CP&DR

Adult Businesses: Court Says Anaheim Must Approve Proposed Strip Joint

Aug 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999

The City of Anaheim's attempts to bar a proposed adult cabaret from an industrial area were unconstitutional and the city must approve the business's permits, the Fourth District Court of Appeals has ruled. According to the unanimous appellate court decision, three city actions failed constitutional muster: an attempt to prevent "secondary effects" of an adult business, a retroactive amendment to the zoning ordinance, and denial of the strip club to protect the city's image. Presiding Justice David Si...

LAFCO: 9th Circuit Overrules District's Election Conducted in 1977

Aug 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999

The Novato Fire Protection District detached the former Hamilton Air Force Base in 1977, but last month the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the detachment was an illegal attempt to tax the federal government. The court said the fire district is obliged to serve the former base, now occupied by the Navy, the Coast Guard, other federal agencies and even some private entities. The unanimous three-judge appeals court upheld Northern California District Judge Fern Smith's ruling that the detachme...

EIR Delays Earn Civil Rights Suit: City Can't Blame Applicant for Document's Tardiness

Aug 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999

A city has an obligation to complete an environmental impact report and may not just continually reject an EIR prepared by a developer's consultant, the Fourth District Court of Appeals has ruled. The court also ruled that foot-dragging on an EIR by the City of Redlands gives the developer of a proposed housing complex a right to seek damages under the federal Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The City of Redlands three times rejected a proposed draft EIR prepared by consultants of a ho...

Second Diablo Grande EIR Rejected by Superior Court

Aug 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999

Opponents of a 5,000-unit subdivision and golf resort in the western foothills of Stanislaus County continued their courtroom winning streak when Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Donald Shaver ruled a supplemental environmental impact report was inadequate. In a July decision, Shaver said the county "failed to adequately evaluate the environmental impacts and the cumulative impacts, failed to accurately describe one portion of the project and failed to recirculate the SEIR." In the fi...

Coastal Act: Lot Line Adjustment Qualifies as Coastal Act Development

Aug 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 08 Aug 1999

A proposed lot line adjustment constitutes a development under the Coastal Act of 1976, even though the proposal would not result in more parcels, the Second District Court of Appeals has ruled. The decision means the Coastal Commission has jurisdiction over the proposed lot line adjustment. The unanimous three-judge appellate panel upheld the decision of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Yaffe, who compared a lot line adjustment to a lot split. "In either case, the reconfigurat...

Analysis: Del Monte Dunes Decision Isn't Total Property-Rights Victory

Jul 1, 1999

Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999, William Fulton

Although they appeared to lose on the most basic issue, municipal and environmental lawyers are claiming victory in the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Del Monte Dunes case. They claim that government agencies dodged a bullet when the Supreme Court refused to extend the so-called Nollan/Dolan test to takings cases. In Del Monte Dunes v. City of Monterey, 99 C.D.O.S. 3846, the Supreme Court granted property owners the right to a jury trial in some regulatory takings cases if they are broug...

General Plans: City Must Process Application During General Plan Update

Jul 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

A city may not use an interim ordinance to suspend the processing of development applications during a general plan update, the Fourth District Court of Appeals has ruled. The appellate panel threw out a City of San Juan Capistrano interim ordinance that stopped the processing of applications for certain large parcels. The ordinance, first adopted in June 1998, stalled Concorde Development's application for the 356-unit Whispering Hills subdivision and golf course on the eastern edge of the south coas...

Disabilities Act Applies to Zoning: Court Bolsters Group Homes, Treatment Centers

Jul 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act applies to local zoning ordinances, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled. The decision stemmed from a City of Antioch urgency ordinance that prevented a methadone treatment clinic from opening on an appropriately zoned site. The unanimous three-judge appellate panel reversed a ruling by District Court Judge Susan Illston, who agreed ADA applies to local zoning but refused to issue a preliminary injunction against the city. ...

Exactions: Connection, Capacity Charges Not Subject to AB 1600

Jul 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

Sewer connection fees and capacity charges are not the same as development fees imposed as a condition of project approval, meaning they are not subject to the conditions of the Mitigation Fee Act, The Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court decided that a hotel builder was not entitled to a refund of unspent sewer connection fees, as the developer might be to unspent development fees. The unanimous three-judge panel ruled that the Government Code (§ 66013) specifically excludes sewer con...

Landmark Preservation Backers Gain Cal Supremes Review

Jul 1, 1999

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

The California Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of a 1994 law that allows religious organizations to exempt themselves from local historic preservation laws. The court agreed to take the case of East Bay Local Development Corp. v. State of California, 69 Cal.App.4th 1033 (1999), in which the Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the exemption for religious groups did not violate the federal and state constitutional ban on establishing religion. Historic preservation advoc...

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