CP&DR

Judge's Decision Reversed in Watsonville Annexation Dispute

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

In the latest skirmish in a longrunning battle, an appellate court has overturned a trial judge's decision to strike down the City of Watsonville's decision to "pre-zone" and annex 216 acres of land in a disputed agricultural and coastal area west of Highway 1. If it is eventually published, the court ruling could be an important step in establishing the credibility of "tiered" environmental impact reports. The unpublished ruling by the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose gives Watso...

Clean Water Act: General Permits for Local Development Wins Approval

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the federal government's decision to issue five broad-ranging "general permits" allowing the filling of wetlands as part of the Anchorage Wetlands Management Plan. The general permits had been challenged by several environmental groups in Alaska, which charged that they covered too diverse a range of activities and would not result in "minimal" disruption of the environment, as the federal government claimed. The five permits, which covered projec...

Court Permits County to Pursue Condemnation

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

The Fifth District Court of Appeal has concluded that Fresno County did have the right to pursue eminent domain proceedings in order to obtain an easement across private land required to prevent another property from being rendered landlocked by another condemnation proceeding. The case began when the county constructed a wastewater treatment facility on land adjacent to property owned by the Donleavey family. The Donleaveys filed an inverse condemnation action. In a proposed settlement agreement...

Supreme Court: State Supreme Court Will Hear Two Important Cases

Oct 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 08 Aug 1998

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear two new cases of interest to the planning and development community - the first dealing with water rights and the second dealing with administrative procedures before a Local Agency Formation Commission. In the water rights case, City of Barstow v. Mojave Water Agency (S0971728), the Supreme Court will determine whether a trial judge had the power to sweep aside all existing water-rights doctrines in allocation Mojave River Basin water to cities an...

Santa Barabara EIR Upheld: Need Not Be Acceptable to Applicant, Court Says

Oct 1, 1998

Larry Sokoloff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 10 Oct 1998

Santa Barbara County and its consultants had no duty to prepare an environmental impact report that was acceptable to a developer, an appellate court has ruled. A three-judge panel of the Second Appellate District, Division Six, unanimously turned down a challenge from the developer of Mission Oaks, a 3,877-acre residential project proposed near Buellton. The project called for 31 homes to be built on separate 100-acre parcels, with most of the land to remain in agricultural use for cattle grazi...

Proposition 13: Convention Center Financing Dosen't Require 2/3 Vote

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

A joint powers authority created to finance the San Diego Convention Center expansion can issue revenue bonds without voter approval, the California Supreme Court has ruled. The $205 million bond issue was challenged in court by Richard Rider, a taxpayer activist who has frequently filed lawsuits against public agencies in San Diego claiming that two-thirds voter approval is required for financing public projects. Most famously, Rider won a state Supreme Court ruling that a sales-tax increase to ...

NEPA: 9th Circuit Rules Aganist Enviros in Two Cases

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

In the latest legal skirmishes associated with two ongoing natural resource controversies, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against environmental groups and in favor of the federal Bureau of Land Management. In both cases, the environmental groups sought to use the National Environmental Protection Act as a vehicle to gain legal leverage over BLM actions on the east side of the Cascades, and both included proposed land swaps between BLM and a private land exchange. In one case, t...

Ballot Measueres: City Clerk Properly Rejected Signatures for Referendum

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

The Campbell city clerk acted properly in rejecting portions of a referendum petition it sought to place a major development project on the ballot, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has ruled. The case emerged from the city's decision last December to change the land-use designation on a parcel of land commonly known as the "Winchester Drive-In Site" to permit development of a research park proposed by WTA Technology Park, a developer. The city council voted to change 20 of the 24 acres to busine...

Courts May Use Discretion in SLAPP Atorney Fees

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

Trial judges may use their discretion in determining whether to award attorney fees to SLAPP suit defendants if the plaintiff voluntarily dismisses the case while the anti-SLAPP motion to strike is pending, the Fourth District Court of Appeal has ruled. In making the ruling, Division 2 of the Fourth District rejected the argument that defendant's attorneys should be either automatically entitled to or automatically precluded from receiving such fees. The term "SLAPP" suit - the acronym stands f...

Endangered Species Act: Tribe Not ‘Indispensible' In Species Lawsuit

Sep 1, 1998

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 13 No. 09 Sep 1998

Reversing a district court judge's ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has concluded that a Native American tribe is not an "indispensable party" in an environmental group's endangered species lawsuit against the federal government. The case involved the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity's lawsuit challenging the federal government's plan to use more water storage capacity behind Roosevelt Dam in Arizona. The group claimed that the government had not done adequate analysis of ...

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