California Struggles to Sprawl in an Environmentally Responsible Way

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 in April to give final approval to plans for Centennial, a 19,333-home planned community with more than 10 million square feet of commercial space situated 60 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Dozens of representatives from trade unions and working-class neighborhoods had urged the supervisors to approve the plan, calling it a case study for how to develop a community. They described the urgent need for housing in the county, where the median home price was $618,500 as of Aug. 1, according to Zillow, up from $350,000 seven years ago.

“This is key to the long-term health of our local economy,” says Jerard Wright, policy manager with the Los Angeles County Business Federation, which asked the county to approve the project. “It is a rare case where firefighters, nurses, young professionals will get an opportunity to purchase a home.”