The owner of an affordable apartment complex in Sacramento may pursue a breach of contract lawsuit against the state Department of Housing and Community Development over a rent increase that the state rejected, the Third District Court of Appeal has ruled.

Numerous cities and counties in the process of updating their general plans are addressing climate change with policies for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and, to a lesser extent, adapting to changing conditions. Some localities have adopted climate action plans that affect the general plan and other long-term planning documents, while others have written specific general plan policies and implementation measures.

What's the next big thing? The last big thing was housing, and it's over. So what's next? We may be in a real estate slump, but as California communities and planners begin mapping out their futures, it is not too early to start thinking about what the next big thing will be in the world of real estate development.

Restoration of Alameda Creek in the East Bay reached a milestone this spring when what appeared to be hundreds of steelhead trout hatched in a tributary to the creek. If the young fish are indeed steelhead — experts should know soon — they would mark the first natural reproduction of steelhead in the creek since the 1960s.

Almost 30 years ago, an ambitious young developer named Rob Maguire created an audacious proposal for the greatest development project never built in downtown Los Angeles. Responding to a request from the Community Redevelopment Agency for a development plan atop Bunker Hill, Maguire put together a magnificent team – including most of the leading architects and planners of the day – and proposed combining a reconstruction of Bunker Hill's historic urban fabric with a few tall

In a follow-up to a report issued last year, the state controller's office has determined that K-12 school districts understated the amount of pass-through payments received from redevelopment agencies by $105 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year, and community college districts underreported by $8.2 million. The errors caused the state to backfill $17.8 million to K-12 districts and $3.9 million to the colleges that the state did not owe.

A $1.4 million award of damages to the owners of a San Bernardino adult cabaret has been thrown out by the state Supreme Court. In a unanimous ruling, the state high court said that an appellate court had answered the wrong question when it decided the City of San Bernardino was liable for Flesh Club's expenses and lost income during a 53-month period when the cabaret was shut down.

A water supply assessment provided by a water agency for a proposed development project is not subject to legal scrutiny until it becomes part of an environmental impact report, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A fence atop an historic wall in the Hollywood Hills is not exempt from environmental review, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. The court found that the City of Los Angeles did not have enough evidence supporting the California Environmental Quality Act exemption to shift the burden of proof to project opponents. Rather, the court directed the city to conduct an initial study to determine the appropriate level of environmental review.

Ventura-based Solimar Research Group has merged its land-use policy consulting practice with Design, Community & Environment, an urban planning and design firm based in Berkeley. William Fulton, Solimar's founder, will become a principal in DC&E. Solimar's office will serve as the Southern California office of DC&E. "Joining forces with DC&E vastly increases our ability to provide both public and private clients with a wide range of planning services," said Fulton. "We will c

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.

Plans to build the first new, large-scale ski resort in California in four decades — and the largest project in Lassen County history — appear to be in serious jeopardy. The developers of the proposed Dyer Mountain Resort, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains west of Susanville, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late March. News of the filing has caused environmentalists to celebrate, and Lassen County officials to wait even longer on what supporters have called an impo