Vol. 19 No. 08 Aug 2004

With Sacramento bogged down in the annual battle over the state budget, it appears that the Schwarzenegger administration may not push forward a housing agenda before the legislative session concludes on August 31.

But whether or not the administration gets behind legislation this year, it is apparent that administration officials led by Business Transportation and Housing (BTH) Secretary Sunne Wright McPeak are devising broad housing policies.

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A state appellate court has rejected a claim that a Coastal Commission permit condition requiring the dedication of a public access to the beach was a taking. The court ruled that the lawsuit should have been filed 20 years earlier, and that an agency’s more recent acceptance of the “offer to dedicate” did not give the landowner a new chance to sue.

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The California Supreme Court has accepted for review a case in which lower courts ruled that a state agency may not provide tax-exempt bond financing to religious schools.

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The average home price in California topped $400,000 in June. This news stimulated the now-familiar headlines about how even beat-up tract homes from the ’60s have become unaffordable for middle-class families. It’s getting to the point that a six-figure income does not guarantee homeownership.

But what does this do for the more traditional “affordable” housing that we in California have supposedly been fighting about for the last several decades – housing not for the middle class but for low-wage worke

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Yolo County officials have voted to use eminent domain to purchase the 17,300-acre Conaway Ranch. The ranch, which lies between Woodland and West Sacramento, contains 15,900 acres of productive farmland, endangered species habitat, open space, rights to 50,000 acre-feet per year of water, natural gas sources, and flood control value.

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Sutter County voters may get to relive the ballot-box growth wars of the early 1990s. In July, county officials began preparing an advisory measure for the November ballot regarding the potential development of at least 8,000 acres in the south end of the mostly rural county, near the Sacramento airport.

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The court of appeal has cleared the way for the Modesto Redevelopment Agency to sue manufacturers and suppliers of dry cleaning solvents and equipment.

While the First District Court of Appeal did not rule on the Redevelopment Agency’s claims, the unanimous appellate panel did overturn a lower court decision to dismiss the lawsuit against the manufacturers and suppliers. By potentially making more parties liable for the cleanup of contamination, the decision could bolster redevelopment agencies’ effort

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Two recent appellate court rulings appear to have clarified aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act and may have even broken new legal ground.

One case involved the project description in an environmental impact report and in public notices. The court held that the identity of the proposed project’s end user did not have to be disclosed.

The other case contained a lengthy discussion about how to address a proposed project’s impact on a community’s jobs-housing ratio.

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