University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

Industrial land plays a vital role in supporting the regional economy in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides the operating space and support services for export sectors and other important local clusters, maintains linkages between businesses and sustains a local supply chain,  provides diverse employment opportunities for people with a broad range of skills (including those with lower educational attainment), and  supports a high share of middle-wage job opportunities. However, the Bay Area’s current inventory of industrial land (and associated jobs) is at risk due to increasing pressure from housing and mixed-use construction1. In addition, the region’s state-mandated Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) for the nine-county area (Plan Bay Area) does little to address the needs of businesses that are not located in retail or office space.  In response, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Executive Board unanimously recommended that ABAG staff develop a Priority Production Area (PPA) program for industrial areas. The PPA program, if adopted, will include locally designated zones where production, distribution, and repair (PDR) services would receive priority in determining future land use, and would be a designation that cities can voluntarily adopt. ABAG-MTC anticipates completing a final draft of the PPA program no later than the end of 2019 for incorporation into Plan Bay Area 2050.