The CEQA reform landscape – which looked pretty robust all winter – was turned upside down on Friday.

Over the past few weeks, issues concerning the Central Valley's future growth and development plans have gained widespread attention throughout the state – even causing Governor Brown to intervene in the Valley's deliberation processes. With the Central Valley region growing at a

Streetcars are the hottest thing in the downtown revitalization business these days. They're in operation in Portland and Seattle and in planning and construction stage in places like Washington, D.C., Oklahoma City, Cincinnati, Fort Lauderdale and Kansas City. And don't worry –

As this blog has reported , the standard conservative critique of smart growth and "good" planning sometimes doesn't seem very logical. Sometimes these critiques were based on the assumption that any government intrusion into land markets is bad – whether it creates higher density or lower density – and sometimes they're based on the assumption that smart growth inevitably promotes higher-density development when what the market really wants is low-density development. Indeed

Two weeks ago, CP&DR reported on a study by the law firm of Holland & Knight that broke down 95 legal challenges to projects under the California Environmental Quality Act over the past 15 years. The study provided a comprehensive look for the firs ttime - finding, for example, t

All last year, local government nerds throughout California -- this one included -- assumed that Jerry Brown would sign a bill to bring back redevelopment if one landed on his desk. So we were all shocked -- shocked! -- when he vetoed every substantive bill the Legislature gave h

Here's a deal for you: Enviros agree to a variety of reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act -- especially constraints on the ability to sue, including possibly limiting standing and prohibiting lawsuits if the umbrella state or federal environmental law has been comp

The California Environmental Quality Act has long been driven more by the courts than by the Legislature. And 2013 is likely to be a big year in court for EQA. Five pending cases before the California Supreme Court -- and a sixth that might be heard -- could significantly affect

End of Redevelopment Helps Balance Budget Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor has described Governor Brown's budget proposal as "roughly" balanced. Brown was able to save money from major cut backs- like last year's dissolution of redevelopment agencies, and voter-approved tax increas

Now that DOF has decided 240 redevelopment appeals, the next step shouldn't surprise anybody: The lawsuits are beginning to roll in: Murietta sues over affordable housing, city loan Murrieta has sued DOF over its decision to invalidate two payments – one a $3 million payment to t

Almost 60% of lawsuits filed under the California Environmental Quality Act challenge environmental review projects in infill locations as opposed to greenfield locations, according to a new analysis of 95 recent cases by two lawyers at Holland & Knight. The new analysis comes on

A couple of months ago, we reported on four post-redevelopment models emerging in California, based on a presentation by Paul Silvern of HR&A: Alhambra, Oakland, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Now Silvern and his colleagues at HR&A -- along with ICF and Renata Zimril -- have propose