CP&DR

Voters Approve New L.A. Charter; Bay Area Projects, Ventura Redevlopment Defeated

Jul 1, 1999

Featured Articles, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

Community empowerment appears to have been the overriding theme during June's local elections. Los Angeles voters approved a new city charter that calls for area planning commissions, Pleasanton and Scotts Valley voters rejected separate city council-approved subdivisions, and Ventura voters defeated a redevelopment area backed by the City Council. Meanwhile, school bond proposals had mixed results, with bonds in Northern California generally doing better than those in Southern California. Passage of ...

Housing Plasn Suits Retired Factory to A (Model) T

Jul 1, 1999

Morris Newman, Places, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

RICHMOND RE-INVENTS A FORD PLANT AS HOUSING Thirty years after the start of the historic preservation movement, a debate has arisen in the preservation community on how best to save old buildings. Two camps have emerged: let's call them the Authenticizers and the Pragmatists. The Authenticizers are purists in preservation matters, and believe that buildings should be maintained, or returned, as closely as possible to their original condition and use. The Pragmatists, for their part, see ...

Envirnomentalists, Lockyer Say Valley Dairies Deserve Subsidy

Jul 1, 1999

Larry Sokoloff, Local Watch, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

Dairy expansions in the southern San Joaquin Valley have slowed after Attorney General Bill Lockyer submitted legal challenges and an environmental group filed lawsuits. Lockyer and environmentalists have forced local planning departments to examine their practices in approving dairies, and to begin preparing environmental impact reports. "The issue seems to be focussing on cumulative impact," said Leonard Garoupa, Madera County's planning director. Prior to Lockyer's involvement and lawsuits fi...

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...

Old Steel Mill to Become Warehousing, Retail Center

Jul 1, 1999

Economic Development, Paul Shigley, Vol. 14 No. 07 Jul 1999

An industrial business park, a commercial truck center and what may be the largest truck stop in the United States will create an estimated 5,200 jobs on a portion of the former Kaiser steel mill in unincorporated San Bernardino County, according to project backers. County supervisors unanimously approved a specific plan for a 320-acre industrial and commercial complex, and granted a conditional use permit for a 75-acre truck stop between the cities of Fontana and Ontario. Kaiser Ventures, owned mostl...

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...

State Tries to Halt Local Bond Sale

Jul 1, 1999

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

Treasurer Phil Angelides and Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed papers in San Bernardino County Superior Court to halt a planned $15 million bond sale by two Central Valley cities. The bonds would finance a housing development 300 miles away in San Bernardino County. Angelides and Lockyer filed an answer to a validation action submitted by the Rancho Lucerne Valley Public Financing Authority. The Superior Court will now conduct a trail to determine if the bond sale can go forward. Waterford, a 6,60...