Vol. 20 No. 03 Mar 2005

A lawsuit challenging approval of the 6,000-acre, 22,500-unit Sunrise Douglas community plan and a related specific plan in Rancho Cordova has been tossed out by the Third District Court of Appeal.

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The fight over a gigantic addition to a house in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades area has resulted in an appellate court decision revoking three building permits and the certificate of occupancy for the structure. The order to revoke permits, originally issued by the trial court, came because the city let the property owner build 14 feet closer to the street than permitted by the Municipal Code.

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The San Joaquin Valley will likely lose a considerable amount of farmland to urbanization over the next 40 years no matter what policies the region adopts. However, different policy scenarios can substantially reduce the amount of farmland loss, according to a new report that I helped prepare for the Public Policy Institute of California.

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Nearly seven years ago, state Sen. Byron Sher wrote what turned out to be a prophetic commentary for the San Francisco Examiner about the pending resolution of one of the most bitter, drawn-out and violent disputes over forest management in California history.

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California, it is oft-noted, has a larger economy than all but a handful of countries in the world. And the ongoing state budget deficit suggests the government could use more tax revenue. Yet the economic development bills that lawmakers introduced this year are a motley collection.

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An airport land use compatibility plan that discourages housing development on hundreds of thousands of acres is a “project” that requires a review of potential environmental impacts, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

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WASHINGTON _ The U.S. Supreme Court appeared unreceptive in late February to arguments by property-rights advocates to rein in the use of eminent domain by municipalities that take land and turn it over to private companies for economic development.

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It's no secret that Wal-Mart is running into resistance from communities all over California. But is Wal-Mart getting discouraged?

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A county may extend the life of a tentative subdivision map that has expired if the subdivider filed for an extension before the map expired, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled.

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An overhaul of the flood control system in the Central Valley is in the works. Exactly what the new approach to flood control will be is uncertain. But what is clear is that a 2003 court decision making the state liable for more than $400 million in damages from a 1986 flood in Yuba County has dramatically raised the profile of flood control as a state policy issue.

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