Recent Posts OC Registration This is a good example of why some decisions should be made at the state level.
Mission Viejo city council members have halted plans to build a new Department of Motor Vehicles building at the Kaleidoscope Shopping Mall due to traffic and safety concerns.
The city’s first DMV was originally approved by the city’s Planning Commission to be located on vacant land at the Kaleidoscope shopping mall along Crown Valley Parkway.
However, on Tuesday 11 June, the city council rejected the plans after receiving numerous messages of opposition from residents and concerns from city councillors.
The city government cited traffic concerns.
“I was very disappointed in this decision because it means that when I need to renew my driver’s license, I will have to drive much longer. Last time, I had to drive to a busy DMV facility in Santa Ana where there were extremely long lines. This means that even though this decision will reduce traffic congestion in Mission Viejo, it will actually increase traffic congestion in Orange County.”
The problem is widespread in areas closer to the California coast. OC Registration Another example of NIMBY-ism:
A proposal by Toll Brothers to build 306 two- to five-story apartments and a six-story parking garage in Doheny Village is scheduled to go before the Dana Point City Council on Tuesday, June 18.
The city’s Planning Commission’s approval of the project earlier this year is being appealed by the California Alliance of Advocates for Environmental Responsibility (SAFER), a public benefit corporation that argues that an environmental study conducted as part of the development’s mandatory considerations did not meet health and environmental requirements.
Even if the development is ultimately approved, obstacles to development put in place by “environmental groups” will stop many projects and harm the environment. People who cannot afford to live in this densely packed 306-unit development will likely move elsewhere, somewhere worse from an environmental standpoint. They may be forced to move to the cheaper “Inland Empire,” where they will have to use more air conditioning to cool their homes and drive much longer distances. Or they may move to Florida, Texas, or Arizona, which have worse environmental records than coastal California.
In California, local governments that restrict development typically damage the environment or worsen traffic, and only the state government can “internalize the externalities” in these decisions. For this reason, most NIMBY policies are enacted by local governments, and most recent opposition to NIMBYism has come from the state government.
P.S.: The term “Inland Empire” refers to Riverside and San Bernardino counties, located east of Los Angeles. Currently, these counties are home to approximately 4.7 million people.
PPS: Here are some photos from Dana Point:
