CP&DR

California Supreme Court: Decision Against Santa Monica Rent Control Law is Decertified

Sep 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 09 Sep 2000

The State Supreme Court decertified a Second District Court of Appeal opinion that overturned portions of Santa Monica's rent control law. The appellate court ruled that Santa Monica could not modify conditions established by state law under which landlords can increase rents for voluntarily vacated units. The court also held that the city cannot demand more information than state law requires when registering rent-controlled units. (See CP&DR Legal Digest, June 2000.) In reviewing the Cos...

Local Adult Business Zoning Gets 3 Hearings in Ninth Circuit

Aug 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

In three adult business cases decided in late June, the Ninth District Court of Appeals upheld one city's zoning ordinance, struck down another city's code and sent a third city's regulatory system back to district court for further proceedings. The court upheld the City of Taft's ordinance that restricts adult businesses to a select few parcels in town, but it struck down a similar ordinance in Simi Valley as unconstitutional because that city's process essentially permitted third parties to block ad...

Subdivison Map Act: Ruling Against ‘Paper Subdivisions' Will Not Stand as Precedent

Aug 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

A recent appellate court opinion that cast doubt on the legal status of thousands of lots in 19th century subdivisions has been decertified. The California Supreme Court ordered the depublication of the Second District Court of Appeals' decision in Circle K Ranch Corp. v. Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara, B124996 (see CP&DR Legal Digest, May 2000). However, the state's high court did not accept the case for review. The Second District ruled that separate parcels do not exist today...

Variances: Government Regulations Can Be Grounds for Variance, Court Rules

Aug 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

Santa Cruz County's granting of six variances for a new house on the beach has been upheld by the Sixth District Court of Appeal. The unanimous three-judge panel ruled that the county could consider federal and county regulations as "special circumstances" in approving variance requests. The controversy was centered on some of Santa Cruz County's most desirable real estate, namely, Beach Drive, next to Rio Del Mar Beach, in Aptos. In 1996, Jim and Judi Craik purchased a house at 415 Beach D...

Guideline Authors Allege Misreading; State supreme Court to Decide

Aug 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

The two principal authors of the 1998 revisions to the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines say a recent appellate court decision misinterpreted the Guidelines. The case, Friends of Sierra Madre v. City of Sierra Madre, (1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 1061, has since been accepted for review by the state Supreme Court. Last December, the Second District Court of Appeal overturned an election in which voters approved a city-sponsored ballot measure to remove 29 properties from the city's Register of H...

Proposition 218: Appelate Court Upholds Rental Tax; No Election Necessary

Aug 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

The Fourth District Court of Appeal has turned away a Proposition 218-based challenge to the City of San Diego's tax on rental residences. The court held that the tax is an excise tax that is not subject to the provisions of Proposition 218, the "Right to Vote on Taxes Act" of 1996. San Diego began assessing a "rental unit business tax" on apartments and hotels in 1942. The tax evolved over the years, and in 1992 was extended to cover all residential properties available for rent, including ...

Mamoth Lakes Redevelopment Plan, EIR Invalidated

Aug 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Mammoth, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

An appellate court has thrown out the Town of Mammoth Lakes' redevelopment plan and the plan's EIR. The Third District Court of Appeal held that there was no substantial evidence that the 1,139-acre redevelopment project area was blighted or even predominately urbanized. The court also ruled there was no evidence that current conditions prevented economic development. As for the EIR, the court ruled that the town's program EIR was inadequate and the town should have thoroughly analyzed all 72 projects i...

Court Rules That Losing Party Doesn't Qualify for Attorney's Fees

Jul 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 07 Jul 2000

The Fourth District Court of Appeal has overturned an award of nearly $300,000 in attorneys fees to groups that lost a case based on the California Environmental Quality Act. The Fourth District ruled that even though the groups felt obliged to pursue the lawsuit, which followed an earlier successful suit, they were not entitled to fees in the second lawsuit. The case stems from Riverside County's approval of the giant Eagle Mountain landfill at a former iron-ore mine only 1.5 miles from Joshua...

Initiatives: Homeowners Associations Cleared in Anti-El-Toro Airport Campaign

Jul 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 07 Jul 2000

Homeowners associations in the retirement community of Leisure World acted legally when they spent half a million dollars of homeowners assessments on an initiative campaign to halt a proposed airport, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court cleared the political activity of the Golden Rain Foundation of Laguna Hills and three of its member homeowner associations. The groups provided $542,000 for Orange County's Measure S, a 1996 ballot initiative aimed at blocking development...

Water: Ruling for Met Water District Strikes at ‘Water Wheeling' Plans

Jul 1, 2000

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 15 No. 07 Jul 2000

The Metropolitan Water District won a round of a lawsuit over the price it charges for conveying private transfers of water. A three-judge panel of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Five, ruled that Metropolitan can include its capital investment and other system-wide costs when figuring the fee it charges for handling water transfers. The appellate court overturned the decision of San Francisco Superior Court Judge Laurence Kay, who had ruled Metropolitan improperly included costs unrelat...

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