Circulator - 03/06/2026 - Circulate Planning & Policy

Published March 6, 2026

UCSD Pedestrian Audit
Join Us For A Bike Ride & Mobility Assessment
Be in the know for our next big report!
A few seats left: Advisory Circle Dinner with Rep. Peters
Missing Middle Housing Policy Letter
Transit Permitting Reform Round Table: Lessons and Challenges from Italy, California, and Washington State
Spreckels Elementary Bike Bus Recap!
Caltrans 2026 Travel Improvement Survey
Circulate News

UCSD Pedestrian Audit

Join us on Friday, April 10 at noon for a pedestrian audit in collaboration with UCSD Young Planners Society! We’ll be meeting at UCSD’s Sixth College Lawn.

We will be identifying safety hazards for pedestrians and bicyclists around North Torrey Pines Road. We recommend wearing a hat and comfortable shoes for this 1.5-mile walk!

RSVP HERE!

Join Us For A Bike Ride & Mobility Assessment

Circulate San Diego is partnering with the San Diego River Park Foundation’s One-Mile Action Crew (OMAC) for a high-impact Community Mobility Assessment on Friday, March 13th @ 3:30 PM.

We will embark on a ride along the San Diego River Trail, starting at Old Town (specific meeting point provided upon registration) and turning around at Grant Park. This route was specifically chosen to evaluate areas and critical infrastructure gaps, as well as enjoying the San Diego River Trail.

Please note: The San Diego River Park Foundation is hosting registration on their page for this event.

Be in the know for our next big report!

Later this year, Circulate will be publishing our newest major report titled "Win-Win Bonus." The report will document the success of California's Bonus Law, which is the most widely used housing streamlining policy in the state.

Circulate has led on Bonus Law reform in the last decade, sponsoring two successful bills, Assembly Bill 2345 in 2020, and Assembly Bill 1287 in 2023. We are also sponsoring another major update this year with Assembly Bill 2433.

You can sign up below to be the first to be the first to get a chance to read this groundbreaking report.

A few seats left: Advisory Circle Dinner with Rep. Peters

Circulate San Diego’s Advisory Circle Dinner is coming up on Thursday, March 12, and we still have a few seats available.

This small gathering brings together our Gold-level members and above, along with regional leaders in housing, transportation, and planning. We’re pleased to welcome special guest Scott Peters and many San Diego agency leaders for an evening of conversation about the region’s future.

We’ll also share early updates on several major initiatives, including our newest statewide housing bill, a forthcoming report on California’s Density Bonus Law, and a big announcement about the next chapter for Circulate San Diego.

Date: March 12
Time: 5:30–8:30 PM
Location: Location on RSVP

A few seats remain for Gold-level members. If you’d like to attend, consider upgrading your membership or joining at the Gold level.

To RSVP or learn more, contact Jeremy Bloom at [email protected]

Missing Middle Housing Policy Letter

Last week, Circulate sent a letter to the City of San Diego making recommendations for its Neighborhood Homes for All of Us program. This program aims to incentivize more missing middle homes for families in San Diego.

This program will be most effective at achieving this goal if it remains as broad and flexible as possible. There may be a temptation to try to create certain types of housing with prescriptive requirements, like bedroom counts, lot sizes, and transit proximity requirements. Requiring these sorts of amenities will ultimately result in less homes and runs counter to the program’s goal. A program to build homes for families must be flexible enough to ensure that a family seeking a one-bedroom home in a suburban area near school and a family seeking a three-bedroom home near transit will both benefit.

Read the full letter here!

Transit Permitting Reform Round Table: Lessons and Challenges from Italy, California, and Washington State

Circulate CEO and General Counsel Colin Parent will be speaking on a panel about transit permitting reform, hosted by the Metropolitan Abundance Project.

When: Friday, Mar 20, 2026, 10 am PT

Transit permitting got you down?Is your region trying to build world-class transit infrastructure – but stuck navigating endless local permitting, third-party demands, and opaque review processes? From overbuilt parking garages to utility upgrades that balloon costs, permitting has become a major barrier to delivering transit projects on time and on budget in the U.S.

Join leading researchers, advocates, and policy thinkers for a conversation on why transit permitting in the U.S. is so broken – and model reforms that could fix it.

Marco Chitti, NYU’s Transit Costs Project,will share about Italy’s “Conference of the Parties” transit construction permitting model
Kirk Hovenkotter, Transportation Choices Coalition,will discuss permitting barriers facing Sound Transit’s light rail build-out and state legislation moving through Washington
Colin Parent, Circulate San Diego, author of the Powerless Brokers, will discuss California case studies and legislation to streamline transit delivery

Spreckels Elementary Bike Bus Recap!

Yesterday, Circulate had the pleasure of joining Spreckels Elementary for their first ever Bike Bus to School. Before the ride, we went over helmet fitting, turn signals, and the rules of the road while biking with families and students.

The Bike Bus began rolling out at 8:20 AM, with about 70 participants traveling down Governor Drive to get to school. Riders were welcomed with doughnuts and stickers upon arriving.

We are grateful to the students, parents, and school staff who helped make the event such a success and look forward to supporting more Bike Buses in the future!

Caltrans 2026 Travel Improvement Survey

Do you travel on I-5 or I-805 in San Diego County? If you live, work, or travel in the area, Caltrans wants to hear from you.

Caltrans will modernize 27 miles of existing carpool or high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-5 and I-805 into high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, commonly known as Express Lanes. HOT lanes reduce congestion and help traffic move more smoothly by giving drivers more travel options during busy times.

Take the 10-minute survey by Sunday, March 8 to help shape the future of transportation in San Diego County!

Take the survey!