Free Republic

<p>From his office on the 25th floor of a downtown Sacramento high-rise, new state environmental chief Terry Tamminen is constantly reminded of all the prime urban development sites in California sitting idle due to toxic contamination.</p> <p>Squarely in his field of vision is the former Union Pacific railyard, a heavily contaminated, 240-acre stretch of desolation the city of Sacramento hopes to see reborn as a new residential and commercial neighborhood.</p>

<p>TRUCKEE -- An Emeryville development firm has purchased Union Pacific Railroad's Truckee railyard, a 30-acre site east of this historic mountain town's commercial row shopping area.</p> <p>The firm, Holliday Development, specializes in creative residential and mixed-use developments throughout Northern California and will work with the town in planning commercial/housing development on the site, Truckee Mayor Josh Susman said.</p>

<p>A developer, answering a request from a public agency, proposes to build a 119-unit residential building. Forty-eight of the units are to be affordable to low-and very-low-income persons. The project is a block from a light-rail station, and within a few minutes' walk of 100,000 jobs. It's in a neighborhood that's been environmentally studied and zoned for precisely this kind of infill residential development. Infill, transit-oriented, affordable: the project is a smart growth dream.</p>