SPUR Planning Policy Area

Planning

Our goal: Add new jobs and housing where they will support equity and sustainability, and make neighborhoods safe and welcoming to everyone.

SPUR’s Five-Year Priorities:

• Ensure that communities are safe, inclusive and equipped to meet all residents’ daily needs with a diverse mix of businesses and services.

• Prioritize investment in and access to parks, nature and public spaces as a driver for social cohesion and economic opportunity.

• Ensure that regionally significant neighborhood plans in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland advance equity, sustainability and prosperity.

 

Read our policy agenda

SPUR Report

Model Places

Over the next 50 years, the San Francisco Bay Area is expected to gain as many as 4 million people and 2 million jobs. In a region where a crushing housing shortage is already threatening quality of life, how can we welcome new residents and jobs without paving over green spaces or pushing out long-time community members?

SPUR Report

A Downtown for Everyone

Downtown Oakland is poised to take on a more important role in the region. But the future is not guaranteed. An economic boom could stall — or take off in a way that harms the city’s character, culture and diversity. How can downtown grow while providing benefits to all?

SPUR Report

The Future of Downtown San José

Downtown San José is the most walkable, transit-oriented place in the South Bay. But it needs more people. SPUR identifies six big ideas for achieving a more successful and active downtown.

SPUR Report

The Future of Downtown San Francisco

The movement of jobs to suburban office parks is as much of a threat to the environment as residential sprawl — if not a greater one. Our best strategy is to channel more job growth to existing centers, like transit-rich downtown San Francisco.

SPUR Report

Getting to Great Places

Silicon Valley, the most dynamic and innovative economic engine in the world, is not creating great urban places. Having grown around the automobile, the valley consists largely of lowslung office parks, surface parking and suburban tract homes. SPUR’s report Getting to Great Places diagnoses the impediments San José faces in creating excellent, walkable urban places and recommends changes in policy and practice that will help meet these goals.

SPUR Report

Secrets of San Francisco

Dozens of office buildings in San Francisco include privately owned public open spaces or “POPOS.” SPUR evaluates these spaces and lays out recommendations to improve existing POPOS and guide the development of new ones.

Updates and Events


SPUR Supports AB 670, Accessory Dwelling Units in Common Interest Developments

Advocacy Letter
Creating more in-law apartments, or accessory dwelling units, will help make a dent in California's housing shortage. SPUR supports AB 670, which would nullify prohibitions against accessory dwelling units in common interest developments. Since so much potential for accessory dwelling units lies in single-family neighborhoods, it is important that homeowners’ associations be stopped from creating blanket prohibitions against them.

Policy Proposal: Jump-Start Development Near Transit with Temporary TOD

News /
The passage of Assembly Bill 2923 means Bay Area cities must change their zoning to accommodate development on land that BART owns around its stations. Long-term plans for building housing will take time. In the short term, u sing the methods of tactical urbanism could give development near stations a jump start while allowing them to grow and change over time.

SPUR Supports Updated Design Guidelines for Downtown San Jose

Advocacy Letter
SPUR firmly supports the proposed update to design guidelines for downtown San Jose and urges the San Jose City Council to adopt them as the leading document to support future planning in downtown and the Diridon Station Area.

SPUR Comments on Revisions to the Plan Bay Area Regional Growth Framework

Advocacy Letter
SPUR strongly supports proposed changes to the regional growth strategy for Plan Bay Area. We support the proposed definition of priority development areas and the proposal to locate growth in areas that are rich in transit, high-quality schools, and other resources that promote economic mobility. SPUR also proposes additional changes to strengthen the framework and its implementation.