Although freeways have helped shape the development of California, very few new freeways have been built since the 1980s. The focus has instead been on widening existing freeways, and adding carpool and transit lanes. But in Riverside County, where construction and development are major economic drivers, county officials are trying to add a new east-west freeway.

In this roundup of news: The Orange County planning director resigns only days after the Board of Supervisors ordered a task force to overhaul the department; Irvine amends its agreement with developers of the old El Toro base; Stockton's downtown redevelopment takes a hit; Santee sues San Diego County over jail expansion; Palo Alto adopts a private street ballot initiative.

Two Bush administration policies for managing national forests were invalidated by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in early August. One three-judge panel blocked implementation of a 2004 amendment to the Sierra Nevada Framework that governs all 11 national forests in the mountain range. A second panel rejected the Forest Service's attempt to eliminate a Clinton-era rule prohibiting development in designated roadless areas of national forests.

A state appellate court has reinstated the results of a local ballot initiative that authorize a large development near the San Luis Obispo County airport. A trial court judge had thrown out the initiative on the grounds that it was superceded by the State Aeronautics Act and that the ballot measure amounted to an "adjudicative" rather than a legislative act. The Second District Court of Appeal disagreed, ruling that the aeronautics law did not preclude the initiative and tha

A draft "California Climate Adaptation Strategy" recommends that development projects and locations be reconsidered in light of rising sea levels, greater potential flooding and higher temperatures.

The broad, concrete shoulders of Interstate 5 divide the Docks development parcel from the rest of Sacramento. Until recently, this 43-acre triangle of land remained almost entirely out of sight and out of mind. Now, the city is weighing several plans for large-scale homebuilding plans and parks on the riverfront.

GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATE Area of Concentration: Environmental Law & Policy OVERVIEW: This area of concentration will address the roles of local, regional, state, national and international regulatory agencies responsible for protecting natural resources. Air, water, food, energy, land use, transportation and waste management all fall under this heading. Recent legislative mandates regarding climate change and the reduction of green house gas emissions will be conside

By shifting $1.7 billion from redevelopment agencies to state programs and schools, the state budget signed this week by Gov. Schwarzenegger could halt numerous redevelopment projects for years to come, according to the agencies and housing proponents. The tax increment shift could also mean the end for some redevelopment agencies.

The conventional wisdom is that Sonia Sotomayor's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't make a whole lot of difference, because there's not much meaningful ideological distance between her and her predecessor, Justice David Souter. So, the party line goes, the court will still be stuck in the familiar 5-4 or 4-5 split, depending on how Justice Anthony Kennedy is feeling that day. But there's a debate brewing as to whether that's really the case in land use and propert

In the latest roundup of California land use news: The governor signs urgency legislation extending the life of all tentative subdivision maps by two years; the Los Angeles MTA approves its first congestion pricing project; a Desert Hot Springs development dream becomes species habitat instead; a developer takes its case directly to Mendocino County voters.

Orange County's Planning & Development Services department "is in critical condition," according to an internal county audit released in late July.

California's farm and grazing lands decreased by 275 square miles from mid-2004 through mid-2006, according to the state Department of Conservation. A total of 81,000 acres of prime farmland were lost to urban development or other changes, the greatest decrease in prime farmland since the state started the farmland mapping and monitoring program in 1984.