CP&DR

Developer May Sue City Over 20-Year Planning Process

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

A landowner may sue the City of Huntington Beach for a temporary taking because of city delays in adopting a Local Coastal Plan and zoning for the property, the Fourth District Court of Appeals has ruled. The city argued that the takings claim of the Mills Land & Water Company was not ripe because Mills never sought a final determination regarding the permissible type and intensity of development. But the appellate court ruled that "[t]he city had an obligation to get its LCP in place within a reason...

One Phase of Diablo Grande Construction May Begin Soon

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

A Stanislaus County superior court judge appears to have cleared the way for housing construction at the controversial Diablo Grande development in the hills west of Interstate 5, near Patterson. Judge Donald Shaver said Stanislaus County may permit construction that would be served by water sources that have been "fully and adequately reviewed under CEQA." Project proponents contend the Oct. 1 ruling allows them to pursue the first phase of the project, which amounts to 2,000 homes, two go...

Anti-Stadium Initiative Barred

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

An appellate court has blocked from the ballot an initiative that seeks to overturn a 1997 ballot measure that approved partial public financing for a new San Francisco 49ers football stadium and amended the city's zoning ordinance to allow the stadium and an adjacent shopping mall. (See CP&DR Economic Development, July 1997.) Stadium opponents gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot an initiative that would overturn the 1997 measures. The 49ers sued and San Francisco Superior ...

Infill Receives CEQA Exemption: In FIrst Published Ruling, Court Makes Guidelines Retroactive

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

A 5,855-square-foot retail and office building proposed for downtown Mill Valley is exempt from environmental review under revised California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines, the First District Court of Appeals has ruled. The court ruled that buildings of up to 10,000 square feet proposed for an urban area may be exempt from CEQA review. In the Mill Valley case, the court concluded that the project opponent did not prove the existence of any "unusual circumstances" that would preclude the exempti...

Incorporation: City of Shasta Lake Entitled to Proposition 172 Revenue

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

A six-year dispute between Shasta County and the new City of Shasta Lake regarding tax revenue has been decided in favor of the city. The Third District Court of Appeals upheld nearly all aspects of a ruling issued during binding arbitration by retired Siskiyou County Superior Court Judge James Kleaver. The appellate court said the city, which incorporated on July 2, 1993, has the right to receive Proposition 172 sales tax revenue and that the Proposition 172 revenue should offset the amount the count...

County Wins ERAF Suit

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

Sonoma County has won the first round in its lawsuit over the state's 1993 shift of property taxes from counties and cities to school districts. Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Laurence Sawyer ruled that the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) shift was unconstitutional because "the shift of local property taxes compels the counties to accept financial responsibility in whole or in part for a program that was required to be funded by the State." Fifty-three counties joined the lawsuit, whi...

LAFCO Skirts Proposition 218

Nov 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 11 Nov 1999

The Proposition 218 requirement for public elections regarding property-based taxes does not apply to areas annexed into a jurisdiction that already has such taxes, according to an Attorney General's opinion. The opinion issued in October by Deputy Attorney General Gregory Gonot says that a Local Agency Formation Commission may require that taxes levied by the jurisdiction be imposed on the newly annexed parcels, even though those landowners did not vote on the taxes. The proposition was not intended ...

Court Upholds 9-Year-Old Neg Dec As Adequate Study

Oct 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a takings claim and request for a jury trial filed by a property owner in Washington who disputed a zoning decision made under that state's Growth Management Act of 1990. It was the Ninth Circuit's first takings decision since the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a takings decision and jury award of damages in May. In City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey Ltd., 119 S. Ct. 1624, the high court broke new ground by allowing an aggrieved...

Takings Case Doesn't Get Jury Trial: Del Monte Dunes Precedent Not Applicable in All Cases

Oct 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a takings claim and request for a jury trial filed by a property owner in Washington who disputed a zoning decision made under that state's Growth Management Act of 1990. It was the Ninth Circuit's first takings decision since the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold a takings decision and jury award of damages in May. In City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey Ltd., 119 S. Ct. 1624, the high court broke new ground by allowing an aggrieved...

CERCLA: Lawsuit Over Ft. Ord Cleanup Gets Light to Proceed

Oct 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 10 Oct 1999

The federal Superfund law allows citizens to file lawsuits challenging remedial cleanup of hazardous material at a former military base, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The September ruling permits a federal lawsuit to move forward against the Army over burial of hazardous materials at the former Fort Ord Army base in Monterey. Environmentalists charge that the Army's plan to bury contaminated soil in an on-site landfill is subject to review under the California Environmental Quality...

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