CP&DR

Counties Fight Over Traffic From Proposed Foothills Resort

Jan 1, 2004

CP&DR Staff, Featured Articles, Vol. 19 No. 01 Jan 2004

Calveras County supervisors approved a 3,250-acre residential and golf course resort project near the lower foothills community of Copperopolis in mid-December. The following day, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted to sue its northern neighbor because of traffic concerns about the project.

Court Rules Mitigation For Loss Of Farmland Is Infeasible

Jan 1, 2004

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 19 No. 01 Jan 2004

An appellate court has rejected the argument that a project leading to the loss of farmland should have been mitigated with the establishment of agricultural easements on other farmland.

State Found Liable For Damages From 1986 Yuba County Flood

Jan 1, 2004

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 19 No. 01 Jan 2004

An appellate court has found the state liable for costly damages to property in Yuba County as the result of a 1986 Yuba River levee failure. The decision arrived within days of Gov. Schwarzenegger's reduction of $105 million from local flood control project budgets, and the decision comes as construction of thousands of homes in the same floodplain proceeds.

Oakland Hotel Cleanup Ordinances Survive Constitutional Challenge

Nov 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 11 Nov 2003

Two Oakland ordinances that crack down on shoddy motels have been upheld as constitutional by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bird that Threatens Timber Industry Remains Off Federal Endangered Species List

Oct 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 10 Oct 2003

A decade of litigation over the status of the northern goshawk has apparently concluded with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Fish & Wildlife Service's decision not to place the bird on the endangered species list.

Riverside County's Integrated Planning Effort Spurs Incorporation Movement

Oct 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, In Brief, Vol. 18 No. 10 Oct 2003

Negative reaction to Riverside County's integrated planning effort is spurring an incorporation movement in Menifee Valley, on Interstate 215 about 30 miles south of Riverside.

Ninth Circuit Rules Federal DOT Regulation Doesn't Create Civil Right

Sep 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 09 Sep 2003

In a lawsuit over the siting of a Seattle area transit line, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a Department of Transportation environmental justice regulation cannot be enforced in court under the Federal Civil Rights Act.

Huntington Beach Tax Override to Fund Pensions is Thrown Out

Sep 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Huntington Beach, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 09 Sep 2003

A Huntington Beach property tax override intended to fund employee retirement benefits violated Proposition 13, a divided Fourth District Court of Appeal panel has ruled. The court majority held that the tax override approved by voters in 1978 allowed the city to assess property owners only for retirement benefits offered at that time ï¿½ and not for increased benefits the city had given to employees since.

San Dimas Growth Restriction Withstands Facial Challenge

Sep 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 09 Sep 2003

A developer's allegation that a City of San Dimas general plan amendment was an unconstitutional taking has been rejected by the Second District Court of Appeal.

Inadequate Administrative Record Results in Rejection of Project EIR

Sep 1, 2003

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 18 No. 09 Sep 2003

The importance of a complete and clear administrative record for development projects came to the forefront in a case from Merced County in which the Fifth District Court of Appeal overturned approval of a gravel mine because the administrative record was muddled. The court said it could discern little from the administrative record and, therefore, could not uphold the project's environmental impact report.