Initiatives and referendums

Two referendums of large housing projects in the City of Loma Linda have been reinstated by the Fourth District Court of Appeal. The court overturned a Superior Court judge’s decision to pull the referendums from the June 2006 ballot because referendum petitions failed to contain the full text of challenged ordinances. The Fourth District found the petitions to be legally adequate, clearing the referendums to appear on ballots in 2009. » read more | add to cart

Redevelopment may have been the biggest winner in Tuesday’s primary election. Statewide, voters rejected Proposition 98, an initiative to prohibit the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes. In San Francisco, voters supported a huge redevelopment project at the former Hunter’s Point shipyard and Candlestick Point. And in Napa County, voters rejected a slow-growth initiative that was aimed at halting redevelopment of a former industrial site just south of Napa.

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After a lull during the off-year election of 2007, land use initiatives and referendums are starting to reappear on local ballots this June. Voters in at least seven jurisdictions are scheduled to decide measures that are related directly or indirectly to what gets built and where. » read more | add to cart

Stanislaus County voters became the first in the Central Valley to approve a county-wide growth-control initiative when they backed a ballot measure that prohibits the rezoning of agricultural land for residential uses without voter approval.

While voters in what had been growth-friendly Stanislaus County endorsed growth control, voters in Santa Clara and Rocklin backed specific housing projects. Meanwhile, voters in San Clemente overturned the city’s approval of a condominium project. Also on Super Tuesday, voters in the western Riverside County community of Wildomar supported incorporation, but voters in the Sierra foothills community of Oakhurst rejected formation of a new city. » read more | add to cart

A pro-development initiative in San Luis Obispo County was not the proper subject for an initiative, a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge has ruled. Meanwhile, a slow-growth initiative approved by Loma Linda voters in 2006 was upheld by a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge.

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Proponents of placing land use ballot measures before voters in San Mateo and Riverside have lost separate appellate court rulings. » read more | add to cart

Stanislaus County supervisors and developers have beaten farmland preservation advocates to the punch. Supervisors adopted a developer-written growth plan for the unincorporated community of Salida six months before voters are scheduled to decide on a slow growth/farmland protection initiative that actually was written first. » read more | add to cart

The Coastal Commission has rejected Pebble Beach Company’s Del Monte Forest plan in Monterey County, Placer County Board of Supervisors remove thier panning commissioner after published controversy, a superior court judge rejects San Francisco referendum petitions, Napa County begins processing an application for the largest project in county history, and Oregonians will vote on a takings ballot measure. » read more | add to cart

Wouldn’t you know it? Right when the real estate market slows down, the land use initiative business is picking up. And, as is often the case, the initiatives – rather than clarifying things – are making things more confusing. Although localized in nature, the confusion will continue all the way through the emerging real estate bust and on to the beginning of the next boom. » read more | add to cart