the opportunities that we have been blessed with and the relationships that we have developed.

Redwood City Saltworks project could take a fateful turn Monday

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:41:06 +0000

Marin Independent Journal
At its meeting Monday night, the Redwood City City Council will consider options that range from asking voters to weigh in on the massive development in the November election to doing a citywide survey to just waiting for a revised proposal to be submitted. Or the council could resume the environmental review of the polarizing plan, first pitched three years ago by Arizona-based developer DMB Associates for the 1,400-acre Cargill salt flats east of Highway 101, just south of Seaport Boulevard. Last year, the city embarked on a comprehensive study of the proposed development, which then included as many as 12,000 homes, office space, retail shops and schools. Half of the site was to be transformed into parks, recreation areas and restored tidal marshes under the so-called "50/50" plan.

Valley Center development plans submitted

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:41:04 +0000

U-T San Diego
VALLEY CENTER — Plans to build a long-debated community with as many as 1,746 homes in Valley Center were submitted to county planners Monday. Developer Randy Goodson, head of the Accretive Group, filed the documents this week for Lilac Hills Ranch, which would also include a town center, with a grocery store, coffee shop and doctors offices; a school; and recreation areas. The project is planned for the west side of Valley Center by Interstate 15. The project, formerly called the Valley Center Sustainable Community, was first pitched in 2009. The project would need to be connected by a new east-west road between I-15 and West Lilac Road.

Windsor developers swapping housing for apartments

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:41:04 +0000

Santa Rosa Press Democrat
With the slump in the housing market, developers for two large pieces of property in Windsor are re-tooling their projects to build rental apartments instead of homes to sell. A proposal for 17 acres immediately north of Walmart could provide up to 325 apartments, replacing a plan for 83 single-family homes and 120 senior apartments. Dubbed “Hembree Village,” the project will be the subject of a conceptual review tonight at a joint meeting of the Town Council and Planning Commission. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. An official application and potential approval likely would not come until next year.

Cutting home-building impact fees in Anderson urged

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:41:04 +0000

Redding Record-Searchlight
An Anderson homebuilder and its listing agent are lobbying the city to cut its building impact fees, a move they believe will jump-start construction and create more jobs. The plea comes on the heels of similar programs in Redding and Red Bluff as the depressed building industry looks to rebound. "I think the community of Anderson, if put to a poll, would overwhelmingly vote for some kind of break to be given," said Sam Yount, of Banner Real Estate, who is marketing the Silvergate subdivision for builder Nouvant homes. Yount is convinced that cutting fees $2,000 to $5,000 will benefit Anderson, much like Redding’s decision last fall to slash impact fees $12,500 for each home has helped spur construction there.

San Juan weighs cut in development fees

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:41:03 +0000

Orange County Register
San Juan Capistrano’s City Council will consider a committee recommendation to cut all city development fees, including the fee that residential developers pay to help fund housing for lower-income residents, by 10 percent in response to concerns by a builders group. The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 32400 Paseo Adelanto. Members of the council have said the city’s housing fee could jeopardize the viability of proposed housing projects. The council asked for a review of the fee after representatives of the Building Industry Association of Southern California said the city’s developer fees are some of the highest in the county – up to $100,000 per residential unit.

Register Now for PCBC 2012: Powered by Connections

admin — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:34:36 +0000

Registration is open for PCBC 2012: Powered by Connections taking place June 27-28 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Register by May 15 to get the early bird discount! Read more.

Critic’s Notebook: Metro douses expectations on Union Station project

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:33:55 +0000

Los Angeles Times
Talk about raining on your own parade. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority coaxed Renzo Piano from Paris, Ban van Berkel from Amsterdam and a bunch of talented local architects from the far Westside and brought them together Wednesday afternoon at Union Station. The occasion was the unveiling of six conceptual plans for Union Station and the surrounding neighborhood. Metro bought the historic landmark and an attached 40-acre parcel of land last year; it holds entitlements to build as much as 6 million square feet of new shops, offices and housing there, and it is running an international competition to find a master-planning team.

Condos may set trend on El Camino

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:33:55 +0000

Mountain View Voice
The City Council approved a retail and housing project for 1616 El Camino Real on Tuesday that could be an example of what to expect as El Camino Real redevelops. The four-story mix of 28 stacked condos above 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail will go up along El Camino Real and part of Mariposa Avenue. Heights taper down towards neighbors with a half dozen two-story town-homes at the rear of the project. City planners said in a staff report that the closeness of the building to the street with parking in the rear helped it comply with the "Grand Boulevard" vision for El Camino Real. Next door, 173 apartments have been proposed to replace Western Appliance and the Tropicana Hotel.

Editorial: Yes on Measures H & I in Yorba Linda

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:33:54 +0000

Orange County Register
In 2006, voters in Yorba Linda passed Measure B by 299 votes. It was called the Right-to-Vote Amendment, but it should have been called the Anti-Property-Rights Amendment. The Constitution does not allow voters to extinguish such essential freedoms as free speech, freedom of religion – and property rights. Moreover, democracy also imposes state laws, which supersede city laws, as described below. We opposed Measure B at the time, stating in an editorial that it "would put major development projects up for general vote, thus giving voters control over the development of other people’s property, which we believe is a violation of the Fourth Amendment right not to be ‘deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.’"